Old Yeller's new heart-5.3/4l60 swap!

[jlsanborn]

Ahhh, whack-a-mole! That's your style isn't it? "Like you're killin snakes" somebody once said to me

Think you've got the punch-list pretty well set or are we still figgerin? Clip coming off?

[Low Elco]

I think we're just gonna wind up pulling the hood and pass fender. I'm not thrilled with the fit of the pass. door (even though I hung and fit it twice in-process) so I gotta fix that. Plus Boppa wants A/C, so we're gonna need access for that. I'm stone tied up through Sunday, but opening up after that, so we'll see. I saw a couple neat ideers for fuel systems I'm currently researching, we'll see. I have plenty of lines and whatnot now, got Trans lines and a factory cooler now. I have both colors of motor paint, I have the motormount shells, so I just gotta clear decks and these sickles fixed and get after it.

[NEWFISHER]

looking GOOD! I'm following your thread as I am pulling the trigger on mine shortly. have one waiting at the yard and now looking for all the incedentals to install it i.e. manifolds ( TBSS) oil pan (CTS-V) etc. If you have any good thread with parts lists do share

[Low Elco]

Thanks! The best pan deal is the Hummer H3/GM "Hot Rod" pan, almost as shallow and a lot cheaper. 175 ish as a full kit from GM. We're having ours shortened by a very generous and talented fellow we all know. A superb lo-buck thread is here-

http://ls1tech.com/forums/conversion...71-c-10-a.html

Pay close attention to anything Eric does, 'cuz everything he does is tighter'n Prom Night!

Might holla at this cat for your manifolds-

http://ls1tech.com/forums/parts-clas...olds-cats.html

Thats all I got for now, I gotta get movin'!

[Vic1947]

Pan was delivered to me last night via Northland Pony Express and surgery began today. Chip wanted ~2" removed from the sump parallel to the bottom plane. So first thing was to mark an OH $#!% line around the perimeter as a guide. I then set it up in the mill and leveled the bottom using 1-2-3 blocks and some shims. I rigged up a Controx slitting saw in an arbor, set the height I needed, held my breath and punched the button. My little mill is too small to make a full perimeter cut without moving the part. So I cut about 2/3 of the front and back of the sump and all of one side. Then turned it around and set it up again on the blocks facing the opposite direction. Sliced the rest of it and voila! ...two chunks. Piece of cake.

I had a half dozen pieces of 1/4" billet aluminum plate in the scrap bin, so I dug one out, set it on the pan and marked a line around the edge of the sump. Used that line to rough in the shape of the plate with the bandsaw. Chip and I originally talked about taking out a section and welding the bottom of the sump back on, but due to the shapes involved, that's not practical. It would also be very hard to get the 2" of clearance we need. So a flat plate is the best approach IMO. After getting the approximate shape, it was back to the mill where I trimmed the edges to allow about an .080" step for welding. I'll weld both the outside and inside for strength and leak prevention.

Tomorrow I'll notch the plate and the side of the sump for the drain plug I sawed out of the leftover bottom piece. Chip sent me a link to a Digital Corvette site where a friend of a forum member named nitrovette had done this and it looked great. I'm all about shamelessly plagiarizing good ideas. Stay tuned!

[Lee H]

Nice work!

[Low Elco]

Vic is a baaaaad man. That looks awesome! Thanks so much! This is gonna be so cool!

[Low Elco]

In other news, I've been gathering a few more odds and ends, and plannin' and schemin' on a fuel system. I believe I've formulated a plan, we'll see how it works out. Hoping for big progress soon!

[jlsanborn]

That's going to be a trick piece. Nice job on that guys!

[Low Elco]

Not me-all Vic!

[Vic1947]

Finished trimming the oil drain bung and saddled it into the side and bottom of the pan. Similar to the factory setup, the bottom of the threaded hole is down far enough to facilitate oil drainage. Welding cast aluminum to billet is usually a grungy process thanks to the impurities in the casting. However, the GM part is fairly good quality which helped a lot. I also used the bead blaster to clean inside and out where I'd be running weld.

After the bottom plate cooled, I set up the drain plug for welding. You may notice I chose to install the drain in the side of the pan instead of the rear. It appeared that, thanks to the 2" chop, a rear facing drain would have made it impossible to remove the plug. So it went into the side. Used a spacer to stand it off the side of the pan and provide a lip for the weld. After finishing the outside, I flipped the pan over and welded the bung from the inside also. I'd planned to weld around the perimeter from the inside as well, but I happened to look down at the floor and coolant was puddled below the TIG. One of the water cooling lines had sprung a leak, so I called it a night.

[dec010974]

That's the sexiest oil pan mod I've ever seen. I wish I could that to my oil pan. I would pay for that in a heart beat. Question, how will adjust the dip stick and oil pick up tube?

[nlped]

That's a lotta work!! Looks great though. I went with a CTSV pan and pieces/parts myself...$175ish

[Vic1947]

Originally Posted by dec010974

That's the sexiest oil pan mod I've ever seen. I wish I could that to my oil pan. I would pay for that in a heart beat. Question, how will adjust the dip stick and oil pick up tube?

I've shortened a dipstick in the past by cutting it, overlapping it by the amount I need and gluing it together with JB Weld. I then heat a piece of shrink tubing over the glued section to make it easier to slip past any tight spots.

As for the oil pickup tube ...don't know yet. I have it my possession, but I can tell by looking that the way it's angled, it will be a real test to maintain the mounting points and still raise the pickup screen two inches. I might need to get Chip involved as it may be best to section it with it installed. Sometimes it takes a 3D view to turn the light bulb on.

[Low Elco]

OOOOOOWEEEEEE that's cool! Man, thanks a lot. The two feet share a common datum that is 1/2"-3/4"ish below the pan rail. I can go home and measure tonight. Picking up truck #2 tonight right off, but I'll be home later in the evenin'. We'll see what's happenin'. Thanks again, this is terrific.

[Vic1947]

With the easy part out of the way, next up was the pickup tube. Started by fixturing up the tube on a plate used for a long ago project. I knew it would go well when two of the threaded holes lined up perfectly with the tabs on the tube. I marked reference lines around the tabs and parallel to the long tube and set up a height reference made from welding rod. With everything marked, I took it apart and started cutting. Oh, I forgot to mention the part where I stared at the setup for about an hour before making that first cut. There are three cuts and much as I hate to admit, all three are mitered very slightly. Normally I'd cut square to tubing, but over such a short run and with the limited amount of curved tube I had, it was the only way to make it work.

I mocked up the screen to see what I needed and filled in the gaps with tubing. With the pieces tacked or held together with magnets, I fit the pan over it to see how close I was. Chip had given me the mount dimensions on the block, so I know the screen will actually fit closer to the bottom when assembled. After checking the fit, I bent and tacked the sectioned leg brace to the tube. All that's left to do is fit it to the engine block and recheck the clearances. For that, I'll use several small pieces of modeling clay on the bottom of the screen covered with some plastic wrap. Setting the pan down on the rails will squeeze the bits of clay and tell where we might need to adjust. For now, it's only tacked together so it will be easy to fix if needed.

[Vic1947]

Just a few more shots of the pan after final welding and cleanup. I let it sit overnight with solvent up to the oil sensor hole and it didn't leak a drop. I did run a bead around the inside ...more for strength than anything else. Not sure it would survive being high centered on a stump, but I'm guessing that's not likely.

[Low Elco]

Man, that looks awesome! Thanks so much!

[oldman3]

Very nice work, and well detailed on the mod...Jim

[jlsanborn]

Pretty cool Vic! Super clean as usual too.

[sduckworth13]

Nice work guys! I'm looking forward to seeing your truck again with the new engine in it Chip.

[Low Elco]

Thanks guys!

Update- Vic and his BIL came out with the tacked up tube and pan and we test fit it last night. Damn it it wasn't 1/4-3/8 off the bottom right out of the box. Just a touch off of the slosh stopper in the pan and we be good to go! Fantastic work as always. Thanks again, Vic. Got a fish on the line to sell the entire motor and trans currently in the truck, hope it goes well.

[63chevyll]

Nice to see quality work being done

[Vic1947]

Welded out and...

wait for it...

wait for it...

ready for pickup!

[KSWes]

That looks nice! about done with the mods to fit it in the truck aren't ya? Hope you get to make it go Vroom soon!