I did. I actually had the spreadsheet open this morning while I was logged into Lat-g. Figured I just cut-and-paste to help provide more evidence of my condition. :lol: If you see my mugshots on the news, having failed a major bank heist, just refer back to that list for my motivation. :guns:

Yep, hopefully we'll both be on the road shortly. I wish you lived a little closer. :thumbsup:

Robinson! Go straight to the head of the class!


Holy crap! Dude you're in overdrive.... :lol:

Good to hear, now the real fun begins. We need pictures...:D

I'm with ^^this guy^^. Pics or it didn't happen :).

Oh, and make sure you pwd protect that spreadsheet. If the wife happens to run across that :warning:

Yah, no kidding on the password thing. :lol:

Okay, this is all I got time for tonight. Just so you know I'm not making this sh_t up. :)

http://www.69camaroproject.com/Share...shortblock.JPG

Purty! Don't forget to add the "LS Huh?" vanity plate to your list ha.

What pistons you running? I looked around a bunch and finding any shelf stock that would yield good ratios was difficult. Although the I have heads with large chamber so that doesn't help. Just curious if they were custom and if so, was there any hassle with that?

You have a spread sheet with all of the costs on it? You are far and away a braver man than I.

The best treatment is the time spent out in the garage putting all those nice new parts together… and of course time behind the wheel.

Nice plan… looking good :thumbsup:

Awesome build Chris ant wait to see it come together.:D

Two things before I forget.....

The rear cam seal plug weeped when we broke in mine on the dyno. My block had been setting around a while so that o ring got a little crusty. You still may want to pop it out and use some silicone.

I found that a few of the harmonic balancer bolts that hold the unit together actually extend out past the mounting surface a hair. It will make your balancer pulley look like a loose wheel. :D I'd check it and be prepared to shim the pulley.

LOL. Yep, no LS here. Jason picked the pistons for me. They were 'off the shelf' and we got them in only a day or 2. Details: CP-Bullet BBC5110-030. I think my heads are 119cc with the net dome on the piston at 24.5, compression ratio should be around 10.3:1 or 10.4:1. Haven't done the final calc on it.

Thanks gentlemen. Much appreciated. :thumbsup:

Thanks Todd for the continued advice and pointers. Did that pic look awfully familiar to you? Bring back some good memories? :thumbsup:

Just went out to the garage and the bolts on the dampener are either perfectly flush or just below the mounting surface by the smallest margin, so I'm safe there fortunately. To check that cam plug I'll have to pull the flywheel back off. It's only 6 bolts now though versus a major 'PITA' later so I'll check on that tomorrow. Thanks!

It does bring back some fond memories. That's going to be one sweet piece.

They must have revised the balancer after a few complaints.

One other thing I would recommend after 500-1000 miles is to reset all the valves. I found that my block took a set in regards to it's natural sweet spot in expansion and contraction.

If your clearances are similar to mine, a 10w40 or 15w50 will be the right oil. There will be about a 5 Psi difference HOT.

Well? What's up with the big block? :popcorn2:

Things are coming along nicely. Engine and transmission are in. Valvetrain geometry was checked and installed the proper length pushrods. Plenty of piston to valve clearance. Waiting for the driveshaft to come back from shortening on Wednesday. Hydraulic clutch setup is fully configured and bled. Most wiring is finished. All accessories are installed. Power steering system is bled and ready. The ConceptOne pulley system is a friggin thing of beauty and designed perfectly. Top-notch quality, far above March and others I've seen and/or dealt with. Cooling system is ready. Fuel system and ECU/sensors were ready a few weeks ago. In the process of modifying my headers and cutting some metal out of the trans tunnel to get the driveline angles I'm looking for. Will have to modify my exhaust slightly also. A few day's work. Should have her fired up in 2 weeks, maybe 3. On the road shortly thereafter. Just taking my time and enjoying the process and trying to get everything right. Lots of custom brackets, hoses, pedal stops, spacers, throttle linkage, etc, etc, and re-routing of things to improve clearance or wrapping to protect. All the little things really take a lot of time. It's really looking sharp in all its aluminum glory though. Will post pics when it's done.

Nice to hear somebody making some actual progress in the garae vs. gums flapping around here. :lol:

Getting close! Looking forward to seeing it all together.

Nice job Chris. Lots of forward motion you got goin on over there. :thumbsup:

It's almost showtime. Should be able to crank her up for the first time on Wednesday. Just need to hook up a few more sending units, create the upper radiator hose and put the coolant in, and modify the exhaust. Everything else is finally done. Getting the driveline angles correct(required tunnel cuts) and modifying my headers(both collectors and 1 primary on the drivers side) took me some time, but they're dialed in nicely now. I took this picture Friday evening, but over the past 2 days I was able to knockout all of the EFI wiring, spark plugs, and the spark plug wires and looms. Looks cleaner than I thought it would considering all the EFI crap. Was able to keep in fairly clean. I'll post some final pics later this week with all the other new goodies in the engine compartment.

http://www.69camaroproject.com/Share...0/IMG_2898.JPG

Once I get the ZL running I've got about a week and half of work to create the trans tunnel panels, install the shifter, create a custom shifter plate and put the center console back in, square away the camber/alignment, hook up some wiring to the transmission, break-in the diff, and square away a few other things, put the hood back on, and she'll be ready to drive for the first time in over a year.

Almost there.

Looking great Chris! Keep at it and you'll be cruising in no time. :hapdance:

Would you mind sharing a pic from the other side? I'm working on BBC efi install and am interested in seeing how you mounted and plumbed the regulator.

Chris! You forgot the Air Conditioning!:lol:


Looks great buddy! Gotta love it!

Quality clean business look - Very nice Chris! :thumbsup:

It looks nice, keep at it.

Thanks. Much appreciated. :thumbsup:

Thanks Sieg. Trying my best to keep it clean. Not a lot of free space with this big ole chunk of aluminum taking up so much room. Sure has a 'presence' though.

Sure thing. I'll post a handful of pics from various angles. I just have the regulator mounted on the end of passenger side fuel rail with an extra little custom bracket that comes up from one of the manifold screws to give it some additional support. Fuel comes in from behind the engine to the driver's side rail and exits out the bottom of regulator back behind the engine. I tilted the regulator so the gauge would clear the valve covers and would allow me to remove them. Added a few gradual 90 degree elbows for the exit out of the bottom get it to clear just right on its exit. Then some heat wrap all the way to frame rail. Supply line just needed a 45 degree fitting and some heat wrap also. Used the PTFE line and fittings.

Thanks Greg! Yah, I said the same thing when we purchased our town home. It doesn't have A/C either. :) This San Diego coastal weather is hard to beat. I'm from Florida, so not having A/C is weird, but I'm happy I can do without it. Less weight and clutter. Look forward to catching up with you again some time and chatting. I've been a good student and have been paying attention to your solid dividend stock advice. A big thank you for that. :cheers:

As snug as a bug in a rug She looks good

Looks great Chris! I really like the way you kept the wiring clean. Beautiful valve covers, great work!!!

Looking fantastic, looking forward to the vroom vroom. :D

Nice job on the engine install... looks great!

I wonder if you could replace the hex head bolts on the steering box cover plate with some counter sink style bolts (82 deg flush mount)... you would have to take the cover off and do some machining but you would gain a little bit of clearance on the header. In the picture it looked like the bolt head is very close to touching the header.

Just a thought.

Like the old school look and all the aluminum :thumbsup:

x2. That is a clean looking install. You must be getting pretty excited about now.

Nice work as always Chris! I just bought an 8x4 sheet of 18ga for the trans tunnel in my Mustang. Needless to say, I will have plenty extra. Let me know if you want a piece. I don't know where you go to get sheet metal, but at least for me, trying to buy anything less than a full sheet usually proves "difficult."

Thanks Matt. :thumbsup: I usually get most of my metal at Industrial Metal Supply down in the Convoy area, or even the local Ace hardware store(cha-ching). I think I have enough to cover it, but I appreciate it! Look forward to cruising with you soon. :cheers:

Thanks Rob. Pretty excited would be an understatement! Friggin can't wait to lay some rubber. :drive:

Thanks Dale! Yep, you can't see it in the photo, but I actually ground down the edge of that bolt and also the edge of the box slightly to round them off. With the small ding in the header, there's actually some decent clearance in their now. Maybe 1/4". Fortunately, when the engine torques, it comes up on that side, so it actually creates more gap. It's squared away okay now. It's the #7 primary that was really bad with some deep dings I was not happy about so I actually cut out a section of it and added a double chicane to it and now it routes nicely around the box.

On my previous box(AGR) I did what you mentioned though. Great minds like alike right? :thumbsup:

Thanks Todd. Quite a few of the styling cues are coming from your hard work on Payback. Thanks for showing us how to do it properly. :thumbsup:

Thanks Daniel. Much appreciated. :thumbsup: How's your build going?

'Snug' has been the word of the month in my garage. Big block + power steering box + T-56 Magnum + 8 quart road racing oil pan + original frame with original(tall/narrow) frame mounts + proper driveline angles = a lot of 4 letter words in the garage. And a lot of clearancing and heat wrap.

:thumbsup: Not sure how I missed the install, but that ZL-1 looks Sexy in there! Grats

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Well you know I like it! lol

Chris that engine and everything under the hood is one of the best looking I have ever seen,good luck with getting it running and riding soon,beautiful job man

Well, I took the day off at work and I'm about to walk out into the garage(aka The Maelstrom) and finish off a few exhaust welds, add some coolant, add a little more gas to the tank, hook up the laptop, and see if she fires up. I think I've got everything ready, so hopefully this'll go smoothly...

Good Luck! :thumbsup:

Let 'Er rip tater chip.

Interested to get feedback on the Holley HP efi.

LOL. Good one Todd.

She fired right up after 3 seconds. Music to my ears. Idled rough at first of course but then I set the timing to match the ECU and locked down the distributor, let her warm up, and then the 'ECU Learning' kicked in and she smoothed out nicely. She revs much faster than my 454. Sounds a lot 'sportier' also. Absolutely no leaks anywhere, so I'm real happy about that. Instant throttle response with no bog/hesitation like I experienced with the 3 previous carbs. I only have 1 minor issue which I'll work on this weekend. The IAC inlet on the Edelbrock throttle body is howling like a mutha. A very loud sucking sound like a friggin supercharger. Put your finger over it for a split second and not a peep, so it's definitely coming from that inlet. I just ran out of time and energy to debug that. The car idles nicely so I don't think it's wide open or wired wrong. I'll figure out how much it's open tomorrow with the software and adjust the idle screws on the throttle blades to slightly open them, recycle the TPS, and get the IAC down to around 2% open at idle. If it's still howling, I'll call Edelbrock and see what they say. I may have to smooth out the air passage in the thing, but that would piss me off a bit with Edelbrock if that was required. Other than that, couldn't be happier with how easily she fired up, smoothed out, and ran. Electric fans kicked in nicely at 190 as they were suppose to, electric and fuel system were all working nicely. You can feel a little more vibration inside the car due to the poly motor mounts instead of the rubber, and oh yah, that lumpier cam.

I would have shot some video and posted it this evening but that howling from the IAC is a bit annoying so let me get squared away and then I'll do the video. I have few last goodies coming into tomorrow from UPS for the engine bay and I'll take some final shots of it also.

The motor I've always wanted is finally in my car and running. It's a great feeling after all that work. Time to go drink a lot of beer and fall down.