Shreck's 6.0 build

[67shortie]

Yup, getting excited because it's all starting to come together finally. Tomorrow I am off to the local dealer and picking up some new head bolts, a pan gasket and off to engine assembley.

Meanwhile I wait for the rest of the harness odds and ends to be delivered by the big brown truck so I can finish the wireing and then start organizing the engine compartment. I am sending the PCM to the guy who runs the LT1swap site and have him plug in the things I need and get it back here. I still do need to do a bit of cleaning up and spraying some black on the frame just to make it look a bit better, ya know I need to look pimp .

Need to buy a Walbro 255 and use the regulator on the truck manifold with a return line. If that is not an option I will run the Vette regulator, still do not know what's best so any guidance on this is very welcome.

Also still trying to figure out what exhaust to run. I am tempted to run the thorley headers but they are pretty pricey so I may look for some trailblazer SS manifolds. I don't think they have O2 bungs in them so I would have to have the muffler shop cut and weld those in for me.

Either way if all goes well I will get the long block in this week and start hooking things up.

[67shortie]

Lots of progress today, started out at the local parts place picking up new head bolts and a few odds and ends. I also picked up a nice 4" bore ring bowl style comressor. I love this thing it is so easy to install pistons, even my mother can swing this task

Got the shortblock assembled. Went smooth and without problems, but the cam and chain are not in yet that's tomorrow. I took a few pics, a couple are of the main bolts, the stretch guage and the book that is giving me guidance because this new gen engine is a new experience for me. One is of the new way GM seperates the rod halves, breaks them instead of machining. This makes each rod extremely specific to one another. One is the endplay, very tight .002 which is on the small end of tolorance but passable. Anyhoo, more pics tomorrow, this is what got done today...

[VA72C10]

nice progress! Keep at it and you'll be driving in no time

[mcbassin]

Looking good man! I would like to try my hand at building one of these ls engines some day. I't still very intimidated by the changes since the old school sbc days.

[67shortie]

Thanks guys for the props, I feel I am moving at a snails pace on this project

The LS engine was pretty intimidating to me too at first, but if anyone has had thier hands in a GEN 1 family this engine with a couple of exceptions will be very familiar and easier in some aspects. The only thing one has to do is read and read some more then on to hands on which that's what side of my brain likes so once I do it once I can do it again if that made sense

Today, more shortblock assembley, cam, chain, windage tray, pickup, pan valley tray etc so off I go....I will post pics later.

[noteron]

Cool build...LQ4's in 67's = Long Range Pimpin... Im going with a LQ4/4L60e combo in my 67 as well. I'll be taking notes. BTW What part of Cen-Cal are you in?

[67shortie]

I'm in Turlock

More progress but hit a brick wall when the part I ordered had not come in, a timing chain to replace the slightly stretched one that I have. No sweat, i still did many other tasks that still need to be done. I installed the windage tray, front and rear main seals, rear cover (aligned the rear seal too) fitted the oil pan and cleaned a few odds and ends up.

That piece I am holding is the front cam plate that serves 2 jobs, one is to locate the front of the cam so it does not do to much walking and also to route oil to the lifters through the front and rear of the block. Rear not shown, this is handled by the rear cover that is the last pic.

That brown looking hunk of metal on the crank snout is the oil pump in case anyone was wondering. It's crank driven and has a long pickup tube, I imagine this was designed this way so this style of engine could drop in many different chassis that is is fitted in for oil pan design.

[67chevy1series]

wow nice progress!!!! engine looks great cant wait to see it installed in the truck!

[5150.4.67]

What cam are you going to use?

[5150.4.67]

Just read you are in Turlock........ doing almost the same build here as well. A LQ4 with 243 heads/4l80 and other assorted goodies.
Nice to see you are tackling the harness yourself. That LT1swap site has been very informative. I will probably do the same to my harness....
Who did your machine work?
Oh, if you need any Gen III parts, PM me. I just might have it.

Looks good!

[67shortie]

Jay, nice looking engine there

I have Steve over at Valley balancing do all of it, had good luck with them so far. I do need a couple of things, I will shoot you a PM and see if you have it. I am using the stock truck cam for now, this truck I drive allot and want something mellow.

The harness has been just time consuming so far, nothing too difficult as long as I have good instructions to follow. But I have not tried to start it yet

[67shortie]

More work on the harness tonight, finally got all of the parts in from a couple of parts places.

Have alot going on here, grouping up the pink wires to fused key on ports. Orange wires are hot and coming from the truck 12V constant, fuel pump green relay 12V key on. It may look like an unorganized mess, and it kind of is

One thing I don't like is the 3 fused connections for 12 pink wires makes for a little crowding so I am going to solder the connections to make sure this gets voltage when the key is turned on.

So far so good on the harness though, pretty straight forward overall when you have instructions. And believe me I am not to good at electrical work but thinking my way through this

In the end I will have, 12V constant hot, 12V keyed, ground, fuel pump power MIL connection (check engine light) signal to OBD2 port (where you plug in programmers under the dash) tach signal, and brake switch which I will not be using but in case I want to run a L60 trans one day I can do light mods and be good to go,

[smokinstang70]

Great Job so far.... where did you get instructions on how to modify the harness? I could definitely use some instructions!!!!

Thanks

[67chevy1series]

wow that is alot of wiring! i would have been lost

[67shortie]

I used this site for guidance www.lt1swap.com if you can fish through what you don't need and what you do need that site is very helpful on modifying one of these harnesses but you do have to read and read some more.

Got the harness now to where it can be hard wired to the truck, has about 8 wires to hook up and it will provide power and input to the PCM. I have a aftermarket fuse panel that has all of the key on functions like MAF, coils, all of the injectors, trans selenoids, MIL, front O2 sensors etc fused with 15A.

This was a job, no doubt about it and I feel very worth the effort. It saves money for one plus I know now how to do it again if something like this comes up again which is almost priceless to me because my brain loves ingesting new knowledge.

I will organize the wires and tape them up, put that plastic covering over them when the truck starts and runs just so I make sure I don't have to go back in the harness for anything. Then it will look much better.

Here are some pics, I soldered the pink wires (key on) just want to make sure they have a good connection. What's not pictured as well, I wired up the under dash plug for OBD connections, 5 wires. This way I can plug in a dignostic handheld and or a HP tuner.

[5150.4.67]

Very cool!
I forgot about the cam sensor! I also can send it with one of my co-workers to Turlock (Emanuel Hosp area) as well. I PM'd you as well...

[mcbassin]

Hey nice work on the wiring! I am going to be going through this same thing pretty soon. Well, hopefully. As soon as it warms up my time is split between fishing first, golf (with my son) and working on my projects. Your engine looks great too.

[67shortie]

Hey Jay no sweat I will shoot you a PM

Thanks mcbassin, it was pretty time consuming but I actually did more reading and research than hands on. Still have work to do, if all goes well when it comes time to fire it up still have to mount the PCM and fuse panel and wrap it all up finally.

Today, I should get my new valve seals and timing chain in, then off to getting the rest of this longblock assembled.

Chain on, new 'O' ring for the oil pump pickup tube, oil pump on, front cover on, pan, valley cover, knock sensors and heads. Better get moving, I will post more pics later

[67shortie]

Did not have time to post pics last night, but was able to get quite a bit done. Installed the new chain, timing gear, oil pump, valley cover, pickup tube, front cover, oil pan, pulled the heads apart and replaced all of the valve seals, and while I was in there lapped the valves with the lapping paste. Passes the visual and water test (fill ports with water and check for leaks at the valve) with flying colors...looking more like an engine now too which is exciting.

This weekend off to valvetrain, bolt the heads on, valvecovers, and front balancer. Still have to elongate the holes for the converter and trim down the adapter plates that I made. I am crossing my fingers that this gets bolted in the truck within a week from now if not sooner

[Pop's C-10]

nice build...nice chevelle also

[5150.4.67]

Looking sweet! Get your video camera battery on the charger, cause we want to hear it when it runs!

[y5mgisi]

Nice! Not alot of LSx rebuilds posted like this.

[67shortie]

Thanks all, the Chevelle has been with me since 1986 and have done a whole bunch of work to it over the years. It's my baby, with me all of these years and never has let me down....

A few things today first I had the pleasure of meeting Jay (5150.4.67) when I picked up the offered cam sensor. Class act, knows his stuff and hope to stay in contact with him through all of this. Jay, thanks again, it is now residing in the block tonight so it went to a good home

Second, more progress tonight after running a few errands with the family. Got the valvetrain prepped, lifters and plastic trays installed but hit a road block when I tried to bolt the heads down. Bought the wrong bolts. Arrgh, so this block is not what I think it is, must be a later year because the bolts I ordered were way too long. That's OK I will just return them for the correct year and be done with it. Never mind the numbers on the pistons, that was something I was doing earlier

My plans this next week are to get the spare block out of the truck, modify my flexplate, trim down my mount adapter plates and get this in the truck by Wednesday. I need to get my butt up early on my days off to make this happen

Anyhoo, more pics:

[67chevy1series]

i am sorry i am lazy is thgis going to be a carburated like the holley shop truck or just fuel injected

[mcbassin]

Nice work on the engine build! Keep the pics coming. The harness looks to be pretty well done too. Nice!