Gordy's ecotec 510

[Sleepys-14]

Hey everybody! I don't post much, but I figure I could show some progress of my project before I get finished with it...

Well, to start off with, I had a LS1 with a viper trans in the car a few months ago, but I wanted to build something me and my wife could drive. So the power had to be brought back into perspective. I moved the firewall back about 5 inches and made a bigger tunnel for the LS1. I now have a 2.4 ecotec from a solstice and I really think that will be a better of a decision... It also weights much less. I am making a bunch of stuff right now, so in a few weeks I could have it sitting on the ground and ready for the engine to slide in. Here are a few pics..

On its way to the media blaster to make sure there will be no rust under the paint






Priming after the media blasting... Messy...






Painted the underhood, interior, and trunk. I think white is the best color for the insides!








Made some panels out of aluminum and had them powder coated!








I wanted to use the stock dash because it looks really nice in these old cars, so I just updated it with better gauges and a switch panel to control things.














Did some fuel plumbing (still need to finish a few things in the trunk)











Made some extra bracing in a few parts




STI r180 with custom stubs.




Ecotec ready to go in...






Cheers!

[goichi1]

Looks cool! like a fun project! I will admit, after looking at the very first pic you posted.....I figured that was a dead duck, but looks like you have a lot of motivation and pretty clear vision! keep the pics coming!

[RonM]

Great start on what looks to be a very unconventional project. Obviously your a serious craftsmen doing some crazy stuff. This will be a fun one to watch. Best of luck to you Gordy on the road less traveled.

[Sleepys-14]

Thanks for the kind words guys! BTW, if you see something that you think should be done another way, don't be shy to point it out. I don't pretend to know it all. Im just looking to have an "8" out of 10 project. I don't want everything to be perfect, cause I use my cars pretty hard, but I also want it to be respectable. I should have some suspension under this thing soon!

[Biggspeed]

Is this a turbo ecotec from the Cobalt SS?

[Sleepys-14]

No, its the standard 2.4 out of the base model solstice/sky. It makes 170hp/170lbs stock! I with an intake/header/exhaust/tuning it should be about 200hp. I think that will be plenty for now. Also if you do some reading on ecotecs, you can either get a supercharger from the ion redline/cobalt ss, or turbos from the sky/solstice and also other models. The ecotec is the small block chevy of the 4 cylinder world, everything is cheap and bolts right on. You can pick up a low milage ecotec for less than $600. The ECU is able to be tuned using HP tuners which make the tuning part very cheap and user friendly. Thats probably my favorite part.

[aussiebj]

ill be watching in anticipation ..now get it dun..Barry

[RonM]

The ecotec is the small block chevy of the 4 cylinder world, everything is cheap and bolts right on. You can pick up a low milage ecotec for less than $600. The ECU is able to be tuned using HP tuners which make the tuning part very cheap and user friendly. Thats probably my favorite part.

That sounds like a very accessible platform. What are the stock crank and bearings able to handle? You think you could push it to say 350hr?

Also I understand you cut into the firewall for a V8 swap, but do you think you'd still need to modify it to get the eco in? I look forward to seeing this build progres.

Ron M.

[Sleepys-14]

Well, since the motor is a "NA" motor, they can't handle as much power as the boosted motors, mostly because of the compression ratio (10.8:1). But they still can push about 350whp before you need to build them. That would be the upper end that I would ever push the stock motor. The pistons are the weak point in these motors are that power level. About the firewall... I might have dodged a bullet on that one. I made the area behind the engine quite large to have a little extra room, and I think if I didn't have that, I would have been SOL. BUT, I have not set the engine in the bay yet so im still crossing my fingers...

[RonM]

I would love to see picts of the motor once you have it blocked in.

If you haven't already seen this on the realm, I'd highly recommend installing the motor from the bottom up. this gives huge advantages during fabrication of motor mounts. To do this, you suspend the front of the car using steal plates attached to the bumper mounts, and run a chain/cable hoist to an overhead beam. Mount the motor to the X-member and put it on a creeper, or rolling dolly, then you just lower the car onto the motor. When you're plotting the motor mount position this will make it so much easier. There are lots of threads covering this method, but if you'd like me to point you to a few, just let me know. Are you modifying the stock X-member, or building one from scratch?

Best,

Ron M.

[Sleepys-14]

Thanks for the tip! I understand what your saying by putting the motor in from the bottom. That sounds like a much better idea than hanging the engine in no-mans-land. I am still unsure if I can use the stock "flipped" crossmember. I dont know how much room I will have for the steering rack until I can get the motor in the bay. I have a feeling I will have to make my own...

[two_68_510s]

Great project! Love the idea of 200+ HP, seems to be a sweet spot for the chassis. My neighbor, had a hot V8 in his 510 (300+HP) and never really liked it, broke parts and torqued the whole chassis a little.
Stock dash looks cool suspended in the middle of that clean racing look!
The white looks really good, the yin and yang of maintenance, you can see anything that happens quick and you see anything that lands on it quick too!!
Keep a good clean microfiber cloth to wipe it down.

[Sleepys-14]

Well, I basically finished the rear suspension for the most part. I took the subframe and cut the original mounts off and welded "byrons" brackets on. They are a really nice design that makes it very easy to adjust the camber and toe for the rear. I then had the subframe and mustache bar powder coated and installed poly bushings. I then started to mess with the control arms. I pressed the stock bushings out and installed my solid spherical bearings. I removed the extra dust shield around the backing plates also. The wire wheel was my best friend for the next 2 hours... weeewwhh, that was fun. I also heard that the shock mounts are a bit of a weak point when you use a coilover setup because it puts too much stress on the small mounting area. So I welded a brace to the stock shock mount. That should take care of that issue... I hope... I painted all the parts up and put it together.



I ran into a small issue with the brackets. When you tighten the top bolt, the metal starts to flex inward. I want everything nice and tight, so I was thinking how I was going to stop that flex. I burned the stock bushing down and used the original inner sleeve to put in between the bracket to hold it nice and square and tight...



See the difference!!!






This is the shock mount that I braced with some metal tubing






A pic of the backing plate area




Tried to get a pic of the spherical bearing, but you can't really see them. Oh man, they work so nice and smooth with no binding! So excited to see how it feels on the track!




All together! For the most part, this pic was before I put the spacers on the bracket bolts.

[Byron510]

Hi Gordon,

Just responding to your issue, are you saying that there was no spacer sleeve at the top "pivot" bolt with your brackets? This is certainly wrong and they can not work this way for sure. Did I send these directly to you? They did originally come with this spacer sleeve, and the width of this sleeve is 1mm or 0.40" wider than the width of the stock bushing (62mm).

Let me know how this occurred, and if you bought these directly from me or they come through another source - thanks Gordon. You figured out how they were supposed to be, but I'm wondering why this spacer was not delivered with the brackets in the first place.

Here is the link to the thread showing my brackets for sale. On the first pic at the top of the page, you'll see the upper spacer in place. Then on page 2, you'll see my first installation into the Bronze, painted orange but the spacer is also there.

I look forward to hearing back form you, just want to make sure you are happy. Drop me a PM or post here on your thread.

Byron

[rnorrish]

also, with the install, did you intentionally mean to raise the new pivots higher?
or was the crossmember already notched for a different option for adjustable brackets?