Chapter 15: Summer Upgrades

Summer time...For me, that means summer school and more time at work. But, more time at work means lots of sweat, and hopefully a little extra cash. With the extra hours I'm getting, I can finally get around to taking care of some things that I have been putting off. The to do list is quite lengthy, but I would really love to get a lot of this stuff done. I plan on updating this page throughout the summer as I (hopefully) get more items checked off the list.

As of 8/31, the to do list includes:
    -ABS Delete, re-route brake lines
    -Crankcase breather catch can
    -Fixed headlight conversion-HID's?

Already done:
    -LTCC Coil conversion (LS1 coil pack conversion, no more opti!)
    -Redo headlight switch
    -Hood pins
    -LT4 Hot cam install w/ new timing chain water pump, seals, etc

After seeing a friend's hood cable break and then catch fire under the hood (and not being able to open it), I decided I didn't want to meet the same fate. Hood pins seemed like a great idea, especially considering C4's have two cables due to the reverse opening hood. A set of Afco hood pins were a mere $12. I welded mounting plates in place of the previous hood latch assembly, and bolted on the pins. Ten minutes with a drill, five mins with a $7 Harbor Freight rivet gun, and I was good to go. While I didn't weigh the parts involved, the factory hood latches were quite beefy, and I'm sure I dropped a pound or two in the process.

WOOOOOOOOOT!!! It is a glorious day! My LTCC LS1 coil conversion kit is installed and working great. My coil mounts came out OK, and my plug wires work great. I mounted the control box on the frame rail. Initally I had a problem with a poor optical signal, but I traced the problem to the wiring harness that comes from the opti to the factory and LTCC wiring. I can't wait to get it back on track and see if this takes care of the miss I have been chasing in high load/high speed/high RPM situations.

In other news, I replaced and rewired my headlight switch. The factory switch has been very flaky; the interior lights would only work if you held the switch just right. Rather than pay $85 for a new switch, I redid the wiring with a standard 3 position rocker switch, mounted in my center swtich panel.

Hopefully my updates to come as I get some of this stuff done.

Update: 8/31/07

Cam swap is done! Finally! Go to Chapter 15a for the full story.

As far as the rest of my list, well, it looks like some stuff will have to wait. I am planning on doing a breather catch can very soon, with money left over from the summer, but the ABS and headlights will have to wait. There is some good news. Summer school went very well, and my dream of assulting Tamscc's SSM auto-x class has become a reality. I don't want to spill the beans before the first event in about a week, but things are looking good for some SSM domination. More info to come!

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