My LT1/4L60E build update

[deja]

Big day today. I was up before the dawn, literally. Off to Home Depot to buy a 2x6 to sit the front tires on so the engine hoist will clear the suspension. Found that out when we pulled the old engine. At 8:00 we started the install. All went pretty well until the motor mount bolts would not line up with the cross member standoffs. I had slotted them and enlarged them to 1/2 but we were way off. I thought at that point I had them installed wrong, but no. We pulled the driver's side off, plate and all. We loosely bolted the whole assembly on the standoff and lowered the engine back down. It was a bit of a struggle getting the holes on the plates to line up with the block, tough to finesse a SBC, but we finally got them to go.

 

 

Then the tough part. I had cut the ears off the old tranny mounts but that wasn't enough to clear the 4L60E on the passenger's side. Driver's side was fine. We cut the whole tranny mount out about 3/4 of the way up and beat on the tunnel to clear the cooler lines. Fortunately my buddy volunteered to do all this without removing the engine, just lowered the back of tranny as far as we could.

 

 

I haven't mounted the tranny yet, I think I want to beef up the floor a little rather than just running bolts though it to hold the mount. One thing I really noticed was how bad my frame rails a bent. I had seen it before but didn't realize how bad they are. I think some Baddogs are in the very near future.

 

I'm getting there, still a lot of work ahead of me but this was a huge step. The garage looks cavernous now that the engine and tranny aren't sitting in the middle of everything. Tomorrow I'm going to reassemble the front of the engine. I had taken everything off to fix the optispark problem and thought it would be an easier install if I just left it all off. NASCAR is in California so its on later tomorrow right?

 

[Dudeboy]

Great Progress Deja !!!

 

You are keeping me motivated. I am planning on "massaging" the passenger side a bit more based on your update.

 

Thanks

[deja]

Great Progress Deja !!!

 

You are keeping me motivated. I am planning on "massaging" the passenger side a bit more based on your update.

 

Thanks

 

I was pretty sure I had to "beat" on the tunnel, but didn't think I had to cut that whole mount bracket out, thought the ears would be enough. Another thing you might do before installation is beat the passenger side tunnel corner back some so the cooler lines will fit without hitting. My tranny has been rebuilt and it doesn't look like it has the stock lines. They are in two sections, short ones coming off the tranny and longer ones that ran to the radiator. But this setup probably won't hook up to my JTR radiator anyway so I'll probably make new ones from hard brake line. I will probably run them along the engine block to minimize the bends and to keep them away from the headers. I'll post some picts when I'm done.

Oh yeah, there is no way the stock dip stick would fit, I ordered a Lokar flexible one.

[Bartman]

Congrat's on the progress, you'll have it all licked in no time.

 

I'm thinking some Bad dog's are in my future as well.

[rytherwr]

Lookin' good Deja...congrats! It will be done before ya know it! )

 

Wayne

[Dudeboy]

Deja,

 

I thought I had cut and grinded too much off on the passenger side !!! i am planning on pounding on it . Hopefully my mounting hardware will be here by Wed. and I can jump on it Thursday-Saturday. For the tranny cooler lines, Bowtie Overdrives has a 4L60E sidemount radiator cooling line kit that you trim to fit. Once my lines and the JTR radiator arrive I will post a write up good or bad.

[EvilC]

Looks good so far. Great feeling when the motor is finally sitting in the car and not on the ground. My hands are stil hurting from getting them tranny mounts out. I also have the baddog rails on my car but will have to get someone to "finish" them....i am a novice welder...meaning i suck...lol they def do help beef'n up the rails......keep going!

[deja]

Deja,

 

I thought I had cut and grinded too much off on the passenger side !!! i am planning on pounding on it . Hopefully my mounting hardware will be here by Wed. and I can jump on it Thursday-Saturday. For the tranny cooler lines, Bowtie Overdrives has a 4L60E sidemount radiator cooling line kit that you trim to fit. Once my lines and the JTR radiator arrive I will post a write up good or bad.

 

 

I will check out the Bowtie kit, thanks. Bending hard lins is a total bitch. The place you'll need to beat on the passenger side is toward the front of the car before the old tranny mount. You can see in the pict I posted where we beat on it. I haven't tried putting in the shifter cable yet, hopefully it will fit.

[deja]

Looks good so far. Great feeling when the motor is finally sitting in the car and not on the ground. My hands are stil hurting from getting them tranny mounts out. I also have the baddog rails on my car but will have to get someone to "finish" them....i am a novice welder...meaning i suck...lol they def do help beef'n up the rails......keep going!

 

 

LOL your welding skills are still better than mine, I have none. Having real use of only one eye makes welding almost impossible, no depth perception!

[Hopelessly Confused]

Hey what shifter cable setup are you using? I was wondering becuase im doing the same swap.

[deja]

Hey what shifter cable setup are you using? I was wondering becuase im doing the same swap.

 

For now I'm just using the stock Z28 shifter. I had a Z28 to do this swap. But the long term plan is a Twist Machine paddle shifter. http://www.twistmachine.com/

[deja]

Deja,

 

For the tranny cooler lines, Bowtie Overdrives has a 4L60E sidemount radiator cooling line kit that you trim to fit. Once my lines and the JTR radiator arrive I will post a write up good or bad.

 

They look nice, a bit pricey, but thats exactly the way I thought I'd try to make mine. I'll have to price it out to see if its worth making my one. I so hate bending hard line.

[Dudeboy]

I have a B & M Quick Silver shifter, and I will install it before we set the engine in place, so hopefully linkage want be and issue. Also, I was reading this Hot rod set-up and saved it my transmission file. He has a section on how he runs lines, also that Compu-shift software he has will also run Paddle shifters. I am spending money my wife don't know about !!!!! So I am spending while I can.

 

Thanks

 

http://www.ocmhz.com/33_coupe_trans1.htm

[deja]

I have a B & M Quick Silver shifter, and I will install it before we set the engine in place, so hopefully linkage want be and issue. Also, I was reading this Hot rod set-up and saved it my transmission file. He has a section on how he runs lines, also that Compu-shift software he has will also run Paddle shifters. I am spending money my wife don't know about !!!!! So I am spending while I can.

 

Thanks

 

http://www.ocmhz.com/33_coupe_trans1.htm

 

That's pretty slick. Not sure I like the 180 degree thing but maybe it was necessary in his case. He has a bottom radiator cooler, JTR's is a side cooler, a minor difference. Wonder how much he had tied up in that and if the Bowtie one would be about the same. Braided lines are expensive and all those AN fittings add up. I liked his connector rod dip sticks, LOL.

[Challenger]

Looks great! Ive been reading some about the LT1's and I guess theyre coming down in price. Did you buy a complete car or was it damaged, just motor etc. and which way would you reccomend going. Im hoping to finish my car up this summer and then for my senior cummulative project next year do the swap.

 

Cant wait to see some of your 1/4 mile times.

[deja]

Looks great! Ive been reading some about the LT1's and I guess theyre coming down in price. Did you buy a complete car or was it damaged, just motor etc. and which way would you reccomend going. Im hoping to finish my car up this summer and then for my senior cummulative project next year do the swap.

 

Cant wait to see some of your 1/4 mile times.

 

I got lucky and found a wrecked 94 Z28 that was reasonably close to home for only $1500. I was even able to drive it home with the help of a lot of duct tape to hold the body together. I've sold some of it to help recoup the costs. If I could find someone to take the suspensions, the hood and the hatch I would make money on the deal.

I'm not really a racer, this engine is totally stock, I'm building this as a daily driver. But I will be at SEZ9 in September, hopefully and this time I will make a run or too, just for grins.

[Paz8]

Deja, I ran 5/16 hard brake lines for the trans cooler, 40 inch length ends up about even with the front on the engine, lines are fastened to engine at two places. I used a B&M super cooler on the trans without the rad. connections. I live where it does get cold but the Z doesn't come out to play in cold weather so there is no need to warm up the trans fluid. I know there are different opinions about not running through the radiator but I have had no problems with the trans or engine temp. over heating.

[Danno74Z]

Deja,

 

Going very nice! Congrats on getting the LT1 a new home - Looks sweet.

 

You mentioned you had to work on the OPTI and I saw you removed it, what was wrong with it? Preventive maintenance? To pull the OPTI do you have to remove the crankshaft front hub? The unit the balancer bolts to. Also, if memory serves me right the front LT1 balancer is 7.5†in diameter. Are there any interference problems with the steering rack?

 

Thanks,

Danno74z

[deja]

Deja, I ran 5/16 hard brake lines for the trans cooler, 40 inch length ends up about even with the front on the engine, lines are fastened to engine at two places. I used a B&M super cooler on the trans without the rad. connections. I live where it does get cold but the Z doesn't come out to play in cold weather so there is no need to warm up the trans fluid. I know there are different opinions about not running through the radiator but I have had no problems with the trans or engine temp. over heating.

 

Good input. But I already have the JTR radiator so I will use its cooler. As far as overheating, my car will be a daily driver so if GM has been using it this way for decades I shouldn't have issues. Granted a cooler is a step up.

[deja]

Deja,

 

Going very nice! Congrats on getting the LT1 a new home - Looks sweet.

 

You mentioned you had to work on the OPTI and I saw you removed it, what was wrong with it? Preventive maintenance? To pull the OPTI do you have to remove the crankshaft front hub? The unit the balancer bolts to. Also, if memory serves me right the front LT1 balancer is 7.5†in diameter. Are there any interference problems with the steering rack?

 

Thanks,

Danno74z

 

I bought a running wrecked Z28. But due to an injury it took me months to get ready to pull the engine. I had been starting the car every week or so and even driving it a bit. The week I decided to pull it in into the garage it wouldn't start, figures. Diagnostics said opti, as it turned out it was the ignition module and the coil wire. The opti could have also been bad, but I didn't put the old one back on to test it. The old setup was MSD, I've never been a fan of MSD. The cap and rotor needed replaced anyway so I'm sticking with the stock GM part.

You don't have to pull the hub, you do have to pull the balancer and everything else on the front of the engine, what a PITA. What were the GM engineers thinking?. The balancer clears everything with plenty to spare.