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    Results 41 to 60 of 215
    1. #41
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Mapleton, IL.
      Posts
      250
      Country Flag: United States
      Well as much as I hate to admit it my motor mount plan is not working out. The mounts we made work great mounting to the engine and the Chevy motor mounts bolt up fine. My problem is when I test fit the headers the drivers side tube hits the crossmember. I cant get the motor mounts bolted in the Chevelle frame stands with this header. I don't like how the Chevelle stands sit so far forward on the crossmember. The Buick style stands are a better design centered over the crossmember, but create two other issues. First the width is wrong for the Chevy motor mounts and when bolted in the spread between mounts is wrong. I could alter the width but then the spread is still an issue. I have been researching different mount options. The best option would be to fab some from scratch. I could probably do this given enough time, but the time and cost of doing this outweigh going back to BRP for their mounts that are guaranteed to fit, have the right driveline angles and clear the headers. As they say the best laid plans don't always come together.



      As a side note the Holley oil pan appears to fit great. Doesn't look like it will hang below the crossmember and it looks like the tie rods will clear and no cutting on the front crossmember. Once we get it all bolted down I will report back on the clearances.


    2. #42
      Join Date
      May 2007
      Location
      Mooresville, Indiana
      Posts
      1,878
      Country Flag: United States
      Mark, you're starting to make me feel guilty about the amount of project work I get done in a week.

    3. #43
      Join Date
      Feb 2008
      Location
      Staten Island, New York
      Posts
      367
      Country Flag: United States
      all i have to say is nicceeeeee

    4. #44
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Mapleton, IL.
      Posts
      250
      Country Flag: United States
      Thanks Maldo.

      Well its been a while since I updated the thread. I have been working at it diligently, but I am not to good at remembering to take pictures or taking the time to update the thread. The trans. tunnel mods were not fun and took me way longer than I like to admit.
      My first attempt was to reuse the stock tunnel by spacing it up and filling in the gap with some 18 Ga. sheet metal.


    5. #45
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Mapleton, IL.
      Posts
      250
      Country Flag: United States
      I wanted to be able to easily remove the transmission from the car and being able to remove bell housing bolts and solenoids was not going to be easy without making lots of modifications. My other issue was the tunnel was kicked out more on the drivers side due to the previous 4 speed hump.



      So I went back to the drawing board. What I came up with was a first gen Camaro replacement hump. I used this as a starting point because it had a nice flat top to mount shifter boots and rings, was already tall enough and provided good access. I also liked a small kick-out that was already part of the hump and I lined it up to provide access and clearance for the reverse solenoid.


      I used welding blankets to protect the dash and foil to protect some wires and stuff.

    6. #46
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Mapleton, IL.
      Posts
      250
      Country Flag: United States
      Forward of this I used 18ga. At this point everything was just tacked in place until everything was fitted. Before welding it all in place additional trimming was needed.



      I had a lot of trouble getting a good weld. This was a constant problem throughout the process. I eventually had a couple of welding friends step in to give me a hand. The welding didn't get any easier.

    7. #47
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Mapleton, IL.
      Posts
      250
      Country Flag: United States

    8. #48
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Mapleton, IL.
      Posts
      250
      Country Flag: United States
      After talking with Aaron Oberle and Tom Farrington I decided to extend the tunnel mods further back. They explained that the first floor support cross member can be very close to the driveshaft and in some cases rub at lowered ride heights. At this point I cut out all but the top flange.








      I used part of the old tunnel to get the raised ribs for strength. The previous top of the support became the new bottom. Fabbed some more 18ga for the rear portion then boxed the cross member to it. I also added some 3/16 x 3/4" around the shifter hole to have something more substantial to mount the shifter boot ring too.



      Its hard to see but I had to make a recessed area in the most forward portion of the tunnel to clear the bottom vent on the factory heater box.

    9. #49
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Mapleton, IL.
      Posts
      250
      Country Flag: United States
      While I was at it I turned to the firewall and welded up a lot of holes I no longer needed.


    10. #50
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Mapleton, IL.
      Posts
      250
      Country Flag: United States












      Stripped everything back out of the car and getting everything smoothed out and ready for paint. I couldn't find a close up picture but I took a note from Aarons build and notched the drivers side of the front cross member for additional header tube clearance. The tube cleared but was very tight. This will also provide additional clearance if I decide to lower the engine some more. You can see it if you look close in the above picture.

    11. #51
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Mapleton, IL.
      Posts
      250
      Country Flag: United States
      The first time I built the car I coated the floors with a product called Quite Car. Before applying any other coating I gave the floors two coats of POR-15 and then applied a final coat of the Quiet Car followed by Boom Mat.


    12. #52
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Mapleton, IL.
      Posts
      250
      Country Flag: United States
      Now that everything fits its time to build all of the component's, clean and paint. I started with the transmissions that was from a 2006 GTO which meant I had to make a few changes. I used an F-body bell housing, changed the offset lever in the transmission to the f-body style and replaced the plastic bushing with a brass one. This allowed me to convert to a F-body shifter. I chose a Pro 5.0 shifter. I used this shifter for mock-up as well. I cleaned up the transmission and gave it a coat of paint.



      My Birthday was in September and my lovely wife was very sneaky. She worked with Tom Farrington without me knowing and he was able to work With Mark Bowler at Bowler Transmission to get me a LS7 clutch, flywheel, pressure plate, bolts and a F-body type hydraulic throw out bearing with a few Bowler mods. A big thanks go out to Tom, Mark and my wife!


    13. #53
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Mapleton, IL.
      Posts
      250
      Country Flag: United States
      Next up was the engine. I took it down to essentially a long block for a few upgrades and paint. I am retaining the VVT feature on the engine and I am using a Mast Motorsports cam and springs. The cam is the 914-103 SS grind with .588 lift and 230 duration on the intake and .607 lift and 244 duration on the exhaust side with a lobe separation angle of 111 degrees. The spring are the beehive style. This required me to use a Comp Cams Phase limiter kit 5460. I upgraded the pushrods to Trickflow chrome moly in the 5/16 diameter. The roller rockers got a Summit Racing bearing and trunion upgrade kit. I did port the oil pump and the oil passages in the oil pan.









    14. #54
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Mapleton, IL.
      Posts
      250
      Country Flag: United States
      I decided to go with the Buick green color. Used the POR15 engine paint.








    15. #55
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Mapleton, IL.
      Posts
      250
      Country Flag: United States
      Going in for the final time I hope.






    16. #56
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Mapleton, IL.
      Posts
      250
      Country Flag: United States
      I had to wait until we had the engine in the car to install the balancer due to the high torque required. Used the ARP bolt to retain it. Forgot to mention it but I used the SAS Corvette alignment tools along with feeler gauges and a straight edge to align the oil pump and the front cover. This shot shows the oil pan clearance to the front cross member.



      Transmission with BRP crossmember.

    17. #57
      Join Date
      Feb 2011
      Location
      Mid-Michigan
      Posts
      136
      Country Flag: United States
      Looks awesome Mark! You are doing it right, that's for sure. Gonna be a very nice setup when you're done!
      Aaron
      65 Chevelle, LS1 with a T56
      Project G-Velle

    18. #58
      Join Date
      Nov 2006
      Location
      Ma.
      Posts
      5,567
      Country Flag: United States
      Great project Mark. Should get up and boogie with the LS and 6 spd.
      Wayne
      Car FINALLY home !!!!!! lol
      Project FNQUIK https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ghlight=FNQUIK

    19. #59
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Mapleton, IL.
      Posts
      250
      Country Flag: United States
      Thanks for the complements Aaron and Wayne.

      I used the Holley accessory drive for the alternator and power steering. One day I will add air conditioning and this leaves me with two options. I can add the Holley A/C kit or I can use the truck style factory A/C. I like the factory mount the best as its low and out of the way. Gives a cleaner look. I am using the truck style damper so it has two serpentine grooves. I have bolted the bracket and the compressor up just to check and they fit nicely. The one issue I have run into is I am going to have to swap water pumps to the Camaro style. The pump pictured is a truck pump and will not clear the DBW throttle body .





      This shows how the truck style A/C will mount and clear everything for future use.






    20. #60
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Mapleton, IL.
      Posts
      250
      Country Flag: United States
      I cleaned up all the suspension parts and mounted everything back up. I upgraded the front brakes to the Baer GT disc brakes with billet hubs and ARP 1/2" wheel studs thanks to the Farringtons.






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