Engine In!

The engine is in! Technically, anyway. Everything is still loose. Don’t want to tighten anything up much until the transmission is in and I can check angles. However, I am fairly certain the engine lift will no longer be required for the rest of this project.

I had it set in a week ago, but found the oil pan was resting on the crossmember. I overlooked the fact that a small block Chevy with a longer stroke would require a slightly deeper oil pan. I was originally going to just stack some washers between the block and motor mounts, but I didn’t have enough that were the same thickness. Ultimately I bought some shims specifically designed for this. Of course, I ended up needing to modify those slightly, but they did the trick!

Happily, the cheapo Summit Racing brand headers I got fit great. Trying to research what headers will fit is a nightmare. You can either spend a ton of money from big name brands or take your chances. I found multiple reports that these would fit, so I bought a set. I set them in loosely just to test and they fit great.

The bellhousing runout numbers were well within spec, so the flywheel and clutch are all bolted on as well. If I have time tomorrow morning, I’ll get the shifter hole marked and cut out, and maybe do a test fit of the transmission. Maybe even mock up where the exhaust pipes will go. Maybe things will start to move a little faster now.