Bruce's long awaited journey begins: #1294

[Mastertech5]

Pics above show invalid links so let's try again!

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These pics go with the last post on page 2.

[Mastertech5]

It's funny how you find out about things sometimes. I located a welder here in town and stopped by with my A.C. bracket to get an estimate. He was located in a building with a machine shop. 2 guys working there said that the welder was upstairs but wasn't there. I explained what I wanted done and they said he only did micro welding. One of the guys told me his son probably would do it for me at his shop and told me it was about a half mile down the road. So off I went. Turns out it's a LS specialty performance speed shop and he TIG welded it for me. Very nice guy. He sells parts too and said anything I might need be could get or have in stock. I'm going to have to get the air intake tube fabricated and he said no problem. He'd get me some tubes and I could cut and mark them and he would weld them up and weld the MAF bung on. COOL! I want to try to get the air filter toward the left head as far away from the radiator as possible. Thinking ahead I was toying with the idea of putting some kind of small scoop or open louver reversed on the side covers for fresh air instead of all that hot air flowing through the radiator and then 2 more further back to let some hot air out. TBD
I had no idea the speed shop was there. It's the third building back from the street. No fancy sign or much of anything to let you know it's there. When I was a teenager there seemed to be a speed shop for parts in every town and us motor/gear heads would do the work ourselves. This guy and his brother upgrade older vehicles with LS power plants and any other mods you might want. Most of the engine machine shops have disappeared too. Not much gets rebuilt any more. I used to rebuild starters, alternators, steering racks, carburetors and transmissions. Now you just replace it with a factory "remanufactured part" or new. Today modifying your vehicle seems like putting on some wheels a big stereo, a K&N air filter and some accessories. There are a few younger people out there that are still into performance but most of us are older and want to relive the glory days of raw horsepower. Like the end of Roadkill, Hot Rod Garage or Roadkill Garage. Burnouts baby!

[33fromSD]

It's funny how you find out about things sometimes. I located a welder here in town and stopped by with my A.C. bracket to get an estimate. He was located in a building with a machine shop. 2 guys working there said that the welder was upstairs but wasn't there. I explained what I wanted done and they said he only did micro welding. One of the guys told me his son probably would do it for me at his shop and told me it was about a half mile down the road. So off I went. Turns out it's a LS specialty performance speed shop and he TIG welded it for me. Very nice guy. He sells parts too and said anything I might need be could get or have in stock. I'm going to have to get the air intake tube fabricated and he said no problem. He'd get me some tubes and I could cut and mark them and he would weld them up and weld the MAF bung on. COOL! I want to try to get the air filter toward the left head as far away from the radiator as possible. Thinking ahead I was toying with the idea of putting some kind of small scoop or open louver reversed on the side covers for fresh air instead of all that hot air flowing through the radiator and then 2 more further back to let some hot air out. TBD
I had no idea the speed shop was there. It's the third building back from the street. No fancy sign or much of anything to let you know it's there. When I was a teenager there seemed to be a speed shop for parts in every town and us motor/gear heads would do the work ourselves. This guy and his brother upgrade older vehicles with LS power plants and any other mods you might want. Most of the engine machine shops have disappeared too. Not much gets rebuilt any more. I used to rebuild starters, alternators, steering racks, carburetors and transmissions. Now you just replace it with a factory "remanufactured part" or new. Today modifying your vehicle seems like putting on some wheels a big stereo, a K&N air filter and some accessories. There are a few younger people out there that are still into performance but most of us are older and want to relive the glory days of raw horsepower. Like the end of Roadkill, Hot Rod Garage or Roadkill Garage. Burnouts baby!

And these types of shops are usually as busy or busier than normal business who advertise because they growth their business & customer base on word of mouth from past customer experiences who were very satisfied with the work and recommend to others. I love these types of businesses in my town.

I use them quite a bit. I found a local drive shaft shop several years ago in town and have since used them on 4 drives shafts for my various projects and recommended them about a dozen times.

Jim

[Mastertech5]

Over the weekend I removed the heater hose nipples on the water pump, tapped the holes and installed 45 degree fittings. The straight tubes weren't going to work with the frame rail. I guess many LS swappers do this and put various fittings in for their intended

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Then I had to figure out where and how to mount the heater control valve and module. It took awhile but this is what I came up with.

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I traced out the measurements for the bulkhead fittings and drilled the holes. Had to file them a little to make them fit right together.

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Then I figured out the best place for the AC accumulator/dryer for hose routing.

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I put the heater hose fittings on the inside and pointed them at the heater hose pipes. They don't line up even close to putting a hose on at least one of them. Too close and to much of an a angle to each other. I looked for shorter ones but couldn't find any. One of the hoses, when I put it on, would rub on the back of the fan motor

Anyone else run into this problem too? The pipes don't exactly bend very easily, I tried!

[Mastertech5]

I started a thread yesterday about my heater pipe problem and professed my ignorance about causing the whole problem by mixing up the upper heater pipe and the large AC line on the bulkhead. After swapping them and bending the heater pipes slightly everything lined up just fine.

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I ordered 2 - 45 degree heater pipe fittings for the engine side. The straight ones that come in the AC kit aren't working for me. They are so long they go over the frame tube. $10 each from Summit. Amazon wanted $24 each.
The AC fitting crimper works good. On the large fittings though I have to start the crimp and turn the fitting one crimp and finish to keep it from from bulging on opposite sides. We'll see if they leak next spring I guess. I bought a vacuum pump and gauge set in late spring . My rear high side AC line on my Acadia leaked. So I spliced in a new tube with these nifty unions from Dorman and I knew I could use it then and on my 33 instead of spending a little less twice. R134a is about twice as much at a shop per pound than Walmart plus labor. We used to get $125 plus R134a to evacuate and recharge a system, so do the math. Vacuum pump and gauge kit was $165.

[Mastertech5]

Finally got my clevises for the front LCAs. Was able to put the front end together. Hubs, rotors, calipers, wheels and tires. It's a roller, I just can't steer it yet.

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The 45 degree heater pipes are coming today so I can finish up the heater hoses. Now that I have all the holes drilled in the firewall and foot boxes I'll pull them of and polish them up. My bellhousing got delayed another 2 weeks. I'm really getting frustrated with them. I can still do the floors I guess.
Does anyone know what the big washers in the front suspension hardware pack are for? There are 4 of them. I Went through the manual and didn't see any reference to them.

[Mastertech5]

I ordered my Stage 2 body kit today. I should be able to pick it up in late April hopefully with all the main parts needed. I do have the bike fenders kit thanks to BradC. I don't have a heated garage so I have about 1 1/2 months to get done what I'd like to, floors, steering, interior panels, trans and some wiring. I have all my boxes on pallets that are used to store wood pellets for my 2 pellet stoves, so some moving and rearranging is needed soon.

[BradC]

Wow - lead times are still pretty long with them huh? Sounds like it works out pretty well though with the work on hand and limitations during winter. It'll come up quick enough. Do you think you'll be firing it up before winter?

[Mastertech5]

Wow - lead times are still pretty long with them huh? Sounds like it works out pretty well though with the work on hand and limitations during winter. It'll come up quick enough. Do you think you'll be firing it up before winter?

I highly doubt it. Have the wedding in Hawaii in October and one next weekend too. Still waiting for the bellhousing also. Suppose to ship on the 29th. 4th delay from Aug. 10th.

I riveted the lower floor panels on tonight (yesterday now). Had fun with that marine adhesive goop. BLAH!

[Mastertech5]

I put the stock exhaust manifolds that came with my engine on today to see how the Cats would fit. NOT! The manifold outlets are about 3/4" out too far on each side causing the down pipes to hit the frame tubes on either side. The flanges are also horizontal. I took out the FFR down pipes out and the mating flanges are slanted. Oh goody, exhaust modification will be needed. The Hooker manifolds are still on backorder from FFR although they are in stock on Holley's website. I'm going to have to cut the very short pipe on the Cats and the FFR down pipes and have them welded at the correct angles.

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[Mastertech5]

FFR manifolds coming tomorrow. Now we can see how things might fit. My bellhousing is suppose to be shipped today direct from Holley to me per Summit. I'm really tired of holding my breath. I just hope the trans hole runout is within spec or i'll have to order offset pins for the block. who knows how long those might take.

[Mastertech5]

Installed the Hooker exhaust manifolds Saturday and the outlets are in about an inch from the GM manifolds. Going to have to cut and weld the down pipes and cat. Conv. Inlet pipes to make them work. My bellhousing came this morning. Installed the back plate, flywheel and bell. I did the run out check on the trans hole and it's out of spec by .008, .003 over maximum allowed. .007 offset pins on order. I have to measure the input shaft length from trans body minus depth of bellhousing to confirm the pilot bearing they sent (larger one) is correct. Macleod wants you to install the clutch and measure to where the clutch will sit on the input shaft splines so it is correct. Voids warranty if all these measurements aren't done. FUN!

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My dial indicator magnetic base rod is too long to fit inside the bell so it has to stick out and trying to get it to sit flat and not wiggle around took me about 15 minutes of futtsing around with it. I drew 8 lines on the bell and turned the crank to measure runout at each line like a clock. I need to move bell toward 10:30 by offset of dowels. Then I can install the transmission and get my engine angle set to drill a couple of holes in the firewall to anchor the fuel and purge lines and to see where I need to cut the exhaust for correct orientation to the floor. That bellhousing was really holding things up. Still haven't got the nuts for the front control arm bushing bolts from FFR yet.

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Why do companies supply 12 point bolts with their stuff? I hate 12 point bolts. I had to go buy some sockets so I could torque the flywheel bolts(ARP) and bellhousing bolts (QuickTime). They are too easy to round off. At least I have new sockets for them now.

[Mastertech5]

I got my offset dowels installed (Moroso). They don't come marked as to where the high spots are. I had to figure that out with my dial indicator. They are screw driver slotted to turn but I had to polish the ends down with crocus cloth so I could turn them in the block. They came with set screws. You have to drill and tap the block to use them. 8/32 so very small holes. So I have the bellhousing dialed in with .004 runout, .001 within max spec. Had to order a mechanical speedo block off plug (not included) as I am using the sensor for that. I had to buy some Grade 8 1/2"- 13 x 1 1/2" NC flange head bolts to mount the transmission, not quite there yet. Got those at Tractor Supply, shocked they had them. My go to hardware store didn't.
Anyone have problems with the trans mount fitting between the frame pieces it bolts to? I'm going to have to bend the ears of the mount or both to fit it in between. Till next post tata!

[Mastertech5]

I got the trans installed, no clutch. Chain across the 2 holed tabs and a ratchet strap from hook to tailshaft housing to keep it level on engine hoist. Pretty much slid right in. I hope it'll be that easy when the clutch is on. Height looks good. Measured drive shaft length- 36 ". Diff flange to output shaft 36 3/4", perfect. I had to turn the trans mount around so the curved part was toward the rear to get it to line up with the frame holes. I don't really think it matters.

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I pulled the directions from the box and read them before I took the trans out of the box. They said I needed to order a mechanical speedo block off plug if using the digital sensor, so I did. It came today, so I went to put it in and you guessed it there was one there already. Back it goes. I never even opened the shipping box.

It says there is an o-ring on the output shaft to keep things in or out while shipping and not necessary to remove and you could damage the seal or bushing if you do. Anyone with any experience with this have advise or suggestions? That foam looking thing sticking out past the dust shield.

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[Mastertech5]

Thanks to all that advised on removal of the donut on the TKX output shaft.

Attention all waiting for the 16 mm nuts for your front suspension: unless you already got them mine are coming tomorrow, yea! Hopefully yours will be arriving soon.

I put the engine harness on today to see how it would layout. I'll be able to put the fuse box and computer inside t he cockpit. The cam sensor won't plug in because it has a 5 pin connector and the sensor connector is 3 pin. There are only 3 wires in the 5 pin connector. 5 wires is for a VVT engine. It mentions a jumper harness and part number but gives you the impression it's included. There is a short harness from the sensor itself routed behind a shield near the crankshaft. The MAP sensor connector won't plug in either, both 3 pin but different styles. The fun never ends. Overcoming this kind of stuff is all part of the custom car build process I guess. Called the LS shop I posted about earlier and spoke to them. He has connectors and different MAP sensors I can check out. Going tomorrow MAP in hand with pictures of the connectors in question.

[33fromSD]

Thanks to all that advised on removal of the donut on the TKX output shaft.

Attention all waiting for the 16 mm nuts for your front suspension: unless you already got them mine are coming tomorrow, yea! Hopefully yours will be arriving soon.

I put the engine harness on today to see how it would layout. I'll be able to put the fuse box and computer inside t he cockpit. The cam sensor won't plug in because it has a 5 pin connector and the sensor connector is 3 pin. There are only 3 wires in the 5 pin connector. 5 wires is for a VVT engine. It mentions a jumper harness and part number but gives you the impression it's included. There is a short harness from the sensor itself routed behind a shield near the crankshaft. The MAP sensor connector won't plug in either, both 3 pin but different styles. The fun never ends. Overcoming this kind of stuff is all part of the custom car build process I guess. Called the LS shop I posted about earlier and spoke to them. He has connectors and different MAP sensors I can check out. Going tomorrow MAP in hand with pictures of the connectors in question.

Glad your hardware is finally coming for the front suspension so you can move forward.

I have to admit though, if it were me (in a lot of cases it was since I built mine during the pandemic so stuff from FFR was hit or miss), I would not let nuisance parts like bolts, washers, lock washers, nuts, screws, etc. or even things like brackets impede my forward momentum on the build. I get that the majority of the folk's view point is they paid good money for the 33 HR kit(s) so they want to use the parts FFR supplies, but to me time is $$, so if I'm waiting months on simple hardware while my build is collecting dust where I can source online or locally and immediately continue, I'm going to spend the few dollars to source it myself.

That's just me, I like to control the situation / build so even if that means ending up with a bag full of hardware after the fact (which I'll use on other vehical restorations I do) I'd rather go that route than be waiting on hardware that is preventing me from making progress.

I've actually had brackets from FFR (The door striker brackets) that after 3 times back & forth of tweaking and still getting the wrong ones I finally just had my own made locally since I could bring in a card board template of what I needed and physically stand in the machine shop with the operator to make the exact brackets I needed and know they would be right the first time. Again, that's a freaky "I have to be in control thing" I have, but for the $30 the 1/4" thick steel L & R brackets cost me to make, I walked away with correct brackets in 2 hours total time locally that took a couple of months of back and forth describing to my assigned FFR tech why the bracket does not fit & the trial and error of tweaks to the brackets FFR made & reshipped that never resulted in a part that fit.

Your build is coming along great, enjoy it.

Jim

[Mastertech5]

I got a MAP sensor connector from Eric at the LS shop. Spliced it in with some solder shrink connectors. A ring of solder is in the middle and you feed the stripped wires in the ends then shrink middle out and the solder melts and the sheath seals everything. The pin locations are different from the connector that was on the harness. Checked continuity on each circuit back to ECM connector, all good. I went through my LS engine box of goodies and found the CAM sensor jumper harness.

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The nuts that came today are different. They are non-flanged nylock. They also sent 8 of those large washers that I had a question about in an earlier post. I had to cut the edges on one side on 2 of them to sit flat on the front LCAs, hit the tubing welds. All torqued except for the radiator mount ones.

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[Mastertech5]

I took the engine and transmission out yesterday so I could take the firewall and foot boxes out so I could polish them.
I taped up any ports open to air and put the engine away for the winter on my stand. Covered it up with the rust preventative paper and plastic it came in. Hopefully I can get the foot boxes in and the top floors installed before it gets too cold. Going to Hawaii next week's for my daughter's wedding, where she lives. Should be fun!

[33fromSD]

I took the engine and transmission out yesterday so I could take the firewall and foot boxes out so I could polish them.
I taped up any ports open to air and put the engine away for the winter on my stand. Covered it up with the rust preventative paper and plastic it came in. Hopefully I can get the foot boxes in and the top floors installed before it gets too cold. Going to Hawaii next week's for my daughter's wedding, where she lives. Should be fun!

Can't recall, did you run your engine already? If yes, did you run it with water, antifreeze or dry? If you used antifreeze then your good, if used water or dry, you may want to fill the water jackets with Antifreeze to prevent flash rusting in the water jackets while in storage.

Jim

[Mastertech5]

No, I haven't run it yet. I just set the drivetrain in to fit the alt., AC compressor and to mock up other stuff. Next time I install it it's to stay, hopefully. I just hope the grill comes with my Stage 2 order in April.

[33fromSD]

No, I haven't run it yet. I just set the drivetrain in to fit the alt., AC compressor and to mock up other stuff. Next time I install it it's to stay, hopefully. I just hope the grill comes with my Stage 2 order in April.

Okay, then you "should" be okay. Not sure about other engine builders but if this is a BluePrint engine I know they add a dye in the block (orangish in color) when doing their run test / dyno to show leaks (if any) that I believe is a rust preventor too for storage. Other builders, I'm not sure what they do.

Speaking of the dye BP uses, just a tidbit to make a mental note for those who have not ran their BP engine yet or if you have and have not checked your water yet. Do your initial run / break-in with plain water because with the dye in the block everything will turn a bright brownish-orange including new coolant. While BP says the coolant will still be fine to run it's pretty gross looking.

If you run water only you can then drain the block & radiator to remove all the gunky looking fluid. I would also suggest flushing the radiator with hot water a few times since this dye gets into everything. I think I flushed mine 3 or 4 times before I got clear water coming out.

Jim

[Mastertech5]

Brand new GM crate engine. I'm good.

[Mastertech5]

I got back from my daughter's wedding in Hawaii on Monday and took a day to recover and sleep. Gained 5 lbs. eating good food. The wedding was great and all went well.
Today I mounted my polished foot boxes. They look great.

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Tonight I installed the power steering. Turns nice and smooth.

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Tomorrow I plan on polishing the firewall and installing it. Then doing the foam and upper floor panels if time allows. I drilled the inner firewall panel I got from Mike Everson and the holes in the frame. I had to modify it to allow for the HVAC lines and Heater box mounting. Pictures to come

[Namrups]

Can't see any of your pictures.

[Mastertech5]

Can't see any of your pictures.

I uploaded them again. They were there after the first time. This has happened before, ?.

[Namrups]

I can see them now.

[Mastertech5]

I got the firewall polished. It wasn't as reflective as the foot boxes so I polished some more with finer grit paper, 6000. I think they are different alloys. It looks better now.

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Here's one of the inner firewall. The right side is trimmed for the HVAC hoses and the 2 slots cut in the middle are so I can mount the heater box. Lots of space to mount PS controller, engine harness fuse box and ECM.

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[Mastertech5]

Today I got the floors done. The lower pieces were riveted in a while ago. The foam inserts didn't fit. I had to cut off a little of each corner to fit around the frame welds and I whacked each side along their lengths with a small dead blow plastic hammer just enough to get them started. Spread the marine adhesive and banged the foam pieces in. Then I riveted..... The top panels on. I attached the foot boxes with adhesive and rivets to the floors. Done! I used 3 Bondo spreaders and threw them away rather than try to clean that goo off. Have a little adhesive left, about 3 or 4 clicks on the caulking gun.

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I think I may install the Ron Francis fuse box tomorrow. 70 deg. weather for 3 days then cold again so I'm taking advantage although I have leaves to blow, a lot of leaves!

[Mastertech5]

I got the fuse box mounted. Now to figure out where to run the harness sections. Installing the drivetrain and a few other things might help.

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[Mastertech5]

I had a problem with the rear of the floors and posted a question in the body and interior thread. I ended up bending the back of the floors up to meet the rear cockpit panel. Someone at FFR forgot that bend. I would have asked them for new upper floor panels but I already installed them as you can see above.

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[BradC]

Oh that’s a bummer. Guess things like that can happen but at least it’s not one you couldn’t do yourself. Are you going to let FFR know about it?

[Mastertech5]

Oh that’s a bummer. Guess things like that can happen but at least it’s not one you couldn’t do yourself. Are you going to let FFR know about it?

I hadn't thought about it. I should though to help out future builders. It's funny though how 3 times now I've mentioned parts in my posts and they show up the next weekend. I'm pretty sure the moderator or someone at FFR checks the threads and let's someone know about problems builders are having. The build manual needs updates in certain areas too. There are Gen 1 instructions still that just don't match up with Gen 2 at all and areas that are vague as to what to do or how to attach something or what hardware to use even for an ex-professional like me. I can't imagine what some novices go through. Good thing we have this forum to fill in the gaps.

[Mastertech5]

I sent an email to FFR Tech about the missing bends on the floor panels but haven't heard anything back yet.

I put the engine back in today with the clutch installed this time after attaching the firewall. Transmission tomorrow. It's been warm enough to be able to get some work done. It's suppose to get cold again next week for good probably. We had upper 20s overnight for 2 days. Can't wait for the white stuff, Why do I live here?

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[Mastertech5]

I wasn't able to get the trans installed today because of some hydraulic TOB hose and orientation issues which I think are straightened out for now. See engine and trans thread.

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[Mastertech5]

While waiting to finalize the trans installation I decided to install the heat and insulation upper pieces to the firewall before riveting my inner firewall piece on. Doesn't the body need to sit down behind the firewall and attach against it? I would then need to trim about a 1/2" to 3 /4" of the heat and insulation panels down from the top of the firewall.

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Comments welcome.

[RoadRacer]

Doesn't the body need to sit down behind the firewall and attach against it? I would then need to trim about a 1/2" to 3 /4" of the heat and insulation panels down from the top of the firewall.

Yep! That's correct.

[Mastertech5]

I trimmed the sound/insulation back at the firewall 5/8". The body should fit now, when I get it.

I spent the last couple of days working on the wiring and locating the ECM, PS controller, and engine controls fuse block. I made a bracket out of 1x1 aluminum angle stock for the fuse block. I Made a piece to screw it to that is riveted to the inner firewall and ran the harness through the A.C. bracket.

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I extended the PS harnesses from the motor and mounted the controller as in the first picture above.
I decided to mount the ECM ON the bottom side of the heater box bracket. To drill holes in stainless your drill bits have to be sharp and it helps a lot to start small and step up 3-4 times to the size needed.

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I ordered a 4AN 90deg. Elbow to put on the TOB bleeder fitting so the hose would not have such a sharp bend to get to the hole in the bellhousing. I got the transmission in but it took me about 1/2 hour of wiggling. I had to hold the TOB IN PLACE in the bellhousing until the input shaft was in bell enough to slip it on and then push the trans in while pushing the TOB on.

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[Mastertech5]

Question about coolant fan wiring with my set up in electrical thread. Opinions welcome.

[Mastertech5]

Now that I have the cooling fan wiring straightened out I decided to work on getting the ECM wiring to inside. This is what I came up with.

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I used hole saws to cut holes to pass the harnesses through and then cut 2 slots down each hole. I made a template and fashioned an aluminum plate to hold it all together with the rivets. Sealed the slots from the back side. The plate is polished but didn't show up well in the photo. When I fit the body I'll just drill little dimples in the body at the rivets so it will sit flat against the firewall. There is room to install 1/4-20 button head bolts at 3" intervals on the plate to hold the body down. Inspired by edwardb. I will anchor the harnesses to the firewall to keep them from moving around and out of the way of that one AC line. If I need to get them out I can drill out 3 rivets and remove the plate with the 2 slotted pieces attached.

[Brave Salmon]

you know they make countersunk rivets?