Steve68

iTrader: (23)

D/R's for LS fest and a new lower intake, oh yea!

Dadillac21

Where did you get your exhaust done in the area ? I’m local as well and curious .

Project GatTagO

iTrader: (7)

Send me a PM and I will give you the details...

I returned from LS Fest on Monday and am finally getting back to my regular schedule. What a trip!

I was gone for ten days and a lot of things happened, so bear with me as I get things posted in some cohesive order. The adventure started around the 30th of August with my friend BA, who has this beautiful 66 Fairlane that he built with his father and son a few years back.




On August the 30th he got a care package from Pace Performance. In case you don't recognize this engine, it is a LSx454 GM crate engine.





Out came his LS3...Does my picture of the intake start to make sense now?





This is a picture of the Fairlane after we drove it for the first time and did some tuning on it. Sadly, I do not have any more progress pictures, but this swap was done in a few days.





To be continued...

Project GatTagO

iTrader: (7)

I drove my Cougar from the Kansas City area to the Chicago area on Saturday, September 4th. The next day we rolled the Cougar into the garage to begin the process of removing my 5.3L and installing the LS3.

















With everything removed, transmission pulled, it was time to take out the old engine to make room for more horsetorques...





Once the 5.3L was pulled, we started moving everything over from the 5.3L to the LS3. This included the exhaust manifolds, valley cover, accessories, oilpan, etc...The plan was to reuse my old clutch, but when we pulled the old clutch apart, it was obvious that the disk was a little thin. We managed to track down a new disk and pressure plate locally.





Here is the LS3 with all of the parts bolted to it, ready to go in its new home. We used the new balancer from the LSx454.





Here is BA, doing his awesome best. Without his help, this would not have been possible. He is a beast with the wrenches.





LS3 in its new home, resting between the fenders of my Cougar. Its even Ford blue...BA has a sense of humor.





Everything installed, trans back in, ready for the new intake base with the old upper part.





To be continued...

G Atsma

I have always loved that body style! And now it will RUN....
Nice work on the Cougar too! ANOTHER of my favorites! Ford/Mercury were knocking out the lookers in the 60's/70's...

Toddoky

I think you need to add a luggage rack to the roof of the car.

Pro Stock John

iTrader: (34)

Now I get it... When you told me what you ran I was like 'damn that's good for a cammed 5.3'

Good seeing you next year we need a small mobile bar maybe we can get Brian to bring it down.

Zanie

Dang!!! that's Bad ***!

Michael Yount

iTrader: (1)

Always think of yours when when I see these Andrew….

https://bringatrailer.com/listing/19...r-gte-4-speed/

Project GatTagO

iTrader: (7)

Beautiful car, but way too rare for what I like to do with cars.

ebradley

very cool

brucebanner

Read your entire build over the last week or so when I had time to go through.

Awesome build, your attention to detail is fantastic! I have to say, when I saw you were in an accident and saw the picture of the car damaged, my heart sunk a little but happy to see you're still plugging away with it!

Quite a trip reading everything from from the start!

Project GatTagO

iTrader: (7)

Thanks for the kind words and my apologies for the late response. Took some time off for the holidays.

The accident was a real bummer for me as well, but it is still drivable and I drive it all the time!

Andrew

n2xlr8n66

iTrader: (3)

I call dibs on the Ground grabbers if you'll sell them.

They work. I had a set (they were all the rage in the 80s-90s) on my '69 Nova SS- it went 10.60s on stock leafs and slicks with them.

Project GatTagO

iTrader: (7)

They were sold a long time ago.

Anyone going to LSFest Texas?

Andrew

Project GatTagO

iTrader: (7)

In preparation for LS Fest in September, I got a few things done on the Cougar. I was getting a little tired of the bug catcher and the filters needed to be replaced anyway, so I decided to go for a slightly different look.



The bug catcher was removed and the stud had to be extended a little bit. My buddy Vic whipped up a littler threaded collar and extension added.




These are some Summit brand velocity stacks with 8" filters. Vic also made the nuts out of hex stock.




We'll see how I like this for a while....




Next up was some dent improvement. Vic had one of these hydraulic rams. We braced it against the frame rails on the passenger side.




Here is Vic working out the details...




It is far from straight, but definitely much improved.




More updates to come in a few days.



Andrew

Jimbo1367

That is drastically better.

Project GatTagO

iTrader: (7)

I was getting tired of the steel wheels look, but didn't want to spend a fortune on wheels. I found what are basically Cobra replica wheels, made by Scott Drake. I ordered some 15x7 wheels with 4.25" of back spacing. I was a little worried that the 235/60-15s wouldn't fit in the front, but they are perfect!





I ordered two more tires and the back wheels will be on next week.



Andrew

Pro Stock John

iTrader: (34)

Wheels look awesome.

Love this car!

Project GatTagO

iTrader: (7)

I am just about ready for LS Fest 2022 in Bowling Green, KY. The rear tires showed up on Monday and the rear wheels were mounted.







The only thing left to do is move the CalTrak bars to the upper hole to see if I can get a little more traction at the track. I will bring the gold Rocket Racing rear wheels with the MT drag radials to the track.



Andrew