GM LFX 3.6L V6 Motor Swap

[gtpvette]

Originally Posted by wparsons

My guess was he was looking at all the rivets holding the fender liner together and assumed it was held to the bumper too.

I think you're right. Liner held in by plastic push pins. I did have to add a few in the front. With a little luck they wont fall out.

Originally Posted by DBW

I applaud the creativeness... but why all the work when you could have put an eforce supercharger on the stock motor and made the same power, and even more on e85 then this swap.

Wasn't interested in FI. Wish I'd just done a 400HP LS1,, especially as I have a long block sitting in the shop,, could of skipped all of the sway bar stuff, motor & trans mounts etc. Would of,, Could of,,, Should of. The reality is once you start down the road it's hard to go back. It'll be different.

Did the CF overlay late yesterday. Looks OK,,, weave isn't quite as straight as it might be,, but overall looks OK. Need to add one more coat or resin (surfboard resin not epoxy) then sand and buff.

[Zer0]

Glad your feeling good enough to get back out in the shop. Intake cover looks good.

[gtpvette]

Into second week of vacation,, good god I can't wait until retirement. That said,, killing some time and decided to try to mod the fender garnishes before I bought new ones. Just never cared for the emblem and it certainly doesn't go with the car now. Basically cut it out and welded it back in place with a soldering iron. I should of bought the plastic welding kit from Harbor Freight but was too lazy to drive the 25 miles. Hopefully the welds wont crack

[toast]

Originally Posted by DBW

I applaud the creativeness... but why all the work when you could have put an eforce supercharger on the stock motor and made the same power, and even more on e85 then this swap.

No PD blower on an FA20 will have the same torque feel. I have an Edelbrock and just off idle I highly doubt it is making any more torque than the stock car whereas the V6 definitely will. The V6 is lighter than the FA stock, let alone the extra 60-80 for a blower kit. Even though I'm in what people call the 'safe' zone of power for the FA I still always worry the spaghetti rods are going to go; I would never worry about a GM V6.

The E85 can be added to both (and I think I already see the flex fuel analyzer in his engine bay.

So lots of up front work and cost (although I would have stayed with the stock body to make it a sleeper) but a simpler, more reliable system in the end. I can't wait to see this thing on the road.

[Infinity]

Originally Posted by gtpvette

Into second week of vacation,, good god I can't wait until retirement. That said,, killing some time and decided to try to mod the fender garnishes before I bought new ones. Just never cared for the emblem and it certainly doesn't go with the car now. Basically cut it out and welded it back in place with a soldering iron. I should of bought the plastic welding kit from Harbor Freight but was too lazy to drive the 25 miles. Hopefully the welds wont crack

Super interested in how your fender garnish modification goes. I wanted to do the same thing to mine and took them to a body shop. They told me it would be impossible to make it look right. If yours come out looking nice I may try the same thing. What did you use to 'smooth' the surface and the space between the garnish and the emblem piece?

If someone made an aftermarket fender garnish exactly like the OEM FR-S ones but without the stupid emblem I'm sure they would sell tons of them.

[gtpvette]

Originally Posted by Infinity

What did you use to 'smooth' the surface and the space between the garnish and the emblem piece?

.

I filled the gap between the two by melting either side with the soldering iron and spreading it together. In the end there was no gap between the two pieces and they were welded together. After welding just sanded it a bit to smooth the edges. It would of been easier and ultimately stronger if I had a filler rod (comes included with the Harbor Freight Plastic Welder $16). If you're going to try it invest in the HF tool it's cheap.

When I sanded the area I used a very rough grade of paper but between the body filler and high build primer it'll smooth out. May be a while before I paint it as I need to do the 4 fender flares, spoiler and the garnishes all at once.

[ame]http://youtu.be/aIMl9vtRqPg[/ame]

[gtpvette]

Has a storm blow through here a couple weeks back. One of the gusts got hold of the hood and blew it off it's stand,, ended up bending the crap out of both rear corners. I was able to straighten them out but it'll require that the hood gets painted now.

While doing that I came to the conclusion I didn't really like the scoop I made. Knowing that I'll have to paint the hood now,, I want the scoop body color as well and it just wasn't even enough side to side. Opted to start making another the way I made the manifold cover... that is using ribs to set the shape. I made 4 ribs that ran from the middle to the rear then covered them with 1/8" particle board. As you can see it flushes up at the front of the hood. The manifold cover sticks out about 1" so I set this a 1.5" where it peaks. I'll try to fiberglass it today.

As a sidebar,,, looks like a Chevy Cowl Induction hood a bit

[Zer0]

The hood redesign looks good! It looks more like a oem designed hood.

[Ultramaroon]

The first one was cool. This one's way cooler.

[gtpvette]

some progress...…

[gtpvette]

Well the holidays are over thank god.. between the stuff going on before and the projects after (I.E. gave my wife backsplash tile as a gift and had to spend 2 weekends installing it) haven't got much done. The good news is it's time to work on the car again.

Work continues on the scoop. Smoothed it out with some Bondo, blocked with 36 grit and it looks pretty good. As I don't have a garage and the weather's been cold (upper 60's - low 70's) I set up in the yard to spray primer. Will need to come up with some kind of booth when it's time for paint. Blocked the hood scoop after 2 wet coats and most of the 36 grit scratches are gone. Will need to prime then sand a few more times to get them all but it should look good in the end. The rest shown just needs to be wet sanded before paint. Still have the hood to do,, multiple dings, corners bent, clean up the cut out, install latches, sand both sides then prime.

Originally Posted by Infinity

Super interested in how your fender garnish modification goes.

Put a couple good coats on the garnish then sanded,, nice and smooth but a little warped from the welding. Should be fine with clips and a little 3M tape though. A shot of the backside shows where I melted it together.

[Infinity]

Thanks for the update on your fender garnishes! They look about perfect on the exterior!


Is it possible to separate the back piece of black plastic from the fender garnish? It looks like separating the 2 pieces might make the job easier.

[gtpvette]

Originally Posted by Infinity

Is it possible to separate the back piece of black plastic from the fender garnish? It looks like separating the 2 pieces might make the job easier.

I'm not sure what you're asking here. The black plastic attached to the garnish provides the base to attach the clips to,, so it's needed. The melted plastic you see was left overs that I melted to try to attach everything together.

[Infinity]

Originally Posted by gtpvette

I'm not sure what you're asking here. The black plastic attached to the garnish provides the base to attach the clips to,, so it's needed. The melted plastic you see was left overs that I melted to try to attach everything together.

I mean like remove the black plastic, cut out the embossed emblem and weld it back on, and then reattach the black plastic. It looks like it may make the whole process a bit easier.