Its been few weeks, but porgress!

I felt like I was not getting anywhere so I put the rear interior in. Just doing that made big difference in motivation.

I know it looks like a rats nest now, but I have gotten some progress. ECM mounted, fuse blocks and I know where I am going to mount the 2 stage rev limiter now.

Also hooked the ground wire up for the motor. Last time I had a large sheet metal screw I used bolt this time with a aircraft nut. I ground down to raw metal and then after it was bolted down I clear coated it.


Took me a while to figure out what I wanted to do with the starter relay. I ended up putting it in same area that I had on my last car. It still looks clean, and that's what I am looking for.


If you look at the engine, the wire harness is not on top of the motor. I extended the harness 4ft or so to run it down the front and under the alternator. The power steering reservoir is also hooked up and installed. I still need to work on the rack though.

Going to try and finish up the wire harness next weekend, Lots of shrink tube and soldering. :)

Wire harness..

So I was looking at my harness and trying to figure out what I wanted to do. So figured hey need to find out what wires got smashed in the wreck. Few need to be fixed but overall look good.

I also took out the AC connectors since I will never be putting that in. :)

Also got the motor mounts bolted and had to re work the tunnel a bit and the trans mount. But the wire job is first. So I hope to finish it up in the next two weeks going to hide all the wires if I can. :P

MOTOR is IN!

Well here we go on another installment, I figured I would give myself a B-day present and put the motor in.

At last got the pump in and the mods done and put the deep sump pan on, Looks sweet!
Before mating the trans and motor together I put the 3500 stall converter in, and filled it with 3 quarts of trans fluid before installing.
Slowly dropping it in. It seems like I made a ton of room in the tunnel for the bell housing. I now will be able to reach up and take the trans bolts out by hand easier than the 4ft of extenders on a 3/8 drive. The main goal was to have easy access to trans and motor area with out tearing the whole thing apart.
I think it took about 15min to Jockey it in. It has been a while but only few concerns but will take care of that later.
That pan is hanging pretty low. its bit lower than my cross member so might have to make some adjustments to make it fit little closer to the tunnel.

It seams its about 2 inches lower than the front cross member not too bad, worth the extra 2 quarts for sure and the finished product is sweet!

I think things are going to move a bit faster now. going to work on the power steering pump lines and trans cross member. I don't know if I will do a tube one or not depending on how much room I have. Will post with in the next week I hope with updates.

Finally progress

So after saving up for a few months and partial birthday , aniversary , fathers day, I was able to get this Hughes Aluminium deep sump pan. I really did not want to make one and the finished product in the end would be much nicer.

As in my last post the parts I needed to put in the pump tube came with the converter. I was a little nervous about drilling the holes but it was not as bad as it seemed.

The only problem so far was getting the front pump out. So called up my brother John and he walked me through pulling it out.

Once it was out, got to drilling. The drills supplied are just the right size so everything fit good. I did add some JB weld to the connections to make sure it does not leak as suggested on the Turbo Buick site.

Here is the five disk 3600 stall Vigilante converter that is waiting to go in after I get the trans back together. Then mate the trans and motor and put the motor in. The reason I went with a five disk. First they are suppose to handle about 1200 hp and second the ability to lock it up at WOT!

Almost forgot, I put a new belt on and fixed the bent alternator fins from the wreck. I used some dial calipers to set the fin distant, yeah with in couple thousands. I am a nut when it come to finished product.

Got the MSD rev limiter plate on too. Had to go get some bolts as its 3/4 thicker than the stock setup. I might have to mod the fire wall to make it fit but, not a big deal.

This box will allow me to have a 2 stage rev limiter. Five pounds + of boost on the line. This plus the the 3600 stall, I can not wait to see how this thing screams.

On a side note, we just got a new tube bender at work. So I am going to put a 8pt cage in. If I can just get the main hoop done, that is the only part that I really need the bender for. Till next time :P

Well getting the tranny ready for the pump tube

So I got it on a stand. It was not easy to do as I did it by myself with a jack. :)

My friend lent me his motor stand. This is the only way to work on a trans. Its up off the floor and you can keep it bit cleaner when you tear into it. I am little bit chicken when it comes to this so it going to wait.

From what I am gathering on the instructions you pull this pump cover off and then you have to drill 2 holes in the front pump. I have read few other people have used JB weld to make sure it does not leak.

The fitting on the top right is supose to restrict the return line going out of the trans. I am not sure I want to put that on though. Its recommended by PTE to run the vigilante 5 disk lock up converter.

All this work just to be able to lock this think up at WOT. It should be good for 2 tenths in the 1/4 though.

Paint in the engine bay!

So I cleaned and cleaned.

You can see multi colors all over

The hood was a mess had to hand clean.

Over all it looked good enough

Seems like it was time to call it a night.

Spent most of the morning painting. It did not turn out like I wanted but its done and done is done.

What to do next.. I am not really sure, the paint was holding me up last. I think I am going to tackle the trans next. I have to put a pump tube in for the Vigilante 5 disk lock up converter. After I get that done I will put the motor in. On the next post I will show the trans upgrade.

:P

Little update for today

I have not been doing much, just finished school and trying to finish up a few loose ends in the garage. I did pick up a 1990 244 volvo black interior and pass seat, and some black armrest from the local pick n pull. I waited about 3 weeks for the car to get into the yard. Not easy to find black interior.

I also started to strip the undercoating off the drivers fender with a little heat and scraper.

You can tell where I cut the blue car and welded it on to the front clip of the gold Bertone. I hope to start to move a bit faster. My goal for the next job is cleaning up the engine bay and have it painted.