Was able to get out there one more night this week.
Finished up some extra bracing inside the tub. Was going to do some elaborate wooden structure underneath to lift it with. Decided to just lift from the rocker boxes. The tub can't weigh more than about 1000lbs. With some 2x8's spreading the load I went for it. Biggest concern was the balance point of it.
Turns out, it's surprisingly stable from just lifting there. I did put the pole jacks under the back though.
Either my bracing is working or the tub is nice and solid because the doors work perfectly still. When I go to work on the firewall/floor I'll move the frame out from under it and to the other bay.
Moving on...not wanting to pay ridiculous prices for tube right now. There are plenty of other things I can work on. Once the tub is mostly done (save for final body work), plan to move on to wiring and getting the various systems in place. To start wiring, I needed something to wire to, that's where this next bit comes in.
Got an email from Summit this morning, one of my items got pushed back to a ship date of middle of August. Not to happy about that.
This crisis has been averted. The item in question was a motor for this. After getting that email, I started looking for another source. Summit, Jegs, SDPC and even Blueprint had no stock of what I was after. I found one, possibly the last one at any major retailer, at Pace Performance. Called them up and verified it was on the shelf and ready to go.
That was Monday. It shipped out yesterday and arrived to the terminal today. When they called me to set an appointment for delivery, I noticed that the company was literally right next door to our shop at work. Drove over with the forklift at lunch and picked it up.
What I bought.
What is it? It's an Ls3 with a hotter cam and better heads.
I could have went with the 5.3 I have under the bench. My other one runs great, but I wanted more for this project. I also have a 2000 Camaro SS that I bought specifically for the motor and transmission....that's supposed to be for my 91 Firebird convertible, so that's out. Could have gotten a parts truck and pulled the motor and scrapped the rest. But for what you pay and what you get I wasn't happy with that either. Same with buying just a takeout motor. $1500 for a used 6.0 with 175,000+ on it is the norm here. Add in any machine work or speed parts to any of these options and it adds up quick.
I chose the easy button. Paid the price and got a complete ready to go solution. Dyno tested and 30month/50,000mile warranty.
In the back of the work truck.
Some sketchy unloading. I wasn't worried about the chain fall or any of that. The crate falling apart is what I was concerned with. Poorly constructed with staples and less than pallet grade wood for most of it. I did put some screws into the base to reinforce some.
Opened up. These start as a new Ls3 from GM. Blueprint changes the cam and heads. Reassembles, dynos then ships. GM performance sells an Ls3 crate motor. I considered that for a brief moment. GM has to versions, the 430hp and the 495hp. The bigger one has the same cam as the ASA crate motor. For only a few hundred extra I get more power and better heads. Neither GM crate motor was in-stock anywhere either.
I'm fully aware that my Nv3500 is going to hate life living behind this. I may go right to the Nv4500 and be done with it.
To control the motor I had two options. Blueprint (and GM, actually pretty sure Bluepring just retunes the computer and sends out the same parts) sells a package that has an ECU, wiring harness, throttle pedal, 02 sensors, etc. What I don't like about this is needing to use Hptuners or something like it to get into it to make changes. I'm familiar with the program and have no issues using it on my 86. But they are known to and have been removing features with each update...not something I want to deal with. What I do like about this option is the reliability of it. It's factory parts and once you get it dialed in it's usually good to go without any issues.
The option I went with was to go aftermarket. Specifically the Holley Terminator X-max. There are tons of these out there running and they seem to be trouble free for the most part. It uses all GM sensors that are already installed on the motor (nothing proprietary) so should I need anything it won't be hard to find. Also gives me room to grow. I got the DBW kit with transmission control as well. Don't need to use that right now, but I'm future proofing myself for if (when?) the Nv3500 pops or if I decide to go to a 4L80E anywhere down the line.
Also on the table are two chassis wiring harnesses. I'll only need one obviously. One of them is a basic 12 circuit and the other is a 21 that has some things I won't be needing. They were cheap enough that I bought one of each to have on hand. Once I actually map out everything I'll decide with I'll use.
