1987 Corvette Z52

[Basement Paul]

It may be a few lbs heavier, but the driveshaft and torque arm are shorter, so I'm guessing the difference will be negligible.

-BP

[Basement Paul]

Yesterday the rest of the things to be done outside of the car got finished and the rearend made it's way back into the car. It's not completely bolted in as the new stiffer bushings make it hard to wiggle mounting brackets. So next week we'll have to loosen a few bolts up so we can get it aligned and into place.

-BP

[Basement Paul]

On Saturday we spent three hours or so before we realized the C-beam was not going to fall into place and connect the trans and pumpkin together without modification. Somewhere between the aftermarket engine mounts and urethane bushings, the holes will not line up. Yes there was swearing.
Sunday morning I couldn't take losing and went back. I was luckily able to get the beam out of the car without having to remove the rearend again. I spent a bunch of time elongating all eight holes in the beam. On the first try it almost fit, but had to pull it out again for a little finish work.
The beam is now resting in the car, with loose bolts. Next week I should be able to start tightening bolts for good hopefully, and clean up my large mess in the garage.

-BP

[Basement Paul]

So all the suspension and beam bolts are tight. The parking brake cables are back in place along with the caliper brackets and also the driveshaft. I also spent a half hour cleaning up tools and an aluminum grinding mess. I would go back tomorrow but Easter festivities are consuming the day.
Next week is the rest of the brakes and the exhaust system. The mufflers will be getting the outer sound deadener installed too.

-BP

[TireSmoker]

Good work, muh man. You've been keeping a strong steady pace getting this done!

[Basement Paul]

Thanks! Hopefully within a couple weeks we'll be putting out 11 seconds ETs. I have been thinking about the driveshaft length a little more as I fear it may be a little short. Before I put the exhaust back on, I'm going to pull it back out and get more serious about the measurements. It's a tight window on these VS a passenger car that tends to give a little more slop in the usable length. I just don't want to hurt the tailshaft of this expensive trans, nor do I want to have to pull the trans back out.

-BP

[Basement Paul]

My measurements seem to show that the yoke should be fully engaged in the tailshaft bushing, and have more than 1.5" of engagement in the splines. I'm going with it.
Now unfortunately my c-beam modifications have created contact between the c-beam and the driveshaft just at the u-joint area. I did some grinding and loosening, and realigning, and it looks like I now have a little more than 1/16" of clearance. I'm not sure how much I really need here, but a slow test drive will likely tell me if there is a problem.
The brakes are done and the front half of the exhaust installed.
My gut tells me I'm not through with this stupid beam...

Also got the mufflers wrapped with some DEI sound deadening material. More to come.

-BP

[Basement Paul]

Since the mileage counter does not function anymore, we're just going to change the oil once a year at this point. It hasn't been probably 1000 miles since we put the Mobile 1 in with the motor swap, but since the motor was opened up, I thought it could use a fresh filter and oil. This time it got seven quarts of Driven LS30 oil, which is what I use in the S10.
Then I got to reinstalling the rest of the exhaust. It didn't go as smoothly as I hoped, but it's on there now. Eventually I'll have to cut and reweld a hanger bracket on the tailpipe itself, but for now it's secure.
Then come the test drive, which was full of questions for me, but after a quick trip through the development and a run around the Bass Lake Loop, it seems like all is well in the mechanical department. We gave it one full throttle blast into 3rd too, no problem.
So now it needs an alignment as the rear wheels are clearly cambered in the wrong direction. I will try to get that done this coming week. I also plan to get it booked in at Hutters for a final tune to get the HP maxed out, the shift points locked in, and the speedo corrected on the Holley screen.
I'm looking forward to putting this thing in the dirt and on the dragstrip at least.

-BP