Mr. G. Brettin's Slow Motion Leg Hump

gbrettin

Took a measurement and put a belt on. Someone suggested that I put an idler pully on so that I don't throw belts. I had just the idler pully on my low mount alt setup so I just took that and applied the idler to my new setup. Quite happy with the belt system now.

Finished cutting the plate steel for the power steering mount. Now you should be able to see how the MA Motorsports cage will sit in the plate steel. Next step is to get the engine and transmission in the car so I can see how close the mount can get to the pan. Ideally the PS pump will be higher than the K-member...

ZontheRocks

Continues to be straight bonkers. Love it!

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'16 Pearl White Sport | Stillen Gen. 3 | Motordyne ART | Motordyne Shockwave | ZSpeed | Powertrix | EVO-R | Aeroworkz | Nismo | Z1 | EcuTek | Tuned by Seb @ SpecialtyZ

gbrettin

To state the obvious... I loaded the engine and transmission into the chassis.

There's a few more things happening that are not as obvious at first glance, but have been mentioned leading up to this point such as fitment. A few notable items are the valve covers being more shallow so I can change the plugs, passenger mid mount alt (single accessory item) for weight distribution to passenger and ease of maintenance, black steel-it engine bay easily repainted due to scratches (touched up after putting in engine), air to water plenum removed weight off the nose of car, Motion Raceworks cold side charge tubes are independent and easily removable for maintenance (aluminum charge tubes will be added when the cage goes in). There's more things, but you get the idea... There's A LOT that goes into packaging because everything gets in the way of other stuff that was completed. I'm not out of the woods yet. The remote power steering reservoir and PS pump must be mounted yet. Both of the ideal mount locations still seem viable, specifically the under engine mount (see picture under car).

Getting the power plant loaded was quite the task because I did it myself. The lift cart was the thing that made it possible. The cart put the transmission at the same height as the dangling engine. I've got to say... dangling thousands of dollars off the ground was a bit unsettling now that I look back at it... but hey, how else will it get in there?

Bottom line... this was a big deal getting the engine in the car because it's about to get REALLY cold. I don't want the engine and transmission hanging out not in the car. The engine stand that I was using had a really bad gangster lean.

Last thoughts.... 4L80e is F'n heavy... Transmission is in and I can now re-measure the drive shaft and change the u-joint so that I can mate it to the Winters Quick Change.

Lemme know if you have any thoughts or questions. Thanks for reading! or maybe just picture viewing?

gbrettin

It's been a month since I last posted, because I've been insane-o busy completing my degree. I am completely done! It was a complete pain in the a$$ so I'm happy to turn the page on that to focus on other items now... Including my hobbies.

Over the month I did manage to take a few breaks to wrench on my car to get away from work/school grind. It turns out that my ICT mid mount didn't work. The accessory was switched to truck spacing from Fbody so that the full sized alt doesn't hit the valve cover. This change has had cascading impact which required me to change the water pump to a 417 Motorsports manifold (again) and the ATI damper length needs to extend. Both of those parts have been purchased.

The mid mount electric power steering fits perfect after I fabricobbled the mount. Dave Diehl with Auto Dynamix TIG welded. Pictures tell the story. Something notable, rubber nipples (lol) were put over the k member bolts so they act as a rubber isolator .

sx moneypit

Car is looking great!Congratulations on getting your degree!!!!

gbrettin

Put the final touches on the power steering mount with steel-it. Added some blue loctite on the bolts to the PS pump and then added red loctite to the bolts under the car, don't want to drop the PS due to vibrations. Didn't get any pictures under the car while doing the final install.... OH, one cool thing that I added was nylon spacers that slipped over the bolt. I wanted a bot more surface area w/ vibration dampening. The small details add up!

Steam vents and return line need to be setup differently because the lower plenum's belly sits really close to the valley pan. After installing the plenum, I noticed that the plenum was missing a plug on the bottom of the lower plenum.... Might need to take the plenum back off. oh well. About 90% of the wiring is in the right place now and plugged in.

I'm going to run the MS3 wiring and ECU until 2026. All the wiring will get re-done into bulk head milspec connectors, ECU changed to Fuel Tech, and all the OEM wiring ripped out for a solid state PDM. This will remove all the gangle of the dangle with wires. BUT!!! I'm not going to let perfection get in the way of good enough right now. I don't like half measures, but the MS3 wiring harness is really damn good.

I'll take off the plenum and get the plug in, fuel rails, and injectors in over the next couple days. The return line will need a different route so ill need to check in to some Earls fittings. The steam vent lines will dump into the 417 motorsports manifold, I'll show you that later.

cv129

This is some craziness!

Congrats on finishing your degree!

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