Topic: 1998 z28 build up / fixing junk thread (Read 9535 times)

random-strike · « **on:** January 20, 2020, 03:04:03 PM »

starting new thread

bought this 98 ls1 z28 for 2500 bucks on craigslist yesterday. i had to drive to bremerton, wa to get it tho. it was raining super hard the whole way up there and off and on heavy rain / slushy snow on the way back.

the guy bought the car for ls swap into his nova and ended up not doing it. it sat for 2 or 3 months with the t-tops leaking so it was wet inside but i got to it before there was any mold or real damage. someone put wood panel stickies onto a lot of the interior pieces LOL. has 130k and a4.

it runs and drives really nice its a steal for 2500 bucks. i'm going to put some elbow grease into it and get it fixed up nice. i started peeling off the wood shit on the drive home

has k&n lid, SLP loudmouth exhaust and the tips were put on backwards lol... it had a CEL on the way home and by the time i got back the CEL went off and stayed off. never checked to see what it was

PROS:
cheap
straight body with no dents
runs & drives great
decent wheels
SLP exhaust
shift kit or programming in transmission
everything inside works (power windows/power locks/power seat/power mirrors/cruise control)

CONS:
mismatched bald tires on every wheel
windshield wiper motor bad or broken / bent tab in mechanism wipers work fine but stop in the up position
goofy interior pieces
t-top leak
no T-STAT or broken T-STAT (never heats up fully but gets hot enough to have some heat)
backwards exhaust tips
headlights stuck on brights
brake rotors slightly warped but still stops good
headlight rubber seals messed up
no key fobs
belt sequel
cheesy messed up tint, especially on the rear hatch window (can't even see out of it)

already bought:

long tubes
t-stat
serp belt (installed right away)
275/40/r17 tires
drilled / slotted rotors & ceramic pads (same as ones i put on cobalt)
o2 extensions
2 new black 3.5" exhaust tips (same i put on cobalt)
bow tie valve stem caps

random-strike · « **Reply #1 on:** January 20, 2020, 03:06:29 PM »

looks better with new tires.

bfg geforce 2
275/40/r17

random-strike · « **Reply #2 on:** January 20, 2020, 03:07:42 PM »

headers and brakes came in the mail, china specials. going cheap on this car

random-strike · « **Reply #3 on:** January 20, 2020, 06:11:06 PM »

i was driving around for a couple days pulling the windshield wiper fuse out and putting it back in when it would start to rain. a pita...

so installed new wiper motor to fix issue of the wipers getting stuck at the top of the stroke when turned off. typical 90s 2000s GM problem... never had it happen before but apparently its common. tab gets bent or broken and messes everything up. in my case the clip that holds the little arm thing in place was broken

had to pry off the joint

found a quarter down in there by wiper motor lol

little arm was just flopping around...

new motor

back together, was easier than i thought it would be

make sure you use something to press the joints together completely or you will be taking it all apart again when the join pops off the first time you test it

ask me how i know

random-strike · « **Reply #4 on:** January 20, 2020, 06:15:43 PM »

had some time to install brakes.

these things make it real easy like

high temp BBQ paint clean up calipers a bit

OH NICE, rotors don't fit. cunts. have to send them back.

i primed a set of powerstop drilled and slotted rotors... they have already arrived... just need to install. they were $280 + shipping compared to $220 shipped for other cheaper ones

hopefully they are least send the correct parts

random-strike · « **Reply #5 on:** January 21, 2020, 06:07:06 PM »

powerstop z23 evolution brakes, these look nice! and actually fit

looking better

a must have

high temp bbq paint... better than that sweet covered in dirt look

repeat for passenger side

rears, brakes are tiny kinda funny

meats

reapeat for passenger side

random-strike · « **Reply #6 on:** January 21, 2020, 06:07:29 PM »

more amazon junk

random-strike · « **Reply #7 on:** January 21, 2020, 06:08:59 PM »

lowering springs and shocks should be here tomorrow. i cant wait to see how its going to look lowered 1.25"

random-strike · « **Reply #8 on:** January 21, 2020, 09:48:48 PM »

i went out to fix the weather stripping in the headlights and saw the mess the wires were in. stuff has been spliced into and all sorts of ugly shit. so i just ordered some replacement headlight assemblies. they arent OEM but they are direct replacements unlike these things. they didnt even fit right

i used a cheap hot glue gun, worked really well

random-strike · « **Reply #9 on:** January 21, 2020, 09:50:38 PM »

also replaced the thermostat, it kinda looked broken like the weap hole was messed up or it might have been a 160f one. i never used scanner to look or anything but it would barely climb above the line. i think it was a 160

its lame these come attached to the housing and you have to buy the entire thing. oh well...

the new one is 190f the tune from PCM4LESS will account for this and turn fans on sooner.

random-strike · « **Reply #10 on:** January 24, 2020, 12:55:19 PM »

installed derale cooling pan and plate and fin cooler yesterday in the rain

i got soaked... sucks havent one car garage chevelle is in there

i love derale cheap and good shit. never done me wrong

since i dont care about this pan i carefully drilled a hole in it to drain fluid and create as little mess as possible.

amazon sent me wrong trans filter, in the short time i've been working on this car i've gotten two wrong parts from amazon and two wrong parts from oreillys. at least i can drive over to oreillys and get the correct part asap.

trans pan

cooler:

was kinda a PITA to install just because everything is so tight in there and i wanted to be lazy and leave the radiator and everything in there. the zip tie mounting things that came with it suck one of them broke and wouldn't stay right. the rest was great.

random-strike · « **Reply #11 on:** January 26, 2020, 03:34:40 PM »

Put on springs and shocks I didn't get a picture of the finished product it was dark and I needed to rush away

I'm not super impressed by the look but it was raining and car is dirty

random-strike · « **Reply #12 on:** January 26, 2020, 03:35:33 PM »

I drove the car today a bit and it settled and it looks really good now im pretty happy with it. It doesn't bounce too much.

Installed the lights today they look amazing. I'm super stoked about how they look. I also fixed the lights so the brights aren't stuck on.

random-strike · « **Reply #13 on:** January 26, 2020, 03:36:43 PM »

The ttop seals looked pretty good. I saw a flew spots where the rubber was separating so I basically just glued them together I don't know if it'll work or last but we'll see.

random-strike · « **Reply #14 on:** January 26, 2020, 03:37:01 PM »

For some crazy reason the passenger side cat broke apart inside and it rattles really bad fking annoying guess I need to do long tubes asap

random-strike · « **Reply #15 on:** January 26, 2020, 03:52:46 PM »

random-strike · « **Reply #16 on:** January 29, 2020, 05:34:22 PM »

I took off the stock junk....

That passenger side rear bolt tho...

random-strike · « **Reply #17 on:** January 31, 2020, 02:30:47 AM »

Put headers on was a pita but not too bad...

Gotta wait for pcm to come back in the mail will probably be next week sometime. Then I need to get exhaust hooked up...

Ntrain2k · « **Reply #18 on:** January 31, 2020, 12:46:34 PM »

You should get HPTuners and do it yourself. Tons of good shit in their repository to go off of.

https://amzn.to/2QkBN8R

Made a huge change in my NA Ex.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGsXqzCq_kg

random-strike · « **Reply #19 on:** January 31, 2020, 02:32:19 PM »

i thought about it with my cobalt but i think it was going to be like 500 bucks

Ntrain2k · « **Reply #20 on:** January 31, 2020, 04:55:43 PM »

374.99 on amazon with 2 credits.

random-strike · « **Reply #21 on:** February 03, 2020, 06:08:10 PM »

still waiting for PCM.

finished up everything but the exhaust, gotta wait for PCM so i can drive it to shop.

the egr block off was really annoying because the threads on the passenger header were fucked up and i couldnt' get a bolt started. i had to drill into the hole a little bit to steady the bolt so i could force it in the threads and fix them, but it worked out in the end.

the SLP tower bar BARELY fit, i had to walk the bolts down

random-strike · « **Reply #22 on:** February 13, 2020, 01:18:12 PM »

car is finished mechanically now.

got the exhaust hooked up yesterday i bought a pacesetter y pipe.

with the SLP exhaust its extremely loud but doesn't drone when cruising. the part throttle cracks really loud full throttle sounds great. i dont mind that its loud on this car.

tune seems fine.

i cleaned up the interior a lot and it looks pretty good, got all the stickies off with a hair dryer and elbow grease... annoying.

i used some cleaner wax on the car i only went over 1 time but it looks like a million bucks from 10 feet.

if the sun comes out today i'll take a picture

random-strike · « **Reply #23 on:** February 17, 2020, 01:17:11 AM »

I keep getting knock sensor code... Bought some and have to put them in very annoying lol

Car is pretty f'ing fast I really like it.

Cleaned it up a lot fixed stuff in interior

random-strike · « **Reply #24 on:** February 24, 2020, 07:37:27 PM »

the hilariously loud exhaust is setting off my knock sensors when it cracks really loud just past part throttle.

i put two new ac delco sensors in it and a new harness, and i can see in torque when the exhaust starts to really get loud i'm getting 4.0KR

Quote from: Ntrain2k on January 31, 2020, 12:46:34 PM

You should get HPTuners and do it yourself. Tons of good shit in their repository to go off of.

https://amzn.to/2QkBN8R

Made a huge change in my NA Ex.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zGsXqzCq_kg

ntrain can you help me out finding the cheapest option for my with hptuners. i need to turn off or at least desensitize the sensors.

there are like 3 different options on the hptuners site.

Ntrain2k · « **Reply #25 on:** February 25, 2020, 03:24:16 PM »

You mean purchase options for it?

If so, the cheapest one I have seen with the 2 credits needed is in the link I posted earlier.

https://amzn.to/2QkBN8R

random-strike · « **Reply #26 on:** February 25, 2020, 03:30:42 PM »

Quote from: Ntrain2k on February 25, 2020, 03:24:16 PM

You mean purchase options for it?

If so, the cheapest one I have seen with the 2 credits needed is in the link I posted earlier.

https://amzn.to/2QkBN8R

Cool that's the package I bought this morning

Thx

Ntrain2k · « **Reply #27 on:** February 25, 2020, 05:28:13 PM »

No problem.

random-strike · « **Reply #28 on:** February 25, 2020, 05:54:13 PM »

do i need a cable or does the new MPVI2 Tuner can use bluetooth?

Ntrain2k · « **Reply #29 on:** February 26, 2020, 11:09:57 AM »

Quote from: random-strike on February 25, 2020, 05:54:13 PM

do i need a cable or does the new MPVI2 Tuner can use bluetooth?

It has the plug in for the OBD2 port and has a USB C cable also.

I "think" it will do blue tooth, but I haven't looked into it. I prefer to use the actual cable connection.

News:

Author Topic: 1998 z28 build up / fixing junk thread (Read 9535 times)