fixing her up

**ls1ws6ben** · 12-28-2010, 02:06 PM

well i got the lower manifold exhaust gasket replaced today.. sounds so much better.. while she was on the rack we went through some more things and here is what we found.. the rubber transmission mount is shot, and the rack and pinion is leaking and needs to be replaced and so do the rear bump stops.. other than that, everything seems to be in order.. after replacing the manifold gasket, it even idled alittle smoother.. so far the rack and pinion seems to be the most expensive thing to replace.. so thats a good thing..

**silverWS6** · 12-28-2010, 03:36 PM

Not too bad, tranny mount should be an easy fix

**ls1ws6ben** · 12-28-2010, 03:39 PM

yeah starting with the cheap stuff first.. since i bought it in texas, i have to pay taxes on it here in louisiana but it shouldnt be to much.. then i can put a decent exhaust on there! thats what im really waiting for.. an LS1 with a good exhaust.... love that sound

**RyanJM** · 12-29-2010, 05:59 PM

I wouldn't worry about those rear rubber bump stops when I lowered my car mine were beat so I just ripped them off. They don't really do anything.

**justinmc978** · 12-29-2010, 06:13 PM

Originally Posted by ls1ws6ben

so far the rack and pinion seems to be the most expensive thing to replace.. so thats a good thing..

research that carefully there are so many different units availiable on the market, all based on what suspension options your t/a has, check those with your rpo code tag on the drivers side door. mine needs replacing too and I'm not looking forward to it, you have to jack the motor off of it's mounts or hack off the bolt trapped under the oilpan on the drivers side to pull it out, fun stuff awaits us.

Originally Posted by silverWS.6

Not too bad, tranny mount should be an easy fix

haha, from my last car I got to where I could do it in 5 minutes.

Originally Posted by ls1ws6ben

yeah starting with the cheap stuff first.. since i bought it in texas, i have to pay taxes on it here in louisiana but it shouldnt be to much.. then i can put a decent exhaust on there! thats what im really waiting for.. an LS1 with a good exhaust.... love that sound

what exhaust are you thinking about?

Originally Posted by RyanJM

I wouldn't worry about those rear rubber bump stops when I lowered my car mine were beat so I just ripped them off. They don't really do anything.

true. they do nothing unless you slam the car like a lowrider.

**ls1ws6ben** · 12-30-2010, 03:30 PM

yeah it looks like the tranny mount is simple enough.. it really shocked me that oreilly auto parts wanted $73 for that! wtf? really?

rack and pinion, i have a mechanic that i trust do that.. he has been fixing cars forever and has worked on everything i have had and is very good and reasonable... especially with me... lol.. perks of knowing him a long time..

exhaust... not going to do anything major right now.. just a magna flow muffler with some nice tips.. may go back up there next week and get a quote if i went with magna flow bullets.. still debating..

**justinmc978** · 12-30-2010, 03:54 PM

Originally Posted by ls1ws6ben

yeah it looks like the tranny mount is simple enough.. it really shocked me that oreilly auto parts wanted $73 for that! wtf? really?

rack and pinion, i have a mechanic that i trust do that.. he has been fixing cars forever and has worked on everything i have had and is very good and reasonable... especially with me... lol.. perks of knowing him a long time..

exhaust... not going to do anything major right now.. just a magna flow muffler with some nice tips.. may go back up there next week and get a quote if i went with magna flow bullets.. still debating..

while your mechanic is doing the rack and pinion I would have him change the motor mounts too, he shouldn't even charge you for it because more than likely hes going to have to unbolt the existing ones anyways. my tranny mount broke over and over until I changed the motor mounts, then it was solid as a rock.

Magnaflow ftw as far as exhaust goes

**ls1ws6ben** · 12-30-2010, 04:27 PM

Originally Posted by justinmc978

while your mechanic is doing the rack and pinion I would have him change the motor mounts too, he shouldn't even charge you for it because more than likely hes going to have to unbolt the existing ones anyways. my tranny mount broke over and over until I changed the motor mounts, then it was solid as a rock.

Magnaflow ftw as far as exhaust goes

thats why i love this site.. thanks for the info.. i will definatley have that done

**Cutlass** · 12-30-2010, 06:19 PM

Originally Posted by justinmc978

while your mechanic is doing the rack and pinion I would have him change the motor mounts too, he shouldn't even charge you for it because more than likely hes going to have to unbolt the existing ones anyways.

The mechanic will probably charge an extra 1/2 hour or so of labor, but its definitely a good time to consider it since your most of the way there!!

**az gt eater** · 12-30-2010, 07:01 PM

I don't know about where you live, but I got a bill for taxes from the city of phoenix AFTER I paid the state. It was maybe a few weeks later for over 300. Good luck. And don't think you are bad off with those repairs. Could have been worse. Mine was.

**ls1ws6ben** · 12-30-2010, 07:06 PM

Originally Posted by az gt eater

I don't know about where you live, but I got a bill for taxes from the city of phoenix AFTER I paid the state. It was maybe a few weeks later for over 300. Good luck. And don't think you are bad off with those repairs. Could have been worse. Mine was.

well in louisiana, if you buy a car out of state, you have to pay the taxes on how much the car was.. so it should be about $400.. and i called the dealership i bought it from today, they are going to try and find the info from the previous owner so i can talk to him and see what work has been done already.. i have no idea if it is tuned or anything.. i would just like to know alittle more of history of the car. i know repairs will have to be made, but so far it isnt bad at all.. but seeing as the previous guy raced it, i would like to know more about it.. like one thing is i dont know what ideal idle is, but mine is about 900.. i can put it in drive and take my foot off the brake and it will go 5 mph or so without me giving it gas..it wants to go! lol.. is that normal?

**az gt eater** · 12-30-2010, 07:13 PM

No, that is not normal. As far as the previous owner, good luck with that. I have found many little things that point to my previous spraying my car. So, I haven't even driven mine faster than the last guy.....Yet. Bellhousing with holes in it. Umm,pressure plate that lookes like a ball peen hammer went at it for an hour. Um,service engine soon led desoldered. Umm,airlid is not factory and doesn't fit. Descreened MAF. BALD tires. Seriously, I couldn't drive it over 60 in the rain.

**az gt eater** · 12-30-2010, 07:14 PM

RPM's more like 650-700.

**ls1ws6ben** · 12-30-2010, 07:20 PM

well i had a good friend of mine tell me that it may have a mild cam in it as to why the rpms are so high.. but i dont know.. i have had it up on a rack and everything underneath checks out fine other than the tranny mount.. like i previously said, im taking it to my mechanic next week and let him look it over.. but drive wise, it runs great.. very smooth on the highway.. ive only gotten it up to 80, but at that, very smooth and normal as far as i can tell.. it accelerates fine, sounds fine..

**RyanJM** · 12-30-2010, 10:26 PM

If he had it tuned the rpms may have been raised. I know I raised mine to 800 or 850 to offset the charging for the ud pulleys. With my cam and stall idle is at 950 now.
I had my motor mounts and tranny mount replaced when we did the cam and it mad a huge difference the y pipe doesn't rattle on the floor boards under hard accel anymore.

**ls1ws6ben** · 12-31-2010, 01:04 AM

So it is possible that mine has a mild cam and a tune? Cause that's exactly what mine is doin. Someone told me a shop with a tech 2 computer would be able to tell me if it was tuned. Does anyone know if this is true?

**Cutlass** · 12-31-2010, 03:29 AM

Originally Posted by ls1ws6ben

Someone told me a shop with a tech 2 computer would be able to tell me if it was tuned. Does anyone know if this is true?

Maybe, but I doubt it.

**ls1ws6ben** · 12-31-2010, 03:41 AM

Ok so what's the easiest way to tell if it has a cam and is tuned? I thought when I got the lower manifold exhaust gasket fixed I would be able to tell by the exhaust sound. But not having a muffler I can't tell. What makes me think it has a cam and is tuned is the way the motor idles. Has a lope like it had a cam along with the higher rpms. Then I thought maybe it was misfireing if it wasn't cammed but at cruising speeds, its smooth as a babys ass. No missing, no nothing. The motor just purrs like a kitten? Maybe I just REALLY lucky with my $4000 purchase and its already cammed and tuned? I would really like to find out without having to spend a but load of money on diagnostics and some tearing it down. There has to be a way to find this out huh?

**pajeff02** · 12-31-2010, 04:48 AM

Only way I know to check for a cam without major disassembly would be to pull the driver side rocker cover, remove the rocker arm from the number one intake valve and then put a dial indicator on it to see what you get for lobe measurements and duration while you roll the engine over by hand.

As far as a tune goes, anyone with HP Tuners can download the tune from your PCM and run a compare against a stock tune to see if there are differences. Obviously, they need a stock tune to compare it with. If this is not possible, there are also certain parameters that are normally turned off or set to max that may be indicative of a tune.

Check your MAF to see if it has been modified, clean it with CRC MAF Cleaner, clean your throttle body and IAC valve (carefully), check your PCV hose on the side of your throttle body for cracks. Let us know what you find.

**RyanJM** · 12-31-2010, 06:05 AM

Any good shop that tunes ls cars should be able to.tell with HP tuner. If it has been tuned the fuel tables would be changed and added timing. Any LS tuner should.know the base values. If it's cammed they tuner should be able to.tell by the tune cause I know.it took my guy a.while of.tweaking to get my car tuned after the cam.