LS1 Conversion, A Retrospective Build Thread Options

[andys]

Here's the start of a retrospective build thread of my LS1 conversion. It took a few years to get it done mostly due to not wanting to be a slave to the project, and work on it for the enjoyment; and of course when family obligations allowed......teen daughter and high maintenance wife (IMG:style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

What I started with was a local orignal owner '75 2.0 with 139K miles. The original owner "drove the heck out of it" until something died in the electrical system and he parked it in the garage for 14 years, as evidenced by the renewal tags. Only body damage was when he submarined the rear of a Mustang and creased the hood and flattened the left signal light pod. Otherwise, it was a good condition rust free (SoCal) car.

Brief specs are: '01 LS1 Z28 motor, Audi 01E 6 speed tranaxle, 911 front suspension, custom made rear trailing arms, Koni shocks, 993 wheels, and AC.

Below, are photos of what I started with, and what I ended-up with. I'll do my best to re-trace the build process, so if you have any questions along the way, please ask.

BTW, how does one place text between photos in the same post?

Andys

[andys]

I installed fiberglass flares, and here's why. At the time, the AA steel repro flares were not available, and the only one's that were, were $$$ and not easy to find. Additionally, the fiberglass flares were just a tick wider than the steel, and would accomodate my rear 993 wheels and 255-40-17 tires. As for the wheels, I found a local Ebay seller, so that worked out well. The flares I got from a shop that purchased all the old Mitcom molds, so I bought the flares, rockers, and 916 rear bumper (which I didn't use).

The first thing I did, was to prep the flares by making sure the right to left side periferies were the same. After some minor trimming, they were good. The next bit of prepping, was to grind the high spots on the inside where the flare would be in contact with the body of the car. The result was that the flares were much more flush than before, so it was a worthwhile step. Since I knew the rear tire was a tight fit, I trimmed the inside lip of the rear flares to about 5/8".

I then marked the axle centers (used an aluminum bar across the car with plumb bob's), and taped the flares (centered) into position and marked the body with a Sharpie. I did make sure the flare fit the rockets as well. Removing the flares, I next marked a scribe line 1" to the inside of the first line for some overlap. I then took my sabre saw and cut to the inside line. I taped the flare back into position, then drilled and installed Tek screws every 3" or so. Removed again the flares, and ground away the painted area between the cut and the 1" scribe line.

After some research, I decided on a two-part epoxy product called PC-7. It's mixed viscosity is about that of Bondo, but has a lower shrinkage rate and it's a structural adhesive. Oh, it also has a favorable pot life of 1 hour, and a service cure of 24 hours (7 day full cure). I got mine from The Do-It Center, but it's available at a number of retailers.

So, I'd trowel on a bead adhesive onto the 1" paint free area of the body (sorry, only photo of this is with wife clowning around), and also "butter" the inside of the flare, then position the flare and drive the Tek screws into place. This operation went really fast. The adhesive that oozed out was simply wiped off, both outside, and underside. Bam! A flared car! Ok, well not quite, as there is a whole lot of filling and sanding necessary to finish the job. If I were to do it again, I'd go with the steel flares just because the fiberglass one's take so much effort to get right. I spent countless hours on the shaping, then spray on some primer in order to spot any imperfections, then do it over and over till it was right.

I discovered a big problem further along in the build when I got the car on the ground for the first go kart test drive (no doors, no glass, etc). The tire would rub against thefront edges of the front flares when turning the wheels even a little bit. A shout out to 914World got me some measurements of the wheel openings of the steel flares......and sure enough, the fiberglass flares were less by about 1 1/2". What I figured was the fiberglass shrunk and the opening closed-up. Needless to say I was PO'd, though I guess I wasn't surprised, since fiberglass parts in general don't hold their shape well when un-supported. The fix was many more hours of pie-cutting, re-glassing, and filling to get both the opening and shape right (IMG:style_emoticons/default/mad.gif)