LS327 upgraded to 400 Horse Power purchased from Turnkey with a 700R4 transmission married to an NP205. Transmission was purchased a year and a half ago and the TC was rebuilt then as well both were run in this truck behind the old crate 350.
I must say not only does Turnkey build a great motor they know how to ship their product with style. So easy to uncrate and their shipping stand is going to come in handy when we pull the motor back off for the frame to go to powder coat. My engine stand is busy holding up my old 350 that my buddy bought..... going to have to charge him storage soon :-)
I want to tell you that we installed the motor mount adapters that Turnkey provided and the motor settled right down into the motor mount crossmember...... but it didn't!! no fault of Turnkeys, the LS327 is a couple inches wider then the old 350 down where the oil pan meets the block...... some redneck engineering was necessary to let the shiny new motor fit into that old crossmember. I wanted to keep the center of gravity and the transfer case output as low and close to stock as possible so I chose to take on the taske of cutting and reinforcing the crossmember rather then use different motor mounts and lift the motor up an inch or more.
I will have to repair the crossmember once we pull the motor back off. I plan to fill the voids solid with metal and then channel the cross member from the underside in the area where I removed the strength by cutting out the factory channel. Should not be too hard to do. Will include pics when I get to it.
Here is a pic of the notch I had to make on the passenger side of the motor mount, it has a twin on the driver side.
Here is a close up of the same notch if you look you will see the area I removed. It is substantial but it let the LS327 settle in to the factory position nicely and I will strengthen it from the underside before powder coating.
Kicked around drilling and bolting all of the crossmembers and was advised to do so here on this thread as well. Call me an idiot or lazy or whatever but we are welding them. I don't plan to make any changes to this truck anytime soon and I am not crazy about those loose rivits I have found and welding is quicker, stronger and more reliable in my humble opinion.
Just a poser pic of the new motor finally bolted into the frame..... never gets old ;-)
http://i.imgur.com/Ah3X3.jpg
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