Here's my recipe for success:
complete gen III 5.3 lm7
m22(rock crusher) 4 speed muncie
bbc bellhousing
ms3x
hx55 turbo
ls7 cam
7k rev limit
I wasn't about to spend 2k for a t56 and who needs 6 gears Anyway? Chevy kept the same sbc bellhousing pattern on the ls minus 1 bolt, on the ls the crank is .4 inch shorter than a sbc. This mean that with the proper spacer and bellhousing you can use just about any gm trans on the ls. i scored the muncie at a swap meet for $320 , came with the hurst competition shift linkage and aluminium bbc bellhousing too. It needs a mount welded on and could use a rebuild so i will be handling that soon.
First job was to get the motor in, due to the trans having side linkage the tunnel was cut. I set the engine as far back and low as i could. I was tempted to cut the firewall and get that sucker behind the front sub frame but after all this is a street car. The motor mounts are tigged dom tubing with a good amount of gusseting. I used the stock mount location but reinforced it and used some delrin stock i had as a damper. The trans mount was straight forward. All ls engines minus the ls2 gto use a rear mounted sump, this is not optimal for the e28. The ls2 pan would have ran $300 and would still need modification so i made my own pan. The pan uses a 1/4 in flange and 1/8 aluminum for the walls. The design is mean to be performance oriented and will have internal baffling. The filter will be also be remotely located.
Next was sheet metal work, i had to seal up the tunnel, since the interior was out ethics got the best of me and i decided to repair the rust. The worst of it was in the the torque box area. I also cut the front frame rails moved and few things around to make room for my craigslist sourced c&r radiator.
The next hurdle was getting the accessories to work, yes i could spend $500 on f body accessories but that would be too easy. Sidenote, while the f-body cars use a shorter crank pulley, the waterpump is the same length so there is no practical gain aside from the lower vertical height. The main issue is the alternator sits way to high and hits the hood. The easiest solution i came up with was to move the alternator to the ac location and mount it low, while also running it off the 4 rib ac belt. Then all i had to do was cut/shave the stock powersteering bracket and fab up an new serpentine belt pulley. The stock 5.3 intake flows about ass swell as a ls6 intake so i will be using it, By cutting off all the bracketry and shaving it down i was able to get the hood closed. Due to my engine positioning i will have to mount the booster remotley.
The photos i uploaded are a few weeks old and dont show some of the progress made. but give a general idea of whats going on. Im a one man team so i expect it to be on the road in a few months.
