Thanks everyone for the kind words.

I now have my T56 and fuel tank at my place. It was at my parents’ house about 5 hours away. Trip went great and I only have a few swap items left to grab next time I visit them.





I also have been saving and was able to purchase the headers I will be using in this swap. Hooker Blackheart LS Swap Longtubes. These things look really well built. Can’t wait to throw them on the engine.

 

Spend some time in the garage today. I was able to test fit the headers on the block. The hooker headers hug the block nice and tight. I can’t wait to see them in the car.



I plan to run my oil pressure sensor for my gauge right above oil filter. Does not look like it will work with how close the headers are. It is not square to the hole and hits the header. I ordered an adapter from LSX Innovations and we will see how that works out in a few days and let you all know.

 

Looking good!

 

Guess we'll see. Last Monday he went to get in his truck to go to work and discovered someone thought breaking the driver's door window on his truck would be a good idea - they didn't break all the way through it, just shattered the outer layer of glass. So, he drove the Camaro to work. One the way home, the traffic on the freeway came to a sudden stop in front of him while he was checking his rear view mirror to move over to the next lane - he couldn't move over because there was a car there, and couldn't stop before going under the rear bumper of the Civic in front of him. So, the hubs & brackets to do the conversion on the fronts are on order. (We'll probably hold off doing the rears for now.)

 

That is terrible. Glad your son is ok as that is what is important. Hopefully the damage wasn't too bad.

 

The adapter came it seems to be decent quality. The adapter came with a new stamped steel style gasket, 2 plugs, and bolts. It fit really well with the headers. It has 3 holes in the block. One M16-1.5 for a factory LS oil pressure sensor and two 1/8 npt holes with plugs. One less hurdle solved.

I put one plug in for reference. These can be used for whatever you want. I won’t be using the ports and plugged both.



Partially installed. The picture makes the clearance look worse than it appears.

 

Ok dumb question but what block is that LS1 or 6.0?

 

Neither, LS3

 

My Elite Engineering catch can and clean side separator came a while ago. I finally have it mocked up on the engine. It is made of 6061-T6 aluminum. I had a problem with my order outside of their control and mine, but they were great to work with and went above and beyond. They took care of everything right away. I am happy with the quality and look forward to using it.

 

Well, I have been able to make a little more progress as of late. My buddy Marc notched out a K-member for me so I can run a 4th gen AC compressor. I sent him a bunch of pictures and he went of those. I think it turned out great. Now I just need to wire wheel or blast it and paint.



Just to make sure everything was going to fit since I am using Spohn K mounts, UMI solid mounts, and Hooker Blackheart headers there, I tested everything out while it was on the stand to eliminate any issues later.
The AC notch was perfect. Plenty of space for the AC lines.



Even thought I was not using the Hooker mounts, the Hooker headers fit really well around the K. I can see how with where the Hooker mounts place the engine these headers would fit even better.







I read the Spohn mounts had a saggy passenger side. This was the case with my mounts. I ended up having to space it out using some washers. I was able to get the engine level. This allowed the headers to fit better as well. Win win in my book.

 

nice work!!!

 

Thank you, one piece at time.

 

Not much of an update, but I took some time off of building my car and built this fine piece of engineering for my son’s first birthday. He turned one last week. He absolutely loved it. I am hoping to get back in the garage this next week.

 

Nice job, that Elite Engineering catch can and separator look like quality pieces. Looks like it should act as your PCV system as well?

Had to laugh about the Cozy Coupe, I built one couple decades ago. A lot of wreck less driving occurred but he kept it off the walls.

 

not a win...I would take that mount off and trace the pattern on some sheet metal that is as thick as those washers and make a spacer that way. I wouldn't leave those washers in there like that.
Other than that nice job

 

It seemed like it was a good quality piece by what I read about it as well as it doesn't feel cheap when handling it. We will see how it works when the car is running. I will be running a PCV system that is a part of the valley cover. This catch can will work in conjunction with that.

 

Oh no, I agree. That was just temporary to test fit everything while on the engine stand. It was easier to stack washers to get height right. Plus you can see I am only using 2 bolts per mount, there will be 4 when all is said and done.

 

I was able to make more progress on the car. The old engine is out and now it is time to clean off the firewall, prep, and paint. It really feels like I am making progress now.

 

Thats how i pulled my engine but watched a guy pull it out of the bottom much easer

 

Nice to see you still going at it!

 

Nice work!

 

Great build, love how it's coming along! Any updates?

 

Sorry for the delay in response. Life has been quite busy. I will post an update tonight.

 

Well, I am still here. Life got in the way, but I am making progress again. We moved last fall and then had some house issues that took priority. I have been accumulating lots of parts in that time so I am hoping things move faster than they have.
Here is the new garage. I went from a 1 car to a 2 car. I am definitely enjoying the extra space.



My last project was to build a set of cribs so I could clean and paint the under body. They turned out great considering it was all scrap wood. Just needed a box of screws. Each layer is glued and screwed. They are 17 inches tall.



Car is very stable.

 

Very productive the last couple weeks. I was able to clean the bottom of the car, prime, and paint it. I think it turned out well for never doing this before. I think it helped the car was really clean underneath. Only a few surface spots where the OE finish had flaked off. Cleaned up to bare metal with a scotch brite.

Before/Dirty



All cleaned up. I used oven cleaner to degrease and a pressure washer to get the dirt off.



Primed – I used VHT Self-etching primer.



Painted – I used VHT Epoxy coating. I have used this on other projects in the past and it seems to hold up well.



Next is to paint the engine bay and a bunch of other small parts. Time to try my hand at painting with a gun and compressor.

 

 

sub'd for Formula love

 

Give it a shot now. Looks like I didn't have my permissions set up correctly. The older stuff is photobucket, but the newer stuff isn't. I have to when time permitting update the older pictures, but for now they seem to work.

 

Back at it!

 

looks good!

 

Before the engine is to go in, I wanted to refresh the engine bay. I built a makeshift spray booth in the garage and decided to give it the old college try. Here is how my booth turned out.



After all was said and done, it did a really good job at keeping the mess contained.

I had no idea what to expect with painting, but it was a good experience. In the endm I am happy with how it turned out. There are things I would do differently next time, but overall it was a good experience. I used an epoxy primer and an acrylic urethane in satin black.

Before



After

 

I was able to the K member ready to go in. A friend notched it for me. There was a really tough tar like substance stuck on it. Degreaser and a pressure washer did nothing to clean it up.



I used a twisted wire wheel in an angle grinder to clean it up and it worked really well.





Coated it with VHT epoxy paint and now it is ready to go in the car.

 

After a few long nights and a lot of learning, the engine is finally in. We went in from the bottom without the transmission. I used a 3/16 plate underneath the passenger side k-member mount to level out the engine. My headers came back from getting ceramic coated just in time. I am very happy with how they turned out.



I put the rear of the car two of the cribs. Then I lifted the front of the car by the bumper bar high enough to roll the engine in from the side on some dollies. Once the engine was under, I set the car down on the two other cribs. Once down, I lifted the engine in place.



After what happened to be a clutch alignment issue, I pulled the engine back out and we went in from the bottom with the engine and trans together. With how many times the engine went in and came out, I became very good with it. Hopefully the engine is in to stay for a while.



Special thanks to my Dad and my buddy Mark for lending a set of hands to get the drivetrain back in. Engine, trans, driveshaft, and rear are all back in the car.



For those wondering I used the following. Spohn k-member mounts spaced up 3/16 of an inch on passenger side, UMI solid motor mounts, Hooker Blackheart LS swap headers, Hawks T56 cross member, Energy Suspension polygraphite transmission mount, and stock 3rd gen driveshaft.

 

I too like putting the engine in from underneath. It seems like more work, but at the end of the day it is actually easier than trying to drop it in from the top, with it cantilevered, trying not to bash stuff, or scratch the paint. Pulling the engine up from the bottom is so easy, and you don't have to worry about having to align the engine mounts.

 

Engine mounts, headers, and not scratching the paint were my main reasons for going through the bottom. It helped the whole front end was already disassembled. I took the sbc out from the top, but the trans was already out. If I had to do it again, I still think I would go through the bottom.