150 most likely. Might start at 100 just to be careful.

 

Enjoy your work, you give great info. Are you using the stock spring's? I don't know what they are rated at, but i plan a cam swap soon. Also what's the max lift on them?

 

Not using the stock springs. Using a set of PRC springs good for .660 lift. The stock springs are not even close to compatible with the .600ish lift I'm running.

 

Quicky update. The engine is spending the night between the frame rails!

Got the flexplate on and torqued.


Having a heck of a time getting the dowls in the engine block into the bellhousing...and the drivers side mount hole is just a BIT off. Less than 1/8th", but enough that I can't insert the bolt. Need to get that figured out, then lift the engine up and get the headers in there.





I'll give it another couple hours of work tomorrow night.

 

What are you using for the pulleys and drives? The stock truck ones or did you go with ones from a f-body? Thanks

 

Awesome work bro. All that hardwork is gonna pay off big time for you.

 

Went to install my headers and the driver's side went in perfectly...but the passenger side:



Stopped right about there, looked like it was hitting the frame with the outside most tube. So, under the car I went to investigate and I found this:



Riding hard against the a-arm mount. The headers still need to drop just a bit and swing closer to the transmission....and that's when I found the real culprit!



That's a tab on the bellhousing for my 700r-4 transmission. These headers were not made with that bellhousing in mind I believe. I also think that it's not structurally important and I can chop it off. With it out of the way, the headers should slide right into place!

Like the driver's side headers:


It's a LITTLE bit close to the same tab on the other side of the bellhousing, but this picture is a bit deceiving. There's more than 1/4" clearance there.

Also, while I was at it I took a picture of the oil pan clearance. It hangs down almost as low as my milodon pan on my BBC did and I gained an inch or so by going from the BBC to the LQ4.



I find this to be more than acceptable for a street-strip car that I will drive carefully everywhere. Just ran out and measured the thickness of that weed-whacker line that was under the car (worked great to keep the headers up and away while I installed the motor for the final time). It measures about 1.5" thick. So it looks like I have about 4.5" from the pan to the ground. This is the 'muscle car' kit from GM. It uses the LH8 pan from the H2.

And finally, I tossed a few loose parts on the motor to mock things up and give a preview of the future.

 

Looks good. That pan looks like it hangs really low below the x member.

 

Yes it does, but as I said, I still have 4.5" of clearance from it to the road. For my purposes and considering my stiff front suspension...I'm ok with that. Never had a problem with the deep pans on either my SBC or BBC and the BBC pan was CLOSER to the ground. If I had to do it again, I'd go with the CTS-V pan, but I gots what I gots.

 

Got a bunch more work in today since I took a mental health day from work.

Just a reminder....passenger header hit this tab on the 700r4 bellhousing:


This was quickly fixed with a hack saw since that piece does nothing but get in the way.





And now there's TONS of space.



Now it clears the A arm mount just fine.



And the frame is a bit tight, but should still work just fine.



I installed the coil packs, spark plugs and plug wires. No pictures of this since it isn't very glamorous.

The next big hurdle I had to jump over was the dipstick mount not clearing the flange on the Edelbrock headers.



Before:


After:


Viola! Fits perfect.


Things are really coming together.

 

Thanks for the pics of the pan. I am going to try and use the truck pan in mine since it is going to be a track only car and I think it might only be about a 1/2" deeper than the one you have (at least I hope that is the case).

You are using the Eddy headers right?

 

Yes I'm using the Edelbrock headers.

I recommend that you do NOT use the truck pan. It's easily 1" deeper than the LH8 pan(the one I used). Check out this thread. https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversio...-oil-pans.html

I say that my pan is barely acceptable for the kind of use it will have, but I wish I had gone with a CTS-V or F-body pan instead.

 

Here's a new one.

 

Nice work. Thanks for snapping pics of all the details. I see the Edelbrocks have a few scratches on them now, but unless you stuff your head down there I doubt anyone will ever notice in person. I wonder if that little tab exists on my TH400. I'll keep my eyes peeled when I put the headers in.

 

There was no interference or tab like that with my TH350 but the closest header tube was about 1/4 inch away from the bell in one spot. Clearance on my TH400 is fine too, but it has an Ultrabell. You can check my thread (link in sig) for some more Edelbrock header clearance shots.

BTW, looking good Nathan! Do you have any pics with the intake and carb installed but no air cleaner? I don't have my intake and carb yet and I'm curious if I'll at least be able to bolt the stock hood on it (not run it that way) with the carb installed.

 

Most of the scratches dissapeared entirely with a little rubbing from my thumb...the rest blended with some scotch brite.

No pics of it in the car without aircleaner, but I can whip one up later tonight when I get home from work.

 

Sorry guys, life has been a handful lately. Got a few little bits and pieces done today. Upper and lower radiator hose is installed. Steam vent piping is hooked up and good to go. Fit checked a bunch of other stuff. Determined I have a gas pedal cable that is frayed and snagging, so that has to be replaced now. Also dropped the gas tank with the thought of installing a fuel cell in the trunk to prep for a dedicated fuel system for the nitrous down the road.

First things first, the lower hose. A source told me that the Gates 21505 would fit and I failed to do my homework beyond that to make sure it did before I ordered one. When it showed up the ID of the tube for radiator side and waterpump side was 1-3/4". Need 1-1/2" on both ends. The bends were about dead on, so I headed to the parts store to find one that worked. Ended up with a Dayco 71397. Lopped a inch or so off each end and viola!



The upper hose is a stock unit for a chevy truck. I ended up with a Gates 22436 hose. Fit the waterpump perfect (duh) but was a wee bit small for the radiator. After some gentle coaxing, some real loving XXX rated coaxing, I got it to fit. I believe the radiator side of the hose is 1-5/16" and my 3 core HD radiator for a 70 Camaro with big block is 1-1/2".



Next is the fun part. Figuring out how to bleed air and vent steam into/out of the cooling system. There is a high point in the cooling system now near the bend of the hose right here:



It will trap air and hurt cooling flow through the engine. Turns out I need a high point in the cooling system to run a line from the steam tubes in the cylinder heads to. And I used this to make that happen.





It's from Jags That Run. It has an inlet/outlet size of 1-5/16", a bleed valve and a barb fitting for the 1/4" ID hose from the steam vent. I cut the hose where I wanted the splice to be made and installed one half.





Then the other half and routed the steam vent line.



Doesn't look half as frankensteined as I thought it would. Plus it will be functional.



I did a few other things like run the PVC hose and test fit the heater hoses. I have a small concern about the rubbing of the hoses on the upper A-arms.





I think I can get away for a while by wrapping the hoses at this point. Any thoughts?

 

Dam I love that orange on your engine

 

wow awesome thread! im gathering parts for my build, and am also running a 700-r4 so thanks for all the info. i completely hear you about life getting in the way, i'm on my second year of college and am a resident assistant in my dorms so what little time i have that i can go home i try and work on cleaning till i have my parts. great thread, subscribed!

my question is about your hood clearance, how tall is ur intake? im hoping i can cheat and run stock truck pieces for the time being

 

thanks for the hard work and details in this thread. I'm about to embark on dropping a 6.0/th350 combo in a 70 model. Why did you end uo going with a urethane mount rather than a solid? I like the way the mount plates looked but was it a factory-type pad you used for the other peice? Good stuff to see, Bill