74 NovaMan's 1979 Chevy Truck - LS Swap - 5/6 Drop

[74NovaMan]

Got the O2 bungs installed on the headers. Drill hole:



Bolt on bung:





This helped to flatten out the steel against the bung and certainly held it in place nicely for welding. I took the headers to the local exhaust shop and they welded them up for me. I thought about trying it myself but I'm not very practiced with the wire feed and for $30 it was worth it to have a pro do it.

[74NovaMan]

Truck stance with motor and trans in. The front springs are very stiff.

[74NovaMan]

The transmission was rebuilt a couple of years ago and pretty much empty. Somehow I still managed to spring a leak. Seems to be coming from the corner of the pan.

[74NovaMan]

Tran cross member in place. Need to drill holes and bolt it down.

[74NovaMan]

This picture from the front shows that the bottom of the stock oil pan is nearly flush with the frame. Exactly where we want it.

[74NovaMan]

As it turns out, the holes were far enough off I just drilled new ones. I used 2 thick washers in front and 1 in the back.

[DanStokes]

That's my plan. I just need to buy or borrow a die grinder. Do you have any recommendations?

I have a pair of Ingersol-Rands, one angle and one straight. They weren't too pricey and have held up well. You have to oil them from time to time (I use Marvel Mystery Oil) or they won't hold up. When you fire 'em up after oiling they spray everywhere so don't start them near anything you want to paint later (all these are lessons learned in The School of Hard Knocks - I'm still enrolled). Buy decent burrs and they last, too. I had cheap ones and they get nasty and dull quickly. I bought my current ones at an industrial supply place which happens to also be our Parker store - your area may differ.

Dan

[Captain]

I have one I bought years ago at Menards.
I did get better bits at a swap meet, but standard bits, (not stones) will work on that frame metal.
Fastenal has bits also, I don't know where you are at in Wisconsin, Tomah area has both.

[silver_bullet]

Northern Tool has decent selection as well as the bits....

[74NovaMan]

Can you hit those holes with the die grinder and make 'em fit? Seems like a little ovaling and a stout washer and you'd be there.

Dan

That's my plan. I just need to buy or borrow a die grinder. Do you have any recommendations?

[DanStokes]

Can you hit those holes with the die grinder and make 'em fit? Seems like a little ovaling and a stout washer and you'd be there.

Dan

[74NovaMan]

After I get that dialed in I'll need to mount the new trans crossmember then it's off to the races!

[74NovaMan]

The motor mounts fought me. I had to loosen up everything on the frame and will likely add shims under the upper mount to make sure that the motor mounts are not strained. You can get some idea of how far off the mounts are in the picture below.

[74NovaMan]

In she goes:

[DanStokes]

You can measure those gaps with a ruler! When I had my 318 Dakota it started running like crap at about 100K miles and I finally thought to pull the plugs. They looked about like this and evidently were OEM. A new set of plugs (I went crazy and did cap, rotor, and wires, too) and it ran like a watch but with less ticking.

Dan