Bringing the '65 back to life

[racecougar]

Thanks Don!

We buttoned up the Suburban and rolled it out of the shop this morning, then cleaned up and got organized.

Opening the PCM, we found that we actually have the chip to control a IAC motor (circled at top right). That means we have the option of sticking with drive-by-wire or installing a IAC and converting to drive-by-cable. Decisions, decisions.

Additionally, this being a L59, it's flex fuel capable. We snagged the alcohol sensor from the Suburban so that we can retain that capability. Dad will be able to run corn whenever he wants, without having to switch tune files.

[racecougar]

Separated the engine and trans, then began tear-down. I couldn't help but throw the headers on for a quick pic.

[racecougar]

The tear down, and especially the cleaning, continues.

[racecougar]

I cleaned up the gasket surfaces while Dad scrubbed the tins outside in the rain.

The new bumpstick is ready to go in as soon as the rest of the parts arrive. It's a N.O.S. LQ9/late-LS1 cam (p/n 12561721) which features .013/.010" more lift and 6/16 degrees more duration than the stock LM7/L59 cam.

Per the tests done by Richard Holdener (http://www.hotrod.com/articles/ls-cam-test-comparison/), it's worth 23 peak hp and 5 peak lb-ft, but it moves the peaks to the right and significantly expands the operating range. Where the stock cam goes to sleep at 5500 rpm, this cam is up 24 hp. At 6500 rpm, when the LM7/L59 cam has fallen off the face of the earth, this cam is up 40 hp. It hardly gives up anything down low too. For a whopping $100, why not?

[racecougar]

Swapped the cam, installed the new knock sensors, replaced a few gaskets, tapped the oil cooler delete plate for the oil pressure sender, but our day was cut short when we noticed a nick in the seal on the replacement cam retainer plate (pen is pointing to it). :/ That means the front of the engine won't go back together until next weekend.

[LostMy65]

Originally Posted by racecougar

Wired and installed the tail lights today.

Are you planning on keeping that stance?
Cool old school hotrod look!

[racecougar]

Thanks! Yeah, definitely keeping a good deal of rake, but both front and rear need to drop. The front should be just about right once the drivetrain and complete front clip are in. The rear may end up getting blocks. I've always wanted to build something tubbed and raked.

[racecougar]

Humpty Dumpty is together again.

[Ta2Don]

Progress!!!

[66chevy43]

Subscribed

[racecougar]

Thanks guys. We pulled the front clip today and finished up all the little details on those pieces (welding up unused holes, correcting clearances, etc.), then put a Corvette servo in the 4L60E. For $14 and about twenty minutes of work, any improvement will be worth the investment.

[racecougar]

You might say that some progress was made today. Engine and trans are sitting in place. We'll need to make a transmission crossmember next.

[racecougar]

Today was "turn a pile of scrap steel into a transmission crossmember" day. Dad and I sliced, diced, cleaned, milled, and welded it up in no time. It utilizes the holes in the frame from the original parking brake crossmember. The trans mount hole is slotted to allow fore/aft adjustment. The crossmember can be shimmed down or the trans mount shimmed up to correct final driveline angle. It's dialed in with the expectation that the rear will drop a bit with the tailgate, toolbox, and fuel cell but we want to retain the ability to fine tune.

Tomorrow will be "figure out how to mount the parking brake mechanism to the new transmission crossmember" day.

[Tonyc10]

Nice build man. Great metal and body work craftsmanship. I'm in the process of tackling mine right now too.

[racecougar]

Thanks! It's been a learning experience.

Well, today didn't go to plan. It was quickly realized that in order to properly locate the parking brake mechanism, we would need to have the rear brakes assembled, the front cable installed, parts like the return spring in hand, and so on. Problem was, we didn't have many of these parts. The only real progress today was that we found out that it is indeed possible to remove the rear tires with the axle on stands, though it's awfully tight/requires some maneuvering.

[racecougar]

Rear brakes are assembled and construction of a parking brake mechanism is underway.

[racecougar]

It needs "prettying up" of course, but the parking brakes are now functional. It took quite a bit of time to get the geometry nailed. In addition to making the mechanism from scratch, we ended up making a little bracket to drop the front cable below, rather than through, the frame to straighten out the pull and gain exhaust clearance.

[racecougar]

Day 315: We pulled the engine/trans back out, finished up the trans x-member and parking brake mechanism, media-blasted some small parts, and slotted the holes in the frame for the engine mount stands to get just a little more adjustability.

[racecougar]

Dad had the chore of blasting parts which I then primed today.

[Ta2Don]

Nice work on the Parking Brake... That's still one I need to tackle...

[racecougar]

Thanks. It'll look a bit fancier when it gets reinstalled.

Today's word: tedious. The box sitting on the chair shows just how much unnecessary wiring has been pulled out of the engine/PCM harness thus far. More to come.

[racecougar]

My workstation for the day. All the unnecessary wiring has been removed. Now each wire is lengthened or shortened to both route nicely/hidden and to relocate the PCM from under the hood to inside the cab under the passenger seat. Time consuming work.

[racecougar]

It might look like little has changed, but that's how it goes when you have to correct the length of just about every wire in the harness. Spent about five hours on it today before running out of heatshrink.

[racecougar]

It kind of feels like this is where I live now...huddled on the floor, soldering wires. Haha. Still need to run the 12V leads (pink wires), connect the grounds (black wires), run some leads for a to-be-added-later AC compressor, tie up a few little odds and ends, then wrap it. Next weekend.

[racecougar]

We were a little too wrapped up in knocking items off the list to take any good photos today. The harness is finally ready to be wrapped, the front brake line is made and routed across the front crossmember, the trans output seal has been replaced, numerous fittings installed, parts cleaned, blasted, painted, etc. It was a productive day.