While not complete there has been considerable progress.
Let's begin with the Flaming River rack. As some of ya'lls might know, I decided to go with the FR bolt-in manual rack to replace my somewhat tired and not so accurate stock steering box. All in all it went in without too much hassle and came out looking something like the following:
View from passenger side:
View from driver side:
Close up view of linkage:
Steering input coming through firewall. You can also see the clutch MC:
So it was all cool until the motor got slipped in. Ruh-roh. It seems FR designed the rack to work with a GenI and the F-Body pan on a GenIII just slightly touched the cradle for the rack. It will have to be pulled and modified with a slight notch and reinforcement. I've brought this to the attention of FR and they say they'll take a look at the issue. For those considering this rack with a GenIII in a C3, know that you'll have to modify the cradle, or wait until FR provides an updated design.
In the following pictures you can see how the modified heater pipes coming out of the water pump just barely clear the stock control arm:
One of the few, and frankly unsuspected get lucky moments was when we discovered that the stock drive shaft from the 82' works as is with the GenIII and T56 when using the Vette Works motor mount adapters and the stock Dana 44 rear-end. Since I hope to be putting *only* about 400HP to the ground the stock shaft and (rebuilt) rear end should be just fine.
One of the many, and frankly unsuspected get unlucky moments was when I realized my mechanic was right when he said Painless Wiring should be called Pain in the Ass Wiring. Run lengths to sensors were crap for this installation. You'd have to practically undue and re-bundle the harness. I thought it included wiring for fan control, but nope. Also, the fact it contained all the hookups for a manual and an automatic made it even messier. Yet another example of where trying to be all things to all people just doesn't work. So I returned it to our good friends at Summit and got a more purpose built harness from Speed Scene Wiring. With them you can talk about your application and they'll customize lengths. It also includes fan control with the GM OEM connectors, reverse lockout, backup lights, and only the trans sensors you need for your application. The stupid part is the total cost is virtually the same as the Painless. I've decided to go ahead and pull the stock ECM and harness completely and install the GenIII ECM in the stock location. This should go a great deal towards making a very clean install once it's all done.
The Pro5 shifter came up in about the right place, but is pretty big, so we'll need to do a bit of modification to the trans tunnel to get it to come up nicely. And of course, we'll need an offset to get it to come out of the right place on the plate.
Oh yeah, the engine is in. We should be ready for the first fire up in about a month. Assuming I can get a tune and (gulp) pass the California engine swap referee I plan on taking it to Super Chevy in March; held this year at beautiful Fontana Speedway.
My mechanic/installer (ls1z28) is in the picture. I was very fortunate to find a guy who is patient and dedicated to doing things the right way for durable use, clean appearance and complete functionality.
