Not Another Cheap V8 Swap... (Pic Heavy)

[90e30ls]

I can't tell you how discouraging it is to read this.....I can't believe after spending that kind of money they have to be modified to that degree. Would your buddy be interested in doing another set after yours?


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[White325is]

1000.00 a set is the reason why I made my own headers. 60.00 for flanges, 140.00 for V band flanges and 185.00 for pipe and a week worth of bitching. lol..

[bmk]

I am rather surprised.... $1000 headers and they dont fit consistently from one set to another AND they drop that low. I would be pissed. I was thinking about getting a set but think im gonna just to cutouts now :/

[E30Whore]

Not Another Cheap V8 Swap...

Headers Part 2

So to make a long story short, Sikky clearly doesn't have a correct length header. There customer service is outstanding, mailed me several sets and even refunded me a portion of what I spent on the headers. Cheers to them.

However, I'm still stuck with a set of headers that are to long. As a reminder, here is a pic of how low they sit below the subframe.



Once I got the headers back off, took some rough measurements. Looks like I'll be cutting off 6" and 6.75" respectively.

Since I don't do much of any welding, I hacked the header and then sent them over to a buddy of mine who is a self proclaimed "hot rodder" to finish modifying them.





The Plan:

While my friend John has the headers, I'll get the transmission and driveshaft mounted up. Then, I'll roll it up the street to his garage where he will mock up some exhaust.


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[E30Whore]

Yep. Those right there are the same headers that I and others have received. They are in fact E30 headers given the bends in the primaries and collector which contour around the chassis/body/subframe/etc.

Kinda surprised you had issues with the passenger side headers though. Literally took me less than 20 seconds to drop in and a minute to tight all the bolts.

I beat out the fenders and firewall as directed to properly fit these. I'm also surprised the fit was so tight. After communicating the issues with Sikky, they seemed sincerely surprised that the collector was too long however, from what I hear out of several customers, it's a known issue.

They sent me 4 total sets of headers, some fitting worse than the original set. I eventually gave up and decided to modify the very first set I had since they fit the best.

[E30Whore]

Not Another Cheap V8 Swap... (Pic Heavy)

After some sleep, we came back to finish up the suspension.

We still have control arms, tie rods, bushings, end links etc to install.

Let's get to it..







Again, everything Sikky "shows" real well. After finishing up the remainder of the ECS Suspension kit install, we moved around back to install the diff spacers (required to fit aluminum driveshaft), new axles and swapped the 2.93 for a 3.73 rear diff.











Oops.. Is that an inadvertent "teaser pic" of the wheels that made its way in this post. I think so!




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[Q8y_drifter]

Yep. Those right there are the same headers that I and others have received. They are in fact E30 headers given the bends in the primaries and collector which contour around the chassis/body/subframe/etc.

Kinda surprised you had issues with the passenger side headers though. Literally took me less than 20 seconds to drop in and a minute to tight all the bolts.

[E30Whore]

Not Another Cheap V8 Swap...

Sikky Headers Part 1

After roughly 6 hours, busted up knuckles, unbolted subframe and removing the motor mounts....we finally got the headers installed. It was a major pain in the butt, clearance is nonexistent and the only way to fit the passenger side is to slide them in from the top and loosen the motor mount. The drivers side however required a lot more labor, after unbolting everything, we were able to slide the header into place from the bottom. Bolted it in and reinstalled everything else..







As you would guess, it was extremely depressing to see how long the collectors were.

Check out how low the collectors are sitting. When the car is off the lift, I have about 1.5" of clearance between the collector and the floor. Currently, they are sitting about 6" below the subframe.





I called Silky and explained what's going on, our first thought is we have a set of Sikky's 350z headers and not E30. Time to take them off and mail them back...





One bit of good news, we got the power steering lines and E36 steering rack installed.



Sikky is mailing me new headers in the morning, to be continued...


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[E30Whore]

Not Another Cheap V8 Swap...

Another look at the booster delete before we drooped the motor back in..

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Here is a good look at the GC camber plates tucked nicely in there forever home. :)

Also take note that I reused the Silverado truck coil packs and brackets. Per LSTech, this is uncommon but actually works well and a huge savings. You may notice they aren't as "sleek" as the LS1 Coil Packs but they do the job for now. I may come back and address these once the car is up and running.

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Here things are looking pretty good. With the amount of space between block and fender, I'm guessing the headers will slide right in. I paid good money for the Sikky swap headers, they must fit right?

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[E30Whore]

Not Another Cheap V8 Swap... (Pic Heavy)

After a hell of a week, this is my current situation...



So let's go back a few days..

We started with the Sikky Booster Delete kit, master cylinder and abs. Everything went in fine, no problems and I was feeling pretty motivated so we decided to pull a all nighter and start playing with headers and suspension.

I know, I'm all over the place with no sense of direction but I'm working with what I have on hand and get bored easily.

Here, you can see the clean install of the booster delete. Also hard to ignore is the quality craftsmanship of all things Sikky. Motor mounts look amazing!



Next, we got the car on the lift and tackled the coilovers. Have I said how much I love Ground Control, they make quality stuff that installed painlessly.



Now that she's on the lift, it took no time to install the new hardware, it looks great in the fender wells.





Figured I'd throw on the stoptech rotors and lines while I'm down here. I'm starting to become addicted to new parts because they all look and fit so good. Except for the headers.... Yeah, more on that later!



Moved around back and installed the rear Ground Control setup. As expected, all went into place as it should. The underside of this car is really looking good. Makes me anxious to drive it!



Can't forget some chassis supports I scored from Bimmerworld.





Up to this point, all was pretty painless. A few hours in and the car is starting to come together nicely.

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[bmk]

Do you know if its gonna work fine with the t56?... GM cars with the t56 sometimes have problems getting locked out of gear at high RPMs and the people at Ls1tech like to blame the clutch master.

This definitely happens in the E30 or at least in my case. Ive been trying to sort it out. Ive replaced both the master and the slave and bled them over and over, changed fluid, even gave the clutch master its own reservoir which has helped a lot. The only thing that works is double clutching and even that doenst work all the time. Some times I have to coast until the RPM's drop below 3K.

Usually only happens at WOT on freeway pulls shifting at 6k or so

To be noted I am on the stock shifter which I suspect is at some fault...

Not sure if anyone else had has this issue?

[E30Whore]

I just did a little digging around and found out that the e30 and f-body clutch masters have the same bore size, with the f-body having a 1.1" stroke. I could not find the stroke length of the e30 clutch master, but from what I have seen it looks like the stock one should be fine, especially with the twin disk clutch.

Thats is good because its just one less thing to mess with when doing the swap.

Thanks for the update, this is good info for those looking to do the swap but unsure. No need to spend where its not needed when it starts coming down to penny pinching ;)

[z28]

I just did a little digging around and found out that the e30 and f-body clutch masters have the same bore size, with the f-body having a 1.1" stroke. I could not find the stroke length of the e30 clutch master, but from what I have seen it looks like the stock one should be fine, especially with the twin disk clutch.

Thats is good because its just one less thing to mess with when doing the swap.

[E30Whore]

Not Another Cheap V8 Swap... (Pic Heavy)

Pretty sure It's the GM masters that suck! I think they are plastic or something and the square cut seals collapse making the pedal stick to the floor...


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[E30Whore]

Do you know if its gonna work fine with the t56?... GM cars with the t56 sometimes have problems getting locked out of gear at high RPMs and the people at Ls1tech like to blame the clutch master.

Per Sikky, the stock one should work just fine. They hadn't directed me to change/upgrade it so I wasn't planning on it. You raise a good question though, I will make a few calls tomorrow and report back with a update.