KEL's S14.5 Fueled Racing LS1 build (weekly update)

[SR2oD3T]

my name is kelvin. i've been on and off with 240sx for over ten years. went through couple of KA SR s13 s14. finally i found a complete s15 swapped s14.5 couple years ago. now here I'm dropping a LS1 into it and making a build thread for it mainly to document my work. I'm not a pro but i do have 2 years of mechanic back ground and I'm a big time self learner. therefore, this thread is open for opinion and ideas.


what:
2001 camaro SS LS1 with T56 swap into 1995 240sx


which:
complete Fueled Racing kit and wiring specialties harness.


why:
hm… this can go on and on. but one of the biggest reason is i want some easy reliable power as this is my drift only car. gotta cheat a little bit on the power...


when:
I'm off two days a week. and thats the time i would put my hands on it. ideally should be complete by the end of the year.


who:
myself. my lovely wife will be my photographer and assistant, mainly taking pictures while I'm holding some dirty 50lbs parts.


where:
in my backyard. i set it up that way so i can still park my other cars in the garage at the time being.


how:
hm… i'll show u how below…




before we start, here's couple pictures of it on the last drift event








------------------------------------------------------------------------------

week # 1

ok here we go. i'm gonna start from checking out a full swap i found on craigslist. it wasn't easy to get to this cus now adays people are asking for way too much for a decent LS1 drop out. i seen as high as $6k for a 22k miles drop out with t56. anyways, i found this on a quater panel damaged 2001 camaro SS with T56. owner decide to just part it out. the damage on the car wasnt even that bad but who cares cus i got what i want. it has 92k on the clock and what perfect was, not only its a complete drop out, i also got a chance to go test drive it before they start pulling it out for me to pick up.

bought my mini husky with me on the 2 hours road trip




when we first met.





i asked them to send me couple of pictures while removing it.








------------------------------------------------------------------------------
week # 2

i went pick up the swap the next week. people said LS1 is light weight aluminum but all the accessories bolted up and the t56, its pretty damn heavy.

me loading up the whole thing on the back of my F150





got them home...


its very hard to move it around in one piece so i took the tranny and exhaust manifold apart...








------------------------------------------------------------------------------

week #3

this week i started to remove all the acessories, remove and label the wiring harness and have a better understanding on where all the sensors go.

i'm also shooting videos for this project. i'l put together a video of all footage once the project completed.


all plugs are labeled before remove.


complete un cut LS1 with T56 harness labeled


removed all accessories and drain oil.


starting to clean up the dirty ls1.





time for a shower


much better looking..








----------------------------------------------------------------------------

week # 4

nothing much going on this week but i actually did a lot. since this project is gonna take couple months. i have to clear out a space at the backyard for this project so i can see have my garage to park my other cars. i spent two days to just clean up the backyard. trashed a lot of spare parts and recycled about 1 ton worth of metal.




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

week # 5

didnt do much this week as i went to a short trip with my wife. but i still manage to come back and did some cleaning on the T56. i just hate working on dirty cars that gets both my hands and tools dirty.




pretty dirty


the input shaft seal was leaking thats y it looks nasty inside. already ordered new OEM slave, input shaft seal, LS7 clutch and light weight flywheel from tick performance.














-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

week # 6

here is where this thread starting to get excited. i moved all my tool box and air compressor to the back, placed it on jack stand and started to take it apart.

before i started, it was kinda weird to work on the project without music. its just doesnt seems right!! so i went straight to best buy and bought this before we start...





i actually took a video of the sr20 running and couple of rev to hear the sexy blow off valve one last time.





my boy Rambo was trying to help out.





s14 and s15 metal fender hybird. pretty nice.


my wife was helping me to take pictures and label everything





all suspension parts out





oops! on the last drift event i slided out of the track and hit the red and white curb. was told by the shop that it bent the lower joint a little so here it is. good that PBM has the replacement of that. easy fix.


pretty good progress today

[TheRealSy90]

Looking good so far! That's actually a nicely done 15 conversion for once. What are you doing with the s15 motorset?

[drewr4411]

I will Definitely be tuning in for this one!

Glad to see more LS1 builds going on.

Can you chime in on why you chose fueled racings kit over SIKKY or anyone elses?

which:
complete Fueled Racing kit and wiring specialties harness.

[SR2oD3T]

Originally Posted by TheRealSy90

Looking good so far! That's actually a nicely done 15 conversion for once. What are you doing with the s15 motorset?

thanks man. the motor set will be clean up and up for sale once the swap is done and settle. for now it just sit on the side and look good.

Originally Posted by drewr4411

I will Definitely be tuning in for this one!

Glad to see more LS1 builds going on.

Can you chime in on why you chose fueled racings kit over SIKKY or anyone elses?

i was about to go for the sikky kit before i found fueled racing. I'm sure both are GOOD quality parts, i want the BEST however. when i do a deeper research, here's what i found.

1. Fueled racing kit sits lower and further back, closer to the fire wall.
better weight balance on the whole set up.

2. no tranny tunnel hammer require if any.
my opinion, if the kit require hammer to create extra space, the kit wasn't engineer right. and i see i lot of people have to pull the swap out multiple times to re hammer the tunnel which i wanna avoid.

3. better ground clearance.
everyone will want this. a lot of people damaged their manifold for going too low, which is very common on 240sx. mine's will see some track drifting time, maximum clearance is need. (they always just came out with a better clamp on the exhaust than the older v band. even more clearance for the area connecting from header to y pipe.)

4. works with front factory sway bar.
again, if a different sway is needed, the kit wasn't done right.

5. excellent reviews
i spent a lot of time researching on both kits. both have great reviews and they are all happy customers. however, 95% of them did not tried both kits. i found 2 people that actually used both. both said fueled racing has better quality kit overall in fitment and engineering.

6. tech support.
Todd is extremely helpful to answer all of my annoying questions. he always pick up his phone and reply my email (even its 11pm) and spends his time to explain everything make sure u completely understand. very professional.

there could be more. i haven't install the kit yet but I'm already happy with it so far. I'm confident on their product.

[SR2oD3T]

week # 7
i continue the second half of removing the SR this week.
Fueled Racing goodies had arrived along with the LS7 clutch, flywheel and turn one power steering pulley.






super high quality. i'm happy so far.








ready to come out.











yes, i'm dropping the engine from the bottom. i did quite a lot of research on this. this way i dont have to climb up and down lifting the engine sky high and at the same time hitting and scratch up the engine bay. only down side is needing to redo alignment after, which is not a big deal and im putting new suspension on it anyways.





i let the engine and tranny sit on two chart then lift up the front end.





its THAT easy. i pulled couple of 240sx engine before and finally found a MUCH easier way to that it out.





i litterary went to walmart and bought this just for fun


big thanks to my lovely wife encouraging me for this project, also taking all pictures, label all wiring, nuts and bolts while my hands are dirty.


to be continued...

[drewr4411]

Originally Posted by SR2oD3T

thanks man. the motor set will be clean up and up for sale once the swap is done and settle. for now it just sit on the side and look good.



i was about to go for the sikky kit before i found fueled racing. I'm sure both are GOOD quality parts, i want the BEST however. when i do a deeper research, here's what i found.

1. Fueled racing kit sits lower and further back, closer to the fire wall.
better weight balance on the whole set up.

2. no tranny tunnel hammer require if any.
my opinion, if the kit require hammer to create extra space, the kit wasn't engineer right. and i see i lot of people have to pull the swap out multiple times to re hammer the tunnel which i wanna avoid.

3. better ground clearance.
everyone will want this. a lot of people damaged their manifold for going too low, which is very common on 240sx. mine's will see some track drifting time, maximum clearance is need. (they always just came out with a better clamp on the exhaust than the older v band. even more clearance for the area connecting from header to y pipe.)

4. works with front factory sway bar.
again, if a different sway is needed, the kit wasn't done right.

5. excellent reviews
i spent a lot of time researching on both kits. both have great reviews and they are all happy customers. however, 95% of them did not tried both kits. i found 2 people that actually used both. both said fueled racing has better quality kit overall in fitment and engineering.

6. tech support.
Todd is extremely helpful to answer all of my annoying questions. he always pick up his phone and reply my email (even its 11pm) and spends his time to explain everything make sure u completely understand. very professional.

there could be more. i haven't install the kit yet but I'm already happy with it so far. I'm confident on their product.

Thank you for the response this was very insightful.

I mostly see people with SIkky kits and when I see you mentioned fueled racing I wanted to understand your thought process.

Keep up the progress!

[Fries]

Im excited to see your experience with Fueled. I like that Sikky offers essentially everything needed, but I'll be honest... I haven't researched fueled's kit very much

[1Day]

I'm running the Fueled kit with my S14 and just a heads up if you plan on getting really low your going to run into some issues like I did and I wasn't really that low.





I plan on pulling the engine and trans to hammer the tunnel, then add shims to bring them up a little higher. If these doesn't work long term goal may be to ditch the longtubes and go turbo with full oval.

Other than that I've had no issues with my Fueled kit and Todd is by far one of the nicest people to deal with. 100% best customer service!

[Malik]

keep us posted, good luck

[Royal_T]

very nice.. love the updates.. keep up the great work

[SR2oD3T]

thanks for all the kind words. im putting another update on week 8 soon in a day or two.

Originally Posted by 1Day

I'm running the Fueled kit with my S14 and just a heads up if you plan on getting really low your going to run into some issues like I did and I wasn't really that low.

I plan on pulling the engine and trans to hammer the tunnel, then add shims to bring them up a little higher. If these doesn't work long term goal may be to ditch the longtubes and go turbo with full oval.

Other than that I've had no issues with my Fueled kit and Todd is by far one of the nicest people to deal with. 100% best customer service!

i think i saw your post while i was doing my deep research lol. but yea i m aware of that. it seems to be a common issue on all ls swap kits but i think it has a lot to do with ride hide, which i m not planning to slam the car. thanks for the heads up tho. i'll see how it goes on my set up and keep u guys posted.

[drewr4411]

[QUOTE=SR2oD3T;5964310]thanks for all the kind words. im putting another update on week 8 soon in a day or two.


Looking forward to your next post.

[OBEEWON]

Boobs
Puppy
best photo ever.

[SR2oD3T]

Originally Posted by OBEEWON

Boobs
Puppy
best photo ever.

yup. got them all....

[SR2oD3T]

week 8

time for some update. this week i did more cleaning on the t56, install input shaft seal, install slave cylinder and ls7 clutch so i can do some measurement, strip the interior and got crazy with the wiring. enough said, i'll let the pictures begin...


front cover of t56 removed to replace input shaft seal. more cleaning...


new seal in


the t56 looks extremely clean to me inside. looks like it has been cleaned or rebuilt. gear looks fine as well. I'm happy with the condition.


get ready to go back in.





new OEM slave in.


now to the LS1


the pilot bearing took away some of my time. broke my cheap tool so i ending up borrowing it from auto zone.


there's a lot of ghetto way to remove this thing like pushing grease or even bread into the hole and hammer it. i rather do it the right way and don't wanna take the risk of damaging the crank.


took a lot of effort to make this thing move a bit. but once u get it to move a bit, it will come out pretty quickly.


see the big difference? i wonder if it has ever been changed at all.


new bushing in.


bolt up my light weight flywheel and ls7 clutch comes right after it.


next step is the measure the gap between the release bearing and the clutch pressure plate finger. a lot of people skipping this important step and have the engaging point too low. some LS will know what I'm talking about.





the measurement is right on the edge so i ordered a 0.113 shim from tick performance just to be safe.


next day i started tearing down the stupid roll cage i bought for temporary use since i can't find a cusco in stock and a cage to drift in tandem.


this thing is NOT going back in. I'm kinda embarrassing to have this part in my car. not that its doesn't do its job, but I'm just stubborn, i do like using off brand parts cus i believe in quality.


the preious owner spent some money on sound system. i enjoy listening to the engine all day. those 10 pounds of amp wires are coming out.


moving forward to the dash.


theres no way NOT to break this piece when removing the dash and i expected that. it was so crispy and dry up after 20 years.














also removing the three air boxes under the dash makes my life much easier to trace down the wiring.


i thought i would never mess with wiring on a car in my life cus they are so complicated. but here i'm. i don't wanna disconnect or cut something up that i don't no. so before I'm comfortable pulling it out, i went online, pull all the pinout and matches all the color, understanding how things were hooked up on the pre owner and label everything.


the s15 harness finally came out. even tho i won't be using it anymore, i want the next owner have a better clue when reinstalling into another car.


i ending up pulling out 10-15 pounds of useless wiring out from sound system, turbo timer, boost controller, alarm system etc. now i have a much better idea of how the wiring goes. getting ready ti order my harness from yury.


also did some more stripping in the engine bay. removed all hard lines, brake booster, clutch system out. now its almost completely gutted except the wiper motor which I'm still figuring out how to take it out, also the steering shaft is hanging around.


for the last picture of this update, i gotta share some info with u guys my MGW short shifter. got the best review on the F body T56 people. the down side is, they only make two threads for the shifter, 16mm oem or 12x1.75. it limited my shift knob choice to camaro or mustang knob. i tried to find a knob that i like but man, none of them really flow with the japanese interior. long story short, i got it special order to 12x1.5 pitch so i can re use my STI shift knob. (i know the reverse is in a different place now but who cares) i might be switching to OEM s15 knob later on.


thats it for this week so far. i will be preparing the engine for tubing with some trailer fender, which is another big chapter for me other than messing with wiring. i already have my eyes on a nice welding machine. also will be dropping the oil pan and starting to bolt up some fueled racing goodies for test fit. stay tuned....

[2muchboost]

One recommendation bud....add some heat barrier material to that fire wall and trans tunnel. These puppies run hot and it can be felt through the chassis. I am adding some Dynamat material to the inside (behind dash and under carpet), wrapping headers, and will be adding the ThermaCool barrier/reflective material to the fire wall (engine side) when i can. I also added a low temp thermo (160*) cause I saw temps slowly creeping in dead stop TX traffic and hot weather.

Keep up the good work I love what your doing.

[drewr4411]

Nice very cool update!

come on week 9

[alex7]

very nice ... keep updating us as I am very interested in doing this with one of my S chassis

[SR2oD3T]

Originally Posted by 2muchboost

One recommendation bud....add some heat barrier material to that fire wall and trans tunnel. These puppies run hot and it can be felt through the chassis. I am adding some Dynamat material to the inside (behind dash and under carpet), wrapping headers, and will be adding the ThermaCool barrier/reflective material to the fire wall (engine side) when i can. I also added a low temp thermo (160*) cause I saw temps slowly creeping in dead stop TX traffic and hot weather.

Keep up the good work I love what your doing.

thanks for the heads up. thats actually a good idea. i'll look into it.

[collegekid]

Photos are dead

[SR2oD3T]

yea i exceed the monthly limit on the bandwidth. its gonna reset in a couple of days and I'm gonna re organize my account.

[drewr4411]

I was hoping to see an update today for my morning read.

[Super_OK_S13]

nicely documented build so far!!! =)

[Visionshift]

Coming along nicely! Watching this one!

[Cisco357]

doing the same swap right now and you basically sealed sikky's fate lol. nice build so far and great quality parts

[zeitgeist]

Originally Posted by 2muchboost

One recommendation bud....add some heat barrier material to that fire wall and trans tunnel. These puppies run hot and it can be felt through the chassis. I am adding some Dynamat material to the inside (behind dash and under carpet), wrapping headers, and will be adding the ThermaCool barrier/reflective material to the fire wall (engine side) when i can. I also added a low temp thermo (160*) cause I saw temps slowly creeping in dead stop TX traffic and hot weather.

Keep up the good work I love what your doing.

What's your cooling setup? I run a 180 in texas with the ac on and the temp stays constant. You shouldnt be have any temp creep if all your plumbing and fans are set up right

Sr20d3t, are you rebuilding the motor? Either way replace those knock sensors and seal it up while your there. They tend to get water and go bad. Oil and power steering coolers are a must as well

[Konster]

Great build so far.

[2muchboost]

@Zeitgeist....plumbing looks fine and setup looks to be right on. Mishimoto dual pass rad, new water pump, stock thermo, 2 2"fans with no shroud. Water temps typically run 200-210 which is normal for an LS but have creeped to 215 which I don't like. I have Altima fans and the 160* thermo going in this weekend hopefully. Mind sharing your setup?

OP hope some of this info helps.

[SR2oD3T]

thanks all for the kind word. im doing my best to keep up the build and this post. nothing much to post for the past week cus I went to vegas for a short break last week. but I did finalized my order with WS on my harness. sent out PCM, bought some expensive tools and trailer fenders. two days off tmr and i'll get my hands on it. will have some update shortly

Originally Posted by zeitgeist

Sr20d3t, are you rebuilding the motor? Either way replace those knock sensors and seal it up while your there. They tend to get water and go bad. Oil and power steering coolers are a must as well

no I m not rebuilding the motor for now as my goal is to make it run first. the current plan already maxing out my skill level that my research is having a hard time to catch up. once this thing starts running reliably, upgrade will follow. but yea, cooling is a big thing for this project as it will see some track drifting and my s15 front end just doesn't like to let air goes in especially sideway. will start with mishimoto radiator and dual fans. adding cooler will be right after. thanks for the heads up.

[zeitgeist]

Crappy photo but im away from home and cant take anymore


Coolant resevoir with top hose from radiator and bottom from the thermostat housing.
Dont have a surge tank, one couldnt hurt though
I do recommend trying to bleed it some more. The one time i did have temps in the 200s it was due to this.
LSX is a complete PITA to bleed especially with the cooling system having more going on than what i was used to with the ka24e. Especially since you said you have a new water pump, one more try wouldnt hurt.
Oh and how much power are you putting down? If youre putting down 500 or more, disregard everything i said haha