Crossmember and Exhaust
With the factory Chevrolet small block and transmission removed, modifications are being made for an all aluminum L33 5.3 Liter V8 with a Turbo 350 automatic transmission with a manual valve body that was used in the Nissan 240SX drag car which now boasts a Rossler Stage 2 Powerglide transmission with stage 3 upgrades. I need to write a bio for that car. The start of the racing season is upon us. Click the link at the bottom of the page to see photos of the 240SX.
The next few parts are not entirely meant for this car, but they were made to work. The crossmember was a really good deal for this G-body. It was clear as to why it was such a good deal after the install. It was too short, but not entirely useless. With the engine and transmission mocked up, using LSX Innovations adapter mounts, the decision to extend the crossmember was made.
The LS1 F-Body headers proved to be a tiring task through the cutting and heating involved to make them work and they are still not quite there. The passenger side only needed to have all 4 pipes heated at the final elbow and bent before exiting through the collector. Oh, almost forgot the love taps given to cylinder #4 header pipe to help it clear the frame. It was easy to center the header collector correctly with the crossmember fitting correctly.
The driver side was not as simple. Cylinders 3, 5, and 7 pipes were heated and bent just like the passenger exhaust header. The elbows exiting the header mounting flange to the engine head had to be cut, bent, and rewelded on all pipes. The #1 cylinder header pipe had the middle section removed to clear the frame and we are waiting on more pipe to finish the modification. Always remember that a great deal can sometimes mean a lot of work for you, but we were told that this was worth it.
The Pypes 3" 409 Stainless exhaust kit and Violator mufflers helped bring some closure to the intensive labor involved in modifying the headers. My hats off to the men and women who go to the great lengths to design and build there own custom exhaust system. The Pypes kit comes with a 3" X-pipe, mufflers, and enough exhaust pipe to fully exit to the rear of the car. Everything is prebent and some assembly is required. An extra step is taken to use V-band clamps at all connections for easy assembly and disassembly.