1970 GTO Version 2.0

[andrewb70]

Wow, Andrew! Stance looks good.



On the other hand, your color balance is off. Look at the difference in color between this pic and your signature.

jp

All of these pictures are being shot with my iPhone. If I was really ambitious I would get my Canon 5D out and set it up with custom white balance. For the web it the iPhone is more than adequate. As with all digital cameras the iPhone has trouble with flourecent and halogen lighting sources.

Andrew

[gearbanger]

I saw a horsepower tv yesterday, it may have been a rerun but I hadn't seen it before. They took a stock ls1 and put a different cam, long tube headers, and ran it on the dyno without the accessories of course. It made 445 horsepower. I was pretty impressed with that. With that information if you add the extra 25 inches of displacement, you could see upper 400s for hp. I guess you were one the money with you predictions.

I stand corrected. Sorry for doubting you Andrew

I would like to see more with the Ls7. It must be way underrated, or way restricted. It seems like mid to upper 500 horsepower range would be pretty easy for that engine. That is pretty amazing.

[andrewb70]

It's funny how once people see something on TV they assume its gospel, but when they hear something from a guy with first hand experience, its Mr. Doubting Thomas.

No apologies required.

Anyway. I have been working on getting the wiring sorted out. The GMPP harness has three huge connectors that go to the ECU. In order to fit them through the firewall I would need at least a 3" hole. There is already a 2" hole in the firewall so I wanted to see if I could somehow feed the harness through it. The only way to do that was to start feeding the harness from the inside. With some effort I was able to feed it through. However the huge relay center was not going to make it. So I cut the wires to the relay center. It's no big deal since I will most likely have to lengthen that harness anyway. I would like to mount the relay center on the radiator support so it will not be so visible.

I also fixed some wiring oddities that were done by a shop that did the wiring during the original build. Odd things, like having wires that went from the bulkhead connector fed through the firewall then back out through the firewall, and back to the backup switch. Who does that s**t?

Another thing that I will have to do is get a different pedal. The one that is included with the GMPP harness kit is just plain awful. It is big, and huge, and ugly, and pretty much looks like it's made for semi truck. I think a pedal from a Corvette or a Chevy Malibu might work much better. Maybe a quick trip to the dealership is in order. LOL

Andrew

[oestek]

Great stuff, Andrew, and excellent commentary. This is a great thread with lots of good info. Thanks for taking the time to post it all!

- KO

[andrewb70]

Great stuff, Andrew, and excellent commentary. This is a great thread with lots of good info. Thanks for taking the time to post it all!

- KO

Thanks Kevin!

Sometimes one has to wonder, "WHAT THE F**K WERE THESE PEOPLE THINKING?" GMPP did a very nice job coming out with a harness and ECU combo that was priced right, fits well, and is easy to hook up. Then you realize that the engineer who speced the gas pedal has never turned a wrench in his (or her) life. The pedal that they send with the harness kit is on the right:



It is HUGE and looks like it belongs on a dump truck. I can't imagine that it would fit into any car or streetrod etc...

Thanks for Jeff Schwartz, I got an alternative. The pedal on the left is from a 2007 Monte Carlo SS.



Nice and tidy, with an easy to mount flange. I was able to position it exactly where the old gas pedal was. I even used one of the original holes, drilled an extra hole, and was done.



So with some luck, I hope to drop the engine in this weekend.

Andrew

[andrewb70]

Not much to say, as a picture is worth a thousand words:



Andrew

[trapin]

Looks damn good, Andrew. I like the polished finish of the L76 fuel rails over the puke brown ones on my car. I half thought about repainting them, then I remembered I was too lazy.

[tom_a]

Looks great. Any tie rod issues? Also did you just mount to stock stands or use spacers?

Thanks,
Tom

[andrewb70]

Looks great. Any tie rod issues? Also did you just mount to stock stands or use spacers?

Thanks,
Tom

Tony,

The L73/LS3 rails are really nice. They are stainless and will look great for a long time.

Tom,
I am using the Edelbrock adapter plates. These put the bellhousing at exactly the same location as it was before. My shifter fits perfectly. I am also using the Energy Suspention poly mounts that I had on the big block. I believe they are the tall and narrow style, along with the big block frame stands. As it is right now, I am not sure about the tie rods. I can't turn the wheels because of how my jack stands are located. It looks like it will be close. I did not use the little plate that came with the motor mounts. I have a feeling the engine may have to go up slightly. I will report back tomorrow.

The Edelbrock headers fit like a glove!

Andrew

[Young Gun]

looks awsome!! loving this build, fun to watch!

[tom_a]

Tony,


Tom,
I am using the Edelbrock adapter plates. These put the bellhousing at exactly the same location as it was before. My shifter fits perfectly. I am also using the Energy Suspention poly mounts that I had on the big block. I believe they are the tall and narrow style, along with the big block frame stands. As it is right now, I am not sure about the tie rods. I can't turn the wheels because of how my jack stands are located. It looks like it will be close. I did not use the little plate that came with the motor mounts. I have a feeling the engine may have to go up slightly. I will report back tomorrow.

The Edelbrock headers fit like a glove!

Andrew

Thats good news on headers and it sounds like engine location will allow you to use driveshaft without modifing. Really look forward to seeing more.

[andrewb70]

Thats good news on headers and it sounds like engine location will allow you to use driveshaft without modifing. Really look forward to seeing more.

My goal was to not have to modify anything from the bellhousing back. I will install the driveshaft tomorrow and make sure that its good. Judging by the shifer location, I don't expect any problems.

Andrew

[olds87]

That is awesome Andrew.

[Smock67]

Wow the LS looks perfect in your engine bay. Hopefully the drive shaft will also fit like a glove. I love this project.

[andrewb70]

Today I finally got done with modifying the GMPP engine harness. There were a few things that I did not like about it and I also wanted to give it some custom touches. The thought crossed my mind to completely reloom the harness, but I decided against it. Once I got the harness all hooked up and routed, it was pretty obvious that most of the harness is not really visible. It tucks very nicely behind the engine. The most visible parts are the extremities. The little branches that go to the various sensors, throttle body, and injectors. So I addressed just those areas. Here you can see how I kept the main branch of the portion of the harness that tuns along the fuel rail. What I did reloom were all the little fuel injector sections. You can also see the fuel line. It is a smooth bore Teflon braided stainless line that I covered with the nylon loom material.



Here you can see a section of the harness that had several branches going to the coolant temp sensor, alternator, crank sensor and MAF. It looked like this:



I changed it to this:



Not a huge difference, but a small detail.

I also routed the line from the coolant crossover tube. This tube can be routed to several places. The most popular is to run it to the radiator by the upper radiator hose. Others run a T in the upper radiator hose and routed there. On 5.3L Trailblazers the line runs to the large heater hose. So I drilled and tapped the water pump and ran a stainless hardline from the crossover tube to the water pump.



Getting really close to firing it up!

Andrew

[trapin]

Looks good Andrew. That helps me out.

Also....we're gonna want a sound file. Don't you dare post about
it when it happens and not bring any ear music with you.

[andrewb70]

Looks good Andrew. That helps me out.

Also....we're gonna want a sound file. Don't you dare post about
it when it happens and not bring any ear music with you.

I have to see who has a video camera. It would be nice to get that footage.

Look at all that room even with the radiator installed. I love the Corvette accessories. Plenty of room on the passenger side for a GT42R. :secret2:



I would say 75% of the engine is behind the front axle centerline. With any luck this thing will have about a 50/50 weight distribution.

Andrew

[novaracer_2000]

That's awesome,I was thinking about a ls1 for my GTO.Are you gonna use the new GTO coil covers?

[andrewb70]

That's awesome,I was thinking about a ls1 for my GTO.Are you gonna use the new GTO coil covers?

I am not a huge fan of the coil covers. Why hide the wiring that I just spent 12 hours on fixing. LOL

Andrew

[trapin]

I'm with you on that Andrew, I don't like the look of them and find nothing offensive looking about the coil packs and wires. I think it looks cool actually.

I know you're running an in tank pump on this thing but I wanted to ask you...how hard would an external pump be to do? Would It be cheaper to run one that way?