Hackster's LSA / T56 2 door

[Sgt Savage]

Co-worker showed me your builds on instagram. Now the hunt for a LS 242 is real. Looks awesome man, can't wait to see the finished product.

[hackster]

Originally Posted by 55superbeetle

Been following in Instagram, I'm a fan, such clean work.

Thanks man, you do some killer work yourself. I am better at updating the IG than I am here, its so easy.

Originally Posted by Sgt Savage

Co-worker showed me your builds on instagram. Now the hunt for a LS 242 is real. Looks awesome man, can't wait to see the finished product.

Thanks for the props, cool cars, you should be able to find something out there =)

Managed to get all of the bodywork done on that front panel and shoot it with some high build, then sand, sand sand....and more sanding. Stuff is awesome though. Super Build 4:1.



Looking a little like Dexter in the shop =)



Then this happened..



All caused by a flat tire on the air compressor. Had no idea that it would kill the old girl to be honest. Note to self, they are very sensitive to being level. Took out Crank and Rod. Got a good 10+ years out of my $500.00 compressor and this little guy has cranked out some work.

Pat had the idea of trying some colors out on the strut bar. I shot half of it in rattle can Almond which is shockingly close to the engine bay paint and the other half Rustoleom Oil Rubbed Bronze. I love the color and finish of it, but it just seems like an afterthought with all of the Black and Silver going on in there already. I am going to shoot it Black afterall.





I had a little time on Sunday to tinker and got the battery in the final place, built a plate for the battery mount to attach it to the car, got the starter in and built all of the positive, negative and alternator leads for the car, just need to sort out the actual battery terminals, the ones I wanted are no longer available.

Intake parts finally showed up last night so I got busy fitting all of that together. Came together really well in my opinion.

I still have to install and weld up the bung, will be running LS7 card style MAF.







I am very new to the TIG game, but pretty happy with how this turned out, it will be powdercoated so not polished or anything. Something to be said about learning a new skill, I love learning new things.

Should have upper rad panel back from Painter today or tomorrow, fans and shroud should be here tomorrow, gotta pick up upper and lower radiator stuff to get that on the old turd too.

Progress is horribly slow with how much I am working and traveling. I need to take a week off and bust out some big stuff.

Sean

[hackster]

Finally had a break in the work schedule to get something done on the car. Ran around a little bit on friday and picked up some parts, you would be amazed the difference in parts places between "Big City" Portland and Eugene. Nothing here is open on the weekends for parts like nuts and bolts, fittings or anything like that. There is one good parts place in town M-F and they are hot rod stuff only. I am realizing how huge having Baxters within 10 minutes of my old place was in completing these projects in such a quick manner. 90% of the parts I have to mail order and wait.

So rounded up some parts, picked up the painted upper radiator panel from Metalworks and got to work early afternoon on Friday.

Managed to get the fans mounted up to the radiator, rubber isolators installed and the radiator trimmed to fit. Its nice and snug in there. Also installed the weather pack connector and got the upper and lower radiator hoses figured out. They were pretty easy but I did end up doing a 30 degree swivel style for the water pump to get things lined up better.





Figured out the intercooler setup and built a nice little bracket to hold the reservoir behind the strut, out of harms way and up high.





With that mounted up I got to work on more plumbing. I had to figure out how to mount the heat exchanger, keep the factory hood latch and the upper radiator panel support piece, it was a tight fit.

This is the factory Volvo piece, before it got chopped up.



Starting to get the hang with the TIG torch...



So I built a tray for the bottom of the heat exchanger to sit in, its got rubber on the bottom, sides and back so its not metal on metal anywhere, this holds it in position and should keep the bottom of it well protected.



I had to section out the front support and add a couple of tabs to it to attach so it can all be removed and installed from the car, this was more challenging that it sounds as the angles up front are a bitch to work around. Hood latch has plenty of room to function but its a bitch to get in and out as you can tell by the fins on the heat exchanger.......I was not very happy a few times on Saturday messing with this.





I got the intercooler pump mounted up to the inside of the framerail where it will have good feed from the tank and out to the heat exchanger and got to work figuring out the hoses and such for the system. I ditched all screw style hose clamps and opted for the factory style hose clamps. its a much cleaner installation.





Still working on a clamp/heat shield setup that I like for the heater/intercooler hoses.

Spent waaaay too much time on this over the weekend and its functional but I dont like it at all. I need to come up with a better solution but that isnt going to stop the build.

I got the MAF bung welded in, re ran that wiring onto the engine and shortened it up, got the intercooler pump wiring all terminated and buttoned up. The only thing remaining on the aftermarket side is the fans, I need to get some loom and get that wiring out to them and terminate for the weather pack connector. I also built a small support stand for the air filter to keep it from moving all over the place.



Then tore it all apart and loaded all the parts up for Powder Coat this week.



Battery terminals should be here this week sometime, powdercoat should be done by the end of the week. Coilovers should be here this week so I will be able to install and measure for wheel clearances.

I am going to call in some help for next weekend and see if we can make a big dent.

Sean

[NONHOG]

Oh man! I was just getting use to the 2-tone brace. Reminded me of the mid sixties super stockers with the 2-tone steel wheels.

Looking good, enjoying the build!

[Stiggy Pop]

the smoothed out radiator panel is niiiice

[nolift911]

"Just starting to get the hang of the tig torch" you're funny - those are nickels laying down for days, doesn't get much better than that...awesome detail.

When people see my mig welds they say "keep your day job". Played with a tig before - even harder in my mind.

For you - I'd quit the day job, open a shop, call up Velocity, get your own show - then relax and drink lots of beer.

Seriously - awesome skillz!

[Texas240]

Is that the afco heat exchanger?

[Tfrasca]

This thread makes me wish I knew how to do stuff. This is my new favorite 240, for sure.

[hackster]

Originally Posted by NONHOG

Oh man! I was just getting use to the 2-tone brace. Reminded me of the mid sixties super stockers with the 2-tone steel wheels.

Looking good, enjoying the build!

Haha, I will not be sad to see it go, I was so sick of looking at it, but it did its job, made the decision easy to go away from anything gloss as well as anything body colored or accent color.

Thanks for the props.

Originally Posted by Stiggy Pop

the smoothed out radiator panel is niiiice

Thanks, it was way more work than I probably should have put into it and 90% of people will never notice it but I wanted that super clean look when you pop the hood.

Originally Posted by nolift911

"Just starting to get the hang of the tig torch" you're funny - those are nickels laying down for days, doesn't get much better than that...awesome detail.

When people see my mig welds they say "keep your day job". Played with a tig before - even harder in my mind.

For you - I'd quit the day job, open a shop, call up Velocity, get your own show - then relax and drink lots of beer.

Seriously - awesome skillz!

Thanks man, Trust me I still have a lot to learn and that is what I love about building stuff, there is always something new to learn. I actually think learning is my favorite thing in life.

I would love to have a you tube channel someday but no time for that now, TV is a joke and money is not what drives me in life but I get what you are saying. thanks for the props!!

Originally Posted by Texas240

Is that the afco heat exchanger?

No, I am not sure what it is to be honest. I got everything for the swap from one guy his name is Lance Draeger and he is a beast when it comes to the LSA stuff. We worked together on my kit and none of it has dissapointed yet.

Originally Posted by Tfrasca

This thread makes me wish I knew how to do stuff. This is my new favorite 240, for sure.

Its just time and dedication man. Spend the time in the driveway, garage or shop, help people out when you can. Dedication will net you great skills!!

Thanks for the compliments.

Dropped everything off for powder, ended up going with a light texture black on the intake tube, strut tower brace and brake booster bracket and 20% gloss black for all other brackets. anything with gloss on it and black scratches fairly easy and I want it to be able to clean up nice.

Have a few parts hopefully showing up this week......maybe even some coilovers

Have a good week.

Sean

[Tfrasca]

Originally Posted by hackster

Dropped everything off for powder, ended up going with a light texture black on the intake tube, strut tower brace and brake booster bracket and 20% gloss black for all other brackets. anything with gloss on it and black scratches fairly easy and I want it to be able to clean up nice.

Have a few parts hopefully showing up this week......maybe even some coilovers

Have a good week.

Sean

Good call on the textured black. My valve cover and intake manifold are lightly textured and it's really easy to keep them looking clean.

[Texas240]

I reached out to him, He's changing his design now and what about that reservoir ?

[hackster]

Originally Posted by Texas240

I reached out to him, He's changing his design now and what about that reservoir ?

Its nice black molded plastic and labeled Edelbrock, but I have searched and searched an never been able to find it online.

These things are the exact reason I reached out to Lance, he has a killer kit put together.

Sorry I cannot give you a part number on it.

Sean

[M.H. Yount]

I have textured black on valve covers and intake tube - I like the look. Word to the wise - sand smooth the texture underneath the elbow clamping surface. A tiny leak there will set a check engine light/error code as the ecu tries to decide who’s right - maf sensor or map sensor, and finally gives up and says “you figure it out”. ;) Never mind if speed density set up.

[oldschoolvolvo]

Originally Posted by Texas240

I reached out to him, He's changing his design now and what about that reservoir ?

Originally Posted by hackster

Its nice black molded plastic and labeled Edelbrock, but I have searched and searched an never been able to find it online.

These things are the exact reason I reached out to Lance, he has a killer kit put together.

Sorry I cannot give you a part number on it.

Sean

This appears to be the reservoir.
Edelbrock p/n EDB-51-7100
http://www.superchargersonline.com/i...ducts_id=12452

[Texas240]

Originally Posted by hackster

Its nice black molded plastic and labeled Edelbrock, but I have searched and searched an never been able to find it online.

These things are the exact reason I reached out to Lance, he has a killer kit put together.

Sorry I cannot give you a part number on it.

Sean

Ive been trying to figure out where you've been getting these amazing parts. Ive found other parts that do the same thing but yours just have that extra bling look. Its amazing what other people are able to find. Ebay is letting me down.

[hackster]

Originally Posted by Texas240

Ive been trying to figure out where you've been getting these amazing parts. Ive found other parts that do the same thing but yours just have that extra bling look. Its amazing what other people are able to find. Ebay is letting me down.

Some of the stuff came from Lance other stuff I do lots of searching for the right parts.It makes a pretty big difference in the end product, but also remember I have built a few cars and had some amazing people to learn from along the way.

I think I lucked out on the powder coater. They are about 15 minutes from the house and their work has been top notch. Dropped all this stuff off Monday, picked it up done on Friday, I could not find any issues with any of them. 20% gloss black on every bracket, battery box, lower heat exchanger mount. BLK17 textured black for the strut tower bar and intake tube.





I am pretty happy I spent the extra few minutes to do the speed holes and dimple dies on the hood support, it looks a little cleaner and fits the build a little better in my opinion.



Kind of just stared at it friday night after the long week.

Had a friend down Saturday to help with the fuel system, we gutted all of the old fuel lines and dropped the fuel tank to find a terrible mess. The fuel tank was about 75% water and 25% gasoline. The inside of the tank is totally rusted out. This is the pump and level sender.



So that kind of left me at a total loss. We changed direction and tore into the heater box to do the worst task on a car ever, blower motor, wheels, resistor and heater core.





Got it all back together and bolted in the car and was able to get the pedal assembly installed as well, hooked up the clutch pedal and brake pedals as well.

Pulled the factory pressure pump bracket apart and welded up the bottom of it with a new plate and it gave me a great place to mount the Holley 10 micron filter.

Not much progress but hoping to have a little bit of progress this week.

[122power]

so not giving out part numbers then? Can't, won't or just don't know it?

[cosbySweater]

Price on sending unit shipped to 93955? Lol

[rcstdad]

Looking good!

[hackster]

Originally Posted by 122power

so not giving out part numbers then? Can't, won't or just don't know it?

What in particular would you like info on? If I were to post up every part number I would take forever to get this thing put together =) If there is anything specific, let me know, I am always happy to help if I can.

Originally Posted by cosbySweater

Price on sending unit shipped to 93955? Lol

No **** right? Its the worst tank, pump and sender I have ever seen.

I need to hit you up on some of your rearend and suspension stuff. I have some questions.

Originally Posted by rcstdad

Looking good!

Thanks man.

With the tank being shot and waiting for another one to show up I got to work on what I could keep on.

The fuel pump will mount internally to the tank, it has the pump, hydramat and regulator all in one so it will have a single line running forward.

I have to mount a filter somewhere and the stock under car filter and pump location seemed to make a lot of sense. I fashioned a plate to cover the stock holes and got it all welded up. Didnt have time to get it to powdercoat, but only a handful of people will see it so it got the wrinkle paint on it and then got the Holley 10 micron filter and their brackets to hold it in. I think it turned out pretty well.





I didnt take any pics but I ran the fuel line up front under the car, factory location, head sleeved front to rear as I dont want to have any issues down the road. Russell GM connection at the fuel rail is super clean.

So without the tank that is where the fuel system stopped.

So this then took place.



Then everything got cleaned up, brackets all pulled out, brake tabs all hardware soaking in my secret sauce to remove all the grease and undercoating.

Everything got tapped off and shot all new undercoating in the front innerfenders.



I dropped off the lower control arms with the rear bushing pockets at the powder coater monday morning. They blasted them and had them back to me by 4 pm on Wednesday and again some killer work.

I had to be up in Seattle on Tuesday and Portland on Wednesday. So I ordered some parts and picked up on my way home.

New steering rack, wheel bearings inner and outer, seals, lower ball joints, outer tie rod ends and some misc parts.

So here is the haul for the front suspension,

From Ben

JRZ rsone coilovers
machined upper camber plates
adjustable sway bar endlinks
5x114.3 drilled hubs
ARP long wheel studs
mock up roll correction steering arms (new version hopefully coming soon)

STS Machining

R brake mounts

IPD

Lower control arm bushings

Misc,

New 330 mm brake rotors
s60R brake calipers
Custom built braided stainless brake lines, fittings and plugs from Pacific Rubber in Eugene.

Powdercoated lowers



Had a lot of little issues that hung me up today, wheel bearings just did not want to fit on the JRZ spindles, so a fair bit of finesse went to get this together, chopped off the backing plate so that everything operates like it should with proper dust protection and seals.

New steering rack installed, Lower control arms, cleaned up brackets going back in and stainless lines.



I only got the one side buttoned up today but its fully plumbed and mostly tightened up on the one side. Its gonna be low.





I am really digging the details in this little section.



Picking up the 8.8 tomorrow, then off for the weekend to spend some time at the coast. Hope to get back on it sunday for at least a few hours.

Sean

[Vol242vo]

You should fabricate the first Plexiglass flat hood...

[M.H. Yount]

What spring rates?

[SML]

Epic build! Super inspiring! I envy both your time management and fabrication skills! I'm sooooo much slower than most of the builders here and it makes me sad lol

I do have a random question. As I understand it, LSx motors are fairly good with boost in stock format, excepting the piston rings needing filing. Any thoughts on that? I know that's what ****ed up the Roadkill budget LS turbo build on Youtube (the first time).

I'm planning an LS build and keep waffling over what the end goal is. My budget's super tight and I am currently leaning towards a humble 4.8 since they're cheaper than dirt, but I don't want to be disappointed right off the bat with performance.

Anyway, great build! Keep up the awesome work!

[vertigosity]

Originally Posted by Vol242vo

You should fabricate the first Plexiglass flat hood...

A ZR1 hood cutout would probably work pretty well with a standard coffin-hood, actually

[hackster]

Originally Posted by Vol242vo

You should fabricate the first Plexiglass flat hood...

Haha Thanks for the compliment but it would be so hard to keep clean

Originally Posted by M.H. Yount

What spring rates?

Dual Stage fronts Main 7" 650 lb 2.5" Tender Spring 250lb spring rate.

Originally Posted by SML

Epic build! Super inspiring! I envy both your time management and fabrication skills! I'm sooooo much slower than most of the builders here and it makes me sad lol

I do have a random question. As I understand it, LSx motors are fairly good with boost in stock format, excepting the piston rings needing filing. Any thoughts on that? I know that's what ****ed up the Roadkill budget LS turbo build on Youtube (the first time).

I'm planning an LS build and keep waffling over what the end goal is. My budget's super tight and I am currently leaning towards a humble 4.8 since they're cheaper than dirt, but I don't want to be disappointed right off the bat with performance.

Anyway, great build! Keep up the awesome work!

Thank you, but I have a lot of experience and have built lots of cars so I have a pretty good mental picture before I ever buy a thing. I am also a heavy planner and orderer so I try and think a few steps ahead and always have parts here to work with.

The 4.8 is a solid foundation. The issue that people have in my opinion is getting greedy with power. If you know what your end goal is, build it with that in mind. If you are going to keep it mild, say 500 hp daily driver, do some head gaskets and low boost and have at it. If you are going to boost it to the moon and run crazy numbers, pull it apart, do some rings, ARP stud everything, head gaskets and boost it till you melt a piston or take out the bottom end.

Dont kid yourself, you can make a ton of power with a 4.8.

Originally Posted by vertigosity

A ZR1 hood cutout would probably work pretty well with a standard coffin-hood, actually

This has seriously crossed my mind and I think it would actually fit pretty well. Ill see how the rest goes and maybe try it down the road.

Sean