Engine Front

Got the front of the engine dressed out. New early-year water pump(for clearance), rebuilt AC compressor and alternator, along with all new tensioners, pulleys and belts. The oil pressure sensor is homeless once again; it had to be evicted from its spot at the lower left front of the block since the alternator wanted to live there. This is the first of, what I expect to be, many, many "it seemed like a good idea at the time" episodes during this build. It took a full day of running around to amass the bolts, nuts, washers, plugs and other parts to complete this installation. By the way, used only one FFR spacer on each alternator bolt, and the alignment looks spot on. Also, note the brass plugs in the water pump where the heater hose connections used to be. I'm going to connect the heater to the coolant pipes at the front of the tunnel, to eliminate the two long hoses, and their contribution to heat in the tunnel. By the way, yes, that's a tired old LT5 in the left background of the first pic. Amazing to compare the engines - the LS3 making 100 HP more, and weighing 150# less. Ain't technology sweet?

I'm Baaaaaack

Illness and family obligations notwithstanding, SOME work has progressed on the GTW. Forthwith, an updating of the blog.

A call to Factory Five verified that the angles of the bends in the aluminum are correct. So, contrary to my SOP, I referred to the Manual this early in the build! Sure enough the rear wheelwell panels fit as supplied, IF you follow the Manual sequence!! Whodathunk!!


Since it's said that the car is built around the AC evap, I test fit the unit. You can see Shane's Fan relocation "tin" in place.




I reimagineered the front support for the rotisserie, which strengthened the setup and provided a means to stabilize the chassis in the sideways position.



On March 18, I decided it was time to finish disassembly of the transmission, German engineering be damned! I finally figured out that the inner bearing races in the two shafts were a snug machine fit, and had to be worried off. That was the key, and soon the box was apart, as you can see below. Now the mods can begin.








Here are a couple of shots of the chassis rotated on the rotisserie, ready for work on the underside.



Here are the four suspension knuckles, bearings, hubs, brake calipers and brackets disassembled, "Corvette" removed from the front calipers and ready for cleaning and painting.


Since I had received the adapter plate, I decided to have at the engine on April 16th. Below are the results. This first pic is the back of the engine after I had removed the factory-installed flex plate from the crank.


Here's the pilot bearing installed in the end of the crank. Unlike a previous project, I made sure there wasn't a bearing already in there before installing this one!?!?!?!?!?


Here's the adapter plate mounted on the rear of the engine.


Here's the front casing of the tranny mocked up for fit. Looks good!




Here is the flywheel installed.


In order to install the intake manifold backwards, the oil pressure sender had to be relocated. In the first pic, the allen flat plug covers the cut-down sender fitting on the back of the valley cover. Approximately 2" had to be removed, and the hole enlarged and tapped to accept the plug. Also, some of the waffle-pattern reinforcing moulded into the bottom of the manifold had to be removed to even clear this low-profile plug. The second pic shows the oil sender in its new home on the lower left front of the block(from whence came the plug shown in the previous pic).


Here's the result of a very satisfying day in the shop. Note I also installed the clutch pressure plate, disc and throwout bearing.

Here are the "leftover parts" - slushbox flexplate, assembly retainer clips for fuel rails, cover from atop the intake manifold and the cast-iron exhaust manifolds which will be replaced by the stainless steel Kooks long tube headers a-coming.