tshort

Doug,
Can I get first dibs at the passenger cover with the oil fill plug? Mine corroded from sitting on a rag and although I did my best to polish it it still has remnants.
That is seriously some of the best motor **** I've ever seen. That thing is a work of art in its own right.....and some serious power to back it up!

427Hotrod

I'm sure we have someone in the group with a polishing wheel and a buffer. Light sanding with ultra fine paper and buff 'em rigth back up! The beauty of aluminum is they can be fixed right up.


JIM

SHAKERATTLEROLL

Those marks should remain as a sign of pride. But hey I have never been much of a bling person thank goodness.

VettePower

Snowman - Are you thinking of restarting your anual BBQ??

Snowman

I may. My wife has been very ill the last 3 years so we really haven't been up to it. We're considering it for this year and will send out a notice if we do.

Thanks for asking.

Doug

Snowman

Today was the day Bruiser's motor was to go in the car. It didn't.

Good team: Patrick Flournoy, Tom Sturm, Mike Dyer and me.

When we laid out pieces, we had way more bolts than we needed but just didn't have the right ones for some reason. P and Mike went off in search of bolts while Tom and I put wheels on the car and tried to move it. With calipers on, car won't move. Rotor seems pushed out too far, may be powdercoating we don't know but we had to take front calipers off and hang them and put the wheels back on to get the car to move. We got the car backed off the lift and turned around so now the nose is to the front of the garage. Bruiser is now an official rolling chassis. Oh and Joe we still have a brake leak. No pedal at all today.

But onto the big stop for the day. Son of Tranzilla tranny has 26 spline input shaft and the McLeod RST clutch I have here has disc plates that are 10-spline. End of game. Nothing available locally. If Joe had been here, he could have machined down the 26 spline and re-grooved it for 10 but given he is in Mother Russia, we raised the flag, Chad Rhodes made a call and has 26 spline discs being FEDEXed overnight to arrive tomorrow morning.

For the rest of the day we tackled many other matters...installing fuel regulator, new MSD box (which doesn't QUITE fit the old one's dimensions). Biggest coup of the day was Mike took on the under hood and under dash wiring. Amazing man to watch. Tom and I worked this morning for quite a while and were able to isolate maybe half a dozen wires to delete...no more like 4. Mike just got a handful of the wiring harness looked down and said "no don't need that, that's for auto transmission, this was originally a no air car, nope you don't need that...and I now have a floor littered with wires. While still a work in progress, he has done just an amazing job of tracking down what's what and getting things cleaned up. I am pulling all the fiber optics stuff out of the harness, we are doing a number of no turning back moves. Patrick located the missing headlight switch and is bringing it tomorrow.

We all start again tomorrow morning and WILL get motor and tranny in the car tomorrow. Saturday will be a big push to get the car in shape to start so looking forward to finishing the HVAC, installing all the gauges, radiator, fans, fuel pump lines etc. HoustonVette is making up a cross member as we speak and I am hoping to test fit it this weekend if he gets it done. If we get that in, all the bling back on, fluids in the car, we could start it on Saturday. Right now that is a VERY very long shot. Will still need a driveshaft but we could start it.

I am tired, everyone else is sleeping, even Mike. We made enormous progress today, even with a major setback. By end of day tomorrow, we will be a week to 2 weeks ahead of where I had hoped we would be by end of day....so really a breakthrough.


Many thanks to all. Update and pics tomorrow.


Doug

VettePower

Sorry to hear about your wife. Hope she gets well soon....

Snowman

Thanks.

boeing46

Great car, good work

Snowman

Okay boys and girls!

On the third attempt, we did get the motor in the car. Took a really big shoehorn but we got her in. Sometime I'll tell the story but right now, just the results.

We have done several motor installs in recent weeks and we are starting to get good at it. Rob (Tool Man) recommended rolling the front of the car off the lift so we could install the motor "level" into the car and raise the back end if we needed better angle. Wow did that ever work well!







Big shoe horn time!



Okay now THAT's better! I'd forgotten my car had a decent paint job. It's been covered up for 6 months!



Oh yeah!



Keep sidepipes from getting dinged up for as long as I can.



More pics in the coming days as we start getting the car back together. I am TOTALLY enjoying cleaning out my garage...5 barrels of trash just this week, all tools back in toolbox. I am actually starting to know where things are!

Thanks to Jim, Patrick, Rob, Travis, Dave, Tom and Chris for your help getting to this point.

Doug

Budman68

Know the feeling about a clean garage. I'm finally able to work on the car with a white t-shirt.

Great job.

Vegas69

Absolutely beautiful. With all that motor hanging out it's hard to believe your L88 hood will still fit. I feel so inadequate with the 383 I had built and picking up Monday morning.

Patrick

tracdogg2

Doug,
Give me a call if you run into any problems wiring it up. I'll be back down there as soon I can.
Mike

427Hotrod

WOW....now THAT was a GREAT DAY!!

Bruiser has a Heart again!! A GREAT BIG Healthy one!!

Congratulations guys....that was a LOT of work...but it looks like all the work you did test fitting everything out of the car sure helped speed things up!


This is starting to come together!!

JIM

69 N.O.X. RATT

Sweet

454Can-Am

Looking great Doug........................ that's one mean shark ! Not as mean looking as mine, but you've got me out powered by a mile......... LOL !!! Wish mine was coming along as fast as yours ! Check your email ! Rick

Snowman

Rick, your car is turning out EXACTLY the way you had envisioned it. The paint is awesome, the SharkBite looks perfect. Really well done!

We have a ton of stuff left to do but good people are offering to help.

It rolls now....so well that it almost rolled off the lift this afternoon. I always have a safety strap on it and we used the strap to cinch up the tranny until I get a cross member built for it. I heard a clank as the wheel chock hit the front endplate on the lift and it held fine but have a safety strap on it again tonight. Whew!

I cleaned up more of the garage today, getting parts ready for the push this week.


This week:
Finish fuel lines
Install and bleed hydraulic clutch lines
Fix leak in front brake line by roll control
Pickup body work supplies for Stan to use when he comes down this weekend.
Put distributor back in
Wire up MSD box and ignition coil
Lay out spark plug wires
Use bundle wraps to wrap and secure all underhood wiring.
Plumb in power steering and hydraboost
Hopefully get the cross member and test fit it.
Order slicks
Hopefully get my trailer back (I've bought it but the seller hit an overhanging tree branch with it just a couple of weeks ago so having hi get that repaired and getting axle bearings repacked.
Test fit hood (I don't think things will fit either) and may have to order 14 inch aircleaner unit to get it in. Don't know if I am that close yet though.
Send radiator frame out to be powder coated.
Have driveshaft cut and re-done so it fits the new tranny
Also need 30 spline slip yoke for the Son of Transzilla, I got shipped a solid one which won't work on a C3. If you know where to get one, please send me a link or send me a PM.

Next week
Judge Corvettes at Keels and Wheels show in Houston Sat morning
Stan and company here for the week doing flares, Mike Dyer here to help set suspension so it is right and finish wiring up interior and underhood so car is complete electrically.
I'd like to be able to start the car by the end of the week next week (by my birthday on 5/9). That would give me 1.5 weeks for shakedown cruise before we head up to BG.


This car is going to be rough at BG. Will have no wipers, HVAC, interior may not be done but it WILL be running and we WILL be testing it at the track on Thursday. If hood doesn't fit, I will leave it here and bring the bigger intake and Dominator 1150 to swap out while the gettin's good. Is certainly fun to have options!

Okay all for now.

Thanks everyone for your support and words of encouragement.

Doug

63mako

I went with a solid yoke and had the removable cap trunion put the trans end of the driveshaft. Had the same issue with the chevy/viper 6 speed.

Snowman

Making progress here. Got pigtails for the T56, fit the hood for the first time...it seems to work okay with the air cleaner but not with the screw in breathers. Don't know if I have enough clearance for the motor to torque roll at all under power but I have Moroso steel frame mounts for the motor so it shouldn't flex very much.

Have confirmed that the cross member is getting built by Mike Grigsby (HoustonVett) at a local machine shop which is a huge huge break for me being ready for BG. Hopefully I will have it in hand by Friday.

Confirmed that Stan (Road-Race Vette) and his shop manager will arrive on Saturday for the week to do fender flares, fit the hood and glass in the lower rear exhaust panel. Mike Dyer (tracdogg2) will be coming down to help set the suspension where Stan wants it and then to complete the electrical work Saturday and Sunday.

Many things are ordered and on their way.

LOTS of plumbing to do. I'll be in the garage at least half the day and most of the evening for the next 4 days. Needs to be done and on the trailer ready to go in 19 days.

Wish us luck! (actually I believe in making our luck) We have a team of great people supporting this project while getting their cars ready for BG as well and I really appreciate their help.

Doug

MN-Brent

Amazing and exciting thread. Keep 'em coming!!