Hi Boganspeed

Cool project mate and some nice toy's not to mention.
I'm a local as well , just wondering if your interested in selling the 928 engine that you pulled out.

PM sent Runningman

I have been so slack with this car ! I'm slightly ashamed to say i havent achieved anything since my last pics except for passing my old engine and accessories on to Runningman, I hope he finds the bits usefull.

Anyway, this weekend I promised myself (and my mum, who seems to think this car is being built for her) that I would put my hands on the car.
I'd intended to clean the filthy engine bay, then start looking at the wiring harness and adaptor mounts etc needed to poke the chevy into the hole at the front of the car.
Sadly, events such as a mate with a festering arm requiring medical attention and Mothers Day got in the way and i only achieved one of these. But at least it's something.

A bit of time with some degreaser, a brush and a pressure washer and now I can touch it without getting black hands.

Before, lots of oil and crap in the engine bay


and as it is now, after I transfered all of the oil and crap from the engine bay to my legs and face.


Next thing is find some earth cable and crimps so i can start replacing earth straps as I go. I tried to find some today but nothing suitable. Will try during the week when more shops are open. Next weekend I will try and get some more done to the car, no promises though !

Ha ha. Life is how it is. I'm glad your still progressing at least. Great job in getting that engine bay cleaned up.

Did a few little things today in the small amount of time I had available.

Basically removed the old bellhousing and fitted the new one which took a bit of drilling and a trip to get some shorter mounting bolts to bolt the adaptor to the torque tube.

New bellhousing, ready to go.


Some idiot



I think I just discovered something bad.
In order to get the original engine mounts off so i can replace them with my custom ones, it looks like I have to remove the steering rack !
What a pig, i was kind of looking at removing it anyway though but had almost decided not to.
oh well.

Another problem I discovered.
I thought the engine mounts for the Australian LS1 powered cars (like the Pontiac GTO shipped to you guys in the states) would use the same engine mounts as the US cars like the camaro which is the basis of the engine for this kit.

Turns out this isn't the case, so i have to chase down some engine mounts.

Aussie engine mount


Engine mount adapter (single hole bolts to cross member.

Looking good!

Right, so I dropped the rack down far enough to get the motor mounts undone and removed, turned out to be easy.
I can now fit the adaptors but am in two minds as to whether I want to tighten them right up and forget about them or leave them a little loose until the motor is in and then tighten them up. I'm scared about the amount of room I'll have.

The other thing is that I have confirmed the rubber engine mounts I have are wrong and finding the right ones ('98-'02 Camaro/Firebird) in Australia is a bit of a challenge so i have asked Renegade Hybrids in 'Vegas to race a set over to me.
Unfortunately i wont have them by this weekend so maybe I can drop the motor in next weekend.

I was at a Porsche wrecker the other day and he scared me by saying my three speed will have a conniption as soon as I lean on it with the bigger motor.
So I sent email to 928 Motorsports and they have confirmed that the three speed is plenty strong for what I'm doing. Renegade's already told me the same, so it was comforting to get further confirmation.

So, the big day came today. Time to get the motor in.
I had some nagging questions about this conversion and this being a right hand drive car and the kits being all fitted to left hand drives.

Turns out, my first concern was right.

I decided, in a rush of unprecedented maturity, that I will get a modifaction permit for this and make it all legal.
So off came the headers and on went the stock manifolds.

This is where I discovered i had an issue.
The right hand manifold sits out further than the left to clear the starter motor.
This of course isnt an issue on left hand drive cars.
But in my case, the exhaust outlet points right at the steering shaft.
Not to worry, I expected the worst but hoped for the best, we'll revisit the headers and see what can be done to make them fit.

But anyway, it's in.
Thanks to my good mate Shayno for the help today.





Another thing that worried me was whether my fancy engine covers would fit, turns out they do, which is great ! Might change the colour though...I'll see.

Another achievement today were these steel stands we knocked up at Shayno's workshop out of scrap.

They are 200mm wide by 100mm high, the base is two welded side by side so we got 400 wide and 300mm under the tyres, now there's enough room under there for my fat arse and more !
We put some angle iron on the front stands to make sure the car doesnt go anywhere, but the hand brake works and it's super stable.

Note how high the front of the car still sits even with the new motor ? The chev is much lighter than the Porsche engine.
Looks like there'll be some new springs coming soon.