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Alright. Long post incoming.
So a year ago I got a 1976 C3 Car that someone was restoring and they quit due to moving. I snagged it for $1000.
My Plan look
The car was a project car someone started but didn't have time to complete. They ended up having to move so I got it for $1000.
It came with 8 totes of parts, doors, bumpers, windows etc.
Did not have an engine or transmission. But never fear.
I snagged this dirty van for FREE. Its a 2004 GMC Savana with the LQ4 Ls 6.0L with the 4L80E Transmission. I took the engine, trans, all harnesses, throttle pedal, DBW Module, ecm, and Part of the drive shaft. Engine ran great, and had good compression, but had 350,000kms and sat for 6 years so I did a full refresh of the engine.
New bearings, Rings, Lifters, gaskets, Honed the cylinders, new oil pump and timing chain/sprockets. Bought a Low profile Oil pan off performance world as well as part of the Holley drive accessory kit(more on this later)
Damn that's a shiny crank for 350k.
Issues with the car - The floor pans. God damnit I missed it by a year =(. They at least cut them after the curves so I can rebuild my own because hell no i'm not paying $740 for each floor pan.
Today - Feb/11/24 The engine is done, and going in the car. OFF WITH THE BODY to find more wrong....... ****
Ohhhh purddy
Ignore the very gross transmission, I need to rebuild it, but its there for fitment test for now.
Damn that crank pulley is close to the front cross member.
Which is too bad because I can move the engine forward another 2 to 3"
Transmission is sitting ontop of the cross member causing engine and transmission to tip forward. Need to cut it away I guess? Not sure yet.
but cutting it down will give me more clearance for this pulley which is uh..... a little to close for my liking lol
Engine is actually in a good spot compared to the firewall. Happy with that.
As you can see, Transmission fitment issues. Gotta cut that plate off and hopefully that's all i need to do apart from building a new mounting point rear of the crossmember.
My worry is when i cut that front mount the pan is going to drop into the tube section of the xmember.
How the hell am I going to get the lines on this LOL
Now to the Boddy issues.
The Left front Inner Fender well is coming apart. and cracking.
Inner well pulling off the fender, causing the whole front clip to flop around.
More inner well cracking.
More fender well detaching from the top of the fender.
Bottom view of floor pans
Cracked Left hand fender due to the inner fender well detaching
#2 body mount okay can easily strengthen it.
#3 body mount rusted out on both sides, going to have to cut it out and plate it. I didn't take a photo but the previous owner removed the #4 braces off the bottom of the body. Will have to order.
Below is the Holley accessory kit I am building myself. The kit is $3200 Canadian. So I bought the manifold, the water pump, and the harmonic balancer on their own. The alternator, a/c, and power steering you can get for a fraction of the price compared to Holleys prices. Example - Holley wants 600$ for the alternator, which is a standard gm alternator.
Cam looked like new so I didn't bother. The thing is, the refresh cost me less then $500. If it blows it blows. I'm just trying to get it moving first, I can always build a better more bullet proof engine down the road.
Why the rush? I'm going to be quitting my job soon, in which case i will loose access to the hoist. Might be moving on top of that. So, my focus is get it driving asap, then I can begin the expensive stuff haha.
ToastedPirate
If you are going to fabricate a removable tranny crossmember I suggest that you consider making the exhaust a "pass under". Makes everything easier down the road when doing work like removing the tranny and removing the exhaust. Just something to consider as you go along.
ToastedPirate
If you are going to fabricate a removable tranny crossmember I suggest that you consider making the exhaust a "pass under". Makes everything easier down the road when doing work like removing the tranny and removing the exhaust. Just something to consider as you go along.
Was thinking I would just need to cut off the front mount off the cross member and build a new one off the rear of it.
Exhaust I'm going to run it out the side like the older years. Not sure where they dip out of the frame yet.
Radiator figured out. Going to grab a C5 radiator for now and make some brackets to mount since it's narrower and shorter.
Going to use the C5 fans.
Ordered my #4 body brackets and one #1 bracket.
Decided I'm not going to rivet any of these and just bolt em with stainless since it's all hidden.
I will make my own #3 mount supports since I can just grab some thicker plate.
My left front fender well that has detatched - For now i will clean up the mounting surfaces and read here it back on. I will buy a new fender and inner well together later before I paint.
My trans mount and exhaust - I'm going to have side exhaust like the older C3s so I gotta figure out what I need to do there to attach it to the Ls manifolds and where it exits from under the frame.
The transmission mount, I'm going to try leave the stock welded crossmember for now and cut off the front plate where the original transmission mounted and make a new plate off the rear cross member.
Got me a set of the corvette aluminum rims for $400 so I'm pumped there.
ToastedPirate
TIght clearances for tranny cooler lines......here you go:
You're in luck. Get some of these Banjo Fittings. They're even for 4L80Es!
I used these to hook up my 200-4R in the tighter tunnel for 68 Manual tranny (I only needed the short ones but I think the 4L80E needs one of those long ones.
Worked like a dream for my REALLY tight clearances. If you mark the heads you can tighten until the Banjo Fitting outlet is aligned with the port to the hose/AN Fitting....... just to ensure optimum flow.
ToastedPirate
TIght clearances for tranny cooler lines......here you go:
You're in luck. Get some of these Banjo Fittings. They're even for 4L80Es!
I used these to hook up my 200-4R in the tighter tunnel for 68 Manual tranny (I only needed the short ones but I think the 4L80E needs one of those long ones.
Worked like a dream for my REALLY tight clearances. If you mark the heads you can tighten until the Banjo Fitting outlet is aligned with the port to the hose/AN Fitting....... just to ensure optimum flow.
Awesome thanks, will look into this. Trying to figure out what I want to do atm. Feeling discouraged by the sheer amount of work I have to do, and the amount I keep finding and adding to my list LOL.
ToastedPirate
As far as the front pulley clearance.... If it annoyed me I would just notch it for as much as I wanted and then weld it back up. Heck...you modified the tranny crossmember!
I have a 5.3 LS in my 78 and with standard setback plates I have more clearance than that with the stock crank pulley and the front crossmember. I like where your heads at on the motor. Mine was $250 long block and I put a summit stage 1 HL cam, morel 5315 lifters and a Forman LS6 intake before they went bonkers price wise. She does pretty good. U seem like the kinda guy who will run the stock ECM but the termX is great for the price.
Ordered the Holley fuel pump to go in the stock tank.
It uses the hydromat fuel sock, fits the giant opening of my 76 tank, and is internally regulated to 58psi so I don't need any regulators or return lines.
Only issue is my tank had the bladder which means it has the bolts for the pump bolt to it. I cut all the rubber off the ring and will have to Epoxy it to the tank so it doesn't fall inside when removing the pump 😂
I'm certain I don't follow you with that last bit. How does what bolt to the bladder???
I run a intank pump with a 77 tank. 75-77 are the same. I still have my bladder. Nothing bolts to it.
The fuel pump is mounted to the cover.
Perhaps you can explain what you are doing here and why?
I'm certain I don't follow you with that last bit. How does what bolt to the bladder???
I run a intank pump with a 77 tank. 75-77 are the same. I still have my bladder. Nothing bolts to it.
The fuel pump is mounted to the cover.
Perhaps you can explain what you are doing here and why?
IF I read that right he had a tank with a bladder, removed the bladder but had to keep the ring that the fuel tank sending unit bolts to on the bladder opening. Cut that off and he's saying he will need to epoxy the bladder sending unit mount area to the inside of the tank otherwise when he unbolts the sending unit the ring will fall into the tank.
Ordered the Holley fuel pump to go in the stock tank.
It uses the hydromat fuel sock, fits the giant opening of my 76 tank, and is internally regulated to 58psi so I don't need any regulators or return lines.
Only issue is my tank had the bladder which means it has the bolts for the pump bolt to it. I cut all the rubber off the ring and will have to Epoxy it to the tank so it doesn't fall inside when removing the pump 😂
For the price when you consider what they charge for the hydramat alone its not a terrible deal. It cleans up and simplifies the install without the return line too. Now what I don't like and why I ultimately didn't do the same on my 78 list is below.
Once you go this route you can't change it up. No going to a return style and you can't run a boost referenced or adjustable regulator. My WIX filter/regulator is rated at 58psi but with a 100psi transducer I can verify I actually see 63psi with the walbro 255HP pump at the fuel rail. So with the Holley TermX I actually put in actual pressure so it can adjust what my injectors flow vs assuming its at 58psi. Otherwise the computer data is off and it will making tuning harder or never perfect.
if the regulator fails in the tank your SOL
I hope they use Walbro pumps. I think I see the walbro logo on the replacement pump.
when the reg fails will you be able to get replacement parts? I see holley sells the rebuild kit for $26 but will it be available in 5-10 years? Aftermarket has a tendency to just discontinue things randomly and aren't held to the same regulations as OEM. Also dropping the tank or removing the sending unit to gain access sounds like a PITA for a regulator failure. I think the OEMs did it best with an external regulator/filter combo that is easy to replace plus OEM means parts availability for a long time. The c5 regulator/filter combo is nice because it have to change it out which means the chances of the regulator failing is less likely as you should have a new reg every 30-50k. It also doubles as a 5 micron pre injector filter to keep them happy. I did the vette WIX regulator/filter combo next to the tank $30, a new 82 sending unit for EFI $100, good AN fittings $25 and a walbro 255 high pressure $90 (overall cheaper than the holley). I have a 78 tank so I can runt he 82 stock EFI sending unit which you can't. So you don't have that easy swap so the holley makes more sense. I was also planning on going boosted down the road so I wanted to be able to swap that out.
I don't like the holley hydramats. info on the net suggests they are too fine a prefilter media (micron 5-25) which causes a restriction on the suction side of the pump. This decreases performance and pump longevity. Pre pump should be 100 micron at FINEST. Also alot of people don't realize the socks that come on EFI pumps like walbro are essentially hydramats but have the correct 100 micron rating. They do the same fuel wicking but the socks are smaller and not offered in the larger sizes.
Overall it will work but all this is just food for thought!
I'm certain I don't follow you with that last bit. How does what bolt to the bladder???
I run a intank pump with a 77 tank. 75-77 are the same. I still have my bladder. Nothing bolts to it.
The fuel pump is mounted to the cover.
Perhaps you can explain what you are doing here and why?
I the photo below. You see the black rubber on the tank. That is the bladder opening. Inside that the bladder has a metal ring which is what the sending unit bolts to. The bladder holds the tank nuts. My bladder collapsed so I took it out. I needed the opening for the mounting ring so I cut all the rubber off and got it down the bare metal.
Toasts Budget 76 C3 Build
