First update - Truck:
My father in law has these tie down hooks in his 2010 GMC 1500 - and really liked them. So I cross shopped them and found out they will fit in the stake holes in the bed of my '05 - so found the best deal online and ordered them - not bad for 50 bucks.
Second update - Corvette:
Since I have had the front suspension dropped to get the oil pan in and out - I was decided to shop around for some coilovers - since everything was already torn apart. Plus I had to get an alignment anyways - so might as well only pay for an alignment once.
I happened to find a set of Pfadt Coilovers for over half off.
So a deal was made - and I got these in about a week. These are single adjustable and have 16 different settings from soft until stiff - and ride height adjustable.
I have installed the front since everything was apart - I haven't put the back on yet.
Back to the engine project:
I got everything buttoned up on the bottom end except for the crank pulley - I attempted to put it on last week with the old heat it up a bit and push it on - I got it onto the snout a good way and then it started not move - so I tapped it with a hammer a few times - and I must have it on the wrong spot and I completely broke the a 2" chunk of the lip off of the front lip.
Mind you there is a TSB out there specifically for my year Corvette for crank pulleys going bad - but online research shows that usually happens with 60-80k miles on the car - my car only has 42k miles on it and was trying to save some $$.
After I broke the lip off the pulley - I ordered a new Powebond crank pulley from O'Reilys - and the proper install tool!
It took about a week - but the pulley got here, and with the proper install tool it went on with no big problems:
While I was waiting for the install tool - and the crank pulley to come in - I finished up the top end of the motor.
I cleaned off the block one more time - put on the GMPP CNC LS3 Heads, the pushrods, the Lunatti LS3 rockers with the trunion upgrade, valve covers, and the LS3 intake.
So that wraps up the engine assembly - I just need to put in the headers, steering rack, radiator, fans, hoses, Varram intake - and all the other misc crap.
So hopefully I get the car finished up in the next few weeks - it will need an alignment - as well as a tune.