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Chris's 66 Chevelle upgrade
A little past history on this car....... I bought it back in 2005 and did the Body and Paint, suspension, brakes, and added a 406 small block and 700R4 trans....... Great car... Took it on it's first of many Power Tour Long Haul's in 2006..... My son Chris got the car in 2010 and continued the tradition of driving on the Road Tours
https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...s/DSC01817.jpg https://hosting.photobucket.com/albu...s/DSC01812.jpg So...... Fast forward to 2020 and we did the 1st Barrett-Jackson Road Tour and I was driving my LSA powered 66 Chevelle (just turned 34,000 trouble free miles) and Chris had the 406 powered car........ After driving and comparing the differences I finally convinced him to swap out the Old School to Modern Technology ......and so it starts..... LOL...... Bought a LS 3 connect and cruise 4L70E set-up, Ricks Tank with a Vaporworx fuel pressure set-up, adding a HydraBoost, Dakota Digital Dash and controllers, also a Holley mid mount front drive assy to clean things up, and a Hooker LS mounting kit....... https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds Here we go !!!! |
It's been a while since we've seen a kwhizz project we could follow along with. Hope all is well Ken - Merry Christmas!
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Both beautiful Chevelles. What where the mpg's for each Chevelle on the tours?
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Chris got about 16mpg and I got 22.7
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No surprise here....I new exactly where this thread was going :)
Welcome Back! Love it! Be safe. Dan |
Ken should be about done now...LOL:headbang:
LS master:worship: |
Got the Holley 302-3 oil pan installed...... also the Holley mid mount front drive assy.....the Holley / Hooker forward bias engine mounts arrived and were installed....
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Also the Rick's Tank and Carls Vaporworx PWM fuel pressure control system are here.......
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Included in the Holley / Hooker install kit is the transmission crossmember...... Boy.....30 minutes and it was done....what a treat to get something that actually fits as it should..... there are two mounting plates that bolt right into the existing frame holes ..... bolt it in and drill two hole thru the side frame, bolt it in and you are done......And the side mounts have all the various mounting holes designed in to accommodate all transmission variations ......
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Got my morning coffee going :)
Love it! Dan |
Looking great as always Ken!!
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LS swap the World, by KWIZZ.
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Cool project. Whacha doing with that old dinosaur-technology 406? ;)
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Ken Tibor...
Looks like the 'old man' is back in action :3gears:
-wilma :santa: |
Quote:
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Got the Rick's tank plumbed and ready to install with the Vaporworx sensor and wiring......Simple day without any issues.....
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I was waiting to install the engine assy until I got the proper transmission cooling line fittings and lines installed as there isn't what you would say "access" to that area once everything is installed.......Finally got everything ready for install after ordering the wrong fittings twice (lot's of confusion in the ordering process with the threads on the fittings).... After getting the trans lines in I forgot to take a couple of pictures of what I did......Darn !!!........ Getting these lines installed is one of the bigger problem area's of LS installs......
So....Using the Holley Engine Trans install kit I decided to give it a try and see if there were any issues...... Again, the Holley kit is engineered perfectly as the engine and trans slid in and bolted right up....... Wow.... Great to buy something that actually does what it's supposed to do....... Another one of my concerns was in my choice to buy the Holley Mid-Mount front drive assy..... I was told there would be a clearance issue with the power steering pump reservoir and the steering box...... We are installing a Hydra Boost so I decided to gamble and buy the unit anyway....... That was the first thing I looked at after installing the engine..... Plenty of room......the gamble paid off ........ I also bought some shorty headers that were supposed to fit..... LOL.... Just ordered the Hooker long tubes headers designed by Holley so I know the will fit when they get here......... Again... I realize I can't afford "Cheap" stuff !!!!...... LOL.... Now to get the wiring sorted out and hidden..... https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds |
My coffee is brewing :)
Dan |
Very nice Ken!:beers:
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In addition to the new Hooker headers I also ordered the complete Hooker exhaust system engineered for this install..... Here's a pic of the Engine with the wires moved so you can actually see it...... LOL....... Chris also bought a set of Holley valve covers which hide the coils and wiring.......Gonna wait till I get the headers installed before going any further on the engine so I don't get ahead of myself....
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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........
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Those are great looking Valve Covers....Well Done, as usual :)
Dan |
Agreed...looks awesome!:headbang:
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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 ....... https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds |
Very cool Ken! :beers:
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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....
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66
Looks awesome Ken. Can't wait to see it this summer.
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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.....
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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.
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It's the 480 H.P. version which is now rated at 495 H.P........4L70E trans
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Moving along...... Got the new A/C lines installed.... Then I had the "PLEASURE" of installing the Holley stainless exhaust system..... Took about 45 minutes, what a work of art..... So Impressed with everything purchased from Holley...... Again, Really nice to get what you pay for where everything actually fits and works as Designed....
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Very cool!
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Got the Modules mounted and out of the way...... The mountain of wires are slowly disappearing......
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That LS is really looking Good in that engine bay!
As always....looks Great! I hope to see you at Mundelein this Summer. Dan |
Been a while since a update...... Got everything hooked up and wired in the engine compartment....... Next we have to pull the Dash out of the car for the Dakota Digital Gage conversion and adding the modules.....Still waiting for the Hydra-Boost system to arrive for completion........ The wiring in the Engine compartment has mostly been cleaned up enough to be presentable without cutting up the GM harness.......Here are some new pictures......
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Looks really clean, Ken! :headbang::worship:
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Look'in good!
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The part I have been putting off is now here...... Time to get this mess cleaned up.... The good thing is with the Dakota Digital stuff going in 75% of the wires you see will be non functional........
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Lotso wires!!:shocked: :no: :ooo:
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Is that a piece of romex used for part of the dash wiring?
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