PI Swap is DONE!!!!!!

[nemoxii]

First off..WOW...its a whole new car. Just finished my swap and everything seems great. Runs like a raped ape now :boink:

Anyway I'd just like to pass on/reinforce some advice I got and didn't quite follow.

First - Buy the Lokar Dip stick!!!! Best $50 I spent the entire swap. Would have saved myself alot of hassle if I'd just got it in the get go. Look for it on Summit's website.

Secondly - Its true...if you dont do headers when you do the swap YOUR CRAZY! Yeah its like $400 more dollers, but if you plan on doing it eventually then wait a bit till you can get the headers...I'm still kicking my ass for not getting them to do with the swap :wall: Trust me...if you dont do them you WILL regret it.

Last - :TY: to all the write ups/advise given from all you on this site. There is no way I could have tackled this on my own with out this site.

If you are thinking of doing this swap and are worried about doing it yourself, I'd say go for it. Just take your time and set aside a week to just work on it and you'll be fine. Besides, for most of us half the fun of going fast is making it happen on our own, and hell we all got to start somewhere, right?

-Adam

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Congratulations dude!

I agree on the dipstick, fortunately i live about 40 minutes from Summit Racing, so it was easy for me to pick one up.

 

[Red96GT]

Congrats! I've been thinking about doing the cam and intake swap as my next mods. I'm glad you brought up the header issue as that is something I hadn't really thought about. The only problem is I just bought a full midpipe but would be going with longtubes if I get headers during the PI swap. :crying: I need to start doing some more research.

 

[AaRoN]

Congrats :thumb: :thumb:

 

[voidfinger]

very nice, how much of a differance? you likey huh

 

[Willis_98GT]

bad ass dude.. i guess i'm not the only one that gets to brag about new pi stuff..

congrats :thumb:

 

[TomV]

Congrats on finishing the install!

Question on headers installation - if you have the heads off (ie doing the pi swap) does that open up clearances to make the header install easier (or do you still have to drop the k)?

 

[GaryG]

congrats man

 

[Brian95SVT]

Good thing I already have my headers hahaha but I'm still debating on staying NPI or going PI... I want to prove some people wrong about NPI plus be different from everyone else...

 

[Brian95SVT]

but congrats and I'm glad you like it man!!
POST A VID!!!!

 

[nemoxii]

Thanks all, like I said, I'm loving it. Next ups gonna be gears and mid-pipe.

Congrats on finishing the install!

Question on headers installation - if you have the heads off (ie doing the pi swap) does that open up clearances to make the header install easier (or do you still have to drop the k)?

The way I did it was I just unbolted the headers from the mid-pipe and pulled them out with the heads. Unless you have really small hands or an army of elves, pulling the headers off while in the car is gonna be a bitch. Its a super tight space to begin with and then you have to contend with the rusted on header bolts. As for the mid pipe, hell if your gonna do it too it'll make it even easier to do it at the same time too. I dont see why you'd have to drop the K at all if you did the headers and mids in conjuntion with a full head swap.

Anyway, if the weather is good this weekend I'm hitting the track on Sunday and will deff update you guys on my new times. Hopefully I'll be able to get it up on the dyno again sometime too, just to get a comparison from before to now. But regardless of the dyno, it feels great, and at the end of the day thats all that matters. Just wonder how long it'll take for me to want even more...did someone say blower?

-Adam

 

[Brian95SVT]

Personally I wouldn't do a blower on PI heads due to the compression but some people will say go for it. I mean as long as it's safe then I'd say go for it. But that's just me. I'd run low compression pistons and do a blower... just to be safe... then MORE BOOST! hahaha

 

[nemoxii]

Eh...When I do decide to go with a blower it'll be time to rebuild my short block. It'll be time to just pull the motor, throw in forged pistons and crank, steal connecting rods, lower the CR down to around 8:1, port and polish the PI heads and toss in a blower cam. In otherwords, it'll be when its no longer my daily driver. I'm looking at a couple years until I get the sucker paid off, the its Terminator time with my GT as my full time play toy. Thats the plan anyways.

 

[Brian95SVT]

I'ma kinda goin for the same thing but instead of a Termy, I'm thinking a Lightning haha

 

[BrandoGT]

First of all, a big congrats on the swap. I hear ya about it being awesome. when I completed it I had a stupid grin on my face every time I hit the go pedal. Plus, I am sure you feel like me and have a huge sense of accomplisment. Anyways I look forward to hearing what you run.

I also agree with you about the Lokar. Like I said in another post "best 50 dollars I spent"

Congrats on finishing the install!

Question on headers installation - if you have the heads off (ie doing the pi swap) does that open up clearances to make the header install easier (or do you still have to drop the k)?

I put long tube on my car when I did the swap, I didn't have to drop the K member, but I did have to unbolt the passenger motor mount and jack the motor up about 3-4 inches to get the passenger header to fit in. Then I mounted them up once I got the heads on.

 

[voidfinger]

Eh...When I do decide to go with a blower it'll be time to rebuild my short block. It'll be time to just pull the motor, throw in forged pistons and crank, steal connecting rods, lower the CR down to around 8:1, port and polish the PI heads and toss in a blower cam. In otherwords, it'll be when its no longer my daily driver. I'm looking at a couple years until I get the sucker paid off, the its Terminator time with my GT as my full time play toy. Thats the plan anyways.

Hey unless your gonna be running 20/30 + PSI then keep the CR around 9:1. Good luck and get some comparison with the npi numbers.

 

[voidfinger]

First of all, a big congrats on the swap. I hear ya about it being awesome. when I completed it I had a stupid grin on my face every time I hit the go pedal. Plus, I am sure you feel like me and have a huge sense of accomplisment. Anyways I look forward to hearing what you run.

I also agree with you about the Lokar. Like I said in another post "best 50 dollars I spent"

Congrats on finishing the install!

Question on headers installation - if you have the heads off (ie doing the pi swap) does that open up clearances to make the header install easier (or do you still have to drop the k)?

I put long tube on my car when I did the swap, I didn't have to drop the K member, but I did have to unbolt the passenger motor mount and jack the motor up about 3-4 inches to get the passenger header to fit in. Then I mounted them up once I got the heads on.

o i thought you could just bolt them down and then put the head and long tube on each side... b/c if you have to wait to bolt them after the head is on... isn't that kinda like putting them on with the heads on the car anyway? to me it just doesn't make sense...

 

[humjaba]

Why do you say to get the lokar dipstick/tube? I have the PI one, but don't want to get halfway through and be stuck.

 

[Jrgunn5150]

Because the PI one doesn't like to bend, yet needs to bend, so it tends to break.

 

[BrandoGT]

o i thought you could just bolt them down and then put the head and long tube on each side... b/c if you have to wait to bolt them after the head is on... isn't that kinda like putting them on with the heads on the car anyway? to me it just doesn't make sense...

Yeah thats what I though at first. So, I tried it and I was not able to do it because I had to snake the long tubes into place. It wasn't even close and I diffenatly didn't want to scuff the mating surface trying to force them on. Anyways I found out the Drivers side header wasnt bad to get on and tighten down. The passenger was easy when I still had the motor jacked up, but once everything was in place and I went back to re tighten the bolts after a few heat cycles, the passenger side was a biatch to get to all the bolts. My best advice with that is a gearwrench and some paitence. I Will admit though that it was easier to drop the headers in form the top with the heads off, rather then snake them up from underneath. Which is what I think you would have to do with the head still on.

Either way I would recommend doing them at the same time. I felt it was easier, although I am still tracing down an exhaust leak which I think is where my EGR tube meets the header. Mainly because all my bolts are nice and tight and I remember having trouble tightening that fitting. Oh well, a nice spring break project I geuss.