Made my day.
Made my day.
Saw this while looking around for an L67 top swap kit. It's made by Morad, a good name in auto parts, and it looks pretty legit. I was wondering if it would be a good investment, and how much the gaskets, fluids, etc would cost. Also, with little knowledge of engine internals, would it be possible for me to install it on my own?
By the way, I've decided to go with the top swap!
Thanks,
Tyler
By the way, I've decided to go with the top swap!
Thanks,
Tyler
Sorry.. I forgot to post the link.
3800 Supercharged Top Swap Kit Supercharger GS GTP SSEI - eBay (item 390288435347 end time Apr-12-11 10:50:23 PDT)
3800 Supercharged Top Swap Kit Supercharger GS GTP SSEI - eBay (item 390288435347 end time Apr-12-11 10:50:23 PDT)
Monte Of The Month -- July 2011
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Joined: Jan 2011
Posts: 7,524
From: St.Louis , MO.
X2 ................,Glad you decided to go with the top swap!
Joined: Feb 2008
Posts: 6,460
Price:
ZZ Performance
If you don't want to buy from them, at least you can copy down the list of gaskets and go on autozone's website and price them individually from there; or just take the list to a local parts store like Napa or something.
For fluids, all you'll need is enough oil for an oil change (and a little extra to flush through in case you accidentally spill a little coolant into the valley or something similar)- and enough coolant to totally refill your system (look in your owners manual for the cooling system capacity- may as well change all the fluid since so much of it will be out anyways)- and price those two out at the parts store while you're there.
As for if you can do it yourself- that's tough to say. Its definitely not a beginner job, I'll say that. There is some stuff that can go wrong that has the potential to ruin your engine (ie getting some coolant spilled into your oil and not flushing ALL of it out), stuff that can cause MAJOR headaches (head gaskets not sealing due to warped heads), and stuff that can ruin your new parts (torquing the SC bolts down too hard and having the rotors tear the walls up). Unfortunately, I've seen all 3 of those happen locally, and more (like someone really buggering up their balancer to get it off because they were too cheap to get a proper puller with the threaded inserts).
There really is no nice step by step guide with pictures to walk you through it (its too bad that no one has done this while doing a top swap). The nice thing is the tear down is pretty much step by step for a head gasket change- you can use a repair manual to walk you through that- basically get the engine down to the block (plus pull the balancer). The rest seems pretty obvious- just put it all back together how it was, but use your new parts instead of the old. However, you're adding parts to the new belt system- a little new wiring, etc all on top of normal 'good' mechanic work (like using a sealer at the corners of the LIM gaskets, and properly cleaning all gasket mating surfaces).
Lastly, Ed Morad is just a GM junkyard place. He started in the GP and 3800 business, and has been a primary supplier of 3800 parts (as well as wbody parts in general) to the community. He generally has just about any wbody part you would need, and is a very trustworthy person (I've bought a few things from him, and he has really went out of his way to help me on them). I will say, his prices are a bit higher than what you would find used on clubgp's forums, or sometimes even at the local junkyard- but you're paying for the convenience that he has exactly the right part, and that it is pretty good shape.
ZZ Performance
If you don't want to buy from them, at least you can copy down the list of gaskets and go on autozone's website and price them individually from there; or just take the list to a local parts store like Napa or something.
For fluids, all you'll need is enough oil for an oil change (and a little extra to flush through in case you accidentally spill a little coolant into the valley or something similar)- and enough coolant to totally refill your system (look in your owners manual for the cooling system capacity- may as well change all the fluid since so much of it will be out anyways)- and price those two out at the parts store while you're there.
As for if you can do it yourself- that's tough to say. Its definitely not a beginner job, I'll say that. There is some stuff that can go wrong that has the potential to ruin your engine (ie getting some coolant spilled into your oil and not flushing ALL of it out), stuff that can cause MAJOR headaches (head gaskets not sealing due to warped heads), and stuff that can ruin your new parts (torquing the SC bolts down too hard and having the rotors tear the walls up). Unfortunately, I've seen all 3 of those happen locally, and more (like someone really buggering up their balancer to get it off because they were too cheap to get a proper puller with the threaded inserts).
There really is no nice step by step guide with pictures to walk you through it (its too bad that no one has done this while doing a top swap). The nice thing is the tear down is pretty much step by step for a head gasket change- you can use a repair manual to walk you through that- basically get the engine down to the block (plus pull the balancer). The rest seems pretty obvious- just put it all back together how it was, but use your new parts instead of the old. However, you're adding parts to the new belt system- a little new wiring, etc all on top of normal 'good' mechanic work (like using a sealer at the corners of the LIM gaskets, and properly cleaning all gasket mating surfaces).
Lastly, Ed Morad is just a GM junkyard place. He started in the GP and 3800 business, and has been a primary supplier of 3800 parts (as well as wbody parts in general) to the community. He generally has just about any wbody part you would need, and is a very trustworthy person (I've bought a few things from him, and he has really went out of his way to help me on them). I will say, his prices are a bit higher than what you would find used on clubgp's forums, or sometimes even at the local junkyard- but you're paying for the convenience that he has exactly the right part, and that it is pretty good shape.
So with the top swap from Morad, and the gasket kit from ZZP, I should be set to do the install? And that is to bad, that there is no step by step guide, kindof like the one provided by K&N to install their CAI. That guide was AMAZING.
Thanks!
Thanks!
I made a list of all the things I need for a full top swap and I went back and checked off everything that the Morad top swap, and the ZZP gasket kit provides. The only thing I still need is 1 crank pulley, and a boost bypass.
This is all coming together so quickly thanks to you guys here on the MonteCarloForum!
This is all coming together so quickly thanks to you guys here on the MonteCarloForum!