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What I did on vacation

3K views 23 replies 10 participants last post by  kingnutin 
#1 ·
Hey everyone, I havent been on here in a while but I have doing a lot of work on the impala. Recently hit 100k miles, bought it at 52k. I figured it was time for a tune up. Some of you may have seen these on NAIOA. Here are the pics





































It took myself and my best friend 6 hours to remove and a total of 15 hours to take out, replace parts and put back in. It is running great. Here is my personal maintenance record since I bought the car

60,000 miles: Lower intake manifold gasket, orange to green coolant swap, valve cover gaskets, thermostat, K&N intake

72,000 miles: Accessory belt tensioner pulley replaced

80,000 miles: New brake rotors & pads

92,000 miles: Dynomax catback exhaust system

98,000 miles: Window tint, new heat blend door actuator, new cabin air filter, new speakers, remote start installed

98,500 miles: New accessory & supercharger belts, new accessory belt
tensioner, new coolant elbows, transmission fluid & filter change, new transmission pan gasket, new transmission solenoids, new transmission side door, new transmission side door gasket, new spark plugs & wires, new upper radiator hose, power log, manifold gasket, new upper downpipe gasket, magnetic drain bolt, new exhaust crossover pipe & bolts, PCV valve, new fuel filter

99,000 miles: New supercharger oil

100,400 miles: Goodyear Eagle GT Tires

100,600 miles: Replaced outer tie rod ends

101,000 miles: Dealer 4-wheel alignment

103,000 miles: Engine pulled, new water pump, new 180* thermostat, new valve cover gaskets, new oil pan gasket

103,800 miles: New sway bar end links
 
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#2 ·
Nice! Every time I see this black SS 7th gens makes me sale my 8th gen for one.
 
#5 ·
Haha. I had a hell of a time getting it on the stand. I got the bolts from Milzy Motorsports but I think the actual "arms" on the stand are too deep. Only 3/4 bolts were long enough to screw into the block, even then they didn't thread in very far so I partly supported it with the engine hoist for backup.
 
#15 ·
Sure! I had a blast. Does yours have the failing oil pan gasket too?

Did you pull a rod or main cap and have a look at the crank just to see wasssup and how things are going etc.
Timing chain was good ?

A good project done in a weekend !

Cool

Did not know that the 3.8 had a windage tray in it.
I wonder if it's in all 3.8's or just in the supercharged ones ?
I didnt go into it that far. I plan on replacing the cam when I pay the car off and checking all that stuff at the same time.

I never got any emails saying I had more responses, sorry for the late reply everyone!
 
#13 ·
Did you pull a rod or main cap and have a look at the crank just to see wasssup and how things are going etc.
Timing chain was good ?

A good project done in a weekend !

Cool

Did not know that the 3.8 had a windage tray in it.
I wonder if it's in all 3.8's or just in the supercharged ones ?
 
#20 ·
Sometimes they can get loose, usually due to the use of nylon gears rather than the chain actually stretching though. You may be able to get a little smoothness back by replacing it, but thats about it.
 
#23 ·
At rebuild time then yes replacing a chain is reasonable, but engines wear a lot better than 100K rebuilds these days.

If I had the timing cover off I would certainly consider the tensioner.

The LT1s have no tensioner and a chain that is sloppy enough to upset folks when they take them apart but there are more reports of broken replacements than broken stock chains. There are guys who spend $250 on an "upgrade" that breaks more often then the stock one. The stock LT1 chain has a hard life too as it drives the additional substantial load of the waterpump.
 
#24 ·
I didn't realize they had a tensioner, I would just replace that and call it good.
 
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