Mr. G. Brettin's Slow Motion Leg Hump

gbrettin

Anti starvation in the car.

gbrettin

Two videos ago you saw that I was putting legs on the cubby mount. Well, here's why. I needed perfect fitment for a mold. The cubby mount needed additional cleanup because my painter buddy cleaned up only the front face, understandably why. I did high build primer twice and epoxy primer twice. The cubby was then wet sanded 1000 -> 2500. All that was done in my garage when it was about 20deg. It sucked. As soon as I could bring the cubby into the house to dry out, I did.

After the cleanup I needed to expose only the A side of the mold. That is done by building everything up on the back side of the cubby with molding clay. Let me tell you this if you have never worked with it.... It take a lot to get the clay moving to shape. I have about 20hrs into the clay underside and waxing.

gbrettin

The mold has been poured, dried and I've been on the endless journey of sanding. This feels familiar.... Anyway. This mold looks to be really good. I'm getting close to having it done, but I need it to be perfect prior to completing the B side of the pour. Don't let the lack of pictures make you think that sanding this is easy because it's not. There's minimum of 40hrs of sanding shown and I'm using 60grit. The mold material is EXTREMLY dense. Actually, the mold is about 40lbs to give you an idea how dense it is.

Sharing what I have so you don't think I have abandoned the thread. I've been busy with work... and that kinda pays the bills so that takes priority.

On a different note... The shop owners are ready to make my car leave. Over the next couple weeks I will be trying to get my car started. First start?!?!?!?! Yeah. Like I said, shop owners want it out, so do I!

gbrettin

Put the plugs back in the car and put in the EGT sensors. All the plugs were gapped to .20 on the feeler gauge.

Ordered Lucas break-in oil so I can get the engine all primed up, thanks to Amazon Prime it should be here in a few days.

The EGT sensors will be used to look for dead cylinders. I set the depth on the sensors to attempt to get similar readings... but the sensors them selves are fickle.

gbrettin

I'm getting the wiring roughed in. Yeah, it looks like a$$ right now but I intend on getting it working and thinning it out after. We were able to get the car to power up but I couldnt get farther than that because I didn't have the key fob or the start button in the car.

gbrettin

Ran manifold reference lines for the BOV. I ran a direct line to each side of the plenum. I had the option to T the line but it didn't make much sense because it's cleaner the way I did it (I think). I also ran a 1/4 line into the cabin from the manifold to the ECU. Apparently the ECU has a direct port for MAP. I don't know if that's odd or a bonus. Probably a bonus because I don't have a sensor in the engine bay that needs to be wired and it's directly on the ECU (quicker processing on the back plane of the motherboard)

All the unused ports were blanked off on the BOV's and manifold. Actually, I need to pick up a few blanks for the manifold from the hardware store and also hook in the brake booster yet... Like I said, hardware store run.

gbrettin

Hooked the big fat daddy cables up to the battery, shut off and ECU up. I need to add ring terminals on two hot wires for the starter and alt.

Waiting on some Lucas break-in oil. I have 5 qts on hand... waiting for 6 more to show up. No, it will not take that much... but I have a sneaking suspicion I may need it, of which I hope I don't. I'll elaborate on that later if I need to.

Ordered pre-made wiring from MS3 for my IGN1-A coil packs that will plug and play with my MS3 wiring harness. I now also have MS3 brackets for the coil packs because my Motion Raceworks brackets will not allow me to plug in wiring to 1 coil pack. The MS3 bracket will shift them down. Yay custom stuff! Glad I got them powder coated too!

I found my key fobs which I thought were lost. Infact, I thought they were 100% lost so I got on the phone with Nissan for a quote for new fobs. They want 380 dollars. That dollar amount made me harder... found them. lol

Now that my fob was available... I could test the BCM and how it functioned with out the ECU. Everything in the car works (that I care about). Power locks, windows, wipers, push to start using key fob, lights, turn signals, brakes... yeah. all the necessary stuff for reasonable creature comforts.

It looks like my dash gave up on being one color. I'll

gbrettin

Went in and re-did the manifold lines. The bottom ports were 1/2" ID so I used that as a balance tube and the brake booster line. This will keep the pressure equalized just incase the throttle bodies are not 100% exactly the same. Then the next step up is another T line for MAP, again I wanted the T because it can read the average of both sides of the manifold. After that there is a single line for the BOV on each side of the plenum.

I was smashing my hands in that tight space and doing hardware store runs for about 3-4hrs to complete that. Just offering some time perspective for that line installation.

For some reason... I didn't hook up the alt and starter wires. There has to be a reason why I didn't do it while on the hoist... or atleast I hope so. Getting the Z on the hoist is not fun. Push it out of its spot. Move some shop cars. push it into the hoist spot. Put a jack under the front to lift so I can get the arms under the car. All that prior to lifting the car in the air. I opt'ed to roll on the dirty floor of the shop

I have an order from MS3 coming today for new coil brackets and IGN1A connectors. The new brackets will lower the coil packs and the wiring is plug and play into the main ECU harness. It's the best aftermarket wiring kit on the market. I'm excited for it!
https://www.diyautotune.com/product/...gm-ls-engines/

gbrettin

Busted butt getting the engine primed yesterday. Honestly, it was a pivotal moment to the path of near term success. The engine was extremally tight, to the point I needed a breaker bar to get the engine to turn over. My suspicion was that the engine had either spun a rod bearing OR that the engine was dry. Thankfully, it was just dry and pressurizing the whole system with oil made it smooth as butter. The engine was triple checked at every step of the way during engine assembly so I would have been crushed if it was something I missed.

After the engine was primed the engine was rolled over by the starter. The push to start, brake press, and key fob all work together like OEM with the MS3Pro standalone after a bit of wiring, VERY cool that it's working like that. Unfortunately I found out that the Braille battery is flat so I need a new battery.

After pressurizing and rolling the system over we noticed some oil seeping from an oil return and a small pool under the car. I think that the small pool was from the oil filter because that wasn't even hand tight. As for the fitting.... I'm shocked that any of them would even leak because I put those on with beast strength... oh well. Guess I get to do it again. I REALLY hope that the oil cooler and accusump don't leak because that's under a rats nest.

MS3Pro came through with REALLY fast shipping for the coil bracket and plug and play coil wiring. The new coil bracket location drops the coils down away from the throttle body so wiring was able to be plugged in. Bummer that I paid for the Motion Raceworks brackets and powder coated them... but the new billet brackets look REALLY nice.

Last thought...
I spilled 1qt minimum on the floor trying to fill the pressurizing tool... the inlet was small and then it burped oil all over.

gbrettin

I think this is the post everyone has been waiting for... thank you for watching and being patient all these years.

I have a few small oil leaks and gas leaks..... Because I made the lines. It's running none the less.

We thinned out some of the OE wiring. There's a bit more to go; however, it's not barfing out over the fender anymore. I'd say about 40% was chopped out.

The twin cable has also been hooked up on the throttle bodies too.

geeteezee

Congratulations, Greg! Had a big grin on my face when I started the vid, but nowhere near as big as the grin you had I'm sure!!

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gbrettin

I was all over the place, but mainly over the moon happy. It's wild to have all those hand picked parts come together and work. The LS couldn't be any more Frankenstein.

Next up. Stop my ship from leaking, front brake lines, mount a gas pedal, finish wiring. And... I'm sure a ton of other stuff I forgot.

I'm at the point where I need to make a list that has all the remaining items and start crossing them off.

EDIT

I'm REALLY happy that everyone got to see the entire LS swap process. Literally all the highs and lows are posted here. Good news for anyone else is that there are plenty of kits available now which wasn't a thing when I started. lol

JARblue

So happy for you man! Can't wait to check it out in person next month hopefully!

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sirnixalot

The only reason I haven't converted my car back to stock and sold it is because of the bolt in, plug & play LS options now (most importantly A/C is functional!)

I appreciate you being so candid with your progress. Can't wait to see it fire up

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2010 Sport - LS3 swap loading
2012 Frontier - BTWTuning VK56DE swap

Rusty

Getting closer Greg.

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浪人 - 殺し屋
"The Difficult Anytime, The Impossible By Appointment Only"
http://www.the370z.com/members-370z-...o-journal.html