tsnow678

iTrader: (3)

Bandit= Thanks. I agree the 45 angles would look better. The only catch to that would be the fact you would have to remove additional material to accomplish this. The more you cut the higher up the frame you get. And the larger the sides will be. I have 10" of wiggle room between the sides of the notch this will leave me 3/4" of clearance on each side of the pan as long as it centers once bolted in. That and the pan really didnt need this much clearance but I figure, if I am a cuttin', might as well cut enough.

I used a gallon jug of water along with a spray bottle of water. The fires were easy to keep down if you use the big holes on the front side of the crossmember to the left and right of where you will be cutting. I worried about the pasenger side more because of the fuel line that contains 112 octane fuel right above where the flames were coming out. If you cant find the large holes I was referring to, you will once the fireworks begin. I chose a torch because my body is done and I didnt want to sling sparks everywhere. I have the car covered and did not want the sparks to burn holes into my cover either. I did go to Harbor Freight and buy some moving blankets and a fiberglass mat that will protect the finish better. The balnkets were 4.99 each and the fiberglass welding shield was 17.99. I say torch it! Its faster and with less mess. Let me retract that last statement, After I used an angle grinder to flatten everything out, I prolly made as big of a mess. It was less dangerous, yeah thats it. Well open flame versus a few sparks, HHHHMMM! Nah use your zip wheel and have at it.

tsnow678

iTrader: (3)

Well I made a little progress tonight. I cleaned up my welds and now its time for some sort of filler. I originally thought about using seam sealer but now I am leaning towards some body filler. I welded up several old screw holes and had to recess them prior to welding. Now they will need to be smoothed up. Any suggestions in this area?

tsnow678

iTrader: (3)

Waiting on the wiring harness to come by brown. I havent done jack diddly to my car in the past two days. I guess I need a break every now and then. With the bad weather that rolled in it is hard for me to roll her outside to wash out the engine bay. I am thinking hell with cleaning it up now and test fit everything first. I am receiving my clutch components this week and should be able to mate the engine and tranny together. At that point I can do a lot of fitting and such. I may end up running my A/C down low depending on the frame and clearance between the adapters and bracket. I did go to a local salvage yard and pick up the much needed gas pedal from a 6 cyl 1969 Nova. I was going to buy it new but I would have had to order it online as my local restoration shop does not sell it. These companies are gouging people on this pedal due to the fact it was used on the 6 cyl. models and the imfamous DZ 302 cross ram. I am guessing the later is the reason they want $70 for the piece. I could have went with Lokar but there again its added cost. In case you first generation Camaro guys didn't know, the 6 cyl. used a cable instead of the solid linkage like the V8's. I needed to be able to run a cable so here we are.


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70Novaproject

I'm needing a clutch set up as well. (Flywheel, t/o, slave, disk, pressure plate,, pilot) You are pretty much on the same budget as I am, so I know you found the deal fill me in,...what did you end up with and for how much. I'm doing this from my phone so I could have easily missed a post on this.

tsnow678

iTrader: (3)

Well since this car will only be driven ocassionaly I decided to look for a deal on the classifieds here on LS1Tech. I found a slightly used clutch setup out of an LS6 which is the heavy duty version of factory clutches. It is what comes in the Z06. It was made by Valeo and supposed to hold over 500 horsepower. I got it shipped with the flywheel for $90 and an almost new slave/tob for $50 shipped. Since these guys spend big money on upgrades they sort of discard the older stuff. Some have wrecked their cars and stripped it out to sell off what they can. I am not into buying used stuff much but sometimes you gotta do what ya gotta do. I installed a new clutch into my last setup and drove it easy for approximately 500 miles and when I pulled it out I was surprise at the appearance. The clutch never chattered and was never took to the drag strip. So sometimes we overlook whats what and spend more than we should. If all fails I am out a whopping $140 and some labor. Beats waiting till spring to get what I really want. A lot of things could happen between then and now. I say look around and find a deal. If its new you want I would go with what I could afford. I was actually going to buy this same exact setup but new would cost me $475 for the clutch and $160 for the slave/tob plus shipping. $635 plus shipping is quite a bit. Our overtime has slowed to a minimum and bonus checks arent due for over a month from now. I got to get this ol gal moving again. Still need a ton of parts and want this to keep moving along. I could use a credit card and buy everything I need tomorrow but what I have is paid for and I like it like that. Good luck on whatever you decide. If you need some help I will be glad to.

futureuser

iTrader: (1)

Nice work and car. I find it hard to believe I'm any sort of inspiration. I've never welded anything unles you count JB.
I'm happy to hear that you have confidence in the gas tank and pump that we purchased and the 550hp figure.
My budget is swelling too, but I bought that van before I budgeted the build. No regrets, but I'm praying I don't have to buy a welder. Maybe an oil cooler will be in line to add oil capacity, but my van provided the adapter and lines. We'll see.
In case you haven't spent enough, have you seen the new Dakota gauges? I just ordered a set, but am too ashamed to put it on my thread right now.

tsnow678

iTrader: (3)

Futureuser= I just looked at the Dakota gauges and all I can say is once my engine is in and running I will own a set of those. $800 is steep but they look awesome. If I could budget them in now I would.

I did manage to get the pedal assembly sandblasted today. I took it home and welded in a gusset to be on the safe side. I also rewelded the area that the factory welded. I was going to snap a pic but with the temp down so low I couldnt get it painted tonight. Parts are on the way!!! Time to get busy once again.

crosstraining

iTrader: (1)

It has been said before, but I say it again. Great build! Excellant detail!

futureuser

iTrader: (1)

When you get around to it, they sold me the gauges for 739 shipped. More than I wanted to spend but compared to starting from scratch and getting my mechanical speedo to work, it probably saved and will look much cleaner. Sorry to hijack.

http://www.protouringsuperstore.com/...s.asp?cat=2513

tsnow678

iTrader: (3)

Your not hijacking at all. Or at least I dont think so. I appreciate the feedback. Yeah I agree with the whole converting to a cable speedo thing. Not much into all of that. I had thought about the Covan insert and run some Autometer gauges but I like the original instrument cluster like it is and dont really like the looks of the Autometer aguges as compared to the Dakota Digital ones. They are sharp and should work as so.

i1aroc

Those dakota digital units look nice. So many decisions for sure; keep stock and adapt to electronic signal, get the digital units, or purchase electronic units and modify the back of the cluster to get them to line up and fit correctly. In the end, I just went with the american muscle units for my swap 'cause I liked the look when illuminated "see youtube example", but they all have their pros and cons, sorry for rambling on. Good luck with whichever one you choose for your project, and in the end, ya gotta like 'em and that's what counts.

vid of american muscle gauges I found on youtube, see gauges at beginning to :05. My 69 will utilize the same gauges but installed on the stock cluster.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vHbQzzEG_y0

tsnow678

iTrader: (3)

The gauges you bought will be so much better than the ones in the video. That is one nice ride though. I couldnt get my sorry *** motivated today but I did manage to buy a 2 ton engine lift today for a deal. It has the folding legs and is built solid for $125. It could use some paint but I figure I will use it a few times then resell it. I will wait till someone I know wants to borrow it and then pawn it off on them. I have access to one for free but I get tired of having to borrow tools. Driving to go get it and then having to bring it back the next day. This way if I need to stop working on my car for what ever reason I can. I am not sure of how many times this engine/transmission combo might be in and out until I get everything right so I just bought it.

tsnow678

iTrader: (3)

And finally I am getting around to test fitting. Open ol' girl daddys got something for ya!

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tsnow678

iTrader: (3)

There is no way of doing this the easy way without a leveler. I have done it in the past without one and I am here to say it wont happen again. Best $40 I have spent.

[IMG][/IMG]

tsnow678

iTrader: (3)

Here is a firewall shot with the mounts at standard location. I could move the engine back one inch but I think I will leave her here. I like the location as long as there is clearance at the radiator.

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tsnow678

iTrader: (3)

A side shot of the tranny hanging down a little. I have a negative 3 degrees at the crank with this shot and the engine needs to come down a little. So I am guessing the tranny will hang lower once that is accomplised. I dont know about that we will see.

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tsnow678

iTrader: (3)

Maybe I am not taking in account the added weight of the hood, radiator, fans, clutch, etc. etc. but my car seems to be lifted more in the front. I figure the car would sag more with this engine tranny combo.

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tsnow678

iTrader: (3)

Same **** different car. I have no way of using the mounts in there current location. The first time I tried the mounts upside down and the adapters switched and flipped. I could almost get both bolts in but the lip on the mount was hanging on the drivers side engine stand. There is a hump on the inside of the drivers stand that is catching the lip on the mount. So I decided to flip them right side up and try it in the normal position. Now they are so spread out there is no way of getting the bolts to line up. Heres the plan. I am going to flip the mounts and switch and flip the adapters once again. This time I am going to cut the lips back on the mounts to clear the hump on the drivers side stand. If that doesnt do it I am going downstairs and grab my solid mounts and be done once and for all. I may try to remove the load plates from behind the mounts flipped and switched. What a pain in the *** this is. I thought I had this figured out but evidentily I am just a little too confident. Just when things are heading in the right direction, guess again sucker. One good thing about the adapters switched and flipped is it gives more clearance for the A/C bracket and it allows the headers to clear the lip on the mounts. Stayed tuned maybe we can figure it out.

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70Novaproject

Looking great. Its getting exciting!! Hope you can get the mounts all worked out. Seems like those things have been fighting you all the way. What trans mount you using? Was this a manual car to begin with? What did you do for clutch pedal set up Snow? Explain all the way from the pedal, to the TOB pls. Ttyl

tsnow678

iTrader: (3)

Reference thread number #125 for the information of the tranny X-member and mount. As far as clutch pedal I plan on using my factory 4 speed pedal but will run the Wilwood master. I have a remore bleeder coming from Speedway for the slave. I am using a LS6 clutch, flywheel and slave I bought off of the classifieds here at LS1Tech. I will have to buy a line to run from the master to the slave from Speedway once I figure out what length I will need. I did not use the mount listed in thread #125 but rather a factory style mount for a TH350 out of a 69 Camaro. It has the two bolts rather than a stud. I will get into that later this week hopefully. This was my first attempt to actually set the engine and it wasn't too bad. The combo is one long *****!!! I crank the **** out of the leveler just to clear everything. Hope this helps!