Chris's 66 Chevelle upgrade

[kwhizz]

Got the radiator and fans installed today....... plenty of clearance with the front of the Holley Accy drive set-up........ Also got the Holley 2 pc valve covers installed which hide the coils and wiring....... Moving forward........

[Postsedan]

Those are great looking Valve Covers....Well Done, as usual

Dan

[Xplantdad]

Agreed...looks awesome!

[kwhizz]

A little update....... I have the fuel lines fabricated and installed.....cross that off the list....Also got the wires installed from the fuel level sensor in the Rick's tank to the dash for the Dakota Digital gauges..... Got lucky with the driveshaft as I had one in the garage that was fabricated for the Blue Chevelle that I couldn't use back then and it fit perfectly....
So........... So before the headers get installed and I decided to get the Dakota Digital shift position indicator installed while I had the extra room along with the Lokar Cable shift assy that will be hooked up to the column shifter.....Neat assy and the neutral safety switch function is controlled thru the Dakota Digital indicator and a Relay........ Great set-up.......
Now..... The one issue that came up was with the Holley valve covers..... They are two piece construction with the upper half just being cosmetic coil covers to clean up the LS look...... They are designed to work with Gen1 and Gen5 coils so the coil portion that the spark plug wire goes on will pass thru the existing clearance hole in the covers....... the coils that come with the GM connect and cruise LS 3 engines are different.......So, I wasn't about to buy new coils so I had to modify the lid openings to clear......... Not a big deal as the look is worth the extra effort and the modifications can't be seen when the covers are installed......Just need more parts to show up now .......

[Xplantdad]

Very cool Ken!

[kwhizz]

Ordered the stainless full length headers and complete exhaust system from Holley/Hooker and everything arrived today........Read the instructions and it said the headers should be installed from the bottom....... Since I already had the car on jackstands ... Well you know the story......Since I am a graduate of the header installation school I really wasn't looking forward to this experience.....LOL.......Wow !!!!...... 5 minutes a side and everything was installed........Slipped right up and in position.......Crazy......Got the valve/coil covers installed along with the spark plug wires........ these headers are the ultimate design......Spark plugs .... No clearance issues at all......Amazing....... I can't say enough about the thoughtful design for this custom installation....

[bobbezss]

Looks awesome Ken. Can't wait to see it this summer.

[kwhizz]

Got the transmission cooling lines routed and installed, also the O2 sensors installed and wired.... and another improvement we wanted to do was install a cable shifter from the column to the trans..... when originally built I put a Lokar rod assy in..... but the problem there was that when accelerating sometimes with the engine movement it would downshift the trans..... I bought the Lokar cable column kit....... but it's needs modifications to actually work with the 4L70 trans..... the cable mount bracket on the trans hits the bump out on the trans pan but you just need to cut about 2" of the bracket away ..... no problem...... The column mount as designed just won't work.... so I fabricated a a little pivot mount bracket to suit and welded it in position on the frame.....Simple but a PIA to remove the inner fender panel to have access to get at it for welding...... All done now and it works perfectly.....

[NorCam]

Nice work and great attention to detail as per usual Ken. Is this a stock LS3 your using? And if so...what are the hp/tq specs on this setup.

[kwhizz]

It's the 480 H.P. version which is now rated at 495 H.P........4L70E trans