Progress Is Painless

I can't really tell you how happy I am that the newly baffled oil pan is sealed (for good this time) onto the block, the new timing belt is hung, and the whole front side of the motor is buttoned up. I've sealed and unsealed, cleaned, and lost bolts for that pan so many times now that if I ever see the inside of it again it will be too soon. Well, ok, maybe I would like to see it again but only if I'm rebuilding, and still that shit better be pretty far out. All this is, of course, aside from the cutting, grinding and welding that went into making this pan functional for the swap. The welding was done to seal up the holes made from removing the front differential components, and to seal up the cracks in the sump. When I do rebuild, I will shell out for an aftermarket deep sump pan.

Something that I've noticed other people doing on this swap is shaving down the webbing on the bottom of the oil pan for "better fit." I do not understand this. When we did the test fit with the mounts in the car the only clearance issue was concerning the sump of the oil pan hitting the sway bar. To solve this you can either find a sway bar that will clear (ha!), notch your pan (my welder said no effing way), or eliminate the sway bar. As you can see from my comments I am choosing the third method, I'll work the details out later. Anyway, I just don't see what would be hitting the webbing, there is literally nothing but air down there. Are people just doing it in case? So they can polish it? For shits and giggles?? In any case I figure I'll just prop it up and shave it down after it's in the car if anything is rubbing.

This weekend will involve installing that pretty purple clutch, bolting up the tranny, bolting on that spiffy McKinney harness, and in she goes! Of course after that comes all the stuff I hate: wiring, gauges, clusters...seriously, I want nothing to do with it. I'm very lucky Justin is helping me build this thing, he is quite adept with the electronics. The next big decision/purchase will be the intercooler/downpipe supplies. Between aluminum and stainless there are a lot of factors to consider such as cost, size, availability, will the existing flanges hold up... I'm also scanning the internets for wheel deals: no bigger than 17's, no heavier than 18lbs, no more than $700...yes I know I'm rediculous.