F-Body Europe

A little background: I'm currently serving in the Navy, stationed in Stuttgart Germany (I love not being on a boat). My wife of 5 years (no kids yet, duh) saw me looking at the following car one day:



Well, I told her that a few years ago I had heard of the whole V-8 conversion, and how it would so cool to do a project together. Well, she said that her dad never let her work on a car when she was a kid, so I jumped on the opportunity! Yeah, we kinda disregarded the whole living in Germany thing... we had a garage, I had lots of tools (but no air compressor for my air tools - all work was done by hand), so why not? We bought the car in August and began work in October after only driving it a few times - motor ready to quit.



I bought an engine hoist out here in Germany before the dollar really tanked and we started working.



I'd say it was easy ripping everything out, just had to advoid the rust...





And for the naysayers that think all my wife did was wear the suit and model with the hoist - I really couldn't have done it without her. For the next 7 months, it was only her and I, sometimes questioning whether or not this project would strengthen our marriage or not!

I guess I'll let the pics tell the story - if you have any questions, let me know!!!

Stupid rotary out:


I sold the rotary and trans to a guy in Belgium... I'm so international...


Before the motor and stuff arrived, I got some new brakes... yes, the calipers are really dirty. Hawk HPS pads with the slotted rotors and stainless steel lines.



Engine is out and some fresh paint in the engine bay!

Then one day, a large 1100 lb. crate arrives from Alabama. Took one week to arrive too - had it shipped by plane. I ordered everything from Hinson Super Cars, included a 2001 LS1/T56 combo that was SUPER CLEAN. So, $10,000 later...



I also realized that a 2 car garage can get very tight...



We pulled the interior too to spray some material down to reduce heat and noise on the inside.



You can sorta see the clutch MC and the new fuel line running into the engine bay.

So Hinson Super Cars was so nice, he already installed the headers, subframe, and the oil and water sender adapters into the block!



What do you do when you don't have engine hooks to lift the motor? You improvise!



A few others have done this on the boards, but since my subframe was already bolted to the motor, I went ahead and connected the steering rack and then lifted the car up to slide the motor underneath.



I think I had an inch or two between the top of my hoist and the garage ceiling too. I was a little tired that day...

IT'S IN!

Then went the radiator, Hinson intake (nice setup), and my new lights. Yeah, I've seen lots of folks who don't care for these. Found 'em on eBay for cheap, and they are way better than my stock flip-ups which were fogged and yellow. I also broke the covers to those too...oops.



The fire extinguisher was there...just in case.



There used to be a BOSE system back there, but that got sold. You can see the mess of wiring on the inside too.



The wiring wasn't that bad...I just need 3 different sources for instructions! I'm sure it would have been much easier with the dash out too...



Battery relocation:

With the engine in, it was time to see how much clearance there really was....



Front to back: ZERO. I did have to bang on my firewall lip for the intake to clear, and then a little whack to the middle section for the MAP sensor to fit too. There is actually more room on the sides than I thought-



I also got Dexter's bumper (since he went with a full kit, and he has an LS2 going in his) to repaint due to mine having an un-fixable dent in the center from the previous owner.



Connected everything - and the guages work! lights work!

Now for the funny part. Funny for you, not for us...

Our first startup attempt was late one night, with the halogen floor lights guiding us. I had installed a remote bleeder for my trans and routed it up through the engine bay. Well, aside from the fact that I wasn't getting any fuel, or 12V to the spark plugs - both of which I fixed with power to the fuel pump and plugging in the blue plug under the dash...duh...

So we finally attempted the first start....within a split second she caught and fired right up...only to see sparks fly in the engine bay. I shut it down, but the damage had already been done... It seems as though my remote bleeder line (stainless steel) had been laying across one of the fuse box connections...and then grounding itself on the motor.... which created a nice loop for 12V to conduct. That kind of voltage going through that line caused it to leak and spray brake fluid all over the headers...nice smoke.

Turned out I was able to salvage half the line, ordered some aeroquip fittings from Summit, and repaired the line without having to drop the transmission (I'm lazy).

More pics of the car getting put together:

Wow! Great piece of work! Hope to see you up in Bitburg this year ... should be getting some pretty decent times ... what kind of head/cam package does it have?

Currently a stock LS1 with the LS6 intake. Mid-length headers with a Y-pipe into 3 1/2" exhuast. It's pretty loud right now.. not sure if a cam is on order any time soon.

Awesome project! Great post! I hope to see you around.

I wish I could get my wife to "strengthen our marriage" by working on the cars.

Very Nice! Myself, I would have just bought a Vette! I would love to hear and see it run though! How about a video clip?

Very nice project!

Another set of pics:

We sanded and sprayed the new bumper - it's not perfect, but the car is going to get new paint once we get back to the states anyway.



We also put some hood struts on to get rid of the stupid prop. I still have to remove the silly sticker from them, but a nice addition to bring the car up to date.



This is what our garage looked like about 2 weeks ago...

First Drive pics!!! Yes, there is now an emblem covering the two small holes on the bumper. I also have not taken pics yet of my exhaust since I had two extra hangers welded on as well as the tip welded. I'll take some pics and video soon and post those up as well.

Total invested ~ $20k. A Vette would have been the easy way... but now with a stock motor I've got roughly the same P/W ratio as the C5 Z06, maybe a little more. I'm only 2800 pounds with driver and gas....

Video clip to come soon!

Nice Job! The latest pics look awesome. I just meant too much work for me. At my age, I am just lazy and want it already done for me. You are to be commended! Really want to see a video! By the way, we probably built that LS1 http://www.gmpowertrain.ca

Its looking Good. Congratulations.

great project, looks good.

Good job! That has to be fun to drive!