Hackster's LSA / T56 2 door
 

Well,

Its been a few years since I have been on here, lots of life changes in the past few years.

After I sold my blue car I finished building my tan f100. It has a coyote swap in it with a 6 speed and took my fabrication in chassis and suspension to a new level. Not to mention I have built lots of cool cars in the past but its the first road going car that I have really used.

I finished the truck in February of 2016, started going to Optima events and kept upgrading the truck, bigger brakes, more suspension work, sway bars, bigger wheels and tires, more pads, seats, shifter, harnesses, the list goes on and on. The truck has gotten pretty fast.

As the pilot of this bitch, I started off with the optima events back in 2016, I quickly learned that I need a lot of work as a driver. So lots and lots of instructor training programs over the next few years, lots and lots of track days all over the west coast, a few hundred auto cross runs on the truck and I have come a long ways in my opinion.

I have managed to move this old girl around the track at over 160 MPH and have had a ton of fun screwing with porsches and BMW's, new z28's and other cars I shouldnt have any chance keeping up with.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6g65nuqq.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4cdz1okh.jpg

So why back here at TB? I sold my turbo truck a few weeks back and I am looking for something that is a little lower, a little lighter, a little more power, bigger brakes, bigger tires. I want to go faster.

A few weeks back, We had a van at work that we were going to let sail off into the sunset and I ended up picking it up. 2008 6.0, not a bad start, but I just bought it to have it kicking around.

Last week we made a trip to the Portland Swapmeet and I told my buddies to keep an eye out for a good LS T56, figuring that there was no chance that we are going to run across one. Not even 45 minutes in, my buddy Chris spotted a t56, tucked away on a nice guys car trailer. A little talking, its a low mile T56 from a 2000 camaro complete with short shifter, clutch flywheel and pressure plate, picked it up for a smoking deal.

Now what to put this junk in. I love fox body mustangs, but they have a few issues, they have gone through the roof in value and they are as common as a pair of socks.

I really liked the mid 70's mavericks, but they have hardly any support and will need everything fabricated from scratch.

Novas and camaros have been beat to death and they are everywhere.

E46's are super cool but again all over the place and almost too easy. E30 was the next closest thing but I really wanted something that would stand out in a crowd at a track day or at an OPTIMA event. I dont want a c5 corvette.

So a few days of thinking and I kept coming back to the 240. They have pretty poor support from the aftermarket to be honest, but they have a pretty solid platform strut front suspension, rack and pinion, multi liknk rear suspension and a pretty solid unibody. They are pretty light and can be made pretty damn fast and have a couple of people who support them parts wise.

So a few calls later, I visited the twins (STS Machine and rounded up a few parts from them and got some parts coming from the internet and we have a project rolling.

I hopped in the truck at about 5 am yesterday and made the 10 hour trek to visit my old buddy Pat to pickup a good start.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...pszm0bvwsb.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psgbb1uucs.jpg

It was a beautiful day for a drive but man was it a long one. Just about 600 miles one way.

But I got to see my good friend Pat (Tuff240) a legend in 240's in case you dont know and pick up this gem. Well, lets not go that far. Its pretty rough, but its got no rust and was mosty complete, dont mind the interior, its a wreck.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...sc9ozutgu.jpeg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...sjuzkldab.jpeg

So we loaded it up (it doesnt run) and I was off, for the 600 mile trip back home from East of Stockton back to Eugene.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...pscewfq9ma.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psrbpls7tu.jpg

Beautiful night for a drive, but 1240 miles and 19.5 hours was a little much.

YES!!!! congrats on the new car. Can't wait to watch the build unfold

So I got it home, got it unloaded this morning and got to work. First item was to clean it out.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psdyeu56vk.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...pscsjskh5a.jpg

So with that all cleaned up, I really needed to get some progress, so up on jackstands she went and away we go. this is the start.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8rhgkk26.jpg

And we are off...

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3vxboyrm.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psstkmaque.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psvlziumnh.jpg

So with this out, we gotta get to cleaning.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psdyvvfowd.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...pspmeds9dc.jpg

Hours of scrubbing and cleaning and its looking a little better. That was a lot of work for one guy for one weekend.

I am out of town most of the week as I am most weeks now but hope to make some more progress in the next month or so.

Hope you guys enjoy the build it should be fun.

Sean

nice dude, did your garage get bigger?

I'm 99.99999% sure this is a new house

Oh man this is great!

Nice to see a new build, Sean. Always a treat.

What track did you get the truck up to 160 on? Did it get weird or anything? Crap your pants lol?

Yeah, we relocated a couple hours south of Portland last year, I am down here a few days a week and up in Portland a few days a week, you will see both places in the build thread for sure.

Thanks man, kind of fun to be back in a Volvo.

Pacific Raceways and it was actually about 165 or so. That was in 5th not even close to the rev limiter and it was still pulling good. I have gotten faster since then and so has the truck I am curious if I could hit 170 there now. It was after that I did a bunch of aero work, I added a front underbelly and splitter and it helped a lot keeping the front end down. And its not scary at all, the truck is extremely well planted and doesnt do anything weird at all. I have continued to be impressed with just how fast it is for just a 5.0.


Debating on what to do with the engine bay on this one. I know I want clean and all, but not sure I want to tear it all the way down bodywork the inner fenders, weld up all the holes and paint it. I want the outside to be ****ty looking.

I ask 5 people and get 5 different answers =)

Sean

Any thoughts yet on changes to allow bigger rubber? I’d just scrub/rough the bay and go rattle can satin black, especially if this one is going to be primarily a track rat.

As far as bigger rubber, yes. I am either going to hand fabricate metal flares and weld on or buy some bolt on JDM style flares for the car. Being around more track cars I am becoming more ok with the bolt on flares. They are easy to replace and get you reasonable tire coverage for not much money.

The rattle can just doesnt work for me. A couple of reasons, OPTIMA has a Design and Engineering part of the competition so rattle canned anything kind of looks like poop after a few days, weeks or track days.

It will either stay stock or get cleaned up and shot satin body color or possible single stage gloss. It needs to be able to be cleaned up easy. I have been surprised how well the satin tan on the engine bay of the tan truck has cleaned up.

Sean

I'm excited to see you back in the game, just read through the blue cars thread the other day, got excited when I saw your name pop up again.

Plus, this means in a few years somebody is gonna get a sweet 242 when you move on to the next project lol

Not wishing to sound too much the vulture, but that had occurred to me, also.

No reason for it to sound like a bad thing so you won't hear me disagreeing. I love building stuff and hope each build gets a little better. Life is too short to have regrets.

Parts are showing up and I hope to get some time to work on it next week.

Sean

Cool project; looking forward to following along. How does a 6.0L truck/van engine become an LSA though?

Ls3 heads and a blower

Isn't the LSA 6.2L though?

....and alum block...

Definitely looking forward to seeing this one unfold! Your work is always top-notch. Welcome back dude!

Yea it is for sure but I'll give it the name the "poor man's" lsa. Haha

:drama: Getting in line. Looking forward to the rapid progress that is surely coming soon. Let me know if I can be of any assistance.

I would go back and rename the thread but I cannot edit the title.

As a clarification, I will be running a 6.0 from a 2008 pickup, iron block aluminum heads. I am running a 2010 camaro water pump, ICT Billet power steering pump mount and alternator mount, Holley 302-1 oil pan, Hooker cast exhaust manifolds (ceramic coated) LSA supercharger with CTSV top for hood clearances and adapter plates to adapt the cathedral port heads to the square port supercharger. LSA factory fuel injectors and LS9 fuel rails, this will put the fuel connections near the brake booster.

No this is not the lightest setup, no its not a real LSA, yes its a less expensive way to get good power from the 6.0 and lot of people have figured this LSA supercharger on a 6.0 and 5.3 swap out. Power should be plenty north of 500 to the wheels with this setup and all GM reliability. Ill be running the factory ECU and a custom harness for this setup.


Thanks man, its fun to be back in a Volvo.


Thanks man, I have a lot more on my plate than I did a few years ago, plus I am a little slower now after my motorcycle accident last June so progress will likely be a little bit slower than my last build threads.

I might hit you up on a few things.......curious if you have any more photos of the rear fenders if you finished them up.

Not much time to work on the little car this weekend but got a few hours in this afternoon after a quick 250 mile trip to drop off a pickup for a car event a buddy puts on.

Got the steering shaft out, master cylinder, brake lines, booster, speedo cable, clutch cable and most of the other stuff in the way.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...pss9daaqb7.jpg

This was time for a decision to be made, OEM engine bay with a bad ass engine or go full retard and start welding.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psk5acxkpc.jpg

So clearly the path has been chosen.

I have been trying to work on my sheetmetal finishing recently and this was some good practice.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3flflfbb.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...pspt7tuv8w.jpg

This work was all accomplished with very simple tools, but learning to use them better is producing better results.

I pulled the rest of the AC lines out, pulled the harness back into the cabin and finished sanding the inner fenders, its pretty empty. I still have some work to do on the firewall and the upper cowl panel, my plan is the same treatment as the rest of the engine bay.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...pss6jsiq67.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...pseb9nkb4l.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psoarmajok.jpg

Lots more work still to do on the old turd, but a little progress is nice.

I am really struggling with whether to paint the engine bay glossy or satin. I love the satin paint on the bay of the F100 and I am leaning that direction.

Thanks for following along.

Sean

Thanks for listing the parts you’ll be using, it’ll help me down the road. I know you’ve had a custom harness made before, what’s a ballpark on the cost?

Engine bay is looking good. My vote is satin....but not body color.

Would love to see a pic of the f150 engine bay

Battery in the back?

Are you going to single stage paint?

Its not cheap for the supercharger setup all in I think I am about $3,500 just for the blower and all accessories to run it.

You would think I would have a better engine bay shot, but here is what I have handy......wish I had painted the firewall the same satin body color that I did the core support and inner fenders in.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...pseoprriqi.jpg

No, I think I am just going to go with a smaller battery in the factory location, maybe laid down or pushed up close to the inner fender. Some things I have learned with driving things hard and reliability. Easy to get to means easy to work on and troubleshoot. This is not going to be a show car.

From a weight standpoint, I would not mind moving it to the rear, but a small Odyssey is pretty minimal weight wise. Ill likely have to add ballast to the car to get it up to minimum optima weight anyways.


Yes. I have always liked the way the single stage paint looks and functions on these cars and I see no reason to change it.

I managed to get the rest of the metal work done. My buddy used to work at a place where they did a lot of lazer work and he would grab some of the fall pieces from the table and put them in a bin for me. Comes in super handy when you are trying to weld up holes =)

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6cpytipk.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psbd9fjotw.jpg

I am thinking about farming out the paint work on this as I am really not setup to paint at the new place at all.

I need to get on pulling the engine from the van and getting it ready to drop in as parts are here waiting.

Happy Monday!!

Sean

Thanks for the f150 pic .you do some great work !!! Glad your back !!
Chuck

Dig the progress pic of the engine compartment!

My buddy did an lm7 in his 242 and he hid his tiny battery inside the passenger fender with jumper lugs in the bay for ease of jump starting. Let me see if I can find a picture

Cool, thanks for the explanation. Seems like a good homebrew alternative and cost effective for 500+hp. Can't wait to check it out!

Engine bay is looking nice. Satin beige would be a clean look in a 240 if your F100 is any indication. What engine management did you use for the Coyote swap?

If you haven't already obtained the Hooker cast units, you might want to take a look at Speedway Motors cast stainless Tru-Ram units. Flow characteristics (3" collector vs. 2.25", among other things) are superior to the Hooker unit which should help with your boosted application. And I found the exit location much easier to work with when fabbing the head pipes. fwiw https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Tru-R...iABEgKSyfD_BwE

As we said when planning the bachelor party, if you've already got the Hookers, then party on!

http://i.imgur.com/bEYGwkG.jpg

stoked to see you doing another volvo

Thanks man.

Second guessing my decision to take on this big of a project again though...

I seriously thought about sinking a box in there, but found a pretty cool little mount for a small Odyssey Battery that should fit with room for the air filter over there still.

Thank you, I am pretty stoked to check it out also, have a buddy running one and he is hitting the dyno this week, but its a 5.3. I think I am going to go with Gloss so its easy to paint the outside. I really like the satin but hope the bay turns out well enough to look good in gloss.

Ran the Ford Racing coyote control pack with the ford computer. Zero issues with it.

That last line is awesome........I already have the hookers so party on. Those Speedway ones look really nice, wish I had seen them before ordering mine. Ill definately keep them in mind if the hookers dont work out =)

Thanks man, kind of fun. Wish parts were easier to come by these days, seems like 240's are all gone now.

Sean

Had a few days home this weekend so got to work on the engine bay last night and kept going this morning.

Here we go...big box of supplies.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psizkg5hgo.jpg

Slinging mud, going for a cleaner than stock look but not all super smoothed out.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psgw4zmrki.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3ajzdcof.jpg

About done with several rounds of body filler and sanding. My arms and fingers hurt.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psxe3v181d.jpg

Getting ready to shoot some high build Primer Sealer

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psqh0tqdg6.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psgtyiu0wy.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...pscodg0cgz.jpg

Three coats of Evercoat Super Build primer

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6dc0u0xr.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psnyfa2sty.jpg

A few hours of letting it dry and got to work with even more sanding.....320 seemed to perform the best here and I have one half of the bay done, be back on sanding the other side tomorrow.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...pswu8ulh2o.jpg

Was a busy ass day, and I am tired. One bad thing about the move is I dont know anyone down here so nobody to stop by and check out what I am doing or lend a hand when I need it. Rolling solo on this entire thing so far.

Hope to have it in color by mid week.

More parts should show up in the next few days.

Did make some progress on parts. Picked up some R front calipers and front and rear Brembo rotors as well as some killer adapters from STS Machining.

Wish I could get some good suspension parts coming this way.

Seems everyone state side is out of some good quality adjustable coilovers.

Maybe some more progress this week.

Sean

Ben and Josh don’t have anything?

Ben has those baller JRZ rsone coilovers.

https://www.kaplhenke.com/collection...sone-coilovers

Or the super baller JRZ rspro

https://www.kaplhenke.com/collection...spro-coilovers

Question on the Ford project: do you know the dimensions of the Coyote motor? I've been tossing around a non-Volvo project idea for awhile involving that motor, but i"m not sure it will fit. The biggest concern is the overall width.

Would this car be legal in California? This isn't a wholly academic question, but one motivated by a degree of self interest (cf. the vulture query earlier in this thread).

Welcome back, that truck is nice.... looking forward to the new Volvo build.

1975 and older is smog free, anything else would need to be under the table or within the states guidelines.

...all of that, if you wanna register it for the street. If this is a track rat....

Diesel title works as well. Nice work Sean! And yeah the 240's are not around as much, even down here.

All out of stock. 3 to 4 week lead time, QSRC is a 10 week lead time. This is likely the route I will end up going though.

Its massive. I had a dimensional chart of both engines at one point but its long gone. I can tel you at the widest point it is 6.5" wider than an LS and that is essentially the tip of the head at the valve cover.

Thanks man, nice to hear from some familiar people.

Thanks!! I am shocked at just how hard it is to find parts for these things now. I have a couple big items I need and am having a tough time finding.

172 paint code driver and passenger fender would be awesome
Good Uncracked dash- I am willing to pay for this, halfway tempted to try and order a new one.
Any brown interior pieces would be great, door handles, carpet, dash, rear deck or seatbelt covers.

Bunch of parts should show up this week on it and I am pulling the donor motor this weekend, maybe make some progress in the next couple weeks, like engine assembled and in the car.

Sean

I'm going to be in Newberg in June for a Porsche 914 event, would love to see your truck in person. (just mapped it out, you are 8 hours away, ouch)

Now I want to redo my engine compartment after seeing your progress...damn it!

Great tip!!! Subbed for awesomeness.

Holy picture size, Batman! From what literally took me 20 minutes to look through the pictures; nice!

Looks great so far, excited to watch the progress!

Never too late to redo it, I had the engine out in less than a day :-P

I am only about an hour or so from Newberg, hit me up if you want to get together.

Should be fun.

I figured most people were not on dial up anymore :). I just link pics from my photobucket account like I have done on all my other build threads. Not sure how to resize them actually.

Thanks man, are you from UJoint for real? You guys have some killer stuff I cut my teeth in offroading, just finished building an 05 ram with a 700hp 426 hemi, one tons and 40" tires.


Got this bitch loaded up and off to the painters this morning. Super high end hot rod shop is helping me out with it.

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psjtpd2knt.jpg

http://i1133.photobucket.com/albums/...psividzf8e.jpg

They are turning it around quick should have it back in just a few days as all the prep was done for them.

Supercharger showed up at FedEx yesterday, will pick up today. Parts are piling up now!!!

Sean