"Midnight Rider" 1970 C10 SWB Fleetside

[omodified]

The piece I have been waiting on to help me install the oil pan arrived. Everything I read about sealing an LS motor says alignment is critical. The front and rear covers depended on the oil pan and other tools for critical alignment. However, there are no tools to help align the oil pan correctly. GM says oil pan alignment for my application is critical due to the fact that the 4L80e transmission uses two mounting holes on the oil pan. So, all mounting holes have to be on the same plane to prevent cracking on the oil pan and/or the transmission case. The only option I had handy was to mount the transmission to the engine and I'm not ready for that right now. So, I found a used bellhousing on Ebay from a 4L60. This made things much easier to work with.



First, I removed the oil pan so I could clean the mounting surfaces really good. GM and Holley both recommend that a small bead of RTV is used on all four corners where the front and rear covers meet the block. Once everything was clean and dry, I used Permatex in the prescribed areas.




Put the pan back on with a new gasket. I lubricated the oil pan mounting bolts and installed them all hand tight.





Engine is back on the lift.



Bellhousing installed. I very lightly torqued the bellhousing bolts to draw the oil pan even with the rear engine mount plane. Then I torqued the oil pan bolts to GM spec.



Removed the bellhousing and put the engine back on the stand. Last thing was to seal it off with a new oil filter.

[hewittca]

Heck yeah, lookin' awesome O. Your attention to detail is impeccable.

[omodified]

Originally Posted by hewittca

Heck yeah, lookin' awesome O. Your attention to detail is impeccable.

Thanks Mr. Hewitt. Nice to see you here. I’ll be checking on your new build too. I wonder who will be done first. 🤔

[omodified]

So, I received the longer bolts to install the coils. I decided to stick with my plan and torque them to 20lb/inch and use purple Loctite. Then, I ran into my next issue. While tightening the coil bolts by hand with a 1/4 ratchet and two fingers, the Holley provided plastic gen V coil spacers splintered all the way around. I didn't realize they were pretty much not useable until I had them all installed. I thought, well, if they are brittle now, how brittle will they be after they've been heat cycled a bunch of times? So, I called Holley to ask what could be done. I called on a Saturday and the rep said he would need to call me back on Monday. When I didn't hear anything back, I figured I needed to come up with something better on my own. So, I got some round aluminum rod and decided to make some spacers of my own. Seems like complete overkill now that it's finished, but it's one less thing to worry about down the road. Holley should just included these in the kit instead.


Putting in some work on the lathe...



3 hours and 16 spacers later...

[omodified]

Finally it's time to properly install the coils. Here is what we are working with.

MSD Gen V coils




Coil harnesses




Coil mounting accessories




First coil installed. 20lbs/in came too easy, so I settled on 30lbs/in.



All coils on and torqued.




Holley provided pretty nice 12 point finishing bolts for the outer valve covers. I had two issues though. 12 point isn't really what I have going on and the nickel finish didn't quite match the other stainless bolts. So, I used my own.



Finished!!!

[MDPotter]

This has to be the most detailed, clean, and neat build I have seen on here. Makes me want to rip my engine back out and go through it - at least more than I did the first time.

[omodified]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

This has to be the most detailed, clean, and neat build I have seen on here. Makes me want to rip my engine back out and go through it - at least more than I did the first time.

Thanks MD. There still so much to do. Hopefully I can maintain!

[omodified]

Let's accessorize...

For my build, I want to stay with an old school look as much as I can for an LS engine. The LS factory front accessories are typically mounted too high up for my taste. Holley has several front mount accessory kits that move things around. I decided on their mid-mount accessory kit. It has the exact look I was going for. I decided on black to stay with my theme, well, sort of.

What drew me to this kit, was the water pump manifold. Every accessory bolts to it which eliminates extra brackets and keeps everything tight and compact. The black kit comes with a black manifold, which is too much black in my opinion. The natural cast finish kit doesn't have enough black for what I wanted. So, I bought the black kit along with an extra natural cast manifold. This should do it.

Let's get started...First was mating the steam kit port that I intend to use with the manifold.


Holley 97-163



Gotta use that thread sealer





Next, was mating the Holley 97-200 water pump drive assembly to the manifold. Torqued to spec.





Time to install the damper and crank pulley. This kit was even more attractive with such a nice balancer.




Have to use the flexplate lock for the next step...



The damper hub assembly is the backbone of this unit. Getting this part installed correctly is imperative. The hub can be pressed on with or without using a key. My crankshaft keyway stops at the oil pump. So, I would need to put some RTV in the hub's empty keyway to keep any oil from getting by. Using a crank pulley install tool, I cranked on it until the hub was seated all the way.



The pressed fit squeezes the excess RTV out the front.



240lb/ft on the original crank bolt for the damper hub assembly, geez!!! Ah, but then you remove that and install a new one at 59lb/ft plus a 120° extra turn.



Next, bolt the damper and torque to spec. Make sure you line up the index mark on the hub and the damper before you bolt it up!



Last, installing the pully. Bolts came with loctite already on them. I just had to torque to spec.

[omodified]

Behind the scenes, I actually mocked up everything on the engine. When I did, I discovered that the A/C compressor could not be installed after the water pump manifold. When I tried, I couldn't install the outer mounting bolt because the valve cover was in the way. So, I was forced to install it onto the manifold prior to mounting it to the motor. Once the manifold was on the engine block, I was able to torque the A/C compressor and the water pump manifold to proper spec.

GM 12630223 gaskets

[omodified]

Holley 97-169 thermostat housing and GM 89018168 thermostat (Holley says it's 180° and GM says 190° so we shall see).

[yuccales]

That engine is beautiful! Lots of craftsmanship there!

[omodified]

Next up...installing the premium C7 Corvette alternator. This even came with a nice pigtail 197-400.

[omodified]

Originally Posted by yuccales

That engine is beautiful! Lots of craftsmanship there!

Thanks for the compliment and thanks for following along.

[omodified]

Getting close to the end of the front accessories. Power steering pump is up next.

Saginaw Type II TC pump and integrated resevoir






The kit also comes with a hardline to AN -6 adapter with crush washers. Installed and torqued to spec.






Installed the assembly onto the manifold. Torqued to proper amount.





The manual says to press the power steering pulley on until it's flush with the end of the shaft. It's impossible to see your progress because the install tool is blocking your view. So, I used this nice pulley alignment laser kit from Dayco. The kit is designed to utilize a target with the laser, but neither the laser or the target fit well on the small alternator pulley or the large crank pulley. I ended up just using the laser by itself. First, I centered the laser on the A/C compressor pulley. I checked the laser line against the crank pulley and the alternator pulley. The laser was aimed directly in the center of both. Next, I centered the laser on the power steering pulley. Once I began pressing the pulley on, it was easy to check my progress with the laser line. Once the laser got closer to the center of the crank pulley, I began to check the alignment to the alternator as well. Making small adjustments, I managed to get it dead center on both. The belt should line up great when installed!








The last thing to bolt on is the the tensioner pulley.

[omodified]

After stepping back and looking at the final product something just didn't look right. Then I saw it...




The sticker is a nice thought but it's looks more like an afterthought. I hate that you can see the thick adhesive. The whole thing is just sitting on top of the cap. I contemplated whether to leave it alone or not, but I just couldn't take it anymore. So, I peeled the sticker off. Then I saw why they put it on there in the first place...




This wouldn't do either. I hardly need a large sign telling where the power steering unit is. So, I used acetone and tried to remove the lettering. After a few swipes, I was able to remove it all. Then I went over it with some black plastic restore. This is more subtle and looks so much better!

[Old_Truck_Fan]

Your engine is looking great. I saw were you turned your own spacers for your coil packs. I have done the same thing many times as well but I discovered you can get virtually any spacer you want from https://www.mcmaster.com/spacers/. They have a variety of materials and finishes if you can wait a couple days for them to ship them to you.

[omodified]

Originally Posted by Old_Truck_Fan

Your engine is looking great. I saw were you turned your own spacers for your coil packs. I have done the same thing many times as well but I discovered you can get virtually any spacer you want from https://www.mcmaster.com/spacers/. They have a variety of materials and finishes if you can wait a couple days for them to ship them to you.

Thanks for the compliment Old Truck Fan! I use McMaster quite often for various things. In fact, I almost bought the rod I needed to make my spacers but I ended finding some scrap. I had no idea they offered this. I guess I should’ve known since they sell everything else under the sun. Thanks for the tip and welcome aboard!

[MDPotter]

This is one of those build threads that is so detailed with all of the pictures, part numbers, and explanation that you can bookmark it for future reference. Good work!

[lunatic1968]

Nice work, love all the details. Following

[big_al_71]

Great job thus far
Following
Posted via Mobile Device

[omodified]

Originally Posted by MDPotter

This is one of those build threads that is so detailed with all of the pictures, part numbers, and explanation that you can bookmark it for future reference. Good work!

Originally Posted by lunatic1968

Nice work, love all the details. Following

Originally Posted by big_al_71

Great job thus far
Following
Posted via Mobile Device

Thanks for the compliments guys! Glad you are following along.

[omodified]

Finishing up the front end accessories. To finish the kit off, Holley provided a few beauty covers and a serpentine belt. I only ended up using two of the covers because the alternator cover was too smooth of a look for me. I also did not use their serpentine belt. I ended up using a Goodyear belt. The belt had to be installed first so I could still have access to the tensioner pulley. Then the covers finished it off.

[omodified]

Just piddling around and thought I would go ahead and install the new spark plugs. Based on what is done to this engine (and what isn't done) and the builder recommending 93 octane, I decided on heat range 6 for the plugs. Accel recommends 0.060 for the gap and they were all pre-gapped to this. 0.060 seems like a lot to me but maybe it's to do with the design of the plug. I carefully used nickel anti-seize and torqued each one into their place.

[omodified]

Continuing to plug the remaining holes in the engine, I decided to install the steam port vents. I can't install the steam tubes until the engine is on the frame, but at least the ports are installed for it now. These are nice because they seal with a captured o-ring and they swivel which will make installing the tubes later really easy.

[omodified]

I'm waiting on a few parts that I need to finish this phase of the engine. So, I thought I would start on preparing another small batch of parts to get nickel plated. Since the cab is being worked on now, I thought it would be wise to gather the parts I need to mount it once I get it back. So, I rounded up any original part that I am having to reuse because I couldn't find a suitable replacement. The issue with reusing hardware is... rust. So, I decided to try some rust remover versus blasting. I have to reuse my rear cab mount bolts so blasting the threads wasn't an option for me. While I was at it, I found some more parts that needed treated for nickel too.