Hi I'm Chuck Hanson, Welcome to Chuck's Garage.
You know it's been a while since the last time I saw ya, but you know what?
I've been busy, in fact I got caught up in this pro-touring bug here, and if you don't
know what pro-touring is, it's basically when you take a cool old classic car like one of
my Chevelles here and you update the brakes, the suspension, the engine transmission, and
even the creature comforts so what you end up with is a cool classic car, that does everything
just as well as a new car does, now let me show you what I got going on here.
Well here's what we started with, basically we've got a 69' Chevelle chassis here that
I picked up off of Craigslist for 100 bucks, now that's a really smoking deal, I don't
care how you cut it but what it does is it sets the tone for this entire build, because
what I'm going to do here is I'm going to build this thing up on a fairly tight budget,
using junkyard parts in some cases, just making sure that we use, the best parts that we can
that are going to give us the biggest bang for our buck.
Now here's what we started with here, we started with a set of control arms, these are 2 door
control arms that we got from right stuff detailing.
Now if you'll look down here on the lower control arm, you'll see that the lower control
arm also incorporates a sway bar link, this is adjustable and it's also bushed with bushings
here and that's really going to help that inch and a quarter bar work to it's maximum
effectiveness.
Now further out here take a look at these brakes, these also came from right stuff detailing.
13 inch rotors, cross drilled slotted, zinc washed the whole deal, and we've topped it
off with a set of their aluminum 4 piston calipers, these are their signature series,
they come powder coated in either black or red, now this is a lot of brake for the buck.
Now here's what we got going on out back, if you remember, we said we're going to do
this whole build with an eye towards a budget and well, to that end we went ahead and talked
to our friends at original parts group, and they hooked us up with a set of their rear
control arms.
Now these are basically stock style rear control arms but as you can see they've been bushed.
Now we've got them on both upper and lower, and the lower ones are fully boxed, they've
got the bushings, and we put a 1 inch sway bar in there that we also got from OPG.
Now the rear end, man I got a smoking deal on the rear end, that's a 12 bolt rear end
that I also got off of Craigslist, picked it up for 800 bucks, now as I was a little
bit skeptical about it, but it was a nice clean housing and everything, and once I opened
up the guts, man was I surprised, 331 piles in that baby there, perfect gear for what
I've got in mind here.
Now we also finished things up with the right stuff rear disk brakes set up here and a set
of lowering springs and that's basically what we got going on out back here.
Again real budget build up and it's set us up real nicely, oh one more thing, I got to
tell you about my deal on my wheels here, check these out, I was at the swap meet and
run up on these, the guy started out at 1,200 dollars, brand new, well I think he said they
had 500 miles on them, but these are some brand new, tires on 17 x 9 1/2 inch rims out
back 17 x 8s out front, perfect for what we're going to do with the pro-touring theme there.
I know some guys like larger rims but hey, I'm hung on the 17s, I like the look, I like
the side wall, it gives you a little more cushon as you go down the road, and the best
thing is, he started out at 1,200 dollars, I rolled these things out the door for 800
bucks, sweet.
Let's take a look at the engine I've got going on in here, now I just kind of stabbed this
thing in here for grins, temporarily buy hey, It's a big block 454, great engine, great
power, and they've been in service for a long time, a lot of guys still really like these
things, but since they've been around for a long time that's all the more reason to
give them an update.
Now one of the most popular platforms for this engine swap is the LS series of engines
and for good reason.
They're every where, you can buy them at junk yards, you can buy them out of people's back
yards, you can buy them out of a wreck vehicle, whatever, but they're everywhere, and they're
cheap, relatively speaking.
I mean it's not unheard of to buy a complete LS engine for 2, 3, 4, 5 hundred dollars,
now the aftermarket has also embraced those engines with all kinds of parts including
what it takes to put one into these old chassis here.
Now I'm going to show you what I picked up for a real nice price.
Hey, this is the 53 that I picked up, I snatched it out of an 03' Tahoe that had suffered some
body damage, was totaled out, but that was a good deal for me.
This thing 120,000 miles on it, the car did run and drive, so I got to start it, drive
it around the lot a little bit, and I was pretty satisfied with it, so I paid the man
600 bucks, again a smoking deal, you can get these things everywhere.
Now these things are so popular because they come in a wide variety of sizes, you can get
a 4.8, you can get a 5.3, a 6 liter and even a 6.2.
Of course they come in everything from Tahoe's to Corvette's, and they come in all kinds
of different horsepower ratings, now I went with this 5.3 here because it's going to leave
us a lot of potential to build on later on, we can do a head swap, cam swap, whatever
we want, but this is going to be a good solid platform for us to build on and we kind of
spend our money as we go.
Now for transmission, we're gonna go with this 4L60E, now this is a another smoking
deal, I'm the king of deals here I guess, but a friend of mine built this transmission
for me, he needed a set of old port big block cylinder heads and a posey for his son's Chevelle
that he's building, and I was able to hook him up, he hooked me up with the transmission,
everybody wins.
So now that we've got the basics covered, let me show you what it's gonna take to put
this LS engine, into that classic Chevelle chassis right there.
Now installing an LS engine into a classic Chevelle chassis is a whole lot easier than
it used to be just a few years ago, thanks to some parts that are being manufactured
by companies like Holley and Hooker.
Now one of the most critical parts to make this swap a success is the oil pan, and Holley
has made just what you need right here, this is a heavy duty, cast aluminum oil pan here
that's gonna bolt right up on the LS engine, but check it out, it's got a shortened sump
here that's going to allow you to clear most cross members, this thing will fit from 55'
to 87' GM chassis, most of them.
Now it also still retains that 5 1/2 quart capacity here, 6 quarts with the oil filter,
and speaking of that, this thing even comes with it's own built in oil filter adaptor,
and to make the whole shebang work, Holley has even included their own special pickup
for this oil pan.
Now we need to set the engine in that chassis, and here's what we need to do it, Hooke offers
a set of engine plates here that's gonna allow us to really position the engine in a number
of places, but what we're going to start with here is this engine plate that's going to
position the engine in the exact same stock location as original.
Now what I mean by that is, the mating surface between the bell housing and the back of the
block is going to be in the original location, now if that doesn't work for you check this
out, they've also got plates that move the engine forward 3 inches, an inch and a quarter,
and a half an inch.
Now the way these things work is they attach to the block with 4 special bolts.
Just like that they've got a special beveled head on it, and they bolt right up to the
block there and of course these three holes are where your original motor mounts go, they
bolt right up and allow you to slip things right down into place.
Now if you're working on a car that has late model clam shell type motor mounts, and I
think they started using those things right around 1973, then this is a brand new item
that Hooker's come out with that's going to allow you to put an LS motor into those applications
as well.
Now obviously the clam shell mount just slips right into place here, they bolt up with the
4 same beveled bolts here.
Now what these also do for you is they're going to move the motor up half an inch in
the engine compartment, and they're also going to move it forward an inch and a quarter,
that's it, no getting around it, it's time to get our hands dirty.
Now before we can install the new oil pan from Holley, we've got to take the old one
off first, get all the premier bolts off there, and then gently pry this thing up and out
of the way.
Now you may get lucky and reuse the old gasket but in our case we just weren't able to do
that, when we took the oil pan off, it left a portion of the old gasket right here.
This seals up the feed lines for the oil filter, and obviously we're going to need a new gasket.
So now that we've got the oil pan out of the way we can remove the stock pickup.
I've already taken out one bolt up front here, one in the back, one on the side here, this
thing should just lift right out of place.
Well after reading the instructions, looks like the stock tray is going to stay in place,
now the next step is to test fit the pickup tube that comes with the oil pan kit.
I put the O ring on here that's supplied in the kit, and we'll slip the pickup into place
there, and where we really need to check for interference is right here on this last mounting
point, want to make sure that it will bolt up and go flat on the tray there, looks like
we're going to have to do a little bit of trimming to make that work, but that shouldn't
take more than a second there, get that done, we'll be good to go.
Well since we had clearance issues here, we decided it was a little bit easier to remove
material from this mounting leg here for the pickup than to take it off of the tray itself,
so this is where we ground just a little bit away, that's going to give us the clearance
that we need.
There it is.
Well according to the instructions once you get the pickup mounted, it tells you to rotate
the engine over by hand, to make sure you got plenty of clearance with the crankshaft,
between it and the pickup mount right there.
I don't hear any grinding or any weird noises so I guess we're good to go.
Now before we install that new pan gasket, we're gonna go ahead and clean up the pan
rails here, make sure that we got a nice clean mating surface, and that will ensure everything
seals up nice and tight.
Now one of the final steps before bolting up the pan is to put a dab of RTV at each
one of the 4 corners, the instructions tell you exactly where it goes, but thats crucial
to make sure that the oil pan gasket seals up well.
Well now we're ready to put the oil pan on place, but I'm going to show you a little
trick first.
We got this new gasket on here, but here's something that will help hold the gasket in
place while you get it inverted.
Put a bolt in each one of the 4 corners, we've got our 4 in there, that way, the rubber around
the gasket will hold the gasket in place, we can invert it, set it down, we're good
to go.
Now let's turn our attention to getting that old big block out of the way.
Take the bolts out of the motor mounts and lift her out with the engine poise.
Alright we're getting close now, the next step is to bolt up our motor plates, and then
after that we'll bolt up the actual motor mounts.
Well now we're about ready to bolt up the transmission before we do we're gonna torque
the flex plate in place, torquing it down to 75 foot pounds.
Alright there we go, now it took us a better part of the day to slap this 5.3 on this chassis
here but I tell you what, man that thing looks just like it grew there from the factory thanks
to those Hooker mounts and that oil pan from the folks at Holley.
Now I've checked underneath there, there is absolutely no interference issues between
the oil pan and the chassis, and like I say, it looks like it grew there from the factory.
Now we've still got plenty of work slated for this thing, we've got a lot of things
we want to do to it, we're gonna put a Holley front accessory drive system on it, we're
gonna do the coil covers, we're actually gonna swap out this ugly factory intake here and
put something really cool on it, nice cool looking intake and throttle body.
We're gonna do exhaust, plump the fuel system, and hey, you're actually gonna here this thing
run before we put the body on it, so you want to make sure that you stick with us, keep
your eye on this channel here, you'll be glad you did because we got a lot of cool stuff
planned, this is great stuff man I love it.