Hello I figured it is about time I start a thread on hear. Fall of last year I picked up a 1968 Lemans knowing I would not be able to do any work to it for at least a 6 months. In the mean time I started rounding up some parts I knew I would want/need. Here are a few of the things I have rounded up so far.
2003 5.3 Motor with harness
228 Cam
243 GM heads ported and polished by Patriot 64CC
4L80E
SPC Suspension Springs
SPC Upper A-arms
Koni Special D Front and Rear shocks
LT1 rear brakes
Jeep Grand Cherokee Steering box
Astrovan hydro boost
Poly Body bushings
F body Oil Pan
Fuel Pump Bosch 044
UMI upper and lower control arms with roto joints
Tall Ball joints
Hellwig front sway bar
Hellwig adjustable rear swaybar
On 8/16/14 I got to bring the car out of storage and start working on it. As you can see it is going to be fairly big project. I think I have my work cut out for me. I am always open to reasonable suggestions and/or criticism Feel free to chime in.

 

More Pics of my teardown!

 

Teardown continued!

 

I checked the measurements on my frame and it shows to be true to a 1/16 so I called it good and started leveling the frame then I got my box plates tacked in place. it is going to take some time to TIG these, wish I also had a wire feed It would make the weld out faster.

 

nice. love that body. the hood to trunk proportions were perfect.
plus that bumper!

you gonna keep it all metal or put some 'glass on it?

probably lose 300lbs swapping the bumpers out, lol

 

I just started a very similar project. I'm curious, how do you get the hydro-boost to work? Where do you get the lines to go from the power steering pump to hydro boost then back to steering box? I'm guessing it would need custom lines made.

Also where did you get the measurements for the frame to ensure it is square? did you buy a frame boxing kit or are you making your own? I want to box the frame as well after lifting the car to put on jack stands I swear i could see the frame flex....

I will be watching this thread as I will be going through the same thing soon. Sorry for all the questions.

 

Nice to see you got your thread started bro, hopefully you do a better job of keeping it updated than me. lol

Now get back to work on the car so we can be tuning/driving this thing come next summer!

 

Hydro-boost brakes are on the Turbo Buicks. Needed due to low vacuum signal with a turbo set-up. Not needed unless your going to boost the engine or run a real radical cam that makes no vacuum.

Some of the parts are still available new, the rest your going to need to scrounge for. Also look at the diesel chevy trucks mid-80's and the military M1003 (Blazer) and M1009 (Chevy Truck). These came with hydro boost brakes. Should be an available junkyard part.

Jim

 

Also look into a '95 Jeep Cherokee for the steering box and steering shaft. Direct bolt on to the LeMans and improves the steering about 200%! Be sure to grab everything bolted to the box, including the bolts.

If your only out by 1/16, your well within tolerance. Factory was about 1/4 inch.

Be sure to run hard bushings in the body mounts & suspension, if using the urethane, use the grease to prevent noises. The car will "groan" in the corners if you don't.

Good luck on this build, should be really kool when done!

 

Truckdoug I don’t think I will be doing any glass in the near future, I would be nice to drop some weight though.

Gpr there is a very good gm-a-body sticky on the hydro boost and other good info on here https://ls1tech.com/forums/conversio...2-gm-body.html I will be pretty much copying what they have done.(on the hydroboost) I attached a pic of what I went off of for frame measurements( I think I found it on a Chevelle forum don’t remember it was to long ago), I also took triangulated measurements that isn’t shown on there. I had a friend cut the boxing material on his plaz table. I just traced the pattern and gave it to him. It fit ok I had to do a little bit of grinding but over all it fit up good. I bet it did flex some, I could pick the front corner up on mine a little bit (when stripped) and the two rear corners where still touching the ground. Don’t worry about the questions although keep in mind I am new at this unlike a lot of others on here.

Agent thanks I will do the best I can. Yes I need to, next summer will be here soon and I have a lot of work to do.

Gsjimmy in the future and I mean distant future LOL I will be running forced induction, for the hydro unit I went with a astro van set up i believe from a 96. I got a jeep box from a 94 Grand Cherokee however I was unable to get the bolts hope it’s not too hard to get something like that from a parts store. I’m glad to hear about the tolerances, must have been built on a Wednesday!! I will be running hard bushings. I knew to grease the suspension bushings but was unaware to do the same on the body bushings. Thank You for the input!!

 

Thanks for the help! I read through the cheap and easy hydroboost thread. One question I have is are the power steering pumps that come with truck engines (i got a 2003 5.3 engine with all accessories) any different to pumps for hydroboost?

I'm wondering if I will need to by a special hydroboost PS pump, and if so what should I get?

 

gpr Yes the pumps are different however you can make them work a couple different ways. Like you, I do not have a hydro PSP but am under the impression I can still make it work. When I get to that point I will share the configuration and results.

 

Subscribing!

 

Nice projected. 'scribed.

 

This weekend I made some progress on the frame I got the box plates welded up and frame prepped and 1st coat painted. I got in the work mode and don't have any pics before the paint really kicking my self for that one because I consider my self somewhat of a good welder. For the paint I am using Left over POR-15 Rust preventive and top coat my father had. No bashing please. LOL. I have not put the top coat on yet. I did add one small detail, although it was not a small task. Can anybody tell what it is?

 

I have not been very good about updating Due to a busy work schedule and only working on the car a hour here and there. I have made some progress though. Most of the suspension components have been put on with the exception of the rear sway bar. Pinion angle and alignment will be put off for now, I did get the rear centered on the frame. The alignment was just eyeballed so it didn't look goofy sitting in the garage. I painted the under side of the car before it was sat back on the frame leaving the trans tunnel VERY thin or unpainted in some spots where there is going to be some cutting in the near future. A few things i don't have pics of is that when i sat the motor in with the mounts a few different ways trying to figure out how i want it. No matter what i do, it sits 2.5-3 deg. high on the passenger side. Probably not that big of a deal but I don't like that. I know it has to be in the mounts, several measurements where taken time and time again to ensure the frame is square, the car has been leveled with shims on jack stands. I just don't get it. After messing around with it for a full day last weekend I'm to the point that i am just going to put it exactly where i want it and weld the perch mounts to the frame after the trans mount is built.

 

Looking good bro, I think your plan for the motor will be the best approach in the end. About the front upper control arm running into the frame before the shock bottoms out, you should check out what this guy did in post #4 http://www.chevelles.com/forums/showthread.php?t=295167

Looked like a pretty good solution, only other thing I saw was limiter straps like we talked about.

 

Nice, I used the UMI parts all around as well as QA1 coil overs at at 4 corners. I did relocate the rear shocks/springs to the front of the axle with my own custom mounts. There is not even a hint of axle windup any longer. You will really like how this will drive now. The GC box makes a night and day difference as well.

 

Thanks that's good to hear from another source!! Wish I had gone with the QA1 or Vikings coilover at this point but budget was in the mind at the time I bought the other stuff, not that it still isn't.

 

It has been a while since my last post. Over the winter I put the car aside to put my truck in the garage and have a place to dry out my sled. I have made some progress in the last month, motor mocked up, trans tunnel lifted and pushed back, inside painted, the fire wall smoothed, last weekend I got the 5.3 put together with the help of my brother-in-law