Cascade Crew

chevymad · Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 10:14 am Post subject:

Use the tap. Accepted practice. Done it many many times.

QwkTrip · Posted: Sun Jan 06, 2013 5:41 pm Post subject:

Everything ended well today. Smile

Fortunately, GM used a captured nut that is extremely tall so there is a ton of thread to play with. I would have been screwed (pun intended) if it wasn't for the generous amount of thread.

I do appreciate the advice and I did try a tap just in case it made things easy but it followed bad threads and cut things up. There just wasn't any good thread for the tap to follow because damage was too deep. No harm done though because I didn't go any deeper than I would with the drill. I ended up drilling out at least 4 threads (probably more) before a bolt would start properly. K-member is back up in place and I'm not disturbing that bolt ever again! Well, except to torque it. I haven't done that yet. Laughing

Red Bird · Posted: Tue Jan 15, 2013 10:10 pm Post subject:

Hey man, i dont know if you remember me, My name is Isaac, you advertised a free 10bolt in the tri-cities, and i picked up the original 10 bolt from your bird back in 07 or 08. I used the 3.42 gears out of your old 10 bolt with a brand new auburn racers diff in my 91 bird, they work great as you can see, Your car and build thread are awesome, thanks again man!

QwkTrip · Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 8:49 pm Post subject:

Cool! Glad to see stuff go to good use. Nice pictures. Cool

QwkTrip · Posted: Sun May 19, 2013 8:53 pm Post subject:

This weekend I picked up where I left off 5 months ago and did some more soldering to extend the harness. I'm not having fun at all at this point. Wiring just goes on forever.... and ever.... and ever. I've challenged myself to finish at least one circuit a night until the wiring is sorted out. It's not going to get done unless I poke away at it bit by bit. Working on it in short spurts isn't really getting me anywhere.

aaron_sK · Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 5:44 am Post subject:

Hmm, I must be crazy, because I love doing wiring.

The trick is to never stop.

If you stop and start you will forget things and get confused.

Harness extension is easy work, but monotonous. It shouldn't take more than a day if you bear down and do it.

Scratch-building harnesses is what takes time.

Alphius · Posted: Mon May 20, 2013 6:51 am Post subject:

I spent a solid 10-12 hours over 2 days working on my harness in total, including the extending. Probably half of that was extending and half of that was miscellaneous wiring that needed to be done for power, relays, gauge functions, OBDII, etc. It was a little monotonous, but once I got a rhythm it went quickly. It helped me a lot while extending to listen to music in the background and just zone out and solder like crazy.

I think building a harness from scratch is more mentally stimulating than extending, so it isn't as annoying to do. The mental monotony really got to me after a while of soldering tiny wires together. The light at the end of the tunnel kept me going. Very Happy

QwkTrip · Posted: Fri May 24, 2013 6:02 pm Post subject:

Dude, I have spent 10 - 12 hours just drinking iced tea and contemplating what to do next. Laughing

aaron_sK · Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 8:03 am Post subject:

Dude, you're gonna get in trouble with the union, letting the true secret to engineering out on the internet like that! Surprised

QwkTrip · Posted: Mon May 27, 2013 7:19 pm Post subject:

Maybe I need to change my name to, SlwTrip

QwkTrip · Posted: Wed Jun 05, 2013 8:32 pm Post subject:

With each post my attitude is declining. Laughing

I need to move the engine forward a couple inches to line up with the trans mount. The engine is way too far back and barely clears the firewall. I tried moving it forward with ratchet straps but the LS1 motor stands on the K-member are too elastic and the engine just pops back when tension is released. So I'm going to have to separate the engine from the K-member again (AAAAARRRRGGG!!!!) and spread the mount ears on the K-member with some nuts and all-thread. Hoping I can spread the ears enough to allow the engine to set in place in forward position and then use the motor mount bolts to pull it all together with the engine in the correct location.

Today I found a person in town that is a real car nut. He is a financial investor in Vengeance Racing and has offered to take my car down to the shop in Georgia and have it finished. I'm going to see what it costs. Sounds like he could get it done lickity-split and I could be driving it very soon. Tempting idea indeed.

aaron_sK · Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 7:24 am Post subject:

RSFreak · Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 10:45 am Post subject:

Why not move the tranny mount back?

91RSVert · Posted: Thu Jun 06, 2013 10:56 am Post subject:

Leaving the motor back will help ever so slightly in weight distribution.

QwkTrip · Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 9:29 pm Post subject:

aaron_sK · Posted: Tue Nov 12, 2013 10:01 pm Post subject:

Thoughts:

1) How much is it out? Half an inch I can see in manufacturing tolerances (i.e. BMR's continued incompetence) or chassis variance from one vehicle to the next (i.e. this kind of nonsense). However if "couple inches" means the same thing to an engineer as it does to a carpenter then you may have a more serious problem.

2) The force on the motor mount stands is all torsional around the axis of the crankshaft. The motor doesn't really move forward or back much, so your weakening the metal in that direction is not too big of an issue IMHO.

3) Slight changes in shifter location is not a deal breaker. I ran mine tight to the back of the factory hole in Banana without issue, and my T56 shifter was actually rear of the stock location by about an inch and a half before it started hitting the console.

QwkTrip · Posted: Wed Nov 13, 2013 9:54 pm Post subject:

It was a good night around my place! Smile

I spread the motor mounts as far as the bolts would allow so I could still get the nut started when I put it back in the car. This is the first time the K-member didn't fight me the whole way in and I got every bolt in without cussing. It didn't fit any better, I've just gotten good at it with all the practice. Laughing

And then in the moment of truth I put the floor jack under the transmission.... gave it a wriggle and push.... and the whole engine moved forward! Thumbs up

Another stick of all-thread to make a homemade spreader. Jam nuts tight on the back, pair of greased up washers on each end to provide a slip surface, and a turning nut on the front.

... And magically the front tab moves forward while the rear tab stays in place.

And this piece of all-thread was for one time use. Reminder to not buy any hardware from Menards. All they sell is crap.

Transmission lined up! Now I need to cut the floor pan so I can install the bushing.

chevymad · Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 7:24 am Post subject:

All thread is crap everywhere, it's meant to be used in tension only and isn't graded at all. I keep thinking how flimsy those motor mounts look. Shocked

aaron_sK · Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 8:20 am Post subject:

It's a Christmas miracle. Jon has modified something. Shocked

QwkTrip · Posted: Thu Nov 14, 2013 4:30 pm Post subject: