This past week I finished up the brake line rerouting and line lock install, and mounted the quick-ratio steering gear.



Pulled the LS1 intake and installed the LS6 piece, removed the rest of the evap equipment.



Should be ready to stab. I pulled the shifter off after I took the pic, I'll take the 4th gen trans crossmember off after I get it in the air.

A couple of minor things to address yet - haven't decided whether to put the wheels on the floor or leave it on jackstands - could go either way, I think. I'll be hoisting it over from the side (no interference from the nose that way), so it'll be up in the air one way or another.

Still a lot of work left. After the engine is in, I need to align the pinion angle and get the suspension welded up. I decided to do the wiring after getting the engine in so I could route it around things more smartly.

Cut the hole for the shifter, install and wire the aftermarket gauges.

Still haven't decided about the the PCM in the passenger compartment - it'll take a 2" hole, the wires don't look long enough. But, we'll see.

Oh, one thing I just thought of: I think I want to get the line for the oil pressure gauge (mechanical) ready before putting the engine in. I should probably pull the stock gauge cluster and speedometer cable out before the engine goes in, too.

Wouldn't hurt to get a bunch of the stuff in, under, around, and on top of the car over to the storage unit first, either.

Just when you think you're ready for the big step. . .

 

Dang man, you're about to catch & pass me! Nice progress you're making there.

I seem to recall that in another thread you were wondering how you would mount your radiator fan(s), so when I found this pic, I started thinking that it shouldn't be too hard to fab something like this up...


In addition, I have a (small-ish) sheetmetal brake, if you're wanting to swing by & fab up a shroud for it...

 

I didn't realize it was a race (between us ). The deadline I'm fighting is the first stick shift race at the track April 26th (a month earlier than last year). And I have things I need to do to the '57 before the first race April 24th.

Still dreading the exhaust expense.

I spent some time last night looking over the harness and swap wiring schematics. I'm a lot more comfortable with that now.

I'd rather avoid fabrication. Factory dual fans should answer the mail without any fabrication, other than wiring up the relays.

Except for Tuesday, I should be able to get something done on it every day this week. We'll see how long that lasts. There have been all too many weeks when I didn't get anything done.

 

If your dropping in with the trans bolted up you'll want to do this on the stands and you'll probably need a buddy to help guide it past the k member underneath its a bugger to drop in. Tight fit there but it goes.


Its tight and you may need to lengthen a wire or two but its totally worth it if your into appearance at all it makes a big time improvement in style factor and fit and finish. Plus it actually made wiring easier for me as I had more splices in the interior of the car for fuel system and gauges etc. than i did in the engine compartment so having the PCM mounted under the dash made this much easier and safer ( no loose wires traveling through firewall ) You could use a grommet I guess. I managed to double wrap the entire harness in that black ribbed GM conduit and used a giant grommet under the HVAC box so all my wires are safe and sound in one place.


I too used a mech oil pressure gauge and ran it from the little fitting off the side of the oil pan by the filter. Its already the right size diameter hole for 1/8" NPT so all you have to do is drill out the plugged area beneath and tap it and your set. Routing the line into the pass compt after installing the engine weas a bloody knuckle experience. I used a union at the firewall and two lines all areoquip stuff. Works great and best of all I knew there was oil pressure before initial start up. I prefer mech oil press gauges anyways they seem more reliable to me.

Yeah headers is pricey but they is good. Y pipe is tricky to tuck up nicely and dont know if your going to do that yourself or source it out but a bit of a pita there. The rest of the exhaust is pretty much as easy as stock fit.

Yeah this is not that difficult and once you get going it just gets easier.

 

With regard to the PCM mounting, I'm more into function than appearance. The PCM should stay cooler and access to things in the engine compartment should be easier with it in the passenger compartment.

I think I know what you're talking about for tapping the oil pressure. I wondered about that spot, I'll try to get a pic tonight to make sure we're talking about the same thing. And make sure I've got a 1/8" NPT tap.

Y-pipe? What y-pipe? There's a local guy that does mandrel bends that I was going to have complete the exhaust. He would even fab the headers if I thought I could afford him. He did a little work on Berlinetta #1 (Magnaflow and 3" tailpipe install). Does great work. Even does cages.

Does anyone know if the heat shield tape, such as was wrapped around the fuel and vapor lines, is available from the dealer or some other source? I think I'll want to use some if it is. I tried re-using the stuff that was around the fuel lines, but it had taken some shape and the glue isn't doing the job anymore (could probably use universal spray adhesive on that, though).

 

I bought heat shield stuff from Summit. I used some cool tubes that seem to do a decent job on my clutch line and fuel lines.


You could run a tee off the stock oil pressure sender its not needed for any PCM function so you could eliminate it but its tight back there in my car. The fitting is right by the oil filter its what the truck engines use for the oil cooler and I think Vettes use it too. Not sure on that one though

 

I haven't measured the grommets yet, but it looks like the C220 & C230 connectors will fit through the speedo cable hole. They're long enough, that's for sure. The only connectors that should have to go through the firewall are those two and the PCM (for PCM in the passenger compartment) if I'm getting this right. The C100, C101, C102, and C105 stay in the engine compartment with the fuse/relay box.

Unless I'm still not getting this.

(Oops, looks the the tach signal is C105 - guess that'll have to be run through the firewall as well.)

 

I cant remember the number codes anymore and I loaned my notes and diagrams to a local guy whos swapping. I ran everything LS1 PCM related through the hole under the HVAC box though.

 

http://www.team3rdgen.com/modules/3r...ther_packs.jpg

http://www.team3rdgen.com/modules/3r...s/99wiring.jpg

The C220/C230 harness is the one hanging off the left side of the engine in my pic above (to the right in the picture).

 

Always nice to get a little done.

This fitting, I presume.



I did have a 1/8" NPT tap.



The C220/C230 grommet is a little bigger than the speedometer cable grommet. I think we can handle this.

 

Not at all - MUCH better to get it done correctly than quickly...

Well, we have similar deadlines then - as of right now, my countdown clock is showing 71 days, & about 14.5 hours until my self-imposed deadline (arbitrarily chosen as a point where I should have enough time to spend a month or so breaking in the clutch, & still be able to get a good bit of enjoyment out of it this summer).

Yeah, the latter is more typical for me... About a week ago I was able to get a few hours/day in each day, but that's more the exception than the rule. (Then again, the wife HAS been bugging me to get it done so that she can park in the garage again... )

Again, nice progress you're making.

 

Yes, it's nice to be able to see some progress.

Last Monday it was 5 degrees outside. Tonight it was 45. I'll take 45.

 

C100, 101, 105 all connect to the PCM and or my fourth gen fuse box that you see pics of in the sticky. I started out using a chassis harness from a 99 or thereabouts donor LS1 f body so I could utilize both sides of those c100,101,105 nice weather pack plugs but it was far too bulky and considering I only used about 12 of those wires altogether the rest are not nec for my swap so I eliminated them and soldered/heat shrinked the connections together instead to make more room to allow me to route under the HVAC box.

 

I don't have the chassis side connectors. I'm using a swap relay/fuse box that will mount in the engine compartment. I'll just clip and solder the wires I need. I'll put new wire in for the tach signal and route it with the C220/C230 harness, since it ends up on that side of the car anyway.