Mech-Head's "The Other Woman" build thread - LS3 Upgrade

[ChippeRX7]

Looks great!!!
I had a vert but it was no where near as clean as yours. 
Good luck with the build and double your budget LOL!!!

[mech-head]

The rotary is out!




Engine bay looks like it will clean up pretty easy.  Not as many rotary droppings as I was expecting.  Most of it is pretty much dirt/dust.





Now it is off to bed with visions of LS goodness in the future.

[mech-head]

Getting the LS1 back together with new gaskets in the heated shop since while the car freezes in the steel building.



Pulled the oil pressure and temperature sensors from the rotary.  Does that temperature sensor look right?  It was wired with a bullet connector and a couple splices in the harness.  I never looked at it before because it appeared to work.



TII differential is all cleaned up, painted, and just waiting for it's turn when the temperature rises.




Scoggin-Dickey delivered some new goodies today (clutch).  That was fast, I think the order was placed on Thursday.



Just doing a little dreaming...

[WannaBeFast]

That Red and black is going to look nice in the engine bay. Looking forward to see the vert together.

Quick question. How's your rag top? Are you going to replace it? Mine is completely ripped.

[mech-head]

That Red and black is going to look nice in the engine bay. Looking forward to see the vert together.

Thanks, I am anxious to turn the key for that first time.

Quick question. How's your rag top? Are you going to replace it? Mine is completely ripped.

Not great.  It has the two small tears you always see, plus a little one on a corner of the rear glass.  I plan to replace it this summer.

[mech-head]

The rotary was carted off today.  It is slated to be installed in an MG.  I thought it was funny how I am switching to pistons and he is switching to a rotary.  It's like the world is balancing out.  I hope he gets it done.  I just know a few more bills are in my pocket, but they are pretty much going right to Pez anyway.

Well, a quick shot of the LS1 with some more accessories installed.



The weather is supposed to be decent the next couple of days, so I will continue work on cleaning up the engine bay.  Man, there is a lot of crap that comes out.  My car had all the factory stuff, so tons of brackets and excess lines are coming out.

[Shavel]

+1 for Scoggin-Dickey as well.  Did you get a new pilot bearing?

[mech-head]

Did you get a new pilot bearing?

Absolutely.  I have always believed that when you change a clutch, change the pilot bearing too.

[mech-head]

This brace needs to be removed, doesn't it?  Otherwise it looks like the bell housing would hit this.  Just checking before I spend too much time cleaning up stuff that won't be used.



Also, what is thread size on the stock water temperature sending unit?

[mech-head]

It's been a while since I have posted anything.  I just figure that the small things that have been happening are nothing to post about.  Plus, I took a couple weeks off to get married and have a honeymoon.

I have been working on the car, but just cleaning and prepping for the new motor.  Rotary transmission mounts are removed, metal cut for new radiator, holes punched for heater line re-route, interior stripped and getting cleaned up.


Motor and transmission anxiously awaiting mounts from Pez to make sure all fabrication is done before painting.


Holes punched for new location of heater hoses.

I hope to finish up the heater lines in the next few days, and start putting the interior back together after that.  The Florida sun did a nice fade job on the carpet, so I have it cleaned up and ready to try and dye it back to a more consistent black.  I have never used a dye on carpet, but I picked up some stuff from Detail King to try out.  I will let everyone know how it works out.

[mech-head]

Heater core is ready to be re-installed.  I went the new soldered tubing route.  It wasn't too difficult, but I have to admit that I wasted a couple feet of tubing on mistakes.  First I tried to bend tubes to fit, but that looked like crap.  Using actual elbows just made for a cleaner fit and aesthtics.

I added some insulation around the tubes.  Not that it really needs it, but I thought it might help control heat transfer to where you really want it directed.  Otherwise the passenger will always have warm feet when it's turned on.  I suppose my wife wouldn't mind.  The insulation helps support the lines between the heater core housing and firewall too.

I notched and bent down a 10" section of the firewall lip.  That appears to be enough room to provide access to the back of the intake manifold.  I will check the fit before everything is painted.

As soon as my mounts arrive from Pez, I will fit the engine/transmission before paint touch-ups on the engine bay.  Then it's ASSEMBLY TIME!

[mech-head]

Waiting for my Pez mounts.

Greg's swamped as usual, but I know his stuff is worth the wait.

Made an adapter for the temperature sender in the passenger head.
Started with an M12 x 1.5 Hex Head Plug I picked up from Discount Hydraulic Hose.

Drilled it out and tapped it to fit my temperature sender.

The sender is not screwed in all the way, but should extend past the plug a few millimeters.

I think this will be a little stronger and therefore more trustworthy than the brass adapter from Autometer.  I was unsure if the brass fitting would hold up after I drilled it out to fit my sender (it's not an Autometer gauge, so I couldn't use the stubby sender like Berto).  Also, machining down the sender didn't work out to well as the sender wall is paper thin and I hit white goo (probably some sort of temperature conductive grease).  Oh well, whats another $10...

Well, just doing minor things until the motor/transmission can be test fit.  I still want to paint some of the engine bay and will wait until I know all the cutting and firewall massaging is done.  I have my Integra speedometer in the garage, so I will start getting that fit into the cluster.

[mech-head]

I told those bastards at work that it would fit!

This is just a test fit to see what needs a little extra clearance before painting.

It's a little tight at the MAP sensor.

There are a few other spots, but nothing a little "Hammer-Time" won't fix.

[mech-head]

Things are starting to look better in the engine bay.

There is a little touching up to do after making clearances on the firewall.

The heater core relocation should look good when everything is installed.  The electrical guys at work had some sweet knockout plugs from Hoffman.  After painting them, they work great for plugging the old heater core outlets and speedometer cable hole.  I can always unscrew the retainer to remove them and have an access hole through the firewall if necessary.

This seems to be pretty common with everyone's swap.  I am guessing both the brake and clutch master cylinder leaked in the past.  This will take a little more work to strip and get painted.

Pez said the harness is almost done, so I plan to be ready for it when it arrives.  The Integra speedometer swap is coming along nicely.  The wife is definitely ready for me to get it up and running so I spend a little less time in the garage.

[mech-head]

Paint touch-ups done.

I need to bug Pez about the harness.  He said all the wiring was done, it just needed to be loomed.

Is it easier to install the harness on the engine before dropping it in, or hooking it up after it's in the chassis?  I would think it's easier when it's on a stand, but will it really be that difficult to plug it with the engine installed?  It's tempting to go ahead and install the engine/transmission and start assembling.  If waiting for the harness will make life easier, then I can hold out for a little longer.

As assembly progresses, pictures will also be posted more often.