63 Bel Air more door

J0nesy said:

 

 

 

Getting a bit more accomplished on the car.  With the help of a buddy, we swapped out the cam.  Installed a new oil pump and water pump since they were already off and peace of mind.  The motor looks really clean on the inside with almost zero sludge buildup.  Also swapped out the oil pan for the Chevrolet Performance LS swap pan kit.  My buddy is working on trimming the harness down, and wiring up a new fuse box.

The 6 six cylinder was pulled out, and didn't put up much of a fight.  Had to buy some factory style SBC frame mounts so my LS to SBC engine mounts would line up.  

On first fitment of the LS, it was clear that the oil pan was hitting the cross member.  Played around with a couple ideas, but ultimately decided to just take the plasma cutter and make room for the oil pan.  I'll box it back in later once I'm sure it won't need any more modifications.  The headers that I bought won't work, they are swept to far back and interfere with the shifter linkage.  I need to find a set that points the collector almost straight down from the rear cylinders.  The goofy X-frame in these cars requires you to jump to the outside of the frame rail  just behind the front control arms.

Trans was bolted up and the whole package was test fit in the car.  Going to try and hack up the factory cross member and make it work for the significantly longer 4l60e vs the powerglide.  I bought one of the Harbor Freight load leveler gadgets.  Immediately modified it by taking off the handle and welding a nut to the end so I can drive it with a drill/air ratchet.

Also been working on the cutting up a factory DBW throttle pedal to make it mount and fit under the dash.  Wanting to keep the floor mounted throttle pedal of the Bel Air, but I have some more brainstorming to do to see if it is possible.

Onto the pictures

In reply to J0nesy :

Time for an update.

Car is complete now and I have been driving it around town and occasionally to work.  Originally the target date for completion was Hot Rod Power Tour 2018.   A bad transmission put the kibosh on that idea so we ended up driving the G8.  The trans took 12 weeks to be completed and kinda halted all progress as I was kinda bummed about shelling out so much for a new trans.

So this is will be a condensed version to catch up to date.  Lots of pictures below.

Had it tuned at Lucas Performance, in Brooksville, KY.  Highly recommend them.

Man that just looks perfect - wheels, everything. Are you considering clearing the body? 

Motor swap itself was fairly straight forward.  Bolt in LS swap motor mounts and hacked up the factory trans crossmember to work with the 4l60e.

Be warned that I was thrashing to get the car done at this point, and resorted to function over form mentality.  I still need to go back and tidy up wiring and redo some stuff for aesthetics.

Moved the battery to the other side of the car to coincide with the way the battery is mounted in the donor vehicle.  This saved me extending/replacing a bunch of wiring.

Had to relocate the coil packs slightly so they would clear the brake booster and the heater box.  The rusty adapter plate, matches the patina on the car, or at least that is my excuse.

Drive shaft needed to be shortened.  Used a hose clamp as a straight edge for cutting.  Need to have it balanced as it has a vibration at about 80mph+

OjaiM5 said:

Man that just looks perfect - wheels, everything. Are you considering clearing the body? 

I want to do a matte clear to preserve what is there, but haven't had the opportunity to do so yet.

In reply to J0nesy :

Throttle pedal was something that I had to noodle on for a while before I settled on this solution.  Hacked up a factory drive by wire pedal assembly to work with my factory floor pivot pedal.  Overall I'm very happy with the way it turned out.  The throw is just a tad shorter than a factory feel, but not so bad that I feel the need to redo it.

Wheels are 17x8 and 17x9 with 225/45r17 and 245/45r17.  I went super safe on the tires so I knew they wouldn't rub.

Just some random pictures.

So my brother had to follow suit and LS swap something.  1978 Impala wagon.  LQ4 (6.0l) with 5.3 heads to bump up compression.  Big cam, long tubes, and T56 round out the mods.  He is hoping to tow a small camper cross country next summer with it.

outstanding!   thanks for the update.

That big body wagon is all kinds of cool, and will be even more so with that T56.

OK...........for some reason the post by 'momouni' didn't so I'll do the honors ....wutt up with this lately???