The Camaro Club (UK)

Thanks for the offer, if you were just a short way away you´d be doing it.......and showing me how....
But as was pointed out I´m a fair way away from you......

Been working away on a few bits and pieces - the weather is holding me up more than anything else now.

Found out why my engine mounts didn't line up properly when I dropped my original engine in. The 'heavy duty' type engine mounts aren't correct for a Camaro - and they offset the mounting bolts by about 1/4". So I got hold of some of the correct mounts, which I will fit poly inserts into before I fit them to the car. Trouble is getting to the bolts is a complete nightmare.

One of the the last jobs I needed to do before I could actually put the engine and transmission in the car was to sort out the flex plate. You might remember I machined the back of my truck crank so that I could use the standard LS type flex plate as they are far more common and cheaper to buy than the flat ones. Only problem is they come drilled for the standard LS converter, which has something like an 11" PCD for the converter bolts.

I have a 4L80E and a 'normal' converter for it which has the large 11.5" PCD for the bolts...No problem, I just marked out the flex plate and drilled another set of bolt holes between the others.

I've seen other people just elongate the holes in the plate, but I really didn't like that idea. You can see from the photo below just how far you'd have to go, as my converter has 6 bolt holes.

I might yet elongate the other holes and put bolts and large washers in just for the sake of it, although 3 bolts will be more than adequate.




With that job done, there's nothing really stopping it all going into the car - with the exception of the fact that it's been raining heavily for what seems like an eternity...

Other than that I have started making a pulley for my water pump - I just need to make the boss which will be a light press fit onto the shaft of the pump. I'll then heat it up and drop it onto the shaft so it doesn't go anywhere.

_________________
My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

Today has been ups and downs...

First job was remove the core support from the car - easy enough



Next up was getting the engine off the stand and the flex plate fitted and the transmission bolted up. No real issues there except that I needed to tap the holes a little deeper in the crank and chop around 2mm off the bolts. I machined a truck crank and they aren't quite drilled as deep as the standard short car crank it seems. Thankfully I have a set of M11x1.5 taps handy...



After that the transmission and converter were fitted with no real dramas.

That's when the fun started, as much my own fault as anything. The mounts wouldn't line up, but then I figured I'd assembled them wrong, oops. Never mind.

The good news is that I don't need to move the engine forward at all, it will fit in the stock position. The bad news is that I think I might have a slight issue with clearance on the steering linkage. I could gain a few mm if I make myself a new set of engine mounts.... seems like a lot of effort, but it might be the only way.



Oh and my transmission cross member fits right up...



So yes, it's sort of in there, I still need to finish off mounting it properly. Ran out of daylight today

_________________
My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

It looks great, nothing seems to make you sweat......all in a days work.

It took me two days to replace the rubber bushing on the torque arm of my Camaro.......those things are tough!!

Thank you. It didn't make me sweat, but it did make me swear, a lot!

Today started with pulling the whole engine and transmission back out again - at least that's easy with the core support removed.

I reconfigured all of the mounts and put it all back together again. I also made a small adjustment to the idler arm and now have around 3/8" steering clearance! Yay!

Helped by a number of things, including moving the engine as far back as it will go on the mounts. I followed other peoples advice initially and set it in the 1" forward position. But I think it works nicely in the stock position.... this is using Hooker adapter plates.







After that I got the transmission crossmember installed, this confirmed the transmission is in the same place as it was with the small block. If anything it's slightly further back...

The the driveshaft and a few other bits were hooked up.

The 1st gen headers just do not fit, so I need to get some second gen correct ones. More expense!

The oil pan that I modified hangs just below the crossmember - I made this to the same height as the CTS-V pan knowing that this would happen. I don't run the car too low anyway, so it should be fine.



Next up I fitted the water pump and power steering pump, no real dramas there. The alternator is very close to the sub-frame but there is enough clearance for everything to work. I've left it off until I have primed the oil system as I need access to the port on the side of the block



Last job was to refit the hood and chop a bit out to clear the intake, I'll need to cut some more once I have the hoses and filter fitted, but it should all sit under the scoop nicely

_________________
My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

That pan looks pretty low hanging... it would worry me...

Otherwise fantastic work as usual !!!!!
Are the old headers not salvageable if modded at all... ? probably to small for new motor in hindsight

_________________
“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

Impressive work

Thanks

The sump doesn't hang all that low, there's about 5" to the bottom of it. That front edge is made from 5mm thick aluminium plate as its the part I modified

Over the past couple of evenings I've got the ECU built up and tested, all seems to work fine. This time I'm using Megasquirt 3x so I can run fully sequential spark and fuel

_________________
My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

The last couple of evenings I've made the water pump pulley. I had a brand new water pump with the engine, but it had no pulley fitted. Seemed silly to spend a fortune on a new pump when I could make a pulley easily.

Used a piece of thick walled steel pipe, had a blank laser cut to fit in the end and welded it in. Then turned up a boss to fit in the centre before putting it all in the lathe and skimmed it up all over. I welded the plate to the tube inside too. I've just painted it and I'll fit it over the weekend. Took a couple of hours





And this evening I've made myself a priming tool. The LS has no distributor, so you can't prime it like the old SBC. You can buy tools for about $250 to do it, but for a few bucks you can make your own. Loads of ideas on youtube for different options. I had an old disposable welding gas bottle, which has a 1 litre capacity. Bigger would have been better, but it will just take a bit longer with this one as I'll have to refill it a few times, most people seem to use about a gallon of oil during the priming process.

I just drilled and tapped a few holes in it (it's good thick wall section) and screwed in some hose fittings and some for a sight gauge too. I'll unscrew the top airline fitting, fill it with oil and connect it to the port on the side of the block with an adapter before connecting it to an airline to pressurise it with about 25psi to force oil around the block, fill the lifters and get oil up to the rockers.

Pretty simple, and I used stuff I had in the workshop.

_________________
My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

It's nice to see somebody who has The skills that seem to be disappearing fast in today's society , how long till mot time ?

_________________
1997 30th Anniversary SS SLP
1993 GMC Typhoon