[KingLT1]

Didn't get it.

[L78toLT1]

While I have posted related info on this project on other links, I thought I would update this one to tie things together and let everyone know that I haven’t given up!
The machine shop had to deck my block to clean up a small imperfection adjacent to one of the cylinders, so I ordered custom thickness gaskets from Cometic to maintain close to the stock compression ratio. The new gaskets took a couple of weeks to arrive which set me back a bit. Rather than let the car sit idle until the gaskets arrived, I decided to install the short block. In hindsight, I’m thinking this may be the best way to go for an M6 car. I picked up an inch or so of clearance for the oil pan by loosening the cradle bolts, I then jacked the front of the tranny up as high as it would go, angled the motor to match and slid them together. Working with just the short block may have provided slightly more clearance/wiggle room to properly align the motor & trans. This was my first time on this platform, so I can’t say for certain that working without the heads helped, all I know is that, working alone, I got the motor and trans bolted together in a couple of minutes. Once the gaskets arrived, I installed the heads using ARP head bolts. While completing assembly of the long block in the car was not quite as convenient as working on the stand, it was not bad at all.
This past Saturday, I finished everything up underneath and reinstalled the blower (glad I saved the instruction booklet from Magnuson). I reused the fuel lines for the HPFP and injectors; hopefully I won’t have a fuel leak and need to remove the blower again. I was excited to be nearing the end of the installation phase of the project, I thought for sure I would hear the motor run for the first time in months. Unfortunately, when I poured in the coolant, it poured right back out on the floor. I investigated and found that the leak was in the passenger side radiator tank. Upon removing the radiator, a major PITA, I discovered that the leak was caused by using the incorrect bolt to attach the fan assembly to the radiator. I had all the radiator related hardware bagged and tagged but still managed to swap some hardware used to attach the fan to the radiator. I used a bolt that was around .10 too long. You can see from the pics where the bolt contacted the radiator and started threading itself into the tank. The GM engineers knew this was very close, there is a recessed area in the tank to provide clearance for the bolt. I guess I just got lucky when I installed the blower tie first time as I had to remove the fan assembly that time as well. You cannot see this condition with the radiator in the car. The fact that the radiator tanks have a recessed area that basically serves as a starter hole for the bolt results in not feeling any additional resistance when installing the bolt. I was using a ¼ ratchet, if not for the clearance depression built into the radiator, I’m sure I would have felt it when the bolt bottomed out against the radiator. Anyway, rather than trying to salvage this radiator, I ordered a new one from GMPartsNow.com ($390 with shipping). I’m hoping it will arrive sometime this week. I’m damn ready to hear this thing run again!! If all goes well, my next post will include an idle clip. I know several guys are interested to hear what my JRE smooth idle cam sounds like.
Here are a few progress pics. I don’t mean to overdo it on the radiator issue but this is a very easy mistake to make. I hope this info may save others the cost of a new radiator.

[laynlo15]

Dam. Man we learn some things a little to late don't we. Your real close for sure

[L78toLT1]

Originally Posted by laynlo15

Dam. Man we learn some things a little to late don't we. Your real close for sure

That we do! I hope the damn radiator arrves soon but I'm not getting my hopes up. When i checked gmpartsdirect, it said this was a special order part that would take 7 - 10 days, possibly more to arrive. Gmpartsnow didn't have the same disclaimer so i ordered from them. Price was essentially the same.
Believe it or not, I'm an extremely careful, meticulous guy. Every damn bolt in the motor went back in its original hole, every wire tie was replaced and secured in the factory location. I can't believe i made that bone headed mistake and trashed my radiator. In my own defense though, that was a very east mistake to make.

[L78toLT1]

The worst part of this is that my wife is out of town all week! I know when she returns she will be hot to trot to finish the kitchen remodel that I've been working concurrent with my car project.