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Nothing really picture worthy. Taking care of some final details that need to be done before the engine goes in. That will hopefully happen next weekend. The hydroboost is now bolted in place, the pedal is connected on the inside. That was not a fun job, but done now. Paint is touched up in the engine bay. Fresh plugs installed, just need some fresh valve cover gaskets.
Prepared everything for a test fit of the engine tommorow. Have some helping hands coming to line things up and bolt it in.
First installed the lift plate and also some valve covers without the integrated PCV valve on the rear driver side. I'm slightly worried about clearance there to the hydroboost. Next step was to get the nose high. I needed about 29" of clearance under the nose to roll the engine through. Engine rolled into place. Roughly lined up. Then I dropped the nose down so the engine install isn't happening on such a steep angle. 5.3 litres hiding under the car. Leveller bar installed, all ready!
Partly because the hydroboost unit can make it tricky from the top. Also partly because I've always gone in and out the top with the stock engine so I thought I'd try this for a change.
Had to drop the engine down a bit to test fit the driver side header. It's in now for good, with gasket and torqued down. Got a length of metric bar stock and cut 4 long pieces to thread into the cross member holes on the body so when I lowered the engine it stayed lined up with the holes. Worked like a charm. Was able to go up and down at will and fiddle with the header to get it in from below. The passenger side goes in easily from below with the engine mounted. No such luck with the driver side as the spacing on the tubes is wider to allow the steering shaft to pass through them.
Took some fiddling. To get the torque tube lined up straight down the tunnel when connected to the engine, the back of engine needed to shifted slightly to the passenger side from where I originally bolted it in place. I loosened the crossmember to body bolts, and the engine mount to cross member bolts, while the engine was hanging off the engine brace. That gave me the wiggle room to get the torque tube line up so it runs straight down the tunnel underneath the car. Once in a good position I torqued everything back down to mount the engine.
Are there CV or u-joints on either end of the tube between crank mating and tranny? If not, just wondering if "eyeball and feel" is a good enough way to be sure the tube is perfectly aligned....suspecting problems will ensue if not. Love the swap! Good luck on having motor in once for the "last" time. Mine was in/out 11 times as I worked through fitment, plumbing and wiring.
I've been through the same thing a few times putting the stock engine back in a 944. The stock motor mounts are soft enough that the "wiggle room" needed comes from there to get everything to mate up nicely. The swap mounts are very solid, so the wiggle room I needed had to come from elsewhere.
Not sure how a Corvette is setup, but a 944 transaxle layout has the torque tube mounted solidly between the engine and trans, the drive shaft floats inside the tube on bearings. Then between the trans and the trailing arms are half shafts, with CV joints on either end of each shaft. The torsion bar carrier in the rear has some hooks that align to hooks on the torque tube that let you know things are lined up (and are there to stop the drivetrain shifting too far in the unibody during a collision). Hopefully it works out, it always has when I've had the stock motors in and out over the years.
I've had to move the engine around (basically removal) in the engine bay at least four times so far, probably seven more to go just like you!
I was pretty sure I understood the nature of the connection between torque tube, bell housing and tranny. I guess I expect that the factory set up (all Corvette or all Porsche) would be designed with dowels or other alignment "tools" to be sure that the shaft isn't placed in a bind of any sort once you bolt up the tube on both ends. I presume you're using some sort of adapter on the back of the LS motor that allows it to accept the Porsche torque tube and driveshaft. Do you just check runout on the bell mount the way you normally would --- and then if it's where it should be, the torque tube centers the shaft when bolted up? I'm trying to educate myself -- seems like it wouldn't take much in the way of the engine angle being "off" to put the torque tube in a bind; just trying to understand how that's managed.
03-18-2017, 04:48 PM
