Roberts 89GT Engine build.

[3X00-Modified]

I know I was planning on making one if he didn't find one.

[scd88ga]

I just don't see the point in getting new seals and then fluid.
If i already have a beretta jack shaft on it's way?
Maybe it's just me?lol

So did you or are you sending the payment for the parts I pulled for you, or am I stuck with them?

[Robert 89gt]

I just don't see the point in getting new seals and then fluid.
If i already have a beretta jack shaft on it's way?
Maybe it's just me?lol

So did you or are you sending the payment for the parts I pulled for you, or am I stuck with them?

I did ask for them.And seeing that the shaft/bracket is hard to find i'll take it.Just let me know how much just for that please?

[scd88ga]

I just don't see the point in getting new seals and then fluid.
If i already have a beretta jack shaft on it's way?
Maybe it's just me?lol

So did you or are you sending the payment for the parts I pulled for you, or am I stuck with them?

I did ask for them.And seeing that the shaft/bracket is hard to find i'll take it.Just let me know how much just for that please?

Ok, what about the coolant/washer tank?

[Robert 89gt]

I'll still buy the shaft from you.
But jon needs to handle it.lol
Sorry couldn't help it=)

[Alpinestar10]

Do I need to make a definitive jack shaft thread like I did for shift cables?

This rumor about the aluminum housing shaft is a crock of crap. It is ONLY good for people with limited fab skills doing a 3500 swap. The steel bracket one like Robert has is much stronger and bolts up properly to any 3x00. Quad shafts have a sweet cast bracket but are different patterns and do not fit. My aluminum one broke so I used a cavalier one modded for 3500 for over 20,000 miles there fine

Do I need to make a definitive jack shaft thread like I did for shift cables?

This rumor about the aluminum housing shaft is a crock of crap. It is ONLY good for people with limited fab skills doing a 3500 swap. The steel bracket one like Robert has is much stronger and bolts up properly to any 3x00. Quad shafts have a sweet cast bracket but are different patterns and do not fit. My aluminum one broke so I used a cavalier one modded for 3500 for over 20,000 miles there fine

So your saying that all the cavi guys have limited fab skills and use this for ease on the 3500 swap are you kidding me? As far as i know whitelighting used one and he has fab skills if a recall correct as well as v6bluebird and more people hell i know a friend in florida that used this jack shaft and fabbed his own bracket...
Helps with torque steer if i recall too.....

Maybe your just was weakend from the start stress cracks or something, You knock it and say its bad cause you've had ONE? a bad experience with it..

[3X00-Modified]

First I need to clarify... This is the jack shaft Robert HAS



Now that is connected to the motor with a THIN bent aluminum bracket, you can see some of it here.



Its the thin bracket that cracked, its on the one bend near where the bolts are, as if the jack shaft itself was trying to lift up or pull slightly back from the motor.

Now the one that Alex sold him appears to be the same shaft, but the question is, that bracket between the shaft and motor, is it steel or aluminum?

The one that Bret pictured is MUCH more robust but the question about that, is will it fit an 89 mount, and what do I need to do to the trans side to make it fit since the aluminum version is bolted to the trans.

In the end I will go with whatever I can make work that is sufficient in my mind to handle the abuse. As Robert noted he broke a stock one once already and GM "replaced" it with all GM parts... So maybe I will just hold on to the shaft that Alex sends and keep that as a spare.

[scd88ga]

Here is the 94 Z24 Cavalier rear lower mount from the same car. I am sending it along with the jack shaft. Jon, I should probably just ship this stuff directly to you! PM me your address, thanks!

[scd88ga]

Cleaned up the engine bracket and mount assembly, the motor mount is the same part number as his, but the engine bracket is different! So use this engine bracket and jack shaft, and add the trans seal and your golden!

All clean!


This is how the engine bracket sits over the jack shaft bracket.

Yeah you wont be able to install a 94 style jack shaft with the engine and trans together it wont clear the rear mount i tried for a couple days the flange is so damn beefy for it to clear.

I beg to differ! Here's a reference pic of a friends car, Turbo 3400 5 speed 94 Z24... It was removed and installed in one piece as shown............

IIRC that jack shaft will not fit the old rear engine mount bracket design. It can be made to work with a custom engine mount bracket though.

Or just use the Z24 engine bracket that was with the Z24 jack shaft! Problem solved!

Jon, you should really take apart a couple old axles to use an tranny plugs so you can remove transmissions and move them around without having to drain the fluid. You can also use the other end of the dismantled axle to put back into the hub assembly to keep a preload on it if you ever have a car sitting on the ground without axles in it. I've been doing this for years! Just a thought to help out with all the work you do.

[3X00-Modified]

Yeah I actually have two outer joints sitting on my shelf from my hybrid axles, and there may be two inner's as well but I'm not even sure. I usually don't move the car after I pull the engine out so that's not a huge issue and the oil draining deal would be good to have but you still need to pop the stock axle and get that dead one in there, but still worth it to have.

Only issue is, are all the axle inner's the same? Because I would probably source two Auto axles so I can do that with my 4t60e... This is the first 5-speed I've messed with.

and that's odd, that engine bracket looks exactly the same as his, but if the motor mount comes free from that then I can use his poly filled mount with that bracket and jack shaft.

Anyone have a part number for the trans seal? I'm ordering a cam sensor from RA today and would like to order that at the same time.

And I guess you guys are still confused on the order of assy engine trans wise.... When I removed his setup I unbolted the jack shaft from the bracket since the motor mount sits over that bracket, that made it so I could pull the trans then the engine, I'm going in the opposite way, engine then trans and I can't bolt just a bracket to the motor behind the mount, I'll have to bolt the whole jack shaft to the engine like SCD88GA showed with his quad motor, then install the trans onto the bracket, OR support the motor with the engine stand and install the rear motor mount after I put the trans in... Either way I'll get it done, I just need to do some test fitting of that jack shaft to ensure alignment is correct, I don't want any issues down the line.

[3X00-Modified]

Updates from last night...

Head studs ftw...



And GM headgaskets are the best second to the MLS one's.



Clearanced timing cover.



Started to build the lifters.



Spring difference



And the heads are on.

[Barry]

Do I need to make a definitive jack shaft thread like I did for shift cables?

This rumor about the aluminum housing shaft is a crock of crap. It is ONLY good for people with limited fab skills doing a 3500 swap. The steel bracket one like Robert has is much stronger and bolts up properly to any 3x00. Quad shafts have a sweet cast bracket but are different patterns and do not fit. My aluminum one broke so I used a cavalier one modded for 3500 for over 20,000 miles there fine

Do I need to make a definitive jack shaft thread like I did for shift cables?

This rumor about the aluminum housing shaft is a crock of crap. It is ONLY good for people with limited fab skills doing a 3500 swap. The steel bracket one like Robert has is much stronger and bolts up properly to any 3x00. Quad shafts have a sweet cast bracket but are different patterns and do not fit. My aluminum one broke so I used a cavalier one modded for 3500 for over 20,000 miles there fine

So your saying that all the cavi guys have limited fab skills and use this for ease on the 3500 swap are you kidding me? As far as i know whitelighting used one and he has fab skills if a recall correct as well as v6bluebird and more people hell i know a friend in florida that used this jack shaft and fabbed his own bracket...
Helps with torque steer if i recall too.....

Maybe your just was weakend from the start stress cracks or something, You knock it and say its bad cause you've had ONE? a bad experience with it..

Dont get offended because I dont like your shaft. I have been saying for years that the aluminum housing shaft is very weak, the only thing it is good for is 3500's because you cant possibly mess up the shaft alignment. However the rumor continues that there awesome, which im okay with, I have made lots of profit pulling these at yards and selling them to people. It is not hard to modify a normal shaft and make it work for 3500 use

I even had to reinforce my steel bracket too because that got bent up like a pretzel as well. It seems like most of the cav guys are straight line guys, much less stress on the jackshaft bracket than road racing (tight turning angles under power=more torque on bracket) Maybe thats why they havent broken as many... but im willing to bet that Dave does not have the dinky aluminum bracket, he probably made a steel one

You saying the aluminum shaft reduces torque steer is a joke. What makes it better than any other jackshaft? Every v6 beretta came with a jackshaft, long axle was a 2.0/2.2 thing (another common rumor). A housing around a shaft does not prevent torque steer, Equal length axles do.

[1988GTU]

Looking good Jon!

[spacecadetz26]

Excellent build i'm very impressed Jon

[3X00-Modified]

Thanks guys.

I can't wait to mock up the headers on this thing to see what they are going to look like. I hope for that to happen tonight.