eh, i won't go that far. since i've got one of my friends doing the notch in the k member (for a bit more oil pan clearance), i figured i'd keep him going with a few other projects. thoughts were boxed panhard and lcas, wasn't sure if the a-arms were worth it. labor's cheap, so thought i'd take advantage of it

couple photos from today's work

kmember's outta the car finally

[IMG]file:///R:/DCIM/Camera/2010-06-25%2017.16.17.jpg[/IMG]

stripped down to the a-arms and kmember. didnt have a spring compressor or else it would be complete apart.

Id suggest wrapping a chain/strap around the A-arms where they meet the springs. Theres really nothing keeping them from opening up fully and launching the springs into orbit. Safety first

I'd've removed them before the K

everything's apart already, but note take pocket. the kmember should be on its way to getting notched this week. from there, i've still got some por15 from a previous project, so it'll look nice when it goes back in.

What?!!?? No stands at 1AAUTO!!??!!

Good luck Dan!!

Got a Harbor Freight near by? Ive been impressed with the cost/quality of their engine tools

I wish, but the engine eventually made its way onto a stand i was able to free up. My shed was a bit full at the time: 98 LS1 long block, 350 out of a 74-ish vette, 305 from this car, and the 5.3L being worked on currently. The 305's gone and hopefully sometime soon I'll be able to say the same about the 350. would be nice to have a little more room to work with

a little more progress this weekend. started running the harness on the engine, mounts are painted and in place and the kmember was painted up with por15. unfortunately, it will need more notching, so no motor install yet. maybe next weekend.

finally, something worth posting again! The motor has finally made its way back into the engine bay. thanks to Jeremy @ 1aauto for notching my k-member (wow is it tight back there). if i can manage to move tomorrow, the transmission will go in and measurements will be made to adapt the trans member.







(don't mind the fuel line mess. the carb lines are still in place for now as i'm going to use them to drain the 10+ yrs old tank of gas before i drop it to swap pumps)

Lookin' good Dan!

Could I please request a pic, taken from directly above the rear of the intake manifold, pointing straight down in front of the firewall? Thanks.

Id degrease it before you get it all back together

Wont be long till she roars to life once more!!!

will do first thing tomorrow for ya

Thanks!

and as I promised. Don't mind the trash bag; I dont have the injectors in yet and i dont want the fill the engine with water

the mounts were standard plate style mounts, not 1" back (not sure if that's going to be an issue yet with the driveshaft, but it shouldn't). you *need* to notch you kmember if you go this route and you cannot use the lsx a/c with these

Very interesting. It seems the Spohn swap mounts most people use are actually 1" setbacks. Your engine is as far if not a little farther forward than the SBC

that would explain why most have not had to modify the stock kmember when using the spohns. i got a heck of a deal on the plates ($20 iirc) and wanted to give them a shot. others had said they worked before, so figured it couldn't hurt too much to try.

Definitely much further forward than it needs to be IMO from that shot, of course camera angles can throw things out of perspective.

I didnt require a notch to fit on there, but it was very tight

Lets find out for sure where they're located. Heres mine. I measured 3.5" from the rear of the #8 intake runner to the firewall. Id take a lower measure from a cyl head instead, but both are choked with hoses and harnesses

you're right; i just measured 4.5" from the same spot

That second pic is useful, so again I thank you.

slight update. fuel rails are on:


you may be saying - Dan, your rails are on backwards! Well, kinda. The stock carbed lines enter the engine bay on the passenger side. Since they are rust free and in good shape, I'm going to flare them and use em (instead of replacing everything from front to back).

also scrubbed and painted a set of 01 manifold I just got. and they even have my name on them!

thanks to a fellow TGO'er, i've got a new addition to this swap...

Congrats!

Thats awesome, I can't wait to see that swapped in.

another quick little update. grabbed the last remaining pieces I needed for the harness. new injector harnesses (LS1 plugs differ from the truck ones, but I was able to grab em off an LT1 camaro), new bulkhead connector (so i don't have to destroy my old harness), new C207 connector (ditto), a 98 ls1 temp sensor connector (so i can use one sensor to power the ecu and gauge), and a couple new oxygen sensor pigtails (convert to the more common and less expensive flat style)

time to whip out the soldering iron!

Are you gonna use heated O2's?

Any of the OBDII engines require heated O2s

pocket's correct (as always when it comes to wiring these things up). i just opted to go with the flat connector vs the square one. pigtails were next to nothing and the O2's be cheaper.

some pics of wiring in progress. extending the wiring tomorrow, setting up the fuse/relays, and looming everything up

Great progress

Wrap it tight, loom it and the harness will be nearly invisible

That looks great!!! Are you going to run it through the fender to the stock ECU location, or are you going to run it through the firewall along the Pass side frame rail? OR are you going to run the ECU in the Engine Compartment?

I'm opting to take the factory route. I grabbed a spare bulkhead connector and gutted it, so hopefully i should be able to fit everything through there. we shall see very soon. the engine fuse box will end up somewhere around the heater box, but wont be 100% until i see how the harness lays

I think I'm going to go through the firewall at the base of the frame rail for mine, but that all depends on how much I want to do a whole lot of extensions on my harness. Its looking great man, keep up with the updates!

pcm harness is done (basically). loomed and just barely got it to fit through the opening in the fenderwell. I'll make sure to get some new pics soon.

noting for you truck harness guys - pay attention to your pinouts when it comes to the MAP and TP sensors if you're switching to the fbody harness style. I had to triple check my charts. otherwise, just about everything else was identical. I also took the time to add wires for fan relays; a small dental pick made it easy to pop pins into the connectors where there were no previous provisions. With all the emissions pieces being pulled out of the harness, I had a few extra wires that worked perfectly.

Do the stock exhaust manifolds look like they will work?

stock fbody manifolds will fit without issue, you just need to have a y-pipe fabbed up. i've had mine installed for about a week now

great build dan,... keep the updates coming bro. looking awesome keep up the good work and best of luck

thanks!

wiring's pretty much done except for the underhood fuse box.
i got some dash pics coming soon too

wireing is prolly the longest part!!! so i am having pocket do mine for me. but yea man congrats on that

something appears to be missing here....





updated the radio harness to the newer version (so I can use my radio from the 97 GTP), headlight switch has been rewired, removed old non-working alarm, almost done wiring up C207, OBDII port wired (just gotta tap a power and ground).

kinda confused with the 3rd to 4th gen dimmer switch and it doesnt help that i'm a bit colorblind. I'm just trying to figure out which wires on the 87's dimmer are input and output; the ground and dome are all set.

C100 is pretty much done; grabbed a 3-wire weatherpack connector to make wiring up guages (tach, oil, temp) easier when/if I pull the engine harness again.

Hey Dan, are you keeping a/c?

no a/c here (at least for now). the notching on the kmember was done to give a little more breathing room for the oil pan. After installing, I see now that the mounts I have position the motor 1 inch forward compared to the spohn mounts. When I go to pull this motor next year (maybe), I'm going to get the 1" set back plates to get it back to normal.

When I installed my cd player from an 00 Grand Prix, it sounded a lot better than the old stock one. Are you keeping the same steering wheel?

i think i like the stock steering wheel (for now). that'll come later when the big projects are done and I'm looking to spruce things up a bit.

just got a set of UMI sfc's from a local ebay purchase. brand new $75! looks like I've got something else to keep in storage for a bit.

Im using a stock monsoon CD player from a 2000ish camaro. Plugged right in and works awesome

Score on the SFCs

Plugged right in? I have a Monsoon unit from my Grand Am and didn't think they were alike.

i had the older 4-plug harness originally, so I snagged a newer gm plug last time i went junkyard diving. seen some pretty interesting looking double din setups for the 4th gen dashes, but we'll see what time brings. I can work with a CD player, but cassettes, I've got nothing.

I used tin snips to trim the brackets some, but the connector plugged right in and it works great in the stock radio pod. The surround trim doesnt fit 100% perfect, but thats to be expected for a $50 upgrade