droppin a bomb on the '67: drivetrain install

Happy Holidays! I know, I know-I've totally slacked on updating the blog during the last few weeks. What can I say? There were just too many good holidays to attend and I'm a sucker for cookies and mom's home cookin'. Anyway, I'm back and ready to get crackin' on the rest of the build. So where were we? Oh yeah, that killer LS2 GMPP crate engine. Well it ripped off a killer dyno number: 480hp! Needless to say, we were salivating at the prospect of doing some burnies in the truck so we hauled ass to get it into the truck.

The engine came with Corvette-style engine mounts. The other side of this mount requires an expensive GM part and didn't fit our front crossmember very well so we whipped up a new set of mounts.

While the engine was being tuned at Westech, we were hard at work back in the garage preppin the chassis to accept the engine. The frame mounts were already built, so we whipped up a pair of custom engine mounts using 3/16-inch sheetmetal and a set of Energy Suspension urethane bushings.

A 2-inch diameter hole saw and my trusty Harbor Freight drill press got the party started.

Next, i trimmed out the pieces using the vertical bandsaw.

2 x.120-wall mild steel tubing and our new gussets form the backbone of the mounts.

I got into a hurry and forgot to snap pics during the welding process. A 1/4-inch plate was added to the base of each mount and then MIG welded together. The mounts were then bolted to the block. Here's a look of the completed assembly:

Once we were satisfied with the fit of the engine, we pulled it back out to attach the 4L80-E electronic overdrive transmission. GM provided the flexplate and hardware.

Before we dropped the drivetrain back in place, we put holes into the chassis to give the exhaust system an exit route later on.

Magnaflow mufflers were chosen because of there stainless steel construction (killer looks!) and super low-profile. Our goal was for nothing to hang below the bottom of the chassis, and since the cab would be mounted low on the chassis, there wasn't much room between the floorboards and the ground. Consequently, we needed mufflers that were small and that still sounded good and didn't restrict flow too much. We decided to put 3-inch diameter holes in all of the crossmembers and then sleeve them to give the 2.5-inch diameter exhaust pipes ample room.

There's just enough room to sleeve the hole and still give a quarter inch of clearance all the way around the pipe.

Me welding in the exhuast port sleeves. Note the exhaust ports that exit through the frame rails. The system runs inside of the chassis and then kicks out in front of the rear tires.

The LS2 came with Corvette-style exhaust manifolds that weren't going to work in the '67. They exited right atop the frame rails. We found a bitchin set of ceramic-coated tubular headers from JBA that were designed for a 2006 that fit the bill. They tucked into the chassis nicely and would fit under the firewall. I'm at the rear plumbing a fuel line in this pic, while Mike Kim is laughing about a Jackie Chan movie he just saw. Weird.

We had the drivetrain in place. The moment of truth was upon us; we needed to see if the cab would fit!

That was a hell of an update! Yeah, you'll have to wait and see if the cab fits. How's that for a cliffhanger?

-Mike

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