The Z26 you all wanted to see

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Rettax3
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Re: The Z26 you all wanted to see

Post by Rettax3 »

Tough one. Generally, I would say to put it all together and back-flush everything once it is in the car, but you will pull all the gunk from the engine into the radiator that way -you could flush it out without hooking it to the radiator though. One thing I've never liked is that cooling systems don't have filters on them. If you do wash it all down while it is still opened-up, be sure to dry every thing off with a lint-free rag and spray bare metal surfaces down with WD-40 (which stands for 'Water Displacer" :wink: ) to remove hidden water and protect the components. Be careful when removing carbon from the pistons too -it is easy to get carbon jammed beside the piston, where it can build up on the top ring once the engine is running again. If the carbon isn't heavy, it may be best just to leave it alone, unless you are going so far as to REMOVE the pistons. This could be worthwhile, as inspecting the crankshaft bearings now could save heartache later -the '99 Ram Air H.O. 3400 I used for my '90 Turbo 'Retta's hybrid 3400/3.1 MPFI Turbo engine ended up having a bad crank I did not know about until AFTER I had installed it the first time... The 3400s also came with crappy solid aluminum bearings (I might hear about that comment :roll: ), and an upgrade to something like Clevite 77 tri-metal bearings could be done now too. :good:


1989 SuperCharged 3800 Srs-II (First)Six-Speed GTU
1990 Turbo 3.4 5-Speed T-Type
1990 4.0L 4-Cam 32-Valve V-8 5-Speed Indy GTi (Project)
1990 Stock(!) 3.1 MPFI Auto Indy
1995 LA1/L82 4T60E Z-26
1995 3.4 DOHC Turbo 5-Speed Z-26
Cam2363
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Re: RE: Re: The Z26 you all wanted to see

Post by Cam2363 »

Rettax3 wrote:Tough one. Generally, I would say to put it all together and back-flush everything once it is in the car, but you will pull all the gunk from the engine into the radiator that way -you could flush it out without hooking it to the radiator though. One thing I've never liked is that cooling systems don't have filters on them. If you do wash it all down while it is still opened-up, be sure to dry every thing off with a lint-free rag and spray bare metal surfaces down with WD-40 (which stands for 'Water Displacer" :wink: ) to remove hidden water and protect the components. Be careful when removing carbon from the pistons too -it is easy to get carbon jammed beside the piston, where it can build up on the top ring once the engine is running again. If the carbon isn't heavy, it may be best just to leave it alone, unless you are going so far as to REMOVE the pistons. This could be worthwhile, as inspecting the crankshaft bearings now could save heartache later -the '99 Ram Air H.O. 3400 I used for my '90 Turbo 'Retta's hybrid 3400/3.1 MPFI Turbo engine ended up having a bad crank I did not know about until AFTER I had installed it the first time... The 3400s also came with crappy solid aluminum bearings (I might hear about that comment :roll: ), and an upgrade to something like Clevite 77 tri-metal bearings could be done now too. :good:
I'm not looking to get into redoing the bearings. I dont have time or money to do such a task lol. I think I will also leave it alone for now and just flush it later. And it's too late! I already cleaned the pistons before I saw that. I just used wd 40 and a scotch brite to do it. Took me like 30 minutes and they look great!

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Cam2363
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Re: The Z26 you all wanted to see

Post by Cam2363 »

Progress has been good. Its almost all the way together, just need to replace the rear main, flywheel and put the coils, wires and alternator on.

I did run into the issue where the manifold is different so it wont connect to my exhaust downpipe, but im just going to reinstall the old rear manifold and keep the new front one and hope that works!


Cam2363
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Re: The Z26 you all wanted to see

Post by Cam2363 »

Shes all done and going back in. My dad was helping me out and we struggled with getting the engine and trans mated for like 2 hours haha. It was late when we finally managed it( I think) so I couldn't do any more work. Hopefully tonight it will be all back together and I can hear it fire!ImageImage

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ifixalot
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Re: The Z26 you all wanted to see

Post by ifixalot »

I hope it fires right up and runs great for you!


Cam2363
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Re: RE: Re: The Z26 you all wanted to see

Post by Cam2363 »

ifixalot wrote:I hope it fires right up and runs great for you!
Haha it sure did after getting the battery charged back up. It sounds AMAZING running open like that. But it can't stay. I might cut off the muffler and put a better one on to make it sound better. I'm super excited though. I work tomorrow, so Thursday will be getting the exhaust hooked back up and getting the coolant lines ran, filled, and then its test drive time!

Here's video link

http://imgur.com/a/Vh8CHBD

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Rettax3
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Re: The Z26 you all wanted to see

Post by Rettax3 »

If you swap the muffler, SAVE THE TIPS, if nothing else (heck, if you don't want 'em, I'll buy them from you! :wink: ). I put a Flowmaster under my Turbo 3.4 LQ1 '95 Z-26, 3" mandrel-bent pipe all the way from the turbo's outlet flange to the inlet of the muffler, 2.25-inch mandrel-bent pipe out each side (dual outlet muffler, very odd with a single 3" inlet and dual 3" outlets...) of the rear bumper, and the thing was too loud and sounded only better than terrible. I welded two of those twin-tips onto the ends of the pipes and it saved the car -sounds great and much quieter. Those are decent resonator tips, plus they look awesome, and the four outlets flow the same volume as two 2.25-inch pipes, which flow the same volume as a single 3-inch pipe, so it was perfect for me. :) Glad your car is coming back together for you.


1989 SuperCharged 3800 Srs-II (First)Six-Speed GTU
1990 Turbo 3.4 5-Speed T-Type
1990 4.0L 4-Cam 32-Valve V-8 5-Speed Indy GTi (Project)
1990 Stock(!) 3.1 MPFI Auto Indy
1995 LA1/L82 4T60E Z-26
1995 3.4 DOHC Turbo 5-Speed Z-26
Cam2363
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Re: RE: Re: The Z26 you all wanted to see

Post by Cam2363 »

Rettax3 wrote:If you swap the muffler, SAVE THE TIPS, if nothing else (heck, if you don't want 'em, I'll buy them from you! :wink: ). I put a Flowmaster under my Turbo 3.4 LQ1 '95 Z-26, 3" mandrel-bent pipe all the way from the turbo's outlet flange to the inlet of the muffler, 2.25-inch mandrel-bent pipe out each side (dual outlet muffler, very odd with a single 3" inlet and dual 3" outlets...) of the rear bumper, and the thing was too loud and sounded only better than terrible. I welded two of those twin-tips onto the ends of the pipes and it saved the car -sounds great and much quieter. Those are decent resonator tips, plus they look awesome, and the four outlets flow the same volume as two 2.25-inch pipes, which flow the same volume as a single 3-inch pipe, so it was perfect for me. :) Glad your car is coming back together for you.
I understood almost none of that. All I know is that when I bought the car. The muffler leaked, so the guy i got it from replaced that part for me for free and he welded the original tips back on I've been meaning to polish them for the longest time but just havent gotten around to it haha. If I do change it, definetly going to keep those. They just complete the car. But I'm excited to drive it again. I just have to hook up all the coolant lines, get some wheel liners in, exhaust, wheels, hood and them I'm good! Hopefully

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Rettax3
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Re: The Z26 you all wanted to see

Post by Rettax3 »

The pipe I used on my '95 Z vs stock.  "Mandrel-bent" is a machine/process that does not crush the pipe in the bend, so the radius stays constant throughout, thereby preventing restriction.  3" just equals big for exhaust, though nothing to brag about anywhere else in life.
The pipe I used on my '95 Z vs stock. "Mandrel-bent" is a machine/process that does not crush the pipe in the bend, so the radius stays constant throughout, thereby preventing restriction. 3" just equals big for exhaust, though nothing to brag about anywhere else in life.
Here is a short vid of my '95 Z-26's exhaust, with the 'Twin Dual' Z-26 tips (this is a play-on-words, as the LQ1 engine I shoe-horned into this car was labeled as the "3.4 Twin Dual Cam" engine by GM. Stupid name -TDC means Top Dead Center not Twin Dual Cam, thanks.
Witch-Z Exhst Vid2b.MOV
(1.16 MiB) Downloaded 4750 times
Rettax3 wrote:Yeah, the vid sounds a little strange -likely from 1. four outlets at different distances from the mic, and 2. a few spots in the piping that still need to get welded-up across the top.


1989 SuperCharged 3800 Srs-II (First)Six-Speed GTU
1990 Turbo 3.4 5-Speed T-Type
1990 4.0L 4-Cam 32-Valve V-8 5-Speed Indy GTi (Project)
1990 Stock(!) 3.1 MPFI Auto Indy
1995 LA1/L82 4T60E Z-26
1995 3.4 DOHC Turbo 5-Speed Z-26
Cam2363
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Re: RE: Re: The Z26 you all wanted to see

Post by Cam2363 »

Rettax3 wrote:
Witch-Z Exhaust Old vs New 2a.jpg
Here is a short vid of my '95 Z-26's exhaust, with the 'Twin Dual' Z-26 tips (this is a play-on-words, as the LQ1 engine I shoe-horned into this car was labeled as the "3.4 Twin Dual Cam" engine by GM. Stupid name -TDC means Top Dead Center not Twin Dual Cam, thanks.
Witch-Z Exhst Vid2b.MOV
Rettax3 wrote:Yeah, the vid sounds a little strange -likely from 1. four outlets at different distances from the mic, and 2. a few spots in the piping that still need to get welded-up across the top.
Nice. That does sound really good. I'll figure out what I might do then. The focus right now is to get the car driving lol

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jackattack193
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Re: The Z26 you all wanted to see

Post by jackattack193 »

I'll echo what Rettax3 is saying about saving the OEM tips, it's a must, seriously. IMHO I think they look great. Borla has a very similar product as these OEMs but they'll cost a small fortune.

I salvaged a set, cut them and then welded them on a dual outlet Dynomax muffler that I had saved for years knowing eventually I would use the set up when I did a resto on my car. Not to bore you with the details, but when I welded them onto the dual outlet muffler, I offset the inner most tip so that it would protrude slightly more that the outer most tip - I did it that way so it would match the contour of the rear bumper from a birds eye view. Details that only I would know. yeah, I was a bit insane when I did the resto but it's how I wanted it. If you haven't seen it, I think I'm on page 2 of this section under "Finally..."

Anyway, I know you have a million things going on right now with getting it up and running. But sometimes we'll throw something away only to come back later and say "I wish I still had that.." Just wanted you to know I agree with Rettax3 completely on this one, it's great advice to keep those tips if you're thinking of exhaust stuff in the future. Good Luck with your project, I've been following your progress. Keep up the good job.


Cam2363
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Re: The Z26 you all wanted to see

Post by Cam2363 »

One thing I did notice is the exhaust manifolds smoke like crazy, which I expected because I coated them in WD-40 after using electrolysis to remove the rust, which worked very very well. What does worry me is there so smoke coming out of the heater bypass tube. I hope it is wd-40 burning off, but im afraid its actually exhaust coming out, which could be a head gasket leak. I dont know about the HG leak yet because there still isn't any coolant, but I guess ill find out later when I fill it up.


Cam2363
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Re: The Z26 you all wanted to see

Post by Cam2363 »

jackattack193 wrote:I'll echo what Rettax3 is saying about saving the OEM tips, it's a must, seriously. IMHO I think they look great. Borla has a very similar product as these OEMs but they'll cost a small fortune.

I salvaged a set, cut them and then welded them on a dual outlet Dynomax muffler that I had saved for years knowing eventually I would use the set up when I did a resto on my car. Not to bore you with the details, but when I welded them onto the dual outlet muffler, I offset the inner most tip so that it would protrude slightly more that the outer most tip - I did it that way so it would match the contour of the rear bumper from a birds eye view. Details that only I would know. yeah, I was a bit insane when I did the resto but it's how I wanted it. If you haven't seen it, I think I'm on page 2 of this section under "Finally..."

Anyway, I know you have a million things going on right now with getting it up and running. But sometimes we'll throw something away only to come back later and say "I wish I still had that.." Just wanted you to know I agree with Rettax3 completely on this one, it's great advice to keep those tips if you're thinking of exhaust stuff in the future. Good Luck with your project, I've been following your progress. Keep up the good job.

Thanks! I never planned to get rid of the tips. At least to me, it just wouldn't look right without them. To me, they add a look of performance and cost, but that just me. I also plan to sell a lot of my old engine parts that I wont need anymore, but keep the sensors and stuff, just sell the manifolds and stuff. I actually plan to use the camshaft as a lamp post for the lamp in my room. I think that will look really cool, and I will definitely post a Picture when its done. The most fun part of all this car stuff is cleaning up the mess ive made :roll:


Cam2363
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Re: The Z26 you all wanted to see

Post by Cam2363 »

SHES DONE. I got to drive her tonight and she was dirty. So I gave her a bath. It was hesitating a little when accelerating semi hard, but it seems to have relearned. Same thing when idling, it would start vibrating a little, not like engine moving, but like resonating. But it seems to be improved. Will update if other issues occur.

Also, I believe somebody mentioned it, but when trying to connect the heater core back up, I snapped a barb. So core is getting replaced, but I'm going to have a mechanic do it because I'm done with messing with that for a little while lol. Next up is re doing my brakes, and after that, probably upgrading to led lights, and finally leveling the headlights lol.

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Cam2363
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Re: The Z26 you all wanted to see

Post by Cam2363 »

Ok. So I noticed the hesitation only really happens when cold, and when it warms up it seems fine. But even hot, there is still that weird resonance when idling. It seems to be there 1 second, gone the next and back again. The engine also seems to be revving up and down slightly, but the old engine did it and I just assume its normal. With the revving I can see the tach moving, but it's just barely, it probably changes only a few rpm.

Probably the weirdest parts for me are the fact that the engine sounds exactly the same as my old engine. Like I cant even tell. And the coming back to it after a month. It didnt feel right at all when nothing changed. But I'm used to it again haha

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