Nice work, Doug!

Here's a quick video of the engine running. Took the engine over to a friends shop, where I keep my engine test stand and we got it fired up. It has sit for several years after the dyno run so I wanted to make sure there were no surprises. Since I had to take it back out to rework the tunnel and since I haven't used my stand in quite a while I figured why not? My buddy get a lot of use out of it since he build race motors. lol.

Music to my ears!!!

It's back in the car as of last night. Now to put the tranny and driveshaft back in and on to wiring...

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...ps65sikql0.mp4

Matt at MCB is setting me up with some Corbeau LG1 wides and a Hydratech Hydroboost solution because this motor has such little vacuum that it requires a mechanical vacuum pump.

No vacuum up top on the motor? No problem! Plus I get to rid the engine bay of another big ugly wart. Getting closer now....

Getting the sound deadening a heat protection figured out now...
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...pspdmk190n.jpg
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...pshlnglqv4.jpg

Need to do the doors and determine the best heat barrier to use on the firewall and floor.

Sounds awesome, Doug.

Got the brackets to put the front brakes on. Though I'm missing one caliper from the front kit.... I hate it when that happens. lol

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...pspifpingg.jpg

After test mounting the new spindles, hubs, brackets, caliper and rotor it appears I need to shim it to get it centered perfectly.
I'm still waiting on the new LCA's to mount the coil over shocks on so I'll work on this in the meantime.

http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...psq5x51umh.jpg

Nice build Doug! my very first trans am was a 79 T-top Nocturne Blue Too
:goggles:

Congrats on the progress Doug. :thumbsup:

Sometimes it pays to take the car apart multiple times! American Powertrain didn't send throwout bearing shims with my kit, so I called them up back then and said.."what's up?" They were very accommodating and send a set immediately. The problem then became that the shims didn't fit. I looked at the instructions, scratched my head a bunch and then just realized there was no way they could fit the bearing I had so, I just set them aside and put the transmission in for the test fit. I thought to myself, this bearing has a spring on it so it must be self adjusting...but before I put it all back together for real, I need to check on this...

Now that I'm putting it all back together, I called American Powertrain to make sure I understood why this didn't fit per their detailed instructions. After a long discussion which ended up with me taking a picture of the bearing and emailing it during our conversation, AP realized someone packed a stock type T-56 hydraulic bearing in my kit instead of the Hydramax bearing. That was not going to work with this setup...

Stock type setup in this picture...
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...psdxiusxgq.jpg
Hydramax in this picture.
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...ps4qwemntx.jpg

As usual, they immediately sent the correct part out and it arrived last night. NOW, I can put the transmission back in the car.

Making some more progress. Got the brakes worked out up front after shimming the caliper bracket out .280. Those calipers are VERY close to the front wheels as you can see in the pic but they are centered on the rotor.
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...psyujwuocq.jpg
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...ps5jhynn5p.jpg
I'll have to take a measurement but I'll bet a credit card wouldn't fit between those spokes and the caliper!

Even after all that I still have a problem. The valve stem now hits the top of the rotor. It's never easy. lol
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...psak9qk4mz.jpg

The exhaust is coming along nicely...
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...psnvopefcq.jpg
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...psg9gbhbjp.jpg
http://i213.photobucket.com/albums/c...pstk7ws1om.jpg

Going to have to shorten the long runs on the x-pipe assembly a total of 9 inches to put the x-pipe behind the cross-member. As you can see above it is going to be in the way otherwise. It would have fit perfectly with the headers had the x-pipe been located a little further back. So I'll need to put a couple of short extensions in right at the header collector (maybe some electric exhaust cutouts are in the future now.... lol)

I did the same thing with my Pypes kit. I shortened the long runs after the X in order to position the X. I took what I cut off and moved it to the front in order to connect it up the headers. I thought the kit fit very well especially considering I made my own mufflers and put the tail pipes in a custom orientation without having to purchase extra pieces.