Hey there kiddos! Just wanted to let ya know that Dale's new 5.3L is in and running and my new 65e and refreshed stall is in the Garage Queen.
Started early Saturday morning when I put Dale's old cam (216/220 .525/.535 114 LSA) into Nick's truck. Got the cam swap and all done in right a 4 hours. Once Dale got home, we took the LS1 out--and had one helluva time doing it. The motor had seized cause a chunk of the #3 piston had wedged itself in between the crank and the block, causing a HUGE crack down the bottom driver's side. That also made it impossible for us to spin the flexplate to get to the converter bolts. We had to wrestle that dang-ole motor out of there with the converter still attached. It was one of my Top 10 LEAST favorite things to do. Oh well--the new 5.3L is in and the 232/236 .592/.598 112 LSA cam and it rocks! A 5.3L can easily handle that big of a cam. And in true Dale fashion, after we got it all buttoned up, he backed out of his driveway and proceeded to lay down a monster burnout down his street. :thumb:
And after Dale's was done, we jumped on mine and put in the fresh 65e--with some goodies--and it took a little longer than expected. Not only did I do a complete flush of the entire system, but once we were done, I went to start it and nothing. We figured out that when we removed the starter to get to the converter bolts, somehow the green wire from the crankshaft sensor got pulled out of the connector, not allowing it to start. But since Dale is the master that is all, he soldered the wire back to the pin and reconnected everything and voila! We got done around 6 am last night...er, this morning. Tranny shifts great, stall is a little higher than before, and loves to break em loose on the 2nd gear shift.
We are all a little tired, but the job got done. Thanks to Dale, Danny, Nick, Tony (Nick's dad), and Terry for helping. Can't wait for this GM/Ford meet...
