Did some more disassembly this morning........ Got all the wires that will be replaced with the rewire out...... Removed the make shift trans tunnel . There are some rust holes thru the front floor pans so we will be replacing them along with fixing the trans tunnel.....Lot's of parts showing up next week
Got the steering column in and got the connection to the box finished Going to put a Patch panel on the Passenger side Floor pan ..... I'll be welding that in today after treating the floor with some Rust remover to get rid of the surface Rust, then treating the floor with Boeshield to help prevent further surface rust... Engine will be here tomorrow and then the real assy will begin
Got the Floor patch panel welded in today and got the drivetrain delivered to the house... I thought I was going to be able to save Jeff and Judy some $$ by being able to use the as delivered oil pan.. Wrong... . Luckily I have a new 302-2 Holley pan in the garage... .. It will have a new home shortly... .
Well..... Got the engine in and now that wide open engine compartment is getting full... Mainly on the driver side....When Jeff had the car converted to 4 wheel disc brakes previously.....they used the space available with the SBC in place while changing from the floor pedal to the firewall mount power system.....So... A couple of things popped up after getting the LS 3 in place...#1... I think we may have to change the power booster assy over to a Hydro-Boost system to gain needed space (Vacuum Booster and Coils are fighting for the same space) to provide the needed space and still provide Judy with the Braking she needs... #2... . I installed a Holley 302-2 pan.....Thought there would be plenty of room... . LOL....We will have to change the pan out to a 302-1... (Centerlink hit's the -2 pan while going thru the steering range..... The -1 has an additional 1 1/2 clearance) The sump area is shorter on the -1 pan......Things you find out as the process continues.....Darn !!!! . I'm making a new trans crossmember tomorrow so that with get the engine mounting completed... Also it seems like there is going to be a major clearance issue with the driver side exhaust The next problem for another day... .. Two steps forward, one step back... ..
So. The Pontiac has a "X" frame unlike Chevy's.... and with this conversion with the 4L70E being longer I had to make a new trans crossmember... .. The existing one was just a piece of 3/8" thick flat steel... Didn't like that so I wanted to make one out of "C" channel to resist the bowing from the weight... I searched around the shop and couldn't find what I needed and didn't want to wait for a piece to be delivered so I found a piece of 2 1/2" 1/4" wall square tubing and ended up with what I wanted .. LOL......Pic's will show the process... Got it done and transferred the holes thru to the "X" member and Bingo... . Finished.....Made a quick sketch of where I wanted to end up
Swapped put the pans today... . If you are doing a LS swap into a 55-57 Buick, Olds, or Pontiac the 302-1 Pan is the one you need... . Fits perfect.....