Defenistrator's L33 powered '90 GXL 8.8 IRS

[skinnies]

The L33 does have the better rods, the older rods start bending around 700rwhp. You need to check to see what reluctor wheel it has also depending on what pcm you use. I'm running the stock shortblock(well really stock longblock as the heads are the stock 799 heads) on my L33 that has the ls stock shortblock record, time in sig.

N/A it should make good power and if you ever do turbo it, then it will really make some power. I made 686rwhp through the auto on 18lbs with a TC78, really needed a bigger turbo.

[Defenistrator]

Mine's the old style reluctor wheel.  Are these rods the same as an LS2 or something unique?  Wow, I'd hate to be limited to ONLY 700 RWHP!    My concern with forced induction came from 9.9-1 compression with these cast flat-tops, do the head gaskets you use lower compression any or is it just for better sealing?

For my build I think I'm leaning towards going with the auto, and tackle building a cradle for an 8.8 rear end.  Maybe I'll give the explorer housing a try.

[skinnies]

They are the ls2 rods, around 900rwhp they'll bend, lol. I use the ls9 gaskets as they hold better and don't push water as bad as the stock ones do. So far we haven't pushed any water on my L33 setup with the ls9 gaskets and arp head studs, even not at 20lbs. I'm sure it's around 725rwhp at 20lbs, never got to dyno it or make track passes on 20lbs though.

[Defenistrator]

Did some massive garage cleaning and finally brought my car back inside and out from under the car cover.  I share part of the big 30x30 garage space with my dad and his project car so our messes are often fighting each other. 

This sight seems to be common to about every FC build thread I've seen and mine is no different.  Guess Mazda put some real garbage seals in the master from the factory.  This is after a liberal dose of brake cleaner and wire brushing, paint comes next.



There was an area behind the passenger door that concerned me on the car, when I initially bought the car it was just a crack in the paint.  The paint chipped off to reveal what looked like bondo with a large crack in it.  This picture is after I merely touched that crack with a screwdriver and a little piece fell out.  Notice what looks like rust seepage by the door jamb, right above that side trim piece?  As much as I despise body work, it's time to chisel out this BS.


And this is what it looked like after I got the majority out.  The pure bondo was a solid inch thick where it cracked, and moisture had started to infiltrate and cause what I was lucky to discover is just some mild surface rust.  The side trim piece was miraculously still held on by a few pieces of double stick tape.  Feeling a slight bump in the door and another small paint crack, I discovered another bondo area there, luckily not too thick.  It's a relatively shallow ding.



This body BS is what I'm looking forward to the least, and putting that trim piece back on properly might be a challenge.

[Defenistrator]

Started pulling off the weather stripping, and trim around the windows and windshield.  Holy SHIT is this car filthy in every crack & crease!!  It is obvious that the car spent a long time sitting outdoors, everywhere there is an area for dirt together, it was full of dirt to the very brim.  The positive news is there is virtually no rust at all in the areas you would expect it to begin, under all the trim.  It sure as hell had the perfect environment to form. 


While the side window and windshield trim was all intact and in one piece, it's in rather sad shape.  The paint had almost all peeled off the bottom window trim leaving rusting steel, and it's cracking and coming off the side windshield trim as well.  The paint or molded on plastic or whatever has chipped back several places where it forms a lip by the glass.  I'm thinking of just trimming that lip off completely, bringing it to the metal and re-painting it black. 
Anybody else have an FC with ugly trim like this?  What was your ultimate solution?  This will be no show car but I want it to look halfway decent on a low budget.



I'd also like to thank Curt AKA theantirotor for getting me a full set of locks and the ignition switch for my car.  For some odd reason my original ignition switch locked up not long after getting the car, and my door locks didn't like my key either.
I still need to track down the actual ignition switch that goes into the lock assembly, I cut the leads off the original to jack-leg in this ugly switch when it was rotary powered, and I want to go back now.  I think the old switch ended up in the trash.  Anybody with a spare switch or FC parts car that could help me out with that?

[Defenistrator]

Got my tax refund in, part of that covers bills but a good chunk is going to obtaining more parts.

Finally picked up some head bolts and a few various gaskets, and got the top end of the L33 re-assembled.  I've decided I'm going to leave it with the stock cam for the time being.  I'm too anxious to get it running on a low budget to put any go fast goodies into the engine yet.  They can come later easily enough.



Thanks to a couple forum members I have an LS1 intake manifold, starter motor, and c6 Vette LS2 exhaust manifolds on the way.  I'm getting excited to see the engine coming together, though I still need a lot of parts:

*f-body oil pan and pickup tube
*coil packs
*ls1 injectors and fuel rail
* a full set of f-body accessories
Not to mention various sensors, wiring harness, ECM etc.

I think I'm going to go ahead and use a truck harness, and keep the throttle by wire.  I guess I'll need the control module for that as well, and maybe the throttle pedal from a Chevy Cobalt (looking at my own Cobalt I think it'll be a decent fit)

The interior has also been coming together again.  I have a strange blue/grey interior mixture now, but really I don't think it looks too bad!  The grey carpet, dash and container bins come from another car. The blue stuff is the original for the car.  I discovered the hard way that the grey center console came from a car without power seatbelts... the thing doesn't exactly fit.

[DailyDSM]

Nice build.  I'm using an L33 as well for my FD swap.  You might want to reconsider keeping the stock cam.  The powerband for the truck motors is quite a bit different than the LS motors.  Think about where a truck needs its power.  You will likely be running out of steam around 4000-4500 RPMS.  At the very least, it would probably be beneficial to pick up a stock LS1/LS6 cam.

[Defenistrator]

The L33 is rated at 310 hp while blowing through the truck's log manifolds and single 2.5" pipe.  I believe a '98 camaro LS1 for comparison was rated at 305.Also there is this from the big FAQ on this forum:

2001
1. A small percentage of 2001 and 2002 LS1s actually had LS6 blocks which had a different part number and a darker metal cast
2. Starting 2001, some LS1s came with an LS6 intake manifold without an EGR system
3. Advertised HP output was changed from 305 to 310 on base LS1s and from 320 to 325 on WS6s and SSs
4. 2001-02 cars have a smaller cam from the Vortec truck engines to increase low end torque
5. 2001-02 cars had 28 lb fuel injectors like the 98 cars (albeit different part numbers)
6. Manual transmission cars all came with the Z06 clutch

Remember the L33 is a different animal from the iron block 5.3, it has essentially an LS6 block and LS6 heads, and a higher compression.  A stock ls1 cam won't be likely to change anything, though an ls6 cam should wake it up a little more. 
Right now, it's all coming down to money.  I'm on a tight budget and in order to get this car going I need to stick to the basics for the time being.  I can always add a bigger cam later, I'll probably want a TR224 and then of course, a tune (more money!) 

[Defenistrator]

Completed possibly the first FC Integra speedo AND tach swap! 
Got the Acura gauge cluster from the all-Honda junkyard that's only a couple miles from my house.  They would only sell me the complete cluster, and the price... I regretted a bit, kind of made my butt hurt.  So... I was determined to get as MUCH use as possible out of it!

I like the look of the Integra gauge faces even better than the FCs, and both tachs use the same 3-wire input and receive a 4-cylinder type tach signal, so I figured this wouldn't be too hard.  Well, the wiring wasn't... but the tach was more difficult to make fit properly than the speedo.  I had to grind out all sorts of plastic from the gauge cluster housing, and decided to go the hot glue route to hold both gauges to the bezel.



Wired up the gauges to work directly with the stock instrument panel plugs.  The speedometer signal will be fed by pin that used to interface with the now gone 20k mile switch on the stock speedo.  I spliced in a wire to that connector and ran it all the way to the engine compartment for now.



Looks almost like it was made to be there!  Oh yeah, I also rolled back the odometer so I can keep track of the project's mileage easier.  I'll probably try feeding the backlights some power soon to see how it looks, as I'm too impatient to wait till the whole swap is done.  if I find it looks insufficient on the speedo & tach I may add some additional LEDs to the circuit.

[ilovemybike]

Cluster looks great.

[martiniracing]

why are using the integra tach, so you can match the speedo? 

i guess you're using the integra tach for the digi signal

[Defenistrator]

why are using the integra tach, so you can match the speedo? 

i guess you're using the integra tach for the digi signal

Yeah, basically the only reason I decided to use the Integra tach is because I like the look of those gauge faces, plus I got ripped off on the price of that cluster and felt determined to use as much of it as possible!    Both tachs are fed the same way and marked the same on their corresponding circuit boards, so there should be no real adaptation on the electronics end.

[martiniracing]

but i guess you'd still need to mix the signal around with a dakota

[Defenistrator]

I thought the LS engines output a 4 cylinder type tach signal, and so do the rotaries.  The rx7 tach works fine without any adjustment, would make me guess that this 4-cyl Honda tach should work fine too.  Both the rx7 and Integra circuit boards have a switched power, ground, and "IGN -" signal input.  The 4th pin on the RX tach was just the shift buzzer signal.

Over all, I just liked the look of these gauge faces better. 

[Jarhead Steve]

why are using the integra tach, so you can match the speedo?

He's gonna toss some V-tec heads on there and rev to 8500 lol

Looks good man!