Deserttaco

iTrader: (1)

I'd first like to introduce myself. My name is Steve, and I am in the process of Building my a 70 Chevelle Malibu. I've wanted one of these since I was about 10, and now have the means, and am working on the abilities to build it the way I want. I've been lurking on this site for almost two years, asking lots of stupid questions, and learning from all of the great resources here on this site.

I bought this car almost two years ago and have been slowly trying to get it into shape, so this not only will be a build thread for the engine and transmission, but also a build of the whole car, including interior, suspension, engine, and trans. I wanted to build a pro-touring car before I knew what pro-touring was, so here are my plans:

LS2/T56 (Sourced from an 06 Pontiac GTO)
Mosier 9 inch rear axle (junkyard center section for now with 3.50 gears)
Dodge Magnum front and rear seats
C6Z brakes (may just end up with C6 or C6 Z51 breaks depending on my funds at the time)
ATS front spindles

Plus lots of custom touches that are rattling around inside my head... Onto the pics. Here are a few pics of the car when I drug it home. It's a relatively clean body with very little rust (Leaking rear window) but Nice clean lines, an no previous body damage that we could find. Looks like one repaint a long time ago.





Can't forget one of my mechanics...


In May of this year (2010) I bought this 2006 Pontiac GTO for it's drivetrain. It had 53K on the clock, and took a pretty hard hit in the front. But all of the important pieces are still there in decent shape.



This is the engine after we pulled it out





Not bad for 50K miles....





When I removed the intake manifold, I noticed that there is a brownish haze above the tips of the intake ports. I cleaned it off pretty easily, but just wondering why some of the ports had this, and some didn't...



And here it is after a day and a half of De-Greasing, cleaning, wiring brushing, all nice and clean getting the CTS-V oil pan

Deserttaco

iTrader: (1)

I've tried to be very cost conscious with every aspect of this build, and hate spending money twice... So I've been doing lots of research and lots of dumb questions. So far I have only purchased a few items brand new. Most of the stuff I have for this car were used, E-bay finds, Craigslist finds, and traded stuff. One of the "New" items I got were the Edelbrock adapter plates, and their headers (I figured they were engineered to work together), but am having second thoughts about them tonight... I'll get to that in a minute...

Anyway here's today's update. I hit a critial milestone for me, I pulled the engine and trans out of the GTO over a month ago, and am tired of all of the stuff packed around the car, so I attempted to get the engine and transmission set in place today, Some of you guys mention a T-cut, and some remove the tunnel all together, I opted to remove the tunnel all together. I still have the GTO body in my sideyard, and am considering using the trans tunnel from the GTO, and bits from the firewall. I removed all that I could from the front frame section, and using a wire brush, palm sander, and brake cleaner. I cleaned up the frame as much as I could without taking the front control arms off,

This is what I started with.



This is what I ended up with ...







And the CTS-V oil pan clearance, It does hang down below the crossmember by about 3/4-1 inch.





And finally the head to firewall clearance, This is with the Stock A/C box still in place. I don't know if I'll be using the stock A/C system or not just yet, so I'd like to position the engine so that I can use it if I want to.







Plenty of space

Deserttaco

iTrader: (1)

Now being that I live in Phoenix AZ, where temperatures can easily get above 110 in the summer time, (so far this year I think the high was 115) Air Conditioning is very important to me... I have spoken to a few people who run the Old Air, and Vintage air systems here in town, and none of them were all that impressed with the cooling abilities (That's the reason I left the AC box on the firewall). One other option I've been considering is using the Stock 06 GTO HVAC system, and adapting it to fit the Chevelle body, but more on that later.

My biggest worry right now is the location of the frame stands using the Edelbrock adapter plates and energy suspension engine mounts. I suppose They are supposed to be used with the frame stands in the stock locations. This is probably super duper for guys who run with no A/C, or who relocate the compressor up high on the passenger side (Not a huge fan of this option) I was really hoping to use the stock compressor in the stock LS2 location. With these Edelbrock plates, and the frame stands in the stock location, it doesn't look like that's going to be easy... the passenger frame stand is right where the compressor should be.

I don't mind relocating the frame stands (Actually I was planning on this anyway) and I really am digging the location of the engine where it sits now. I also have plans to raise the engine and transmission up about 1/2-3/4 of an inch to keep the alternator clearance to the steering box in check, also tie rod to oil pan clearance in check. I'd also like to have an option to have the ride height low if I want and keep the exhaust and everything else tucked up nice and high.

Suggestions? Here are the pics.











Steve

Bullitt4110

iTrader: (31)

Looks like a good start, Im in gathering parts to start my build on 69 soon aswell so Ill be following to see if you run into anything that hasnt been covered in the many other treads. As for the A/C compressoer from what Ive seen if you want to run it in the stock location the fram needs to be notched.

Deserttaco

iTrader: (1)

Back at it again today.... I decided that even though the Edelbrock plates are Beautiful and I like where they place the engine, I'm going to ditch them... I really want to run the stock AC compressor in the stock location, so I made my own BRP Style mounts of of 1/4 inch steel plate. I did however leave the engine where the edelbrock plates located it so that I wouldn't have any issues with header clearance. I am moving the frame stands back on the crossmember, and probably adding a 3/8 spacer below the stands to raise up the engine. for oil pan clearance, and to keep the exhaust tucked up nice and high. Anyway here are the pics.











And of course the obligatory damage picture. I've been extra careful not to break any of the tabs or bungs off of the engine, and today my chain caught the bung for the EVAP connection right behind the throttle body... Dammit.... Is this something that I'll need? or can I epoxy it closed?



Steve

Bullitt4110

iTrader: (31)

You not need the evap, it is used for smog.

bczee

iTrader: (12)

Good swap going !

Just a note, your already passed it, but if you where planning to use the Edelbrock or any of the ATS/S&P style mounts. You would not be able to use them and the OEM Compressor together.. they come into contact!..

That is why I also went with the Early style BRP plates as your doing now.

That port is for your EVAP,.. don't need it anyway.. but if you need a vacuum port. Just use a Threaded fitting in place of it.

Deserttaco

iTrader: (1)

Strangely it was a really cool summer day here in Phoenix today, so I took advantage of it. Actually I wasted a bunch of time, spinning my wheels, but in the end I made a little progress.

I have decided to modify the frame stands and weld a 3/8" plate to the frame crossmember to raise the engine up a little, I may also plate the bottom of the frame stands with a 1/4 inch plate for a total of 5/8 of an inch raised. up from stock. I was trying to keep the stock GTO alternator in the stock location, but It looks like it's just not going to happen... The front of it is just too large around. The F-body alternator fits with about 1/2" to spare. So I'll probably end up purchasing some Qwik performance relocation brackets to move it up next to the drivers side head... Another reason for raising the engine up is to keep the headers and oil pan tucked up higher than normal to keep them off of the speedbumps and such. Just a question though, How much room should I leave between the headers/exhaust and the floorpans? I've also got about 5/8" of the oil pan hanging below the crossmember. Would you guys recommend raising it up a little more to keep it above the crossmember? Anyway here are the pics.













And here is the Drivetrain angle, The first picture is on the frame right where the transmission crossmember bolts, The second is obviously the engine.





Probably won't have another nice cool weekend here for another month or two, so there probably won't be too many updates for a while.

Steve

ed1le

iTrader: (3)

Any Updates? Curious what you've done w/ the tunnel...the opening looks exactly like mine!

Deserttaco

iTrader: (1)

Actually I have raised the engine up another 1/2" or so, The bottom of the oil pan is now level with the front crossmember, and I'm running about 1/4"-1/2" of clearance between the header collectors and the floorpans. The hole you see in the pictures still exists today. I was lucky enough to part out the whole GTO, so I cut out the transmission tunnel, and have that sitting in my side yard. I also spent a month or so on smoothing the firewall and getting the pedals to work properly, when I decided that it looked like a 5th grader kobbled it together, so I've decided to remove the whole firewall, and build a new one. But I first need to install the transmission tunnel from the GTO... On top of all of this I am in the middle of moving and trying to rent out my old house because I can't sell it. So Time is at a premium right now, and my "Projects" get to sit idle.

After I finish all of my home projects (Probably be June or July) I'll be back on this, hopefully get the tunnel in, and the firewall done, so I can start to work on the cowl and wiring.

I'll be sure to update this thread when that happens, but it probably won't be soon.

Steve

clm69z28

I used the Edelbrock setup in my 72 Chevelle 'vert and everything fit good, but i don't have AC (I am in San Diego). As to the header clearance, a quarter inch sounds pretty close; you might get some hot spots in the floor pans and they might hit when the motor rocks when you stand on it.

As to the pinion angle, I ended up using Edelbrock adjustable upper control arms to get the angles right.

Deserttaco

iTrader: (1)

It's probably more like 1/2" or so. I was planning on the Edelbrock rear uppers, buy Mark from SC&C cleaned out my Chevelle Fund with the AFX Spindles and C5 Corvette brakes. So I have to build it back up again before I buy anything else.

Steve

ramairetransam

iTrader: (18)

in for more pics and build , looks good so far,

Irish350

iTrader: (14)

Makin me jealous Steve

Im already regretting not getting more done in the 'cool months'