What's everybody doing?

Got a lot done yesterday, managed to stay in the back all day and the phone was fairly quiet.

The last covers were off the motor, all cleaned up, painted and ready to go on.

Then it was time to wrap up the tedious part. If you think they all just bolt right up then you're done think again lol.

On GM LS engines the front and rear covers and oil pan all have critical alignments. There are no dowels or alignment pins. There are special tools involved to line up the crank main seals to the covers, and cover bottoms to the block, then the oil pan is structural and bolts to the transmission so the rear mounting flatness has to be within .004 or the oil pan or transmission housing could crack or break when installing if it's off far enough, or over time. Lot's of fun.

Thought you would paint the engine red.

Uh no, it's not high enough temp paint lol.

It is funny though, I thought about using up some older red on the flywheel but I was worried about temps too, so I found some Krylon Industrial Lacquer they sent me for samples a few years ago and used some of it. It's good paint but I never did like the color much, it says it's aluminum color but it's pretty shiny. The can is in the background of the flywheel pic.

Also, if anyone ever puts a rear main in an LS engine they go in backwards. The seal comes with a guide plate already in it to start it, then you use the other side of the centering tool to install it. The back end and sides are all done, new motor mounts, oil level sensor, spark plugs and all of the covers are on and torqued. I'm waiting on a camshaft timing actuator gasket that wasn't in the front timing set, it will be here in the morning. After that the water pump and front damper can go on and it will be ready to set back in the truck.

Geno wrote: Uh no, it's not high enough temp paint lol.

It is funny though, I thought about using up some older red on the flywheel but I was worried about temps too, so I found some Krylon Industrial Lacquer they sent me for samples a few years ago and used some of it. It's good paint but I never did like the color much, it says it's aluminum color but it's pretty shiny. The can is in the background of the flywheel pic.

Also, if anyone ever puts a rear main in an LS engine they go in backwards. The seal comes with a guide plate already in it to start it, then you use the other side of the centering tool to install it. The back end and sides are all done, new motor mounts, oil level sensor, spark plugs and all of the covers are on and torqued. I'm waiting on a camshaft timing actuator gasket that wasn't in the front timing set, it will be here in the morning. After that the water pump and front damper can go on and it will be ready to set back in the truck.

Shame you have to put it back in there since its so darn pur-dee..................

It will look pur-dee in the truck lol.

Everything else came in this morning and I was ready to go. The front actuator and harness went on along with a new cam sensor, the old ones are usually so tight they have to be knocked out with a punch and hammer and this one was the same, the new ones aren't so tight, no wonder there's an updated part #...

The last surfaces got cleaned up next and the water pump put on then I needed dad to hold the flywheel to seat the balancer. Problem is someone was up here to buy a dozer blade last night, dad had been in and out a few times, and with the temp just right for things to barely start melting the drive turned really slick. Nothing was going in or out this afternoon. It's supposed to go down to 8 or 9 degrees tonight so it may be ok in the morning when the roughness along side the tracks freezes up. Seems like I think every day that it's going back in but something always seems to come up. It will get done one of these days.

Dad got up here fine this morning, all the vital parts are all on, torqued, and it's sitting in the truck with 2 bell housing bolts in it. Just in time for lunch and a good cigar.

Finally getting close. The carnage pile is getting bigger than I thought it would become though lol.

It's nice they left just enough room for a torque wrench even in the tight spots. Everything is done underneath minus exhaust then the top end will go really quick. The new parts pile is pretty small now too, I can't wait to get this done and move back to my regular easy work.

I got enough of it together to run it for a few minutes and check things out before the front end got put together and antifreeze put in it. There's so may new parts on it I needed to know if the new sensors, starter, etc was good before making them harder to get to. Everything looks good and there's no check engine light so it can get most everything else finished up under the hood on Monday. Front wheels and fender wells will be last so when I run it in it will be easy to check for leaks, then it can get wrapped up.

The rumble at the end of the tunnel