Tue Mar 29

Stopped by Dennis' work today and took a trip with his son Scott over to their race car shop.  Wanted to measure the mounting holes on a Chevy Camaro/Chevelle/Nova transmission mount.  I had a hunch the dimensions should be close to the mount I needed for the T5 transmission.  Turned out to be a perfect fit.  I had some metric bolts of the right size in the parts rack so that's one less thing to deal with.  Now I just have to hope the mount centers on the new crossmember mounting plate.  The mounting plate holes/slots will have to be enlarged a bit to accommodate the bolts for the mount.

Spent the afternoon and evening working on the wiring and organizing the engine bay.  I added plastic tubing to cover the wires after make sure the old insulation wasn't falling apart.  Some of the wires got a wrap of electrical tape as did the spade connectors to prevent them from shorting out.  Looks like a vast improvement over the previously frayed coverings and wires a bit disorganized.

Put a finish coat of flat black on the transmission crossmember and added all the extra hardware pieces to the bell housing.  So, the engine is complete.  Just need to bring it home and put it in the car.  The clutch and bell housing assembly is complete and ready for install.  I have to replace the wire from the key to the coil yet before the engine goes in and I want to adjust the steering box to eliminate as much play as possible.  Once the engine is installed, I can fit the transmission  under the car and see what modifications will be needed to the new crossmember. Then I'll need to measure and order a drive shaft.  The weather is predicted to improve temp wise over the next few days so, hopefully, the plan to install the engine this weekend will stay on track.