Fitting the Motor Part 3 - September 2006

September was a busy month with a lot of work related travel which limited the amount of time I was able to dedicate to this project. The majority of my time spent on the project in September was done in 1 and 2hr blocks, although 1 Sunday I was able to dedicate the majority of the day to wiring.

Speartech made it super easy to figure out what was supposed to go where, the majority of the time was consumed routing wires. Usually I'd route something,, then find a better way to route it, then realizing something else needs to be routed and wired first so it all has to be done over. I put the LS1 PCM in the battery compartment, along with a BMW junction block, the fuel pump relay, and fuses for the new harness. Since the measurements I gave to Speartech regarding my project were all educated guesses since the order was placed prior to dropping the motor in some items needed to be reworked. The crank sensor wires needed to be extended a good 12-14 inches or so, and transmission wires (other than backup wires) were extremely tight and needed to be re-routed several times.

Once the wiring was basically complete I installed a shifter relocation kit from McLeod, which moved the shifter back about 4.1" or so. Around that same time I also installed the driveshaft (took 2 tries as the first driveshaft was about 10" too long). Fitting the 1 piece driveshaft was a bit of a chore since to get it in place I needed to drop the subframe down several inches, and remove the differential...installation is reverse of removal...LOL!

Somewhere in the earlier part of September I also swapped out the fuel pump for a Walbro unit, installed the radiator, fans, and ran the power steering and hydroboost lines. The first time I attempted to fire her up I ran into a slight electrical issue, as I thought the fuel pump wasn't getting power with the key in the run position...turned out that the starter was getting power in run (instead of start) and everything else was OK. DOH! The next night (9/21/06) she fired up on the 2nd attempt!

Issue 1 - Shifter doesn't reach the hole ( several inches short)....McLeod to the rescue!!!

Issue 2 - No power at fuel pump with key in run position....nope, starter wired incorrectly and coming on too soon. Fixed and fired up

Issue 3 - Oil leak around pressure sender unit. Replaced gasket and re-sealed the sender

Issue 4 - PS leak at hydroboost unit....forgot to run low pressure return line

Issue 5 - Corvette fuel rail covers not an exact fit....Dremel

Issue 6 - Couple bad welds in the radiator, minor leaks need fixing