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Re: LS1 T-56 Monza

PostPosted: Thu Mar 18, 2010 7:57 pm
by Racin Jason
Lookin good LeRoy, keep up the good work.

Re: LS1 T-56 Monza

PostPosted: Fri Mar 19, 2010 2:31 am
by 80 MONZTA
In preparation to turning the S-10 front rotors in to hubs so the F-body rotors will fit them, I needed to have the rotors cut (swing of my lathe is 10" but rotor is 10.5") :bang: I decided to try my angle grinder, worked OK for the first one. But with the second rotor I was just over two thirds of the way around when my cheap china made angle grinder started smoking where it shouldn't. I can't complain as I got that for free, and it has done a bit of work. Now I am going to buy a better one.
S10 rotor cut.jpg
It fits on the lathe now. Not set up to turn yet, I will do that on a day that is no good to go out in the garage. May get more snow this weekend. :rolleyes:
S10 rotor on lathe.jpg
Here is the link that Rickracer provided to explain the use of 98 and newer F-body brakes on S-10 spindles. 8)

Re: LS1 T-56 Monza

PostPosted: Thu Apr 08, 2010 7:09 pm
by 80 MONZTA
I turned the S-10 rotors (now hubs) to fit inside the F-body rotors. Kind of wierd, the first one machined beautifully, but the second one could not be cut as deep and fought me all the way. :x
Brakes G.jpg
I said earlier that the S-10 rotors would not fit in the Monte Carlo wheels. While I had the rotors on the lathe, I simply held a screwdriver and scrapped the rusty crud build up off them, now they do fit hub-centric to the wheels. But because of the thickness of the F-body rotors, the wheels will not be hub-centric. I will look into making a spacer to slip on the hubs, not going to be easy fitting on the S-10 part as I don't want to cut into the casting at all. Maybe I could just let the lugs center them, don't know if I like that idea because of the rotor spacing it out like that, so I will probably make a spacer.
Brakes H.jpg

Re: LS1 T-56 Monza

PostPosted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 2:05 pm
by 80 MONZTA
After finding a crack in the stock bellhousing, I decided to just go ahead and get some insurance for my feet and bought a Quick Time Bellhousing. Here it is with the original, as a bonus it will gain just a little more clearance as well. :th: But it weighs 20 more pounds. :( Well worth it though. :D
Speaking of cracks, check out my front suspension cracks here.
Quick Time Bell.jpg

Re: LS1 T-56 Monza

PostPosted: Tue Jun 01, 2010 4:08 pm
by Kenova
80 MONZTA wrote: ..... I decided to just go ahead and get some insurance for my feet and bought a Quick Time Bellhousing.


A smart decision, crack or no crack.

Ken

Re: LS1 T-56 Monza

PostPosted: Sun Jul 04, 2010 10:43 pm
by 80 MONZTA
Last time I had the engine and trans in to check clearances I found even after hammering the trans tunnel that I still need more room for the reverse lockout to fit in there. I decided to make a shorter housing for the plunger that came with the lockout. This is the most involved item I have made on my lathe since I got it 7 months ago. I would have prefered to make it out of aluminum, but I already had the steel so that is what I used. I also shortened the backside of the plunger and used a spring with just a little smaller diameter wire from a hardware store. It is stiff enough to prevent easily slipping over to reverse, but not so much to make it a workout to get there.
Here it is next to the original, 5/8" shorter, just needs a coat of paint on the outside of it.
Original O-ring seal will fit on it, just forgot to put it on before pic.
reverse lockout A.jpg

reverse lockout B.jpg

reverse lockout C.jpg

I don't know how many hours it took to make this, but I know it was a lot. Looking back, I would get someone to tig parts of the original housing and I would then modify that instead of making one from scratch.
But I did learn a lot.

Re: LS1 T-56 Monza

PostPosted: Mon Jul 05, 2010 7:18 am
by megavega
Interesting on the front rotors, was curious about the thickness of the camaro rotor, adding that on to the rotor hub, youd then space out the front rims even wider then the stock s10 rotors? how thick was the camaro rotor? About a 4.5" backspace wheels fit well and I would have no idea what the backspacing is on gm 15x7 wheels you have are but might be something to look at. Are you gonna use a simple plate to bolt the camaro dual piston caliper to the spindle?

Nice job on the reverse lock out also. :th:

Re: LS1 T-56 Monza

PostPosted: Mon Jul 05, 2010 1:19 pm
by 80 MONZTA
megavega wrote:Interesting on the front rotors, was curious about the thickness of the camaro rotor, adding that on to the rotor hub, youd then space out the front rims even wider then the stock s10 rotors? how thick was the camaro rotor? About a 4.5" backspace wheels fit well and I would have no idea what the backspacing is on gm 15x7 wheels you have are but might be something to look at. Are you gonna use a simple plate to bolt the camaro dual piston caliper to the spindle?

Nice job on the reverse lock out also. :th:

Yes, I am worried about that, the Camaro rotor is .340 thick and the backspace of my wheels is only a little over 3 5/8". I am looking for two of the rare Camaro wheels of the same design, but they have more backspace to them. Once I get my front susspension back together I can test fit everything to see if it will work or not. If not I will just buy new S-10 rotors and use the S-10 brakes. Yes, I will use a simple plate to bolt theCamaro dual piston caliper to the S-10 spindle, Rickracer provided that link a while ago.

Re: LS1 T-56 Monza

PostPosted: Mon Jul 05, 2010 9:51 pm
by megavega
I didnt see that link to brakes the first time.thanx
I guess I would have a few ideas to make the track width less of a problem and make the camaro rotor fit the s10 hub center, by skimming off the wheel mounting surface of the camaro rotor a good .060-.080", then skin off the same surface off the s10 hub,but when you get to the center youd machine a step for the rotor to center itself on the s10 hub. This would center the rotor on the hub and not rely soley on the studs to hold it centered, likely have alot less radial run out this way in my opinion. You could easily take the hub surface down to the knurls of the stud and be plenty thick. By doing this your wheel studs will also stick thru the rotor more to engage the lugnut. By taking some off all the parts youd be back close to original. I would even mill some off the back of the rims if needed, not huge amounts but it all adds up in the end.

I have even machined inside of the rotors to move the wheel bearing race to narrow the front track width before, theres all kinds of solutions when you have machine equipment and a problem solving plan....lol

I will keep an eye open for your progress.

Re: LS1 T-56 Monza

PostPosted: Sun Oct 03, 2010 7:02 pm
by 80 MONZTA
Took everything out of the interior, wow that tar-based insulation stuff was heavy. Look what I found under it all on the drivers side floor board. There were 2 of them close together, I somehow I lost 1 before taking pic. Why on earth would someone on the assembly line put those nails there? Of coarse there is a hole right there, so now I need to patch it up.
rust C.jpg

Picked up some 4th gen Camaro seats with a couple appearance flaws, plan on re-covering anyway, or find a set allready black (happen to be a '97 so they have the 30th logo on them). The floorboard will need some mods to fit correctly, but I wanted to have seats that recline and drivers side is electric adjustable. 8) Even so, the drivers side does not seem to weigh much more then the H-body seat, and the passenger side seems much lighter then the H-body one.
Interior E.jpg

Another spot of rust is under drivers side fender and fender itself.
rust A.jpg

Maybe if I would have cleaned out all this debris when I first bought the car in 1990 and periodically after that, this rust could have been avoided.
rust B.jpg

The only other spot of rust is the passenger side wheel well where the metal is sandwiched, I guess it is common there.
A friend spent some time scraping underneath, still a lot more to do. I am really thinking about getting a rotisserie to make installing subframe, repairing rust, running brake & fuel lines and painting much, much easier. However, I was not planning on removing the windshield and both sides quarter glass, but it would probably be worth it to make everything easier.

Re: LS1 T-56 Monza

PostPosted: Mon Oct 04, 2010 11:32 am
by iced98lx
Remove the glass! You'll be glad you did when it's said and done, and may find some rust you weren't expecting.

Love the project!

Re: LS1 T-56 Monza

PostPosted: Fri Oct 08, 2010 9:52 pm
by Ishiftem
iced98lx wrote:Remove the glass! You'll be glad you did when it's said and done, and may find some rust you weren't expecting.



Isn't that the truth

Re: LS1 T-56 Monza

PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 4:35 pm
by 80 MONZTA
I have not gotten a lot done, but just a little update. For the first time I was able to bolt the shifter in place in the car. The shifter is a little more to the rear than I like, and it is too tall. But did it ever feel good to shift through the gears and make engine sounds in the car instead of on the floor. :lol: I may order a MGW shifter, and modify that to get the location where I want it.
Both pic's below are in neutral, also the seat is not all the way back, but is 3 notches forward. I used to always have it all the way back, but several years ago started driving with it a little forward, just seems a little more comfortable to me that way.
shifter placementA.JPG

shifter locationB.JPG

I also have been working on the clutch and brake pedal setup. I will cover the hole where the wiring harness passed through, and trying to clean up the firewall as much as I can.
firewallA.JPG

STM-Sticker.jpg

Re: LS1 T-56 Monza

PostPosted: Fri Jul 15, 2011 6:57 pm
by bill1978v8
That's a great feeling and a good sense of accomplishment. Good luck and keep us updated. It's always fun reading about what your doing with the Monza.

Re: LS1 T-56 Monza

PostPosted: Tue Aug 16, 2011 4:19 pm
by 80 MONZTA
I received the MGW shifter and the first thing I did was to loosen the allen head screw (boy, was that thing ever tight) and rotate the gold anodized block to the twelve o'clock position.
MGW a.JPG


MGW b.JPG

shifter placementB.JPG

In the car, in neutral position. It is now centered over the tunnel, about 2 inches lower and feels much better.
When they advertise that shifter as being a short throw, they are not kidding! At first I did not like it at all, but after pretending to shift through the gears for a while I am starting to get used to it. Total movement from first to reverse is only 1 3/4".
I am definitely going to have to put a weaker spring in my reverse lockout device, as right now it just about takes two arms to get over to reverse.