1955 Pontiac LS upgrade

[Xplantdad]

Originally Posted by m22mike

Ken
Nice to see you keeping involved with another cool project, pace yourself and try not to miss any naps

Mike

And keep those hands clear of any dangers!!

[BJCHEV396]

Got my popcorn!

[A12pilot]

Sweet! I'm so here, man!!

Cheers
Dave

[kwhizz]

Got the #605 box today…… Pitman arm and the box have the same splines...... Amazingly two of the stock frame bolt holes lined up perfectly ……. I will just need to add 1 hole for mounting...… Got Lucky.....Aftermarket steering column on order along with universal joints allowing for any slight mis-alignment......and after getting the box mounted it looks like we will have room for Headers if required........

[kwhizz]

The frame is not similar to the normal 55-57 Chevy Frames...… The box is now permanetly.in place...… The upper two mount holes lined up and I was going to drill a 3/4" hole thru the frame and weld in a piece of round rod with a bolt hole in it for the third bolt......After I started drilling the hole with a smaller size drill I noticed there was a frame gusset in the frame....... Ended up I just drilled the hole thru to suit the mounting bolt and everything cleared perfectly right next to the gusset so there was no need to weld the tubing in for support...... Too simple...… Just had to shim the box out about an 1/8" to clear interference between the box and the frame...…..

[kwhizz]

Did some more disassembly this morning........ Got all the wires that will be replaced with the rewire out...... Removed the make shift trans tunnel ……. There are some rust holes thru the front floor pans so we will be replacing them along with fixing the trans tunnel.....Lot's of parts showing up next week

[kwhizz]

Got the steering column in and got the connection to the box finished ……… Going to put a Patch panel on the Passenger side Floor pan .....… I'll be welding that in today after treating the floor with some Rust remover to get rid of the surface Rust, then treating the floor with Boeshield to help prevent further surface rust...… Engine will be here tomorrow and then the real assy will begin

[kwhizz]

Got the Floor patch panel welded in today and got the drivetrain delivered to the house...… I thought I was going to be able to save Jeff and Judy some $$ by being able to use the as delivered oil pan..…… Wrong...…. Luckily I have a new 302-2 Holley pan in the garage...….. It will have a new home shortly...….



LS3 480H.P. 4L70E trans......

[kwhizz]

Got the engine mount adaptor plates installed along with getting the pan changed ……..

[kwhizz]

Well..... Got the engine in and now that wide open engine compartment is getting full...… Mainly on the driver side....When Jeff had the car converted to 4 wheel disc brakes previously.....they used the space available with the SBC in place while changing from the floor pedal to the firewall mount power system.....So...… A couple of things popped up after getting the LS 3 in place...#1... I think we may have to change the power booster assy over to a Hydro-Boost system to gain needed space (Vacuum Booster and Coils are fighting for the same space) to provide the needed space and still provide Judy with the Braking she needs...…… #2...…. I installed a Holley 302-2 pan.....Thought there would be plenty of room...…. LOL....We will have to change the pan out to a 302-1...… (Centerlink hit's the -2 pan while going thru the steering range..... The -1 has an additional 1 1/2 clearance)…… The sump area is shorter on the -1 pan......Things you find out as the process continues.....Darn !!!!………. I'm making a new trans crossmember tomorrow so that with get the engine mounting completed...…Also it seems like there is going to be a major clearance issue with the driver side exhaust The next problem for another day...….. Two steps forward, one step back...…..