I didn't think to take a picture when I pulled the converter out. I have it back now, and took a few before it went back in.

One of the ring mount bolts that came loose (all three came loose):




If paint makes it work better, we should be in good shape:




Oh, the oil leak was the pan gasket, not the rear main seal. I had dropped the pan to replace the oil pump and generally clean things up, apparently I didn't clean the gasket surfaces well enough. There was some hardened crud between the oil pan gasket and rear cover. Weird, I was sure I had cleaned all of that stuff off. Oh, well, the "new" engine for sure is cleaned up - did it on the engine stand instead of swinging from the engine hoist, and replaced the pan gasket.

The engine and tranny are back under the car. Now to do a bunch of hooking things back up...

 

gonna be ready for the 2011 race season? how many cars are you running this year?

 

The LS oil pan gasket, though rubber sealing, still requires a dab of silicone at each corner joint that the front / rear covers cause to seal properly.

 

I did put the silicone on the corners where the block and back cover meet. It was leaking in the very middle of the back of the pan. When I pulled the cover off a couple of nights ago, there was a bunch of this hardened crud (like old gasket sealer, not silicone) between the gasket and rear cover. I was trashing pretty hard when I first put the engine together, working into the wee hours every night, trying to get it running before the race season was over, so I must have just missed properly cleaning that part. It was good & tight everywhere else.

Matt, points races start April 22. Should have this car running this week. I will be out of town next weekend, one test day on the 20th, so I should make it. After it is running, I'm going to tackle the torque arm replacement in the LS1/T56 car (going with a non-adjustable Jegster). The first stick shift race is May 14th.

Just running these two cars this year. Unless I keep breaking things - in that case, I might end up running the diesel pickup again...