Lss3

[mcbassin]

Originally Posted by 69cunningham

I’ve worked on a couple of other parts while waiting for the frame to come back from powder coating. The rear end and the steering box have been disassembled, cleaned and sand blasted. I bought a rebuild kit for the steering box. There have been problems installing it. First, the Teflon seals need to be stretched slightly to fit around the piston and control valve. They stayed too big and made it difficult to install the parts in the case. The other problem was the ball bearings in the recirculating ball rack. I thought I found all of them, there were 11 silver and 11 black. Online I’ve found reference to 24 and 26. It seems I am short a few. I have enough to fill the rack, but none for the cross over tube. I’m not sure what to do. I may end up with a new AGR box. I don’t want to have issues with my steering.

I'm pretty sure 11 and 11 on the ball bearing is correct. I did a complete overhaul on mine a while back. It was a pain to get it assembled but it works great now. I'm really happy with the steering on my truck. I did refer to (Saginaw 800 Power Steering Gear Box Part 5 ) on youtube many times while I was overhauling mine. I ended up using a piece of fuel line to keep the balls seated while I meshed the ballscrew in the assembly.

Nice progress on the truck BTW.

[69cunningham]

I wimped out and just bought a new box. There weren't enough balls to fill the crossover and I believe I damaged the Teflon seals.

[69cunningham]

It’s time to tear the engine apart and paint it for final (hopefully) installation. First, the balancer has to come off. It wasn’t an easy task for my Harbor Freight puller. Another reason for removing it is a shorter one is needed for my CTS-V accessories.

Removing the dirty air tube from the intake is a little tricky. There is a latch that must be pressed, then the tube easily pulls off. The pin in the picture is pointing at the latch.

After taking all the external parts off, it was time to clean, clean and clean some more. It started with lacquer thinner and a tooth brush. Then more thinner and clean cloths followed by Duplicolor ‘s Grease and Oil Remover and some compressed air to blow off the solvent. Scotch Brite was used to scuff up the smooth surfaces to give some tooth so the paint will stick. A couple more rinses with solvent made it ready for paint.

[69cunningham]

Masking was a lot of work. I got several sizes of backer rod from Home Depot to fill various holes. Lots of tape covered the flat areas that I didn’t want painted.

I used Dupliclor ceramic primer and engine enamel in Chevy Orange paints. It looks pretty good. The masking will be removed tomorrow if the paint looks good in the light of day.

[69cunningham]

The paint looks pretty good. The backer rod did a nice job keeping the holes free of paint. Now it’s time to put it back together. I ran into a minor problem with the Early Classics motor mounts. They needed a little grinding to clear the bolts that go into the block. This screwed up the powder coating. I guess I’ll have to send another batch of parts to the powder coating.

[69cunningham]

Over the last few weeks, a number of small tasked have been accomplished. The harmonic balancer has been painted and installed, the pitman arm painted and installed and the water pump painted. Installation will have to wait for some bolts.

This weekend, I test fitted the rear brakes to see if the rear end housing needed any modifications before powder coating. The CPP rear disk brake lines don’t look like they will work. I wish there would have been some instructions with them. I’m leaning toward using flex hose to the frame and no hard lines on the housing.

Also, the hubs are now on the spindles. As soon as the motor mounts get powder coated and the engine is installed, the front suspension can go on.

[69cunningham]

In preparation for the next trip to the powder coater, I’ve been searching for all the parts that need to go. Since the truck was taken apart 30 years ago and has been moved several times and stored in many different places, it is a challenge finding parts or even knowing what parts are still around. I have given away parts that weren’t supposed to be reused and thrown away others. I couldn’t find the drag link or the u-bolts that attach the lower a-arms. I tore apart my sheds and garage looking for them.

I ended up buying new u-bolts from Napa. The 650-4065 is a pair of 9/16”. The original parts are ½”. The holes in the cross member only had to be opened up slightly. Of course immediately after the parts came home, I found the original ones in a cabinet that had very few ’69 parts. Oh well.

The drag link was harder. It turned out that I had included it with a set of 71 disc brake parts I gave to a friend. It had been in one of his sheds for a couple of years.

The parts should be back from the coater in a week or two. Miller Powder Coating in Rohnert Park CA is doing these parts since they did such a nice job on the frame. Then the engine can go back into the frame.

[69cunningham]

The bearing retainer from American Powertrain showed up today. It is required for the Hydromax hydraulic throw out bearing, but not included. I asked for it when I ordered the transmission, but it got omitted.

[mechanic350]

project is coming along great man. brakes look good. i have the same brakes and love them. never could get my parking brake to work with the factory system on the truck. so i don't use it. not the best option but she does just fine for now.

[69cunningham]

The last two days have been good for truck parts. The latest parts just got back from the powder coater. The most important of which is the motor mounts so the engine can go back in the chassis, hopefully for the last time. Also, a big order from Summit Racing arrived that included most of the parts to rebuild the rear end.

[KMC3420]

Nice stash of parts and that motor looks like it was meant to go there. Sorry if I missed it. What starter are you running?

[Grip]

Hey man,

Your truck is looking great. I'm in Santa Rosa if you ever need a hand.

[shearjs]

Man, that looks great!!

[69cunningham]

The first time the trans was attached to the engine, I discovered that the pilot bushing was not compatible with the T56 Magnum. The large bearing sits further back so it doesn’t allow the trans to mate properly. The smaller part ( AC Delco 14061685) goes further into the crank. I swapped the new one in today.

[Bennett68C10]

That motor looks great and so does all the nice new parts. Love the brake kit too.

[69cunningham]

Thanks for all of your encouragement. It feels good to see things finally coming together, but there is a long way to go.

Last night the stock LS3 clutch went in. Today, I’ve been shimming the HydraMax hydraulic throw out bearing. It’s tricky. There are conical washers that do the spacing. Three washers set the clearance at 0.180”. The spec is 0.150 to 0.200”. I plan on using modeling clay to double check it.

[mechanic350]

Love seeing this come together for you man. Looks great

[69cunningham]

I got the trans and most of the front suspension on this weekend.

[69cunningham]

The front brakes are on. They look good.

[mechanic350]

looks real nice man

[birdistheword]

Looking good. This is the same engine and trans I want to put in my 69 short bed someday.

[Bennett68C10]

Originally Posted by 69cunningham

The front brakes are on. They look good.

They do look good, what size are you running in the front 13" or 14"

[mcbassin]

Love all the new parts. Everything looks perfect!

[69cunningham]

Originally Posted by Bennett68C10

They do look good, what size are you running in the front 13" or 14"

The front brakes use 13" rotors. I want to run 17" wheels and Wilwood says the 14" rotors won't fit them.

[69cunningham]

The front brake hoses and line are installed. The Wilwood calipers have pipe threads. A right angle NPT to AN fitting is used to connect to the hose. I read that Teflon tape is used to seal the pipe threads. I hope it holds.

The shocks also went on. There are a few issues. First, with just the weight of the motor and trans to compress the springs, the shocks were about half an inch too short to reach the mounts. The springs and shocks are one inch drop units from CPP. The shock end up limiting the downward movement of the suspension rather than the bump stop on the upper control arm. I sent them an email to see if this is normal. I was able to bolt them in by adding a little more weight to the chassis. Another problem is that I had the cut the sleeve that goes in the lower bushing. It now just fits in the control arm bracket. The last (hopefully) issue is the upper bushing. If I tighten the nut so that it bottoms out on the stud shoulder, the bushing is way too compressed. I don’t know if I should use a lock nut and not bottom it out or shave the bushing a bit. Let me know if you have any thoughts.

The last thing I did was install the exhaust manifolds and coils. I smoothed the manifold casting lines and painted them with POR 15 Factory Manifold Gray.