69 Nova. 5.3 L33 Turbo build. Billet S474, LOTS of pictures...
04-04-2014, 08:17 PM
#21
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Isky cam showed up today, thanks Stock48!
I just realized I'm still waiting on head studs from Alper. I wonder what is taking them so long? I sent them an email before purchase to see if they were in stock and after purchase with basically the same question and haven't gotten anything back. I'm going to do cam springs and studs at the same time so I'm waiting on the studs.
04-05-2014, 07:31 PM
#22
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Did some more work today.
I was under the dash looking at wiring to compare to my new $200 cheap harness that I've been pondering about. I found a rat's nest and a half. Hundreds of electrical tape splices, bare wires, and cut wires everywhere. I noticed things as bad as this:
I pulled all of the wiring out, took out the steering wheel, and removed the dash bezel (which broke into about 15 pieces when removing it). I took off the 3 gauge pod that was bolted to the bottom of the dash down by the shifter, pulled the old fuse panel, and removed the old throttle linkage.. etc.
Then I compared the old and new fuse panels side by side. Wouldn't you know it, the new universal fuse panel WILL bolt in the OEM location. Its a little taller, but has the same 2 bolt locations and I should be able to make it work with 0 issues. Even if it is Pro Comp, its still better than 45 year old technology and worn out wiring and fuses!
I started looking at the connector on the steering column, as I didn't want to disassemble the column and rewire the entire thing, especially if I go aftermarket column eventually since mine was originally a column shift and I would need to switch to a floor shift column to work with a Rack and Pinion. Then I looked at the connector on the original harness I pulled earlier. I realized I've seen that same connector in the box that my new wiring kit came in! There is a brand new connector in there that will let me plug this harness into the OEM plug on the steering column! SCORE!
I started working on the new DBW pedal as well. I got an 06 pedal/TAC from another LS1Tech member for cheaper than I could find it anywhere. I've been told time and time and time again that the all plastic pedal from 06 won't work because its too long, at too much of an angle, and won't fit. EVERY person I've seen use one of these cut the pedal and did rediculous modifications to get the plastic to work. Something like cutting an inch out of it and tapering the neck, and then JB welding it before sandwiching it between to metal plates that are drilled through the pedal and fastened together.
Here is why:
Look at the top mounting hole on both pedal assemblies. The original metal pedal comes almost directly down from the old mounting hole, while the plastic pedal swerves over 2" to the right. They are also at a much different angle from front to back. So I did some test fitting, and noticed that I could mount this pedal with almost ZERO modifications. None what-so-ever, other than one drilled hole.
Here is where the new top mounting hole will have to be drilled, about 3" to the left of the original pedal hole:
And I'm going to use an existing hole and bolt that are in the firewall around the steering column to mount to bottom half of the bracket to.
Here is the bolt, and where the hole must be drilled in the pedal assembly:
And last, here is the before and after, with the original pedal, and the UNMODIFIED plastic DBW pedal:
Not a bad day for less than 2 hours worth of work.
I was under the dash looking at wiring to compare to my new $200 cheap harness that I've been pondering about. I found a rat's nest and a half. Hundreds of electrical tape splices, bare wires, and cut wires everywhere. I noticed things as bad as this:
I pulled all of the wiring out, took out the steering wheel, and removed the dash bezel (which broke into about 15 pieces when removing it). I took off the 3 gauge pod that was bolted to the bottom of the dash down by the shifter, pulled the old fuse panel, and removed the old throttle linkage.. etc.
Then I compared the old and new fuse panels side by side. Wouldn't you know it, the new universal fuse panel WILL bolt in the OEM location. Its a little taller, but has the same 2 bolt locations and I should be able to make it work with 0 issues. Even if it is Pro Comp, its still better than 45 year old technology and worn out wiring and fuses!
I started looking at the connector on the steering column, as I didn't want to disassemble the column and rewire the entire thing, especially if I go aftermarket column eventually since mine was originally a column shift and I would need to switch to a floor shift column to work with a Rack and Pinion. Then I looked at the connector on the original harness I pulled earlier. I realized I've seen that same connector in the box that my new wiring kit came in! There is a brand new connector in there that will let me plug this harness into the OEM plug on the steering column! SCORE!
I started working on the new DBW pedal as well. I got an 06 pedal/TAC from another LS1Tech member for cheaper than I could find it anywhere. I've been told time and time and time again that the all plastic pedal from 06 won't work because its too long, at too much of an angle, and won't fit. EVERY person I've seen use one of these cut the pedal and did rediculous modifications to get the plastic to work. Something like cutting an inch out of it and tapering the neck, and then JB welding it before sandwiching it between to metal plates that are drilled through the pedal and fastened together.
Here is why:
Look at the top mounting hole on both pedal assemblies. The original metal pedal comes almost directly down from the old mounting hole, while the plastic pedal swerves over 2" to the right. They are also at a much different angle from front to back. So I did some test fitting, and noticed that I could mount this pedal with almost ZERO modifications. None what-so-ever, other than one drilled hole.
Here is where the new top mounting hole will have to be drilled, about 3" to the left of the original pedal hole:
And I'm going to use an existing hole and bolt that are in the firewall around the steering column to mount to bottom half of the bracket to.
Here is the bolt, and where the hole must be drilled in the pedal assembly:
And last, here is the before and after, with the original pedal, and the UNMODIFIED plastic DBW pedal:
Not a bad day for less than 2 hours worth of work.
Last edited by JoeNova; 04-05-2014 at 07:43 PM.
04-05-2014, 07:33 PM
#23
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AWESOME. None of the images worked 
.
Edit: They work if I change the size to something really big, so if they images are too big I apologize. I'll relink them to the 800x600 versions when they are working again.
.Edit: They work if I change the size to something really big, so if they images are too big I apologize. I'll relink them to the 800x600 versions when they are working again.
Last edited by JoeNova; 04-05-2014 at 07:40 PM.
04-05-2014, 10:24 PM
#25
When working on a gas tank,,,i heard that if you run exhaust gas thru it that will remove all the vapors..never tried it but read that on line..be careful
awesome car and linke all the deals you have fould
awesome car and linke all the deals you have fould
04-06-2014, 07:36 PM
#26
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Thread Starter
Did some cleaning today.
Spent most of the time working on the subframe. It was CAKED with dirt, grease, and grime from a big block that spewed an oil leak every other week. You really can't tell here, but the rear part of the subframe is covered in 1/8" thick grease. The steering components were even worse, and rear parts of the subframe had at least a quarter inch thick layer of sludge.
So I picked up 2 gallons of degreaser from autozone. Put half a gallon in a bucket, and spread it on the subframe with a giant sponge. Let it sit until it dried, and then grabbed a wire wheel. After about 2 hours with a scraper and a wire wheel, I had this:
I have it clean enough to prime and paint. I do plan on upgrading the subframe in the future, so I'm not going to spend too much time on it. You can't see it in the pics, but the inner fenders were covered in a rust colored film. It was from the all iron big block and copper core radiator turning the water a mud color. Since it leaked everywhere a few different time, the entire engine bay was a mud colored. I wiped and sprayed it down today to try and clean that up.
Then at the recommendation of Chicago TDP, I put a few ounces of Dawn in my old tank, and put the hose in it. Let it run for about 30 minutes, dumped it, and let it run another 30. I'll get back to this later.
I also opened up my Holley 302-2 F-body swap pan. This will go on when I do my cam. I had to have it drilled and welded for the oil return. I used a cheap -10 AN aluminum fitting from ebay. It was stepped, so a hole could be drilled, and the fitting would sit inside of the hole and rest on the extra lip so it wouldn't have to be held in place when welded. I don't have a welder right now, so a local welding shop did it for $20.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/290658424349...84.m1439.l2649
Tomorrow I prime and paint the subframe. As soon as the head studs get here, I replace the cam, put on the Holley pan, replace the head bolts, replace the springs, and test fit the engine one last time before I start on the 4L80e crossmember (which is always fun without a welder). Kinda getting excited.
Spent most of the time working on the subframe. It was CAKED with dirt, grease, and grime from a big block that spewed an oil leak every other week. You really can't tell here, but the rear part of the subframe is covered in 1/8" thick grease. The steering components were even worse, and rear parts of the subframe had at least a quarter inch thick layer of sludge.
So I picked up 2 gallons of degreaser from autozone. Put half a gallon in a bucket, and spread it on the subframe with a giant sponge. Let it sit until it dried, and then grabbed a wire wheel. After about 2 hours with a scraper and a wire wheel, I had this:
I have it clean enough to prime and paint. I do plan on upgrading the subframe in the future, so I'm not going to spend too much time on it. You can't see it in the pics, but the inner fenders were covered in a rust colored film. It was from the all iron big block and copper core radiator turning the water a mud color. Since it leaked everywhere a few different time, the entire engine bay was a mud colored. I wiped and sprayed it down today to try and clean that up.
Then at the recommendation of Chicago TDP, I put a few ounces of Dawn in my old tank, and put the hose in it. Let it run for about 30 minutes, dumped it, and let it run another 30. I'll get back to this later.
I also opened up my Holley 302-2 F-body swap pan. This will go on when I do my cam. I had to have it drilled and welded for the oil return. I used a cheap -10 AN aluminum fitting from ebay. It was stepped, so a hole could be drilled, and the fitting would sit inside of the hole and rest on the extra lip so it wouldn't have to be held in place when welded. I don't have a welder right now, so a local welding shop did it for $20.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/290658424349...84.m1439.l2649
Tomorrow I prime and paint the subframe. As soon as the head studs get here, I replace the cam, put on the Holley pan, replace the head bolts, replace the springs, and test fit the engine one last time before I start on the 4L80e crossmember (which is always fun without a welder). Kinda getting excited.
04-07-2014, 05:53 AM
#27
Looking good man! I just did a painless wiring harness on my 73 nova and besides the ls swap it was the single best upgrade I have made to my car by far. My car was a one owner car and the wirering was in fairly good shape but I was scared of the 40year old wirering and glass fuses with all the added electrical to the car.
04-07-2014, 08:04 AM
#29
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Thread Starter
I'm pretty thorough on my write ups and not afraid to try something new. I'll pass along as much as I can. Right now its just looking like an ordinary LS swap. The car will have a turbo on in the next 2 months and I'll be shooting for 850whp and try to break into 5s in the 1/8 on a stock bottom end 5.3. I should be able to hit those numbers on about 20 psi through an S476 with a good tune and a little luck. I've seen a few other 5.3s hit mid 700s around 18 psi with a smaller can. Denmah did 720 at 17 psi. With a few more psi and a larger cam I should come within ballpark of my goal.
04-07-2014, 08:09 AM
#30
Shipping would probably kill me to return my tank to tanks inc. I'll sell it locally. Did you use the weld in plate from tanks inc or did you make your own? Right now it seems like my best option to use the original tank since the hole where the stock sending unit goes is trashed anyway. I already have the PA module and the 5 bolt sending unit. If I used the new tank I would have my stock sending unit and block off the tubes and still drill a hole for the PA module.
One thing to remember, the new fittings are going to stick up.
Pre-check the tank fit in the car to make sure the fittings do not hit the car.
As you can see in my pictures, I had to notch the tank to recess everything.
04-07-2014, 09:56 AM
#31
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I bought the weld in plate from tanks inc. I'm going to cut a hole for the new sending unit I got from them so it doesn't go to waste. If all goes as planned I should have the gas tank done in a week or so. I bought the plate to make sure it was recessed for that very reason. If I had a welder I would bend and weld my own metal but I don't right now so I bought the kit.
04-07-2014, 08:16 PM
#32
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Thread Starter
So I primed and painted the subframe today. Oops.
What was supposed to be semi-gloss turned out to be full blown gloss black. I was hoping it was just because it was wet that it looked so shiny. Maybe I'll give it a few days to set up and go over it with something a little more subtle. It definitely doesn't go with the rest of the area haha.
What was supposed to be semi-gloss turned out to be full blown gloss black. I was hoping it was just because it was wet that it looked so shiny. Maybe I'll give it a few days to set up and go over it with something a little more subtle. It definitely doesn't go with the rest of the area haha.
04-20-2014, 09:56 PM
#34
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So its been a couple of weeks, and I've sort of made progress. My phone was messed up during most of this so I'm not so picture detailed this time.
My head studs finally came in from Alper. So it was time to do springs/studs/cam.
Studs went in fine. Only used the big ones. My block seems to be drilled too deep and the small ones would thread almost all of the way into the block. Coated the big ones in motor oil, ran them in hand tight, and torqued the nuts to 75 ft-lbs. I did notice some sludge built up around the middle head bolt between cylinders 5 and 7. That was the ONLY sludge in the block, though, and it was just a very small amount.
Then it was time to do the springs. I'm a little worried on this one. 90% of them went in okay. Cylinder 5 gave me some issues. The valves wouldn't come up all of the way. I almost panicked when I was putting 50 PSI in them and my small air compressor couldn't keep up. There was major amounts of air blowing out of both the intake and exhaust valves. I inspected them and didn't see anything wrong. I pulled the intake valve up by hand and it sealed, but the exhaust was letting some air by as well. My compressor ran dry and I didn't have the valve springs in yet. Turns out, the piston was at TDC on that cylinder, so the valves didn't fall in. I had to let the compressor refill before starting again, and had to pull the valves up by hand and then put the air to them before starting again. I'll have to do a compression check, but when I did the oil pan there were zero issues with the piston from the bottom. Not a single flake in the pan. Valves didn't look bent. Maybe it was just a piece of dirt or something stuck behind the valve?
Either way, PAC 1218 springs went in just fine after that little incident.
Then I did the cam install, which my camera wasn't working for. I used 5/16" rod from Lowes and stuck in the oiling holes behind the cam retainer plate. Driver's side slide right in. Passenger side only went halfway in. It kept getting snagged on something. So I left it halfway in, make sure that back 4 pushrods were all of the way up, and went ahead and did the cam swap. Cam was out and in, all buttoned up within 10 minutes. Loctited and torqued, no issues there. I kicked myself after I found a cam handle ten minutes after doing the cam swap. I wish I would've remembered I had it.
After the cam, I tossed the rockers back in and rolled the engine over to do the oil pan. Old pan came off fine, nothing in it at all. No metal flakes on the magnetic drain plug. Everything looked clean. I did have to trim the front section of the windage tray to fit the Holley 302-2 pan, and I ended up twisting off one of those bolts after I was tightening it back down. Oh well. Oh, and to my suprise, the pan accepts a different oil filter, so now I have to figure out what to do there as well.
So here the engine is before the water pump and balancer went back on. I hooked it up to a chain (more on that later), and installed the flywheel and spacer. Then I put the torque converter into the transmission, and bolted it all together.
Then I took my old tank and started cutting to make room for my new tray...
So just about an hour ago, I tried to slide the engine and transmission in. All did NOT go well. When I pick them up using the chain that goes from the front of one side to the rear of the other, the transmission drags the ground, so I had to lift it pretty high. I slide it in, put a floor jack under the transmission pan so I could raise it up and make it fit into place in the tunnel. My stupid *** bolted the chain up to the rear of the passenger side head, and the bolts holding the whole thing are hitting the firewall. Also, I cannot get the mounts even close to lining up because I can't push it back far enough.
The icing on the cake... the 4L80 BARELY fits. And I mean BARELY. So close, in-fact, that I'm going to probably have to bolt all of the wiring and transmission cooler fittings up to it BEFORE I attempt to install the engine/trans, because I won't be able to reach them later (unless I want to cut a hole in the floor.
So here is where I am now... and have to pull it back out before I head to bed. Frustration...........
My head studs finally came in from Alper. So it was time to do springs/studs/cam.
Studs went in fine. Only used the big ones. My block seems to be drilled too deep and the small ones would thread almost all of the way into the block. Coated the big ones in motor oil, ran them in hand tight, and torqued the nuts to 75 ft-lbs. I did notice some sludge built up around the middle head bolt between cylinders 5 and 7. That was the ONLY sludge in the block, though, and it was just a very small amount.
Then it was time to do the springs. I'm a little worried on this one. 90% of them went in okay. Cylinder 5 gave me some issues. The valves wouldn't come up all of the way. I almost panicked when I was putting 50 PSI in them and my small air compressor couldn't keep up. There was major amounts of air blowing out of both the intake and exhaust valves. I inspected them and didn't see anything wrong. I pulled the intake valve up by hand and it sealed, but the exhaust was letting some air by as well. My compressor ran dry and I didn't have the valve springs in yet. Turns out, the piston was at TDC on that cylinder, so the valves didn't fall in. I had to let the compressor refill before starting again, and had to pull the valves up by hand and then put the air to them before starting again. I'll have to do a compression check, but when I did the oil pan there were zero issues with the piston from the bottom. Not a single flake in the pan. Valves didn't look bent. Maybe it was just a piece of dirt or something stuck behind the valve?
Either way, PAC 1218 springs went in just fine after that little incident.
Then I did the cam install, which my camera wasn't working for. I used 5/16" rod from Lowes and stuck in the oiling holes behind the cam retainer plate. Driver's side slide right in. Passenger side only went halfway in. It kept getting snagged on something. So I left it halfway in, make sure that back 4 pushrods were all of the way up, and went ahead and did the cam swap. Cam was out and in, all buttoned up within 10 minutes. Loctited and torqued, no issues there. I kicked myself after I found a cam handle ten minutes after doing the cam swap. I wish I would've remembered I had it.
After the cam, I tossed the rockers back in and rolled the engine over to do the oil pan. Old pan came off fine, nothing in it at all. No metal flakes on the magnetic drain plug. Everything looked clean. I did have to trim the front section of the windage tray to fit the Holley 302-2 pan, and I ended up twisting off one of those bolts after I was tightening it back down. Oh well. Oh, and to my suprise, the pan accepts a different oil filter, so now I have to figure out what to do there as well.
So here the engine is before the water pump and balancer went back on. I hooked it up to a chain (more on that later), and installed the flywheel and spacer. Then I put the torque converter into the transmission, and bolted it all together.
Then I took my old tank and started cutting to make room for my new tray...
So just about an hour ago, I tried to slide the engine and transmission in. All did NOT go well. When I pick them up using the chain that goes from the front of one side to the rear of the other, the transmission drags the ground, so I had to lift it pretty high. I slide it in, put a floor jack under the transmission pan so I could raise it up and make it fit into place in the tunnel. My stupid *** bolted the chain up to the rear of the passenger side head, and the bolts holding the whole thing are hitting the firewall. Also, I cannot get the mounts even close to lining up because I can't push it back far enough.
The icing on the cake... the 4L80 BARELY fits. And I mean BARELY. So close, in-fact, that I'm going to probably have to bolt all of the wiring and transmission cooler fittings up to it BEFORE I attempt to install the engine/trans, because I won't be able to reach them later (unless I want to cut a hole in the floor.
So here is where I am now... and have to pull it back out before I head to bed. Frustration...........
04-20-2014, 10:40 PM
#35
So you didn't actually remove the heads?
Or the lifters?
My L33 was brown like that inside, drove me nuts. I wanted also to open the top ring gaps up a bit. So I took it all apart, cleaned and reassembled.
The exh valves and seats in my heads looked pitted and rough. I'm sure they were sealing, but that drove me nuts too. So we did a valve job.
You are moving fast. Keep up the good work
Or the lifters?
My L33 was brown like that inside, drove me nuts. I wanted also to open the top ring gaps up a bit. So I took it all apart, cleaned and reassembled.
The exh valves and seats in my heads looked pitted and rough. I'm sure they were sealing, but that drove me nuts too. So we did a valve job.
You are moving fast. Keep up the good work
04-20-2014, 11:00 PM
#36
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Thread Starter
I removed the head bolts and installed and torqued the studs one at a time in torque sequence. Never removed the heads. Didn't remove the lifters either. The 5/16" rod slides into the oil passages behind the cam retainer plate. You spin the cam a few times without the rockers in and the lifters are pushed up into the trays. Then you slide the rod in to keep them from slipping back down towards the cam, and you can pull the cam out without fear of dropping a lifter. I think I paid like $4 for these two rods from Lowes.
I plan to eventually pull the engine back out and do a rebuild. For now I just want it driving so I can at least enjoy the car a little this summer/fall instead of seeing it sit all of the time. If it gets to that point, I may pull the heads and do a light port job and have a valve job done.
I plan to eventually pull the engine back out and do a rebuild. For now I just want it driving so I can at least enjoy the car a little this summer/fall instead of seeing it sit all of the time. If it gets to that point, I may pull the heads and do a light port job and have a valve job done.
04-22-2014, 10:44 PM
#38
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Thread Starter
So I tried to refit the engine again tonight.
First, I put the new oil cooler fittings on that I picked up from ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/6AN-4L80E-GM-transmission-cooler-fittings-/230791392105?pt=Race_Car_Parts&hash=item35bc3d2b69&vxp=mtr
You may have noticed they sent me -8 AN fittings. I'm still debating whether to order the -6 AN lines (my cooler is -6 AN), or just buy adapter fittings.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALUMINUM-EXTERNAL-TRANSMISSION-FLUID-OIL-COOLER-WITH-10-ELECTRIC-FAN-TOWING-NEW-/140975977688?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20d2d2b4d8&vxp=mtr
After the first unsuccessful test fit, I start looking for places that the transmission may have been hitting the tunnel and firewall. Found quite a few of them actually.
First off, this ear was hitting the tunnel on the driver side, so I cut it off:
Then I had to take a ball peen hammer and massage the firewall a bit for the transmission dipstick tube:
After this I decided to go ahead and try to fit the engine/transmission in again. I ran into two issues. One, the transmission dipstick tube is still hitting the firewall, although SLIGHTLY. Another 10 seconds with a hammer will fix this. Second, the bolts I'm using to hold the engine up are hitting the firewall. Now I have to debate between hammering in the firewall a bit here, or finding somewhere else to grab the engine by. Maybe the bellhousing?
Here is how close I came today. Even if it weren't for the above issues, it wouldn't have fit properly. So I'm flipping the big block mounts over to see if they line up any better. I'll have to grind one of the adapter plates as its hitting the block when flipped to the other side. I'll try again tomorrow...
First, I put the new oil cooler fittings on that I picked up from ebay.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/6AN-4L80E-GM-transmission-cooler-fittings-/230791392105?pt=Race_Car_Parts&hash=item35bc3d2b69&vxp=mtr
You may have noticed they sent me -8 AN fittings. I'm still debating whether to order the -6 AN lines (my cooler is -6 AN), or just buy adapter fittings.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ALUMINUM-EXTERNAL-TRANSMISSION-FLUID-OIL-COOLER-WITH-10-ELECTRIC-FAN-TOWING-NEW-/140975977688?pt=Motors_Car_Truck_Parts_Accessories&hash=item20d2d2b4d8&vxp=mtr
After the first unsuccessful test fit, I start looking for places that the transmission may have been hitting the tunnel and firewall. Found quite a few of them actually.
First off, this ear was hitting the tunnel on the driver side, so I cut it off:
Then I had to take a ball peen hammer and massage the firewall a bit for the transmission dipstick tube:
After this I decided to go ahead and try to fit the engine/transmission in again. I ran into two issues. One, the transmission dipstick tube is still hitting the firewall, although SLIGHTLY. Another 10 seconds with a hammer will fix this. Second, the bolts I'm using to hold the engine up are hitting the firewall. Now I have to debate between hammering in the firewall a bit here, or finding somewhere else to grab the engine by. Maybe the bellhousing?
Here is how close I came today. Even if it weren't for the above issues, it wouldn't have fit properly. So I'm flipping the big block mounts over to see if they line up any better. I'll have to grind one of the adapter plates as its hitting the block when flipped to the other side. I'll try again tomorrow...
04-22-2014, 11:06 PM
#39
Hey Joe,
I had the same issue with the chains, so I used the exh manifold bolt holes. I didn't have the trans on though, it was in the car.
Are you sure those are true big block frame stands? I'll hunt for photos of mine with the engine sitting in there.
I screwed up and didn't have the trans dipstick in, thought I'd fit it later. I was wrong and had to use a cheapie flexible one.
I had the same issue with the chains, so I used the exh manifold bolt holes. I didn't have the trans on though, it was in the car.
Are you sure those are true big block frame stands? I'll hunt for photos of mine with the engine sitting in there.
I screwed up and didn't have the trans dipstick in, thought I'd fit it later. I was wrong and had to use a cheapie flexible one.
04-22-2014, 11:16 PM
#40
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Thread Starter
Hey Joe,
I had the same issue with the chains, so I used the exh manifold bolt holes. I didn't have the trans on though, it was in the car.
Are you sure those are true big block frame stands? I'll hunt for photos of mine with the engine sitting in there.
I screwed up and didn't have the trans dipstick in, thought I'd fit it later. I was wrong and had to use a cheapie flexible one.
I had the same issue with the chains, so I used the exh manifold bolt holes. I didn't have the trans on though, it was in the car.
Are you sure those are true big block frame stands? I'll hunt for photos of mine with the engine sitting in there.
I screwed up and didn't have the trans dipstick in, thought I'd fit it later. I was wrong and had to use a cheapie flexible one.
As for the big block frame stands, I don't know anymore.
I was told for years the car was a true SS. I found out it isn't.
I was told for years the transmission behind that big block was a TH400, I found out 30 minutes ago its a TH350.
I was also told these are big block frame stands. However, even if I line up the mounts and get them in, I'm going to have far more oil pan to subframe clearance than I anticipated, which makes me doubt they are big block stands. They have also been WELDED to the subframe, so not much I can do about them now.
After all of this misinformation I've been given about the car from my dad and uncle over the years, I probably need to check and make sure that this isn't actually a 8.2" 10-bolt (I was told its an 8.5").
Needless to say, they'll never touch the car again. Its been one big hack job. If I hadn't had my eyes on it for 20 years before I ended up with it, I would've probably started looking for a more suitable base to start with.