Made good progress this week. More degreasing, painting, sand blasting of the exhaust manifolds and getting the smaller C130 alternator fastened in place, bolted both sides and rear. New Water pump, front seal, valve cover (1), exhaust manifold (new studs) and front cover gaskets. Its all coming together nicely. Autozone came to the rescue with the loaner harmonic balancer installer. Now have to find the right size O rings for the fuel rail assembly (where the halfs) join together, get the fuel rail in mounted , the A/C compressor and finish the idler/tensioner positioning/fastening to get the drive belt in place.
So here we go another venerable 4.9L swap for great torque, smooth operation and VG Hwy mileage.






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" THE BLACK PARALYZER" -87GT 3800SC Series III engine, custom ZZP /Frozen Boost Intercooler setup, 3.4" Pulley, Powerlog manifold, Northstar TB, LS1 MAF, 3" Flotech Afterburner Exhaust, Autolite 104's, MSD wires, Custom CAI, 4T65eHD w. custom axles, HP Tuners VCM Suite.
"THE COLUSSUS"
87GT - ALL OUT 3.4L Turbocharged engine, Garrett Hybrid Turbo, MSD ign., modified TH125H
" ON THE LOOSE WITHOUT THE JUICE "

[This message has been edited by Dennis LaGrua (edited 07-23-2014).]

quote Originally posted by Arns85GT: Clean looking install. (mine wasn't)

Yours is running my isn't . Must say that being fussy slows one down.
Currently waiting for some aluminum pulley spacers to come in so the idlers can be put in place. Using a straight edge on the crank pulley to align everything so that the belt stays in place. Then it gets mounted to the cleaned and painted cradle, the thermostat housing welded up, a MAP bracket and a throttle cable bracket fabricated the exhaust routing (around the engine setup) will need to be figured out. (will try to emulate Neils Y pipe) , the axles installed , and it should be ready to drop in. Maybe its just me, but I am finding this swap far less expensive to do than the 3800 install. A person willing to fabricate and weld his own parts could get this swap done for about $1200-$1500. The salvage market here is flooded with 4.9L engines and since many seniors drive Cadillac's many are low mileage. Its not a race engine or state-of-the-art technology but far torque superior to the 2.8L and it is about the same engine weight.

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" THE BLACK PARALYZER" -87GT 3800SC Series III engine, custom ZZP /Frozen Boost Intercooler setup, 3.4" Pulley, Powerlog manifold, Northstar TB, LS1 MAF, 3" Flotech Afterburner Exhaust, Autolite 104's, MSD wires, Custom CAI, 4T65eHD w. custom axles, HP Tuners VCM Suite.
"THE COLUSSUS"
87GT - ALL OUT 3.4L Turbocharged engine, Garrett Hybrid Turbo, MSD ign., modified TH125H
" ON THE LOOSE WITHOUT THE JUICE "

------------------
" THE BLACK PARALYZER" -87GT 3800SC Series III engine, custom ZZP /Frozen Boost Intercooler setup, 3.4" Pulley, Powerlog manifold, Northstar TB, LS1 MAF, 3" Flotech Afterburner Exhaust, Autolite 104's, MSD wires, Custom CAI, 4T65eHD w. custom axles, HP Tuners VCM Suite.
"THE COLUSSUS"
87GT - ALL OUT 3.4L Turbocharged engine, Garrett Hybrid Turbo, MSD ign., modified TH125H
" ON THE LOOSE WITHOUT THE JUICE "

Was able to get the tensioner mounted and made a bracket from part of the old water pump housing. Welded in a piece of 1/4 square steel stock for strength, filled the cavity with JB weld (for looks) and painted it. Seems sturdy and I expect that it will hold. Used a 79.5" serpentine belt. Added a new A/C compressor, an additional brace on the 87 Grand Am alternator (smaller C130 for hood clearance and 105 amp output which should be good}, and carefully spaced the idler pulley above the A/C compressor using aluminum spacers cut on my lathe. . Belt alignment was a chore and a straight edge was used on the crank as a reference point.
So here we are as of today:
[img] [img/]

[img] [img/]

Tomorrow the fuel rail goes on, spark plugs changed, the O 2 sensor and MAP sensor installed, and new MSD wires all around.

BTW, for those looking to do the automatic swap the axles needed are
Cardone 60-1114 Drivers Side
Cardone 60-1078 passenger side
These are exact commonly available drop in axles. They cost about $140 set but they are rebuilt GM units and not the out of balance, easy to break cheap Chinese units that sell for a few dollars less.
There is little information on 4.9L axles here so I thought that I would post info when available.

Undecided on the exhaust design for around the engine or straight out back through a Spintek or Magnaflow muffler. Concerned about drone but a friend just used the Magnaflow 18" crossflow and said that it's not deafening like the Flotech Afterburner on my 3800SC. May just go out back but need to locate a manifold exhaust flange. Its an odd size. More coming.

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" THE BLACK PARALYZER" -87GT 3800SC Series III engine, custom ZZP /Frozen Boost Intercooler setup, 3.4" Pulley, Powerlog manifold, Northstar TB, LS1 MAF, 3" Flotech Afterburner Exhaust, Autolite 104's, MSD wires, Custom CAI, 4T65eHD w. custom axles, HP Tuners VCM Suite.
"THE COLUSSUS"
87GT - ALL OUT 3.4L Turbocharged engine, Garrett Hybrid Turbo, MSD ign., modified TH125H
" ON THE LOOSE WITHOUT THE JUICE "