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Interesting build. I am wondering what is exactly involved in making the trans fir into an A body. This is the first of heard of one of these transmissions being swapped into an A body car.
It wasn't that bad. I used the BRP kit for the engine and trans crossmember, and only had to use a piece of 3/4" flat stock to widen it, and I think that might have been more than enough. I definitely cut more out of the tunnel than necessary.
This is the cut of the tunnel. I haven't taken pics of the finished tunnel yet. The rear of the trans was really the only part hitting the tunnel, but based on the BRP instructions, which were for a T56 I believe, advised the cut be as big as it is.
Still a little modification necessary to get it to pick up at the very bottom of the tank.
I also need to find the torque specs to reassemble a few things like the intake and exhaust manifolds, the torque convert to flex plate, bell housing bolts, starter, trans pan etc.
Power steering hose fun. Using the Jeep Grand Cherokee box with the factory Express Van p/s pump, you can see that things are in close proximity to each other. I ended up having a hose built locally, which unfortunately was not cheap. All told, about $80 to do it.
With the short 90* fitting.
Top view with everything installed. I will likely shorten the return line although I'm not sure how much shorter I can go without possibly kinking the return line.
You can see, sort of, that I went with the long 90* for the pressure side and the short with an extender for the low side. This allowed the return line to the pump to not rub on the return fitting.
Spent the day replacing the center link in my F350 and getting it realigned, as well as running down some parts. Finding fuel submersible wire in this town is basically impossible. I have tried to get some from Racetronix, but I will just say I'm not overwhelmed by their customer service.
I did manage to finally get the driveshaft yesterday. Apparently there isn't a 1310 to 1410 conversion joint, Dan's Driveline managed to scrounge up a tail piece that held a 1330. I also managed to get the engine harness mostly installed. It turns out that the G-body down pipes put the O2 bungs further than the harness was designed for. Summit has Caspers p/n 109011 (24") and 109010 (12") O2 extensions for the best price.
Fluids, filters, Rigid 377, and a bunch of -AN fittings showed up today. Battery showing up tomorrow. Plan to turn her over by tomorrow night and fire her up on Saturday at the latest. Unless I get the fuel pump assembly built and installed in the tank. Not sure if the zinc plated, copper lined 3/8 line I bought will have any issues with the gasoline or not.
very cool. love the wagons! makes me miss my '66 vista cruiser.
a suggestion if I may, leave the extra length on the return PS line. the tighter the bend the more pressure you put on the fittings. lazy curves are best.
... The BRP mounts will definitely position the engine fairly high in the front, which will jack up your driveline angles, especially if you plan on lowering the rear ride height.
Andrew
So, that statement leaves me curious. I presume that BRP's mounts for this build claim that using their complete kit gives a correct drive angle. (That is what they say for the 58-64 Chevy kit).
Sorry guys, totally put this one on the shelf. Actually took it to the same min-sec prison my Firebird was at. Now the FB and I are about 1800 miles away in IL, but getting ready to have the wagon shipped here. There has been a bit of progress and I have been remiss in updating the first entry of this post with part numbers and stuff, but thankfully I did it on the FB thread, which helped me out today.
So, major issue has been the tank. They don't re-pop the tank for these wagons and the one place in Vegas that did work on tanks did a crappy job. Tried to see if a '70 Impala tank (Spectra Premium GM38A) would fit up there and then use a low pressure pump to a scavenger setup like Edelbrock 3607, but it was just to hard to try to work through the details as far away as I was. They finally decided to fix the issues with the existing tank and are working to get it all together. The option is to get rid of the tool well and run an El Camino tank or a coupe/sedan tank, the former of which would be my preference although the filler would have to be modified.
Originally Posted by ewingr
So, that statement leaves me curious. I presume that BRP's mounts for this build claim that using their complete kit gives a correct drive angle. (That is what they say for the 58-64 Chevy kit).
So, any idea yet if your angle is correct?
It looks like the BRP mounts actually caused the driveline to sit a little low with respect to the trans mount. They recut the floor and lifted the trans up to get a better driveline angle, unfortunately I do not have any pics of it. As far as their claim, I don't know that they were 100% confident in the angle of the 6L90.
Originally Posted by truckdoug
very cool. love the wagons! makes me miss my '66 vista cruiser.
a suggestion if I may, leave the extra length on the return PS line. the tighter the bend the more pressure you put on the fittings. lazy curves are best.
Thanks! Honestly, I was probably being nit-picky about it and will likely leave it until I just have nothing else to do but obsess over it.
Originally Posted by Mike McQuilkin
Subscribed. Interested to see how the L96 runs. Putting the same thing with a TH400 in my 86MCSS. Btw, wagons rule.
How is your build going? I agree, wagons do rules and it looks like they are starting to get some love as far as price increases go.
Originally Posted by dirtylark71
Any pics of the engine to firewall placement when you placed the body on to check? I am swapping a 5.3 into a skylark.
I will see if I can find the pictures I dl'd from those d-bags at photo bucket and post it, but that being said, I don't think there were any clearance issues at all, actually it sat kind of nice, but that was before they moved the transmission up.
And the reason I decided to resurrect this thread. Looking at trans cooler lines. The 6L90 has a manifold off the trans that runs to the cooler. Since this is out of a van, the lines don't really map well, so I am going to run some braided lines. There are a few manifolds out there with a -6 AN fitting, but they come straight off and without a 90* bend, they are likely going to hit the body. So I was thinking of keeping the manifold, cutting it, and using a compression to -6AN line like this one. Does anyone have any experience with type of connection, particularly in a transmission application? Bowler has a cool one, but it is for the Fords, not the Chevy's.
While going to post some pictures, I came across this from Bowler. Maybe not a bad price when all is said and done. Here is the one for the 6R80/90 for Fords.
Anyhow, hope to have a running vehicle here by mid-September so I can drop it off at another shop and have them work on it over the winter.
Also, if anyone has had good luck with a transporter, PM me.
I modified the tank in my 72 wagon to run the EFI pump for the L29 BB in my car. So far works well as long as it is over 1/4 tank. Had to add an atmosphere vent to prevent pressure build up in the tank.
Also have a tank from a Buick wagon in excellent shape. It is 5 gallons larger than the Chevelle tank and the inboard mount on the body would need to be changed to use it. Going to cut the mount out of the car before it goes to the scrap yard and save it along with the straps in case someone needs it. For me the extra 5 gallons wasn't worth the the work involved.
We'll see how this tank turns out. I'd probably be leaning towards an efi elky tank with modified filler neck setup if the stock sank doesn't work out. Or maybe wagons will gain so much in popularity, particularly the 1970's that they re-pop them, but I won't hold my breath.
Dude, PLEASE TELL ME YOU DID THE UPGRADED VVT CAMSWAP.....YOU ARE LEAVING TONS OF HORSEPOWER ON THE TABLE IF YOU DONT AND WILL BASICALLY REGRET THE MO FO SHEEEEEEIT OUT OF NOT DOING IT.
THAT MOTOR WILL BE TRANSFORMED BY JUAT A CAM SWAP. UPGRADE THE SPRINGS TOO FOR INSURANCE ....YOU WILL NOT REGRET IT....I HOPE YOU DID IT BECAUSE I JUST GOT TO THOS THREAD AND IM YEARS LATE.
What ever happened with this build.....im doing the same combo in a 1971 gmc sprint. And yes ill be doing a bad *** vvt cam swap and running e85 cause the l96 is set up for e85 from factory which is why im going with it instead of l99 or l76
What ever happened with this build.....im doing the same combo in a 1971 gmc sprint. And yes ill be doing a bad *** vvt cam swap and running e85 cause the l96 is set up for e85 from factory which is why im going with it instead of l99 or l76
Sprech was last here in May; he might still be lurking/loitering....
I have indeed been lurking. I'm actually waiting to have the car delivered to me, so I expect to have by mid-June. Things I'm looking to do over the next few months:
Researching new a/c system, probably will go with Classic Auto Air, I wish they offered a system for the variable compressor that came with the motor
Upgrading headlight lenses and bulbs. Leaning towards Hella ECE lenses and LED bulbs
Researching DIY car wrap as I was quoted apx $4k to have it done, not including bodywork that needs to be done
Reupholster front bench seat or swap for seats out of a Cadillac or similar
08-26-2015, 06:51 PM
