[5SSix1caprice]

So after many years of reading on this forum and wanting to upgrade my 4.3 a simple cold air intake snowballed into an all out project! I’ve owned many caprices over the years but never was able to keep them long enough to start performance upgrades so here I am after I0 plus years finally giving it a shot.

when I first bought the car it was in a pretty neglected condition. The reservoir was full of the dreaded orange mud, so naturally I replaced everything cooling related after flushing the engine for a few weeks and all was well.
After dealing with the cooling my fuel pump went out so I went ahead and installed a racetronix fuel pump kit with there stand alone wiring harness for it as well, the install was pretty straight forward with a big help from 4DoorSS write up of his install and I had it done in a few hours after modifying the sending unit for the bigger pump, and everything work as should.
As more time passed I began to want more ponies under the hood so after looking around I found 377lt1 engine for sale close by me and picked it up. The I went ahead and broke the engine down for inspection and to ID the crank and cam that is in it and everything checked out that the seller claimed was inside so it’s off to buy some fancy parts for it. This past weekend me and a friend began reassembling the engine and so far this is where I’m at with it. I will add more info and pics as I continue this long over due project as I have bought tons of goodies for

 

[sherlock9c1]

Awesome! I'll tell you what, a build thread can be great motivation to keep the project moving!

 

[5SSix1caprice]

Sherlock9c1, your right about that. I have been reading your “sherlock finally gets an impala” thread over the past few weeks and it was a definitely a motivator for me as well as very helpful and informative for rookies like me, also thanks again for pointing me in the right direction for TC stall and the educational camshaft videos, I still have a lot to learn but with the knowledge and help offered through this great forum I’m definitely up for the challenge!

 

[sherlock9c1]

I need to finish the Impala so I can start "Sherlock gets... another wagon." That poor wagon's been sitting since 2016. At least it's stored indoors now. It's amazing how much longer the punchlist gets once you start driving the car, and realize the little extras that need attention.

 

[96Lt1civi]

Nice cappy!

If it was a 4.3 car than I believe it should have the 7.5" rear end. I've heard that 7.5' won't survive stock LT1 power, let alone a modded one. Just something to look out for.

 

[5SSix1caprice]

96lt1civi your a 100% correct and finding a rear end from a impala or 9c1 was difficult but I eventually found a 9c1 rear end with 3.23 gears and sourced a impala driveshaft locally. When I finally got the rear end home and opened it up I was relieved to find gears and axles in great condition considering where I found this thing at. After a good cleaning and paint job I ordered new brake lines for the for the rear disc brakes I now have and got the Russell brake hose kit as well as stealth brake bolt and bolt2. The car handles ALOT better with the 9c1 rear end + sway bar as my original 7.5 did not even have one on it.

 

[Ken Hennessy]

That is the wrong timing cover for a 1996 in your engine picture. There is no boss for the crankshaft position sensor. (CPS). also it probably doesn't have a crank reluctor wheel.

 

[5SSix1caprice]

Ken Hennessy, good lookin out you have a good eye. I have just recently converted to an obd1 setup as well as a tune for the l99 until I complete my build.

 

[5SSix1caprice]

Hey Gang, figure I’d post an update, today we continued the assembly of my engine and ran across a few issues like a damaged lifter, broke timing cover bolt and the lip of my oil pan is in the way of the knock sensor. I used some easy outs to extract broken bolt and purchased a new set of ls7 lifters but on the knock sensors I can only get about 2 or 3 threads before it makes contact with the pan. After doing some research I found I can relocate both knock sensors with Ron Francis KB-41 adapters. I won’t know if it works 100% until the adapter comes in but hopefully it works. I have read about a few f- body’s doing this to clear LT headers with success so here’s a picture of where I’m at so far (I forgot to take a pic of knock sensor problem but it’s pretty self explanatory) If anyone has a different method of relocating knock sensors I’m all ears short of deleting them out the tune TIA!

 

[96Lt1civi]

Can the oil pan trimmed where the knock sensor goes? Some more pics would help.

 

[5SSix1caprice]

96lt1civi, My engine is about an hour and a half away so I won’t have better pics until tomorrow sorry, but if you look at one of the first posts with pan installed you can see the size of the lip. I’d rather not cut the lip since it’s a very expensive pan but I’d image that’s what would be done if I sent it back.