Apr 25 - Starter installed

I will have to pull the transmission to get a 100% verify before engagement, but it looks like the starter is installed properly now.  I don't think it would be an Archie approved install, but it looks plenty solid.  I was worried about flexing and starter engagement getting hosed, but once I worked out a good spacer, those fears subsided.

I took Archie's block that is meant to move the starter to his adapter plate.  And I did do that.  But the depth wasn't working out for me.  So I cut that down and used that cut part to be a spacer for my starter to mount properly.  This will make more sense when I take more pictures with the transmission off of it.  but you'll see in the pictures that I do have that there is a spacer between Archie's mounting block and my starter's mounting plate.  I also have pics of the stock starter and the one I used.

I used this Jeg's Pro Start'r as I already had it on this motor.  I did have to get another stock oil pan as my after-market one was too big and wouldn't allow the starter to sit on the "wrong" side of the motor.

Had to cut a notch into the transmission so I could work a wrench on the nut for the top bolt where the block mounts to the adapter plate.

Also, trying to get a stock starter to mount up on the "wrong" side meant that it had to be mounted at about a 45 deg angle.  That wasn't working out.  So I used the starter I had (the stock one will go back to the guy I got it from).  And I'll pay for the oil pan I got from him and be selling my over sized  triple barn door oil pan with scraper that was on my LT1.  I knot they're a lil over $300 new.  I'll put mine up on eBay.

Apr 22 - Oil filter part came in!

But when I try to spin it on, it hits my oil pan!

It's always something.  :-|

Apr 21 - spotted an MP4

Had to go check it out.  Yeah, that's me, near the end.

Apr 20 - Shimmed bearing mount

I got the bearing mount for the intermediate shaft shimmed to where it is no longer in a bind.  I can turn the shaft by hand pretty smoothly now.  I did 2 washers up top and one washer down low to get the angle just right.  I'll trial fit it again before final torque for assembly once the transmission comes off once more and goes back on for the starter relocation.

Here's a couple of pics of the shaft and its mount.

I'll tidy up the plug wires one day.  When it gets closer to time for when it will matter.  :-)

Apr 19 - Front end welded up

I got my welding buddy over here to weld up the front end after market suspension pieces.  It was meant to be a bolt on application, but I figure no one is going to be swapping out this suspension once it's in anyway.  :-)

I will be posting up pics of that once the steering rack mounts are welded in.

I also handed off the bracket that mounts my bearing carrier for the intermediate shaft.  Its holes needed some horizontal space from their original vertical slots.  That same guy took it to work and hooked me up.  I now have that on the car but will be pulling it off for my starter mounting.  So next pics will show that bearing mount shimmed up and the steering bits took care of.

Apr 17 - tired of the rain

Hadn't gotten much of anything done since it has been cool and rainy all week.  Plus the regular income job raised its head back up again.

I did screw around with the mirror pods and took the flashing out from in between the spars on it.  tried to mount my intermediate shaft and it doesn't fit.  I've got an email out to Archie to see what's up with that.

Apr 13 - shaft is back

I went by the shop yesterday and picked up my intermediate shaft.  I had them pull the 3900 V6 mount off of the shaft/bearing assembly and move it over to the one for my V8.  I don't have my press here and could do other work while that was done.  Who am I kidding, I had to do taxes still.  :-)

Still awaiting the oil filter relocation part that was sent wrong initially.  Once that is here, a lot of updates will be coming quickly again.

Apr 9 - Motor, Trans mounts are welded in

For everyone who builds one of these or swaps a V8 and 6sp into their Fiero knows how big a milestone this one is.  So without a lot of detail, here it is, all 3 are in.

I also got the intermediate shaft over to a shop to move my bearing from the original G6 mount to the one for my LT1.  Will pick that up tomorrow.

APr 7 - new wheel is done

I couldn't make it out in time to pick up my new wheel from the shop.  Was a crazy busy day that was a bit unexpected.  Time flew by and I couldn't get to the things that I wanted to.  I'll go by there first thing in the morning and get it picked up.  Then it'll be over to the tire joint to mount/balance the fronts and balance the rears.  Then I'll be done with them for now.

I did get the engine/tranny up on the engine cradle, on top of a couple of sawhorses.  I'll get a pic of that tomorrow. 

Trying to work out various things on the motor while it's up in the air like it is now. 

• Accessory placement and belt location.
• Oil filter relocation job .
• Engine and transmission bracket locations.
• Centering motor and transmission where they belong on the cradle.
• Starter relocation.

 Just looking these things over.  I wanted to move the starter and have the oil filter moved out of the way so that could be done.  But no, the wrong part came in (shouldn't have listened to that guy).  So I have an RMA being worked out now so I can get the proper 90* oil filter relocation adapter.  Few more days then those things can start coming together.

I think I'll get my welder guy over before the week is out to weld up my brackets for the motor and transmission (to the cradle).  Then I can get on with the test fitting into the frame.

Apr 4 - 'new' front wheel came in

And of course, if you know the on-going saga of my wheel woes, then you can guess what happened next . . .  One bolt, stripped the head on it! Yay! me!  So once I get the one bolt drilled out, I'll have a usable front wheel to final assemble.  I did get the rest of the bolts out of it and cleaned out the holes and the bolts themselves.  Ran a clean bolt through all of the holes to check them out.  Ran a wire wheel on a drill around every bolt to makes sure they're cleaned up.  Also noticed that none of the bolt heads on this wheel say what my other wheel's bolts have said on their heads.  Titanium Corse.  Not on these bolts.  The re-finish job was a crap job.  They had painted the silver right over the tops of the bolts and all.  Horrible.  I don't know why it is so hard to find people who could use some common sense in how to deal with these wheels, but it seems to be the bane of the Murcielago's existence.  :-)  Seems most people who pull these wheels treat them like crap and then those who don't know what they have in their hands screw them up.  Sigh.  Anyhow.  I'm taking them to my wheel repair guy on Monday to drill the bolt out and I'll put them back together with my black center instead.  After I install a new valve stem.  then it'll be off to Discount Tire to mount and balance both front wheels and balance only for the two rears.  Then I should be final on the wheels (ready to go onto the car).

I didn't make a pic of the crap silver job those ya-hoos down near Miami had done.  I will shoot them again once they're on the car though.  May be a bit before that happens.  I'm in the engine/tranny into frame mode now.

Thanks for keeping up. :-)

Apr 2 - ordered jackshaft

Not much to report today other than getting an intermediate shaft for the F40 tranny ordered today.  I used my company 100mpgmotors to get a discount on it from a local Chevy dealer.  Those guys are glad to help as they want to see this car built and running on fumes.  I got the whole assembly as it is on a car, shaft, snap rings, bearing, mount for just a hair over $300 new.  Listed at 380 I think it was. So I came out about $320 after tax.

Now on to getting the ends (R & L axles) that I need to put it all together.

Apr 1 - Got the clutch/press plate on, no joke!

We got the spacer/friction plate, clutch and Pressure plate on and torqued down today.  No April Fool's joke about it!  :-)  We had to attach the transmission back onto the motor so we could roll it back into the garage.  It's supposed to rain tomorrow, so I had to get it back indoors.

You can see how deep that flywheel assembly looks to be.  It's due to the G6 having a dual mass flywheel from the factory and the input shaft on the tranny sits way back up into the bell housing.

I also had the transmission ground off in a couple of places, to clear a couple of bolt heads on the adapter plate.

We did have a bit of bad news today.  We learned that the oil filter relocation kit that I got from Jegs didn't work out as planned.  We're now getting another part to fix that situation and we're now waiting up to a week for that part to come in.  But we'll have other work to do I'm sure.  It's now shaping up to where we can have multiple things going on at once again.