The new pan, oil pump & pickup arrived along with a dip stick and gasket set. The new and old oil pump are the same, but I used all the new parts. the front sump pan fit and cleared the steering link then the engine was put back in place.
With the engine back in place I tried the new transmission cross member and mount that did not fit, It was too high and put the transmission up against the floor pan.
Whether it is the cross member or mount that was wrong I used what I had and altered it to fit.
I cut out tabs from some steel plate and fitted them to the top of the cross member to lower it and the transmission.
Above the tabs are welded in place. below is the finish cross member before it is painted.
Once the engine and transmission were bolted in place and all the bolts torqued I could go ahead with the headers that also turned into a problem.
The passenger side went fairly well once I figured out how to hold it up in place while bolting it to the block. They cleared everything.
The driver's side was a different story the 7 & 8 pipe hit the power steering box. I first tried heating, with a torch, then indented the pipe with a ball pine hammer that did not work after several tries. I had to unbolt the engine, raise it then mark the header wear it needed to be altered then patch the pipe, reshape it to clear the steering box then put it all back together again.
After that fiasco the next challenge was the new radiator and electric fans that came with the car. I did not like the plastic mount straps that came with the fan and made my own aluminum brackets., shown on the left.
The aluminum brackets held the fan without having to use the plastic rods through the core of the radiator.
The electric cleared the new water pump pulley by a 1/4" that left no room for fan belt installation. Two fans came with the car so I will try the other fan to see if it will give me more clearance.
The new starter, one wire generator and starter solenoid are installed and the wiring started to the final termination.
I tried the stock generator mounting bracket, but it did not line up with the new pulleys and used the aftermarket brackets with a few modifications to clear the valve cover.
The water pump pulley had to be spaced out a 1/2" to align with the crank shaft pulley. You can see the fan relay and wiring all mounted on the lower bracket.
Once the radiator / fan clearance problems are solved I'll continue to continue. Until next time have a great day.
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