bluegtp

Little by little. I'm using some heat shrink type hose clamps by gates. They look nice and clean, hopefully they work well because they'll be everywhere! I ran the heater hoses as cleanly as possible with the way they stub out of the firewall with the ac lines and drier. I used two napa 9050 hoses and spliced them for the upper and lowers. The upper has my steam lines tied into it and upside down so you can't see it as much. My transmission cooler lines are routed in there with the heater hoses, you kind of have to look for them.

I also replaced the power steering control valve and cylinder (leaking and messy) while everything is torn apart and clean. Hopefully my harness will be here by the weekend and I can get the ecm, tcm, fusebox and everything routed cleanly (I'm planning for up under the pass. fender/firewall area).

Looks like I'll have to build a little drip shield for the drier (headers right below it) and have a straight pipe made from the drier to the firewall.






I also got around to putting in the oil pressure, water temp. and trans temp sensors. Autometer makes an ls kit with fittings needed and a few extra.



Plus a lokar transmission dipstick (i bought a 36" firewall mount and cut it down and cutout an aluminum mount for it). I bought a trans mount lokar dipstick but it was too short (12") and put the dipstick angled close to the header and way too low. I also tried a factory dipstick/tube but angles were off and it didn't fit.

jcloving

Very cool build. Keep going and posting with pics.

bluegtp

I was able to get moving on the new fuel lines. I demoed out all the old hard lines (supply, return, vent) and started over. Routed -6AN hose & fittings along with new 82 fuel sending unit and upgraded pump attached. I went up the drivers side and routed along side the brake line. The new reworked harness came in from tilden motor sports along with the e67 ecm from gmpp tuned w/ a used tcm so it's looking like wiring will be next on the list along with some intake/filter ideas (hopefully).

bluegtp

I ran into some more problems. Long story short, I went with a 2 wire ecm controlled alternator. Come to find out the used Holley accessory bracket setup I received wasn't holley. The ac side was holley, the alternator/ps side is a c6 bracket which will only use a c6 type alternator. I had to go buy a new holley bracket along with new idler for it. For that extra cost, stripped out ps pump bolt holes (installed helicoils) and the back and forth I should've went the new route. Oh well. It's redone and back together.

For those that don't know, holley designed their bracket to use a truck type alternator which is cheaper, easier to come by and more options (ecm controlled, etc.). Pictures are just for future reference for anyone researching information. Right side is the 2 wire truck type and left is the c6 type.


by https://www.flickr.com/photos/149923940@N05/, on Flickr


Rough dimensions.....c6 alternator

2wire alternator

[url=https://flic.kr/p/ZrTpbX]

bluegtp

Got the ecm, tcm and harness back from the rework a little while back and started mounting the controllers and fusebox. Gotta do a little leaning over but everything is accessible.
[url=https://flic.kr/p/21hSU5q]


Trans crossmember holes elongated. Nice fit now.

I started putting the front end brackets back together and had to rework my trans cooler location to make the brackets work (still had to modify 1 of them) and get the cooler hoses above the fiberglass scoop.

[url=https://flic.kr/p/22ACvYa]



Messing around with a cold air setup. I didn't like the old 90* and filter in the engine bay, I figured I'd try going under but didn't work as well as I would've liked, plus I'd still have to build a box for it and figure where to route some ducting from the front to it. Still an option. Other pics are of a vararam G8 cai I figured I'd try. Not enough room w/out cutting up the radiator core support or modifying the hood. I went ahead and ordered the vararam gto otr cai since it seems to work fit decent thanks to some of the guys here on the forum.



G8 intake....opening to the filter was partially blocked by radiator. Hood would touch the box when closed. Needs to move forward but no go. Worth a try.

bluegtp

here's the vararam cai for the GTO. I found it on sale for 200 shipped, hard to pass up. I'll still have to rework my upper mounting brackets for the fans and do something with the passenger side radiator bracket. The box sits right on top of the radiator hose and a little tight around the ps reservoir. I still have access to the radiator cap. I'll need to do some trimming and rebending around the front ledge to help air get shoved into it over the radiator. It still has a good size opening between the top of the radiator and the core support for air to get through.

Overall, I think this is the easiest and cleanest looking setup w/out cutting radiator core support and doing a lot of fabrication for a custom cold air intake setup.

'75

Subscribed! Keep up the good work.

Gordonm

Just saw this. You are doing what I did a few years ago. You have some more options that are out there then when I did mine. Very clean install so far. You have run into a lot of issues I also ran into. Where are you going to install your airflow sensor. My understanding the LS3 like to have the sensor as far from the throttle plate as possible. I have seen some like yours that are close and worked fine. I do like your PS pulley setup. I used the Dorman pulley because that was the best available at the moment. Why did you use a pressure reducing valve also. I am running a Borgeson and Hydroboost at the moment and still having a few issues with mine. I'll be following yours a little closer now. Mine got derailed for some time due to a divorce, another car build (FFR Roadster) moving and getting remarried and setting up another shop. Along with other life events. Running but still not done. Are they ever?

bluegtp

Hey Gordon. I've read through your swap thread a couple of times before I began mine. Very helpful and thanks for the information posted. The MAF will have to be right in between the throttle body and the filter. I just finished up soldering up the mounting boss to the pipe and fitting everything. You are correct though, gm recommends a minimum of 10" from the tb. We'll see how well it works soon enough.

I'm sure it was your thread I got the dorman ps pump pulley number off of. I had a to dig around a bit to find the smaller pulley or have someone machine down that dorman pulley I had. The pulley I used was a lot smaller than stock and in turn the pump spins faster. The pressure reducing kit is supposed to bring the pressure back down close to the factory c3 ps setup was (which I'm still running).

I understand about things getting derailed. Mine is for different reasons (got a little girl now) but still, things happen and the toys get put on the back burner. But yeah, they are never "done". Congrats on the new engagement/marriage.

I do like the FFR roadster, do you have an ls in that too? My brother has a SLC he started on earlier this year and it's getting the exact same ls3/525 I have for my c3. That should be an interesting build too.

Metalhead140

Very nice work! Curious why you would run a maf? Everyone in Aus does a mafless tune and runs on map, both for conversions and when running a cai in Commodores (your SS or GTO).

Gordonm

My FFR runs a stroked 351W to 408. It is putting out 540 HP. The car is just stupid fast. That much power in a 2100 lb car is way over kill and traction is the problem.

BlackRocket

Thanks for re-posting this link!

Very impressive!

bluegtp

Thanks!.....The ecm I bought was already "tuned" for the ls3/525 from gm. If I have issues with it and the short intake run I'll have to have it tuned out. Good info to know if I need in the future.

Very nice, sounds like a lot of fun and trouble on the street.

Thanks post or pm if you need any other pics.

bluegtp

Finished up the cai. Cut out and soldered the maf mount to the 4" pipe. I also played around with plastic welding which came in handy for the cai. I got brave and decided to section the plastic tray on the cai and add some mounts in order to reduce the amount of rework of my ford focus fan brackets and the passenger side upper radiator bracket/support. Trimmed up and bent some of it to fit a little better. I'll eventually sand and finish the weld but it functions for now.


Practice plastic weld.

Sectioned with room for radiator cap removal and modifying the factory mount to hold the cai and fan brackets.


Over radiator inlet.

NAVY08

Dude, awesome project - thanks for the write up on the Classic Air system, After the issues you had with them, I will certainly not be going that route.

For some reason only half of your pictures show up for me, I think there might be an issue with the code, a mix up between the URL and IMG brackets. I corrected one below, lets see if that works.


Who made the side pipes you ordered? I'd love more details and some more pictures of them if you have them. I was planning on modifying Hookers to work with the LS, but I like the looks of the one you posted.

bluegtp

Thanks! Pictures show up fine over here. There are a lot and it takes a little bit to load. Here's a link to my flickr album if that helps. I have a few more pictures on there of the headers. I was back and forth on modifying a set of sbc or bbc sidepipe headers but couldn't justify the cost and time spent mocking everything up. I ordered the headers from Josh at CIC (custom image corvette).

Hopefully I'll be able to get back on this project here soon. I've been working weekends since the beginning of the this year.

Ryan

https://www.flickr.com/photos/149923940@N05/albums

NAVY08

Ryan, Thanks, going through the photo album was immensely helpful. Great project - you are doing awesome work. Keep it up!

bluegtp

I wish I had more of an update. Life's been busy with work mostly, I did buy a new truck though.

I reworked my center console plate for my screen and gauges with a thicker plate since I bought a bandsaw with a bimetallic blade. I finally got around to my speedo/tach cluster and added in the fuel gauge, check engine light along with some blinkers and bright indications. I'm currently reworking some of my prior wiring (you know, while I'm there sort of thing) and wiring in the new engine harness with the factory stuff. Time consuming to keep it clean and professional looking and to do it right without.

Mechanically everything is set in place so once the wiring is done I have a bunch of small odds and ends and it should be ready to fire-up.

new pick-up:

bluegtp

Moving along....won't be long until it gets cranked up. Hopefully next weekend.

I got around to mounting the gas pedal. Offset of this was opposite of the stock pedal and longer. I ended up just cutting out 2 16ga steel plates (the single plate would flex a bit so i doubled it). Used some of the stock pedal mounting holes and added some at the top. This is the last mock up, it'll get painted and go back in. The gas pedal looks like it sits a little further back then the brake but they are even. I guess it's the pic. I also got around to clearancing (dinging) my headers. They just barely touched to bottom of the frame on the passenger side and top of the steering box on the driver side. Plenty of room now.

Scotty_Z06

awesome build man. It has me itching to start a c3 project after i finish the z06