I finally got the engine and transmission in. At least for now. I'm sure they will come out again at some point.
So for now I'm using a stock transmission crossmember, tubular engine stands with the 73+ motor mounts, and then some adapter plates that I made myself. It was a little tight to squeeze the engine down onto the stands, but it fits.
The tranny crossmember will even use some of the original holes for mounting it. This is a 4L60e out of a 98 Trans Am.
The driver's side header had to be clearanced a little to no hit the lower control arm. I may have to do a little more "clearancing".
These headers are for a camaro/trans am that I got off of ebay. They're stainless steel. And they were cheap too. I also headers from the same company on my corvette. My complaint with the camaro headers is the bolting flange needs some work, cause the holes aren't lined up quite right. Other than that, these are a really good choice cause the tuck up real well and fit good. I will have to cut the drivers side collector off a bit. On the camaros this side kicks towards the outside, which puts it too close to the frame rail. No biggie though. Here's what the ground clearance looks like.
Speaking of ground clearance, I think I"m going to get a F-body oil pan. I don't like the idea of the oil pan being the lowest part on the front of the truck.
After I got the headers on, I then moved to the front of the engine. If you remember in a post awhile ago, I thought I was going to have to notch the frame rail to clear the power steering pulley with the corvette accessory drive system. Well it fit with plenty of room to spare.
The A/C compressore fits down in the frame rail like it was made to go there.
I then moved on to the transmision shifter lever. The header is right in the way of where it need to be. I would like to use the column shifter, but the linkage just won't work. Does any companies make a cable type shifter for columns?
Then as I was trying to determine if the tranny was in park or first, I went and grabbed the driveshaft that came with the truck and shoved it into the tranny. Well what do you know, it fits....as in its the right length too!
couple of problems with it though. First I switched to larger 1350 u-joint on the pinion yoke. So I'll probably have a new one made anyways with the larger u-joints front and rear (400+ RWHP will be going through this on slicks....so I figure I better upgrade)
Next problem is something isn't centered. I didn't have time to take measurements, but the drive shaft was rubbing on the passenger side of the crossmember. I thought about this when I came inside to grab a drink, and realized its probably just the panhard bar not being centered correctly. So I raised the rear and it started to center the drive shaft, but then it was hitting on the bottom of the cross member. So I'll raise the tail shaft of the tranny. The whole engine/tranny looks like its at a little too much of an angle anyway.
I'm going to cut some exhaust passages in the tranny crossmember, or just make a new one, so this won't be a big deal (and the reason why I haven't cleaned up the crossmember too
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