1966 Chevelle LSA/ZL1 install - Page 7

kwhizz · 10-29-2013, 07:53 PM

Two steps forward today........So......While waiting for my Princess to come home to help with Bleeding the brakes......I decided to wrap up another loose end.......I bought an American Autowire custom wire kit and needed to get in the trunk and get the rear harness in......along with the Dakota Digital LED tail lights.......Got everything installed and hooked up......the back of the car is now finished.......Checked on the Rick's Vaporworx Stainless tank and it is supposed to be shipping this week.......Now........Getting back to the brake issue.......
I was taking the easy way out and bled the fronts first as I could do that somewhat easily as the steering column is still out so I could reach thru the firewall and work the brake pedal to get at least a partial pedal by doing the drivers side first....Absolutely wrong ....but by convienence I did it that way......So......I was told to do the rears first......Duhhhh!!!!........So....I removed the front brake line and installed the bench bleeder in the front chamber....when she got home we started bleeding the rears...........Nothing.....no pedal.....just a few drops of fluid...........Darn!!!............after 10 minutes of nothing happening......I decided to change brake lines around and hook the rear line to the front port and moved the bench bleeder stuff to the rear port........Started bleeding the rears using the front and it looked like a drinking fountain out of the rear calipers......so....the rear brakes lines were O.K...........switched the lines back to normal and I now have front and rear brakes.........Bingo!!!...........I'm not even gonna try and figure it out.........Still waiting to hear from Ridetech to see if their parts increased the turn radius so I can get the oil pan clearance issues resolved.......I'll call them again tomorrow.....

Ken

kwhizz · 10-30-2013, 04:59 PM

Now that the stupid Brake issues are gone......I took the day today and got all the Disc Brake emergency brake cables integrated into the system and it's all finished up and working perfectly........The wildwood expanding internal brakes built into the rotors are ......Lets just say a lot "Better" than the Seville rears used on the last couple swaps......Great job Wilwood!!!!...........I also started getting the console wiring made and installed .......doubled checked the Neutral safety switch and the back up light switch and everything works where and when it's supposed to......I also got the info on the turning radius of the Ridetech suspension.........It is a slightly larger turn radius than stock but they said not to worry about it.........So.......I'm not gonna worry......LOL........Time for a Nap!!!

Ken

TRC-SS · 10-30-2013, 07:44 PM

Absolutely SICK!!

Baer383 · 10-30-2013, 08:23 PM

Man that is a great build.

I was wondering though how many garbage bags of money does it take to do something like that.

kwhizz · 11-03-2013, 08:47 AM

Started the weekend off by starting to re-install the proportioning valve back into the brake system........LOL....My K-D Taiwan built flaring tool ended up being non-useable.......I should have bought one of those good ones for $200, but I thought that this $80 one would be able to make maybe at least 20 flares.........LOL........Wrong.........Advise to anyone doing this stuff......Don't buy any of this foreign "JUNK"...........
The next thing I had to deal with was after buying and installing the "Shiftworks" cable conversion kit for the console shifter.......Everything was fine until I installed the cable to the transmission........It seems the supplied cable was a little too short and didn't have enough length to allow for the cable's bend radius......the cable came right thru the floor and had to be bent straight down to the mounting bracket and bent again to fit the trans mount........So....I ended up having a Lokar cable laying around and after installing it.....everything was smooth......I just need to make some clevis adaptors to get everything to mate together...........
The Rick's tank showed up and I picked it up with the Impala (the only car around with a trunk big enough to fit).......got it home and "Wow".......what a quality piece of work......Great Job Rick's........

Neuf Cruz · 11-06-2013, 12:20 AM

Absolutely love ut and thank you for taking the time to DOC and share!

DJ-Silver 2SS · 11-06-2013, 08:00 AM

just sick brother... just makes me want to do another build.

gen=5 · 11-06-2013, 01:11 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=Nt5h209dU0A
http://blogs.hotrod.com/fastlanes-ch...#axzz2NLhge6As
CHECK OUT THIS 1969 CHEVELLE Its got a lsa transplant it was built this yr by fastlane,maybe it might help give you some Ideas..Anyway your 66 is freaking great,I would like to do a 69 Camaro with a complete drive train,tires,brakes,rear and interior also,now that would be cool !!!!

kwhizz · 11-10-2013, 12:57 PM

So.....I think one of the mysteries of the world was solved today.......Remember.....this is a just restored car when I bought it.....and......when I got it home I wanted to drive the car as it was for a while before taking it apart.......But...I found out the tail light circuit had some issues and would pop a fuse every time.......(no tail lights or Brake lights).......I unplugged everything to the back of the car and the fuse still popped........Hummm!!!.......I removed the fuse panel as it seemed that was all that was left......I found some issues on the back of the panel and straightened them out and thought I had everything fixed.....Put it back together and popped another fuse........That's when I decided to take the car apart and rewire the entire car.........
So....After getting the console wiring completed today I decided to re-install the console and check everything out.....while doing that I decided to just add power to the repro console clock just to make sure it worked..........I have a little dry cell 12v battery and added a couple of jumper wires for power........hit the terminals and "Zap!!!"...........checked it out again and "Zap!!!" again...........Hummmm!!!!.......Dead Short!!!........looked closer at the terminals and noticed that the Insulator washer was on top of the screwed down terminal rather than between the terminal and the case creating a dead short........Humm!!!.......Somebody in China wasn't told how to assemble the unit correctly........swapped the parts around and everything works correctly.........so ....the power feed for the console must be wired into the tail light circuit and now it seems the Clock was the problem all along..........Long winded story but maybe it will help somebody else with a similar issue downstream..........Heres a picture of the terminal after correction......still kinda hard to see and a Mickey Mouse way of getting the power thru the case....

kwhizz · 11-11-2013, 05:16 PM

Since I changed the shift cable assy on the trans.......I didn't like the way the mounting bracket presented the cable to the trans shift arm........so....I made a new bracket today and installed it when I got home.......Everything is now more in line and it shifts perfectly......I also got my kick panel speakers in from Custom Autosound......got them painted and noticed that the Parking Brake pedal nad the Speaker were fighting for the same space.......so......cut and rewelded the pedal over 1 1/4" and solved that issue.......another couple things crossed off the list.......

Ken

kwhizz · 11-12-2013, 09:32 PM

Got a couple of issues ironed out today......#1 was getting the oil pan/steering clearance issue resolved.......Now.....almost everyone with a Chevelle / A body LS swap has steering rod end/ oil pan clearance issues where some notching of the pan is required.........After getting the weight of the car on the front control arms today........I then started measuring everything with a load on the suspension.........what I had was a clearance issue turning to the left.....but turning to the right I had plenty of room between the rod end and the oil pan after hitting the steering stops.......so .....after checking every thing out I noticed that the center drag link was not centered to the engine.......after measuring everything six times......I went ahead and centered the drag link , then adjusted the steering rod ends to get everything balanced back out.....I now had clearance in both directions between the rod ends and the oil pan when at the travel limit in both directions..........Got Lucky......the engine must sit just high enough for things to work........

The next problem that needed to be resolved required the engine to be removed for the fix...... when I removed the original Camaro oil pan that had the factory engine coolant heat exchanger for cooling the engine oil........there was a fitting that fed the coolant out of the block to the cooler........when I removed that fitting , the sealant that the factory used ended up galling the thread while unscrewing the aluminum fitting........so ......the threads were screwed up in the block and needed to be repaired so I could screw in and seal the opening with a new fitting that I will make at the shop..........So......In checking the threads it ended up that GM uses a non standard thread.........M28x1.25 pitch...........you can get a 1.0 or a 1.5 mm pitch but not a 1.25.........so.....I had no choice other than to have a tap made by a specialty Tap manufacturer..........Now....Because the threads were galled in the block and didn't want to take a chance of the tap going in on a angle and making things worse.....I made a sleeve that was a slip fit for the tap so I could hold the sleeve on the sealing face of the hole ......this allowed me to keep the tap square ...............Held it in place and started tapping and I got Lucky as it picked up the existing threads and cleaned them out perfectly.......Cool.......I'll make a new fitting tomorrow and get the engine in for the last time ( I hope)........

Ken

Todd in Vancouver · 11-12-2013, 11:28 PM

Very cool build and nothing gets my attention more than a really cool Pro-tour build. Love the choice of engines for your transplant.

Sapper12b · 11-13-2013, 12:01 AM

You my friend are inspiring !

2014CamaroZL1 · 11-13-2013, 01:10 PM

Very, very nice !

On a similar note, spotted this at SEMA last week:

10-30-2013, 07:44 PM	#87
TRC-SS 700RWHP-650TQ Drives: 2011 Forged LS3 Supercharged/Cammed Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: Shrewsbury Massachusetts Posts: 5,269 View My Garage	Absolutely SICK!! __________________ View Build HERE>>>>>MY 2011 2SS/RS JOURNAL

10-30-2013, 08:23 PM	#88
Baer383 Drives: 2013 ZL1 Ashen Gray Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Lawrenceville,Ga Posts: 668	Man that is a great build. I was wondering though how many garbage bags of money does it take to do something like that. __________________ I don't have to know everything,I just need to know,what I need to know,when I need to know it! MODS, a lot of money,a lot of parts,a lot of time,a lot of patience. 754 RWHP 747 RWTQ 93 Octane http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=347243

11-06-2013, 12:20 AM	#90
Neuf Cruz Drives: 2011 LS Black on Black 6speed Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: South Beach Posts: 886	Absolutely love ut and thank you for taking the time to DOC and share! __________________ Roto-Fab CAI-Ported Throttle Body-Black Ice Isolator-Flow Master Axle Back-RX-Catch Can-Hurst Short Throw Shifter-Trifecta Tune\Ghost Cam Phantom Billet Grill-Billet Fuel Door-Side Gills-Headlight Armor Black Out Kit-Zenik Rims-Lowering Springs-MGP Caliper Covers-Dome\Trunk\Footwell Lighting.

11-06-2013, 08:00 AM	#91
DJ-Silver 2SS Ah DJ-IOM ZL1 haha Drives: 13 IOM ZL1 M6 & 10 SIM 2SS M6 Join Date: Jul 2009 Location: Hope Mills, NC Posts: 580 View My Garage	just sick brother... just makes me want to do another build. __________________ 2013 IOM ZL1 #002415 Born 09/13/12 2010 SIM 2SS/RS #005549 Born 05/02/09

11-06-2013, 01:11 PM	#92
gen=5 Drives: 13 ZL1 vert blac fastlane/LPE 750 Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: houston Posts: 1,312 View My Garage	http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=Nt5h209dU0A http://blogs.hotrod.com/fastlanes-ch...#axzz2NLhge6As CHECK OUT THIS 1969 CHEVELLE Its got a lsa transplant it was built this yr by fastlane,maybe it might help give you some Ideas..Anyway your 66 is freaking great,I would like to do a 69 Camaro with a complete drive train,tires,brakes,rear and interior also,now that would be cool !!!! __________________ http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=346589 CHECK OUT THE BUILDING OF MY RANCH FOR DISABLED VETS, COMPLETE WITH A GUN RANGE .

10-29-2013, 07:53 PM	#85
kwhizz Drives: 60's Muscle Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Kenosha, Wi Posts: 196	Two steps forward today........So......While waiting for my Princess to come home to help with Bleeding the brakes......I decided to wrap up another loose end.......I bought an American Autowire custom wire kit and needed to get in the trunk and get the rear harness in......along with the Dakota Digital LED tail lights.......Got everything installed and hooked up......the back of the car is now finished.......Checked on the Rick's Vaporworx Stainless tank and it is supposed to be shipping this week.......Now........Getting back to the brake issue....... I was taking the easy way out and bled the fronts first as I could do that somewhat easily as the steering column is still out so I could reach thru the firewall and work the brake pedal to get at least a partial pedal by doing the drivers side first....Absolutely wrong ....but by convienence I did it that way......So......I was told to do the rears first......Duhhhh!!!!........So....I removed the front brake line and installed the bench bleeder in the front chamber....when she got home we started bleeding the rears...........Nothing.....no pedal.....just a few drops of fluid...........Darn!!!............after 10 minutes of nothing happening......I decided to change brake lines around and hook the rear line to the front port and moved the bench bleeder stuff to the rear port........Started bleeding the rears using the front and it looked like a drinking fountain out of the rear calipers......so....the rear brakes lines were O.K...........switched the lines back to normal and I now have front and rear brakes.........Bingo!!!...........I'm not even gonna try and figure it out.........Still waiting to hear from Ridetech to see if their parts increased the turn radius so I can get the oil pan clearance issues resolved.......I'll call them again tomorrow..... Ken

10-30-2013, 04:59 PM	#86
kwhizz Drives: 60's Muscle Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Kenosha, Wi Posts: 196	Now that the stupid Brake issues are gone......I took the day today and got all the Disc Brake emergency brake cables integrated into the system and it's all finished up and working perfectly........The wildwood expanding internal brakes built into the rotors are ......Lets just say a lot "Better" than the Seville rears used on the last couple swaps......Great job Wilwood!!!!...........I also started getting the console wiring made and installed .......doubled checked the Neutral safety switch and the back up light switch and everything works where and when it's supposed to......I also got the info on the turning radius of the Ridetech suspension.........It is a slightly larger turn radius than stock but they said not to worry about it.........So.......I'm not gonna worry......LOL........Time for a Nap!!! Ken

11-03-2013, 08:47 AM	#89
kwhizz Drives: 60's Muscle Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Kenosha, Wi Posts: 196	Started the weekend off by starting to re-install the proportioning valve back into the brake system........LOL....My K-D Taiwan built flaring tool ended up being non-useable.......I should have bought one of those good ones for $200, but I thought that this $80 one would be able to make maybe at least 20 flares.........LOL........Wrong.........Advise to anyone doing this stuff......Don't buy any of this foreign "JUNK"........... The next thing I had to deal with was after buying and installing the "Shiftworks" cable conversion kit for the console shifter.......Everything was fine until I installed the cable to the transmission........It seems the supplied cable was a little too short and didn't have enough length to allow for the cable's bend radius......the cable came right thru the floor and had to be bent straight down to the mounting bracket and bent again to fit the trans mount........So....I ended up having a Lokar cable laying around and after installing it.....everything was smooth......I just need to make some clevis adaptors to get everything to mate together........... The Rick's tank showed up and I picked it up with the Impala (the only car around with a trunk big enough to fit).......got it home and "Wow".......what a quality piece of work......Great Job Rick's........

11-10-2013, 12:57 PM	#93
kwhizz Drives: 60's Muscle Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Kenosha, Wi Posts: 196	So.....I think one of the mysteries of the world was solved today.......Remember.....this is a just restored car when I bought it.....and......when I got it home I wanted to drive the car as it was for a while before taking it apart.......But...I found out the tail light circuit had some issues and would pop a fuse every time.......(no tail lights or Brake lights).......I unplugged everything to the back of the car and the fuse still popped........Hummm!!!.......I removed the fuse panel as it seemed that was all that was left......I found some issues on the back of the panel and straightened them out and thought I had everything fixed.....Put it back together and popped another fuse........That's when I decided to take the car apart and rewire the entire car......... So....After getting the console wiring completed today I decided to re-install the console and check everything out.....while doing that I decided to just add power to the repro console clock just to make sure it worked..........I have a little dry cell 12v battery and added a couple of jumper wires for power........hit the terminals and "Zap!!!"...........checked it out again and "Zap!!!" again...........Hummmm!!!!.......Dead Short!!!........looked closer at the terminals and noticed that the Insulator washer was on top of the screwed down terminal rather than between the terminal and the case creating a dead short........Humm!!!.......Somebody in China wasn't told how to assemble the unit correctly........swapped the parts around and everything works correctly.........so ....the power feed for the console must be wired into the tail light circuit and now it seems the Clock was the problem all along..........Long winded story but maybe it will help somebody else with a similar issue downstream..........Heres a picture of the terminal after correction......still kinda hard to see and a Mickey Mouse way of getting the power thru the case....

11-11-2013, 05:16 PM	#94
kwhizz Drives: 60's Muscle Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Kenosha, Wi Posts: 196	Since I changed the shift cable assy on the trans.......I didn't like the way the mounting bracket presented the cable to the trans shift arm........so....I made a new bracket today and installed it when I got home.......Everything is now more in line and it shifts perfectly......I also got my kick panel speakers in from Custom Autosound......got them painted and noticed that the Parking Brake pedal nad the Speaker were fighting for the same space.......so......cut and rewelded the pedal over 1 1/4" and solved that issue.......another couple things crossed off the list....... Ken

11-12-2013, 09:32 PM	#95
kwhizz Drives: 60's Muscle Join Date: Sep 2012 Location: Kenosha, Wi Posts: 196	Got a couple of issues ironed out today......#1 was getting the oil pan/steering clearance issue resolved.......Now.....almost everyone with a Chevelle / A body LS swap has steering rod end/ oil pan clearance issues where some notching of the pan is required.........After getting the weight of the car on the front control arms today........I then started measuring everything with a load on the suspension.........what I had was a clearance issue turning to the left.....but turning to the right I had plenty of room between the rod end and the oil pan after hitting the steering stops.......so .....after checking every thing out I noticed that the center drag link was not centered to the engine.......after measuring everything six times......I went ahead and centered the drag link , then adjusted the steering rod ends to get everything balanced back out.....I now had clearance in both directions between the rod ends and the oil pan when at the travel limit in both directions..........Got Lucky......the engine must sit just high enough for things to work........ The next problem that needed to be resolved required the engine to be removed for the fix...... when I removed the original Camaro oil pan that had the factory engine coolant heat exchanger for cooling the engine oil........there was a fitting that fed the coolant out of the block to the cooler........when I removed that fitting , the sealant that the factory used ended up galling the thread while unscrewing the aluminum fitting........so ......the threads were screwed up in the block and needed to be repaired so I could screw in and seal the opening with a new fitting that I will make at the shop..........So......In checking the threads it ended up that GM uses a non standard thread.........M28x1.25 pitch...........you can get a 1.0 or a 1.5 mm pitch but not a 1.25.........so.....I had no choice other than to have a tap made by a specialty Tap manufacturer..........Now....Because the threads were galled in the block and didn't want to take a chance of the tap going in on a angle and making things worse.....I made a sleeve that was a slip fit for the tap so I could hold the sleeve on the sealing face of the hole ......this allowed me to keep the tap square ...............Held it in place and started tapping and I got Lucky as it picked up the existing threads and cleaned them out perfectly.......Cool.......I'll make a new fitting tomorrow and get the engine in for the last time ( I hope)........ Ken

11-12-2013, 11:28 PM	#96
Todd in Vancouver Drives: 2014 ZL1 Join Date: Oct 2013 Location: Vancouver, BC Posts: 1,538 View My Garage	Very cool build and nothing gets my attention more than a really cool Pro-tour build. Love the choice of engines for your transplant. __________________ Todd in Vancouver '14 ZL1 Camaro '67 Camaro SS Pro-tour in process How hard can it be... Check out my other build http://www.pro-touring.com/threads/9...ject-Obsession

11-13-2013, 12:01 AM	#97
Sapper12b HTCC Member Drives: 2013 Camaro SS Join Date: Dec 2012 Location: Houston, Texas Posts: 1,868 View My Garage	You my friend are inspiring ! __________________

11-13-2013, 01:10 PM	#98
2014CamaroZL1 Drives: 2014 CRT ZL1 Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Central NJ Posts: 712	Very, very nice ! On a similar note, spotted this at SEMA last week:

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