Chris's 66 Chevelle upgrade
 

A little past history on this car....... I bought it back in 2005 and did the Body and Paint, suspension, brakes, and added a 406 small block and 700R4 trans....... Great car... Took it on it's first of many Power Tour Long Haul's in 2006..... My son Chris got the car in 2010 and continued the tradition of driving on the Road Tours

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So...... Fast forward to 2020 and we did the 1st Barrett-Jackson Road Tour and I was driving my LSA powered 66 Chevelle (just turned 34,000 trouble free miles) and Chris had the 406 powered car........ After driving and comparing the differences I finally convinced him to swap out the Old School to Modern Technology ......and so it starts..... LOL...... Bought a LS 3 connect and cruise 4L70E set-up, Ricks Tank with a Vaporworx fuel pressure set-up, adding a HydraBoost, Dakota Digital Dash and controllers, also a Holley mid mount front drive assy to clean things up, and a Hooker LS mounting kit.......

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Here we go !!!!

That’s awesome - look forward to following along as you upgrade. You’re making some really nice improvements which will make the car so much more reliable and easier to drive... that said, looks like the 406 did pretty well for itself, too, with all the tours you and your son have taken with it.


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Wow 34k miles and that many PT long hauls is really cool to see, looking forward to how this one comes along.

Looking forward to following the build.

Subscribed.

Looking forward to this build.


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Got the Holley 302-3 oil pan installed...... also the Holley mid mount front drive assy.....the Holley / Hooker forward bias engine mounts arrived and were installed....

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Also the Rick's Tank and Carls Vaporworx PWM fuel pressure control system are here.......

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Included in the Holley / Hooker install kit is the transmission crossmember...... Boy.....30 minutes and it was done....what a treat to get something that actually fits as it should..... there are two mounting plates that bolt right into the existing frame holes ..... bolt it in and drill two hole thru the side frame, bolt it in and you are done......And the side mounts have all the various mounting holes designed in to accommodate all transmission variations ......

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Nice setup. Subscribed.

Very cool! Looking forward to see the progress!

Got the Rick's tank plumbed and ready to install with the Vaporworx sensor and wiring......Simple day without any issues.....

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You got to love easy when it comes to new parts fitting right.

I was waiting to install the engine assy until I got the proper transmission cooling line fittings and lines installed as there isn't what you would say "access" to that area once everything is installed.......Finally got everything ready for install after ordering the wrong fittings twice (lot's of confusion in the ordering process with the threads on the fittings).... After getting the trans lines in I forgot to take a couple of pictures of what I did......Darn !!!........ Getting these lines installed is one of the bigger problem area's of LS installs......
So....Using the Holley Engine Trans install kit I decided to give it a try and see if there were any issues...... Again, the Holley kit is engineered perfectly as the engine and trans slid in and bolted right up....... Wow.... Great to buy something that actually does what it's supposed to do....... Another one of my concerns was in my choice to buy the Holley Mid-Mount front drive assy..... I was told there would be a clearance issue with the power steering pump reservoir and the steering box...... We are installing a Hydra Boost so I decided to gamble and buy the unit anyway....... That was the first thing I looked at after installing the engine..... Plenty of room......the gamble paid off ........ I also bought some shorty headers that were supposed to fit..... LOL.... Just ordered the Hooker long tubes headers designed by Holley so I know the will fit when they get here......... Again... I realize I can't afford "Cheap" stuff !!!!...... LOL.... Now to get the wiring sorted out and hidden.....

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It looks good Ken, I wish Holley had these kits when I started my car.

Love the Holley stuff. You're right, it's nice to get aftermarket parts that fit right out of the box instead of having to be modded. :thankyou:

In addition to the new Hooker headers I also ordered the complete Hooker exhaust system engineered for this install..... Here's a pic of the Engine with the wires moved so you can actually see it...... LOL....... Chris also bought a set of Holley valve covers which hide the coils and wiring.......Gonna wait till I get the headers installed before going any further on the engine so I don't get ahead of myself....

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moving right along looks great

Got the radiator and fans installed today....... plenty of clearance with the front of the Holley Accy drive set-up........ Also got the Holley 2 pc valve covers installed which hide the coils and wiring....... Moving forward........

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Can't you just use the brake booster that is already there ?

Yes..... But after installing a Hydra-Boost system on the Impala.... I'm sold on that style of a system for the future....... Merry Christmas to all....

Looking good!

Curious,with all the LS/LT conversions these days, are carbed engines and other parts dinosaurs now ? Where do the take out motors, radiators,transmissions and good parts in general go,are people able to sell off stuff or does it basically go to the scrap yard ?

keep up the good work!

We are recycling the Chevelle drivetrain into Chris's 1970 C10.....

Merry Christmas to you and your family Ken

A little update....... I have the fuel lines fabricated and installed.....cross that off the list....Also got the wires installed from the fuel level sensor in the Rick's tank to the dash for the Dakota Digital gauges..... Got lucky with the driveshaft as I had one in the garage that was fabricated for the Blue Chevelle that I couldn't use back then and it fit perfectly....
So........... So before the headers get installed and I decided to get the Dakota Digital shift position indicator installed while I had the extra room along with the Lokar Cable shift assy that will be hooked up to the column shifter.....Neat assy and the neutral safety switch function is controlled thru the Dakota Digital indicator and a Relay........ Great set-up.......
Now..... The one issue that came up was with the Holley valve covers..... They are two piece construction with the upper half just being cosmetic coil covers to clean up the LS look...... They are designed to work with Gen1 and Gen5 coils so the coil portion that the spark plug wire goes on will pass thru the existing clearance hole in the covers....... the coils that come with the GM connect and cruise LS 3 engines are different.......So, I wasn't about to buy new coils so I had to modify the lid openings to clear......... Not a big deal as the look is worth the extra effort and the modifications can't be seen when the covers are installed......Just need more parts to show up now .......

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That's cool win,win.... looking good :thumbsup:

Nice upgrade Ken. Looks to be an easy swap... way to much luck. :lol:

Ordered the stainless full length headers and complete exhaust system from Holley/Hooker and everything arrived today........Read the instructions and it said the headers should be installed from the bottom....... Since I already had the car on jackstands ... Well you know the story......Since I am a graduate of the header installation school I really wasn't looking forward to this experience.....LOL.......Wow !!!!...... 5 minutes a side and everything was installed........Slipped right up and in position.......Crazy......Got the valve/coil covers installed along with the spark plug wires........ these headers are the ultimate design......Spark plugs .... No clearance issues at all......Amazing....... I can't say enough about the thoughtful design for this custom installation....

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Looks awesome


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Covers look nice on there. Nice to hear the headers cooperated and went in without a fight.

Got the transmission cooling lines routed and installed, also the O2 sensors installed and wired.... and another improvement we wanted to do was install a cable shifter from the column to the trans..... when originally built I put a Lokar rod assy in..... but the problem there was that when accelerating sometimes with the engine movement it would downshift the trans..... I bought the Lokar cable column kit....... but it's needs modifications to actually work with the 4L70 trans..... the cable mount bracket on the trans hits the bump out on the trans pan but you just need to cut about 2" of the bracket away ..... no problem...... The column mount as designed just won't work.... so I fabricated a a little pivot mount bracket to suit and welded it in position on the frame.....Simple but a PIA to remove the inner fender panel to have access to get at it for welding...... All done now and it works perfectly.....

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I’m really digging the engine swap. I have a 66 Malibu myself and I’m leaning towards the LS3 swap also.

Ken,
Great progress. Do you foresee any problems with the trans shift linkage at the frame mount(where u welded the mount)? The angle looks like I might cause a problem after some prolonged use. That is assuming that it isn’t a illusion.

Thanks,
Jim

I positioned the cable as it feeds into the bracket better after the picture was taken......... There is also a black wire loom for the Dakota Digital shift position indicator in the same pic that blends in with the shift cable and it can make it seem the cable is at an angle which it isn't....... Good eyes..... After looking at the top view picture again you can't see the shift cable..... Just the Black Dakota Digital wire....Here's a better pic

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Cool build Ken and Chris! Subscribed

Hi Ken, how was it adjusting the Dakota Digital shift indicator piece that goes on the trans? I wanted to get in the trans pan but mine is already on there, do you think I drop the pan and not screw up the adjustment? I’ts a 4l85.

You just need to calibrate it with the Dakota Module after everything is finalized by running it thru the gears ....... Too simple

I really like how the Hooker primaries are routed. On their 2nd Gen F-body, they look awful.

Got the Modules mounted and out of the way...... The mountain of wires are slowly disappearing......

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Hi Ken. What is this box connected to the heater hoses? A bypass? Thanks.

Don

The stock GM setup has the coolant flow continually running thru the heater core with the return line providing flow over the backside of the thermostat so it knows what the temp of the engine is..... with the Vintage air A/C in the car and the heater is off it shuts off the flow and the coolant isn't allowed to flow back across the heat sensing side of the thermostat ....... The block is a by-pass that allows that function to continue as per factory design........it still works without the block installed but it is thru convection rather than coolant flow as factory