The goal today was to get the engine back in the car. First up was removing it from the work stand.



New clutch disc, pressure plate, and ARP bolts.


I picked up a new flywheel as well. I cleaned all the friction surfaces with brake cleaner.
This picture does a good job of showing the steam vent pipes on the rear of the LT1 heads. The coolant flow is reversed from a normal engine in that the heads are cooled first, then the block. Any air pockets in the head have a hard time purging since the coolant is flowing down and the bubbles want to go up, so the solution is to have a port in each head. The coolant pipe goes to a fitting on the top of the radiator so any air bubbles can purge there.


Everything mounted up, new bolts loc-tited, and ready for the transmission.


Back in the car. The transmission mount is bolted up and the the engine mount bolts are started but just need a final tightening.


Lastly I got the picture of the rear seat covers from Lseats. The picture makes it look like they are not done yet but hopefully we are getting close.

 

I went another round with the Portawalls this morning. After measuring the rim and the width of the Portawall, I decided there was too much of the Portawall fighting against the inside of the rim. I cut about 1/8" off the inside edge of the Portwall and re-installed it. It looked worse than the first time. More to come on this later.



Next up was focusing on the fuel lines. I am using PTFE-lined AN hose as they last a long time. In this picture you can see the PTFE line, the braided stainless cover that gives the hose its high burst rating, and a black nylon cover that keeps the braided stainless from scratching everything it touches.


These are a little more involved than normal AN hoses. First you slide the nut down over the hose, then you splay out the braided stainless steel covering and install the ferrule. The inside of the ferrule has a lip that the PTFE liner must butt against


Then you slide the fitting into the hose and use the nut to tighten it all together. Give it a pull to make sure it's not coming off then blow compressed air through the line to clean it.


After that it was time to see how things lined up in the engine bay. First is a new ignition control module attached to a new aluminum heatsink and then screwed to the front alternator bracket. This keeps the module out of harm's way. Thermal paste between the module and the heatsink, and between the heatsink and the bracket will help keep it cool.


Starting to lay the engine wiring harness over the engine.


With the alternator and AC compressor in place, there is more than enough clearance to the inner fender.


The passenger side has less clearance than the driver side but there is still ample room between the inner fender and the AC compressor.


With the radiator in place, there is about 1.5" between the radiator fan and the electric water pump.


I ran a 2 gauge cable from the alternator to the battery post on the firewall.


Starting to lay out the air intake and filter arrangement.


I really wanted to try to use the factory air filter that came with the Mark VII but it's not practical.

 

Personal opinion, I like the car much better without whitewalls (but with hubcaps). Plus I find the more "sinister" black look goes well with the V8 swap.
Also, your picture with the original air filter goes to show the engine compartment would look a tidier with an airbox atop the engine.

 

Seat covers Always look pitiful until they get stretched properly.
(';')

 

As I start to look at plumbing the radiator and heater, I am curious to hear what the group thinks about exposing the original 70 year heater core to the 18 psi the LT1 engine operates at. The original XK engine had a 4 psi cap and I upped that to 7 psi last summer without issue, but 18 psi feels like a bridge too far. A heater core failure would dump hot coolant right at my feet so I would like to avoid that if at all possible. I am thinking of running a line from the engine to the heater valve, and from the heater valve back to the engine for now.

Any thoughts?

 

New core for yours made.
Maybe a small radiator, with some metal fabrication to make fit.

 

Yes, replace it. The pressure cap only sees localized pressure. There maybe much higher pressures spikes elsewhere in the cooling system. A certain V8 vehicle's heater core was seeing 150psi pressure spikes under accelerations so flow restrictors were added to the heater core inlet to protect the core. The radiator pressure cap was 16psi and never leaked a drop of coolant.

 

I took everyone's advice and pulled the heater box this evening. I think I found a suitable heater core and will update later this week once it is delivered.


Then I got back to the whitewalls. Apparently there are two brands on the market; the ones I installed a few days ago are Omega. There is also an Atlas brand (pictured below) that appear to be a heavier-duty rubber and I am pleased to report they seem to fit much better. I decided I would do one and see how it handles cruising speed.


Then it was time to get serious about the fuel system. I started on the left side and ran a section of aluminum tube from the tank to a shut-off valve. Being able to close off a tank is helpful when you need to change a fuel pump or work on the system.


Right side - same as the left.


Starting to eyeball where the fuel surge tank should be.


I mounted the 6 port Pollak valve to the bottom of the parcel shelf. This was the ideal location as it needed to be high enough to allow any overflow fuel to be able to drain back into the main tanks.


I paid for my new seat covers today and I am hopeful I can get to the driveshaft shop tomorrow so they can shorten my drive shaft.

 

How very interesting, I never realised that could happen.

 

Hi Greg,
Heater cores usually have a much higher burst pressure than the radiator. The radiator never sees that high of a pressure spikes.

Hi Thomas,
I don't know about Chevy engines, but some V engines need coolant to continuously flow through the heater circuit otherwise one of the heads would overheat. This is done with a by-pass heater valve or no heater valve at all in the heater circuit. Just something to think about.

 

I got a lot done today. I went to the driveshaft shop at lunch and talked about my options. We're going to go to a 3" driveshaft which should fit through the frame rails without issue.

I did some more work on the fuel system plumbing but mostly what I accomplished was putting together a list of the parts I needed to finish it up.

Then I start thinking about the exhaust system. I designed exhaust flanges that have the exhaust pipe biased towards the center of the car (flange on the left) and a flange that has the exhaust pipe centered on the flange (flange on the right).


I also started working through the air filter set up and working through options on how to set it up.


I think my best option is to hide a normal air filter inside the stock air filter.

 

Was thinking a GL 1200 motorcycle radiator might work for heater core.
All aluminum ones from China, are a couple hundred dollars or less.
Offer a lot less, believe i paid $130, a year or two ago.

 

A quick google search shows the GL1200 radiators are 13.5" high, 10" wide and between 1.25" to 1.50" thick.
The stock Mark VII heater core is 10" x 6" x3". The GL1200 radiator would not fit the heater case.

What appears to fit, and I will find out Friday, is the heater core from a 1970 Ford Bronco. This will require me to plug the holes in the heater case that the original heater core used to connect to the coolant hoses, as well as drill two new holes.


I went through a similar process with my 1967 420 and ended up with the heater core from a 1968 Ford LTD that worked very well.

 

This morning I went to the driveshaft at 9:30 to share the measurements for the driveshaft I needed.
By 2:00 I had the new driveshaft sitting in my garage. They usually have the driveshaft to me within 24 hours but I think today was a record.



Tonight I was able to install the new driveshaft and it is a perfect fit.

I also did some more wiring for the fuel system and started thinking through the relays I need to control the fuel valve and the fuel pumps. More to come in the next few days.

 

I'm pleased to report that the heater core from a 1970 Ford Bronco is a great fit for the Mark VII heater box.


I did have to drill two new holes for the heater pipes to exit.


I made a small bracket with some angle aluminum, sealed the edges with foam, and put the heater box together. This picture is looking through the air intake - the new heater core is clearly visible.


The rest of the evening consisted of me sitting in the trunk wiring up the relay box for the fuel selector valve and the fuel pumps. I think the hard part of that is done; I need to test it tomorrow and then finish up the wiring.

 

Looks great;
After patching the old holes, you'll never know they were there.
With the new holes drilled, it looks like a stock factory setup.
Unless you are aware of, just what the stock setup was.
Very nice.

 

I sneaked out of work early after lunch and spent some time in the garage. First up was putting the heater box place in place.


Then it was time to crawl back into the trunk and get back to work on the fuel system.
I mounted a 6 relay panel on the right side of the trunk. There are two banks of 3 relays; each bank is connected to the fuel tank selector switch on the dash. I won't bore you with the operation but the top 4 relays control sending +12 volts and ground signals to the 6-port fuel valve you will see in the last picture. The bottom two relays turn on either the left side fuel pumps or the right side fuel pumps depending on what tank is selected from the dash.
I am waiting for a shipment of ring terminals then I can finish up the wiring.


Then it was time to start plumbing. I was trying to avoid using rubber hoses but the 6-port fuel selector valve has hose barbs and that limits your options, but I am using Gates Barricade fuel hose which lasts.
In this picture you can see the fuel surge tank mounted to the back of the trunk. Directly above that, mounted to the bottom of the parcel panel, is the 6-port fuel valve. You can see two hoses rising from the fuel surge tank up to the 6-port valve; those are the feed hoses from the high-pressure fuel pumps in the surge tank.
It's hard to see but there is a 3/8" hose that leaves the 6-port valve and snakes to the right. This is the high-pressure feed to the engine; it connects to a one-way valve and then goes to an aluminum line that runs to a filter and the engine.
The braided stainless steel hose that snakes it way in from the left side of the picture is the feed hose from the left tank low-pressure pump; the right side will have the same. This is how the surge tank gets filled.
The hose that leaves the 6-port valve and snakes off the top edge of the picture is the left tank over-flow/vent. If the surge tank gets too much fuel it will return back to the correct tank through the 6-port valve.
Also missing is the vent/overflow line from the sure tank up to the 6-port valve; I need a 6an to 5/16" hose barb adapter that will be here tomorrow.

I need to adjust the high pressure lines from the surge tank to the 6-port valve; they appear to have started kinking.

I'm not done wiring and plumbing but I hope to be done tomorrow. It's hard work being crouched in the trunk.

 

Today I was able to finish wiring and plumbing the trunk. I had a slight issue with the relays that control the 6-port valve but it was an easy fix. I learned the hard way that when switching tanks, the dash switch will momentarily send +12 volts to both fuel pumps - I suspect the switch is designed that way to keep fuel flowing to the carbs during switch-over. It's a good idea but it resulted in me sending +12 volts and ground down the same wire which would blow the fuse. The fix was going from 4 relays down to 2 and moving two wires. I can now switch between tanks without issue.

After that I started plugging in the engine wiring harness and running the last 2 wires I needed in the engine bay. I also hooked up the engine computer which has been freshly re-flashed to remove the security software. Then I connected my code reader to the connector and was happy to see I could read sensor data.



Feeling in pretty good spirits, I decided to see if it would run off a blast of starting fluid.

It was on the loud side on account of the fact the exhaust manifolds are dumping straight down and the starting fluid only lasted a couple of seconds, but she runs.

Next up is mounting the engine computer behind the right hand fender and working on the exhuast. Once I am done welding the exhaust I can put some fuel in the tank and check for leaks.

 

I started today with mounting the engine computer behind the right hand front fender. This gets it out of eyesight and protects it from most of the engine bay heat.

Then it was time to get serious about the exhaust. I mounted the flanges to the exhaust manifold, lined up a pair of 90° stainless steel pipes, and got to work. Here I am drilling the hole for the left side oxygen sensor bung.


Here is the left side down-pipe complete and ready for installation. You can set the spot welds from where I lined it up, the final welding was done on the top side of the pipe. I welded a V-band clamp to the tail end which will make dropping the exhaust system in the future easier. Finally I screwed in a new o2 sensor.


Repeated the same process for the right side but had to move the o2 sensor to clear the starter motor.
I need to order some more parts to connect the exhaust to the rest of the system.


The rest of the day was re-routing wires to keep them away from the exhaust. I also spent some much-needed time cleaning up the garage. I spent a few minutes eye-balling the location of the under-dash AC unit and wondered if I was trying to put too big of a unit there. I decided to chew on it some more.

I ended the day by putting the AC condenser and radiator in place so I could start measuring for radiator and heater hoses.

 

Great to hear the engine start up. Congratulations, Thorsen.