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Havent posted here for a bit, but I have been spending quite a bit of time on the car. Bouncing around all over, a lot is still in mockup and works in progress, but here are some pics of what I got going on at the moment. I will clean up and reorganize the thread eventually, but progress is progress right?

Also want to give a shout out to @TurboComet for all the help/info and the forum discount on my trans and converter. Just recieved it, obviously havent used it yet but it all looks stellar, can't wait!

Better pics to come, here's some quick and dirty updates.

 

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If you do mine it'll be your 2nd..LOL
You not playing........Looks great.

 

Sucks to hear dude, just keep your head up and put that time and energy into your ride now. This build kept me sane and my mind busy.

 

Ha! Thanks, trying my best, so many parts and systems to figure out and get to all play nice. Almost there though, I hope, lol

 

That is one serious car for your first build, a great build thread.
Any current updates?

 

Thanks! Yea it kind of snowballed but it was my first car I got when I was 17 just out of HS, so I'm trying to do it right, lot of good times in it. Just rough with limited equipment and doing this in a Harbor Freight tent and all lol.
Progress wise, I just got the heads back from Katech Sat, got them torqued torqued down along with the intake and throttle body. Been fabricating the plates to weld to the car to bolt the motor plates to, as well as the trans crossmember so everything will be in place to measure up for a driveshaft. Just trying to get all the angles right, motor is set back 2-3 inches from factory and I went with a Th400 so Im working on a trans xmember that triangulates to the subframe and MWC torque arm xmember. Thank god for "Door Slammers The Chassis Book" by Dave Morgan, helped me tons so far!

Il post some pics later today or tomorrow.

 

Just gotta cap the ends but the crossmember is pretty much done, good enough for me. Then to paint or powder coat. Also got all mounts and pads ready to be welded to the subframe for the motor plates, tomorrow I will weld em up.
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Quick update: Had to backtrack a bit and pull the damper, drop oil pan, pull timing cover, pump pickup and oil pump, ugh. All back together now, just waiting on pushrods and motor is done aside from assessories and rails, need to pick up injectors, most likely the Bosch 210's. Got headers wrapped and mounted, had to cut motor plate a bit more but all looks good so far.
Have a two piece timing cover but I am using the plastic LS2 style chain damper, which doesn't leave enough room to lower cam gear a bit to get enough slack on the chain to get around the cam gear. Even after removing the cover and sliding it forward towards the damper, the oil pump gets in the way. So much for easy cam swaps with a two piece cover, oh well I guess it looks nice loll!
Also will NEVER buy a Comp cams product again. They included the wrong Torrington thrust bearing in the timing kit, I realized something wasn't right so I contacted them. Long story short, after a dozen emails back and fourth, sending pictures and videos they told me it was indeed the wrong bearing but they don't have a diagram or part # for the right bearing and to just not use a bearing! I sent a video of the excessive endplay without it, they told me they apologize and gave me a part # of another comp cams timing kit to buy!! After two weeks of back and fourth with them I called Jegs and explained everything to them. They couldn't believe Comps bad service and pulled some kits off the shelf in their warehouse to see what was going on. They mic'd the bearings in their kits and they were correct for the kit so they mailed me one right away no charge, solved my issue in 1 day! Great service from Jegs there!

 

Really nice build, doing everything right the first time! When I drag raced I had 3 Comp solid roller lifters fail, one cam ground wrong, and another, solid roller, actually bend on a fresh engine, first start up, and I'm talking literally BEND! That little deal cost me big time and they wouldn't make it good. It took me forever to get it out of the block. I don't buy nothing from them anymore.

 

Man that suck's, don't get me nervous so close to start up now! ha. Glad its the only Comp product I have on the car, just bugged me they outright told me it wasn't the right one then gave a p/n for another timing set for me to purchase. I went with the Morel drop in lifters and CamMotion for the cam, read and heard good about both.

 

Nice build man. Glad to see another thirdgen mines a sbc tho, and not near as clean. Keep it up!

 

Maybe I missed it, what are the plans for the car? Fast street? Drag racing? Burnout machine?

Also what trans? And who’s subframe connectors you use?

 

Hey FYI, arguably the best build ever posted on this form, tech wise, & content wise. Was a thirdgen firebird, In the build boards hall of fame. Ran 9.20’s with a mild built 355 and a tpi intake! Titled “how long till it grenades”. Amazing build. If you haven’t read that one yet, get some pop corn, It’s pretty good.

 

Daily Driver and true street beast! For real though, its my only vehicle right now, and I've got no kids. E85 is everywhere here on LI, and with full sequential FI it shouldn't be too bad. My last daily was a 92 Wrangler with 39.5" tires and a 350 / th350, and before that was an s10 with a 383 & 175shot / th350.

Trans/converter is a built Th400 and 9.5" proSSX converter from Hughes Performance. The sfc's are the UMI weld in's, the MWC torque arm crossmember is welded to them and also triangulates with bars to the subframe. I will post some pics later today, hopefully have this midplate finished and the trans back in for good.

 

Daily driver with motor plates? Hardcore yo... hardcore.

 

How bad could it really be? No different or close to solid motor mounts,.. right? lol!

 

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Here a bunch of recent pics, been wrapping up under the car. Finished both motor plates and trans x member. Got flexplate, trans and converter, xmember in for good. Got oil and trans pan higher than the k member which is great,, was worried about ground clearance. Waiting on BTR pushrods, NGK spark plugs, and taylor plug wires to get here to finish up motor. Just got fuel rails, looking at injectors to finish fuel system. Debating between elec or mechanical water pump. Then its turbo fab time finally! Stainless mandrel bends are expensive yikes! Think I'm going to just use mild steel for DP and exhaust.. I only have MIG right now, I am heat wrapping everything anyways.

 

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Couple more.

 

I foresee.... $99/month Kia.

Joking aside, I appreciate the extreme build gone DD, shows a true love for the automobile.