My LS3/6L80e Engine Swap…..no haters please.🙏

[nvrstuk]

Change the gears to match. If you break your 44 with "mild" off road use it will be due to driver error.

Except the joints-

Just can't agree to the above quote. Driver error "can" lead to that of course but saying that it IS the cause- nope. Been doing this too long. Been wheeling so many decades and seen them break w/o rust marks knowing that it wasn't caused in a previous front end hopping dance somewhere. They just break and we're talking Spicer parts here, not Chinesium crap.


All you need to be doing is backing up in good traction with the wheels cranked. Add a hill for weight bias to double the chance.

I've seen it soooooo many times. Then there's a few who drive for yrs with a D30 of 44 and never break anything but terrain, torque, traction, tire diameter & size, are the real factors. We are talking normal backing up, no spinning, nothing but easy and they explode.
Add in a Chebby frt disc conversion and you now get a good chance of putting in hrs into pulling the axle.

Just explaining what will happen, not if. But it actually has to go off road. Not USFS, but off road, not hard core at all.

 

[WPS 73 Bronco]

Question about transmission tail alignment.

I'm leveling the engine to 5-6 degree tilt front to back. My lateral alignment is 10.5" from the passenger inside frame to centerline of the output shaft. This is the same measure I had prior.

Does this sound about right?

 

[Yeller]

sounds about right to me.

 

[WPS 73 Bronco]

Made a lot of progress today. Locked in the motor and transmission with my fab’d transmission crossmember. Took 3” steel channel, added end plates that mated up to the existing frame/mount bolt holes, and added some drain lines in the channel. Fits like a glove.


Next was getting the engine finished out. Added the front Holley accessory drive system, and the fuel injection…..custom painted to match my exterior paint. I also installed the valve covers and the drivers side headers.



After that I trial fit the radiator. IT‘S TIGHT!!!! I have about 3/8” clearance between the Spal fan and the front accessory drive. Originally I was measuring from the harmonic balancer to the front of the radiator location. I had 6.5” so I thought it would be fine. The Holley system actually sticks out further than the HB. Not much I can do about it except look for a skinnier Spal fan.

Great day of progress.

 

[Yeller]

Can you offset the fan more one way or the other for more clearance?

 

[WPS 73 Bronco]

I have already pulled the radiator in it‘s natural mounting position to the furthest left (passenger). If I raise it, it can move further left. But then the radiator fins become blocked on the left side by an inch or two. I also thought about modifying the spal fan mount. It fully covers the radiator fins, and adds about 1/2” of offset. I could eliminate the offset by adding a fan only mounting bracket, instead of a full face mount.

 

[Yeller]

Can you move the fan within the surface of the fan mount? I should have been more specific. It may take some rework of the mounting plate, covering exposed hole on one side and trimming on the other.

 

[WPS 73 Bronco]

Yes that’s an option, but not much.

It might be best to just create a new fan mount to the radiator. I can do a flat plate instead of the raise 1/2’ plate they’ve done or just have simple mounts that don’t “encapsulate” the back of the radiator.

 

[Yeller]

Don’t do the flat plate. It blocks airflow on the areas the flat plate covers and then you run into not having a large enough radiator, it only cools where the fan is instead of the entire radiator.

 

[WPS 73 Bronco]

I talked with Griffin and they suggested building a custom shroud which would move the fan to the far right side (passenger side). I'm going to take a look at this and see if that's enough clearance. They said it's better to have a shroud vs not having one. By doing this, I can move the fan about an inch one way.



My other option is the direct mount brackets sold by SPAL (see pics below).

 

[WPS 73 Bronco]

Bought the custom shroud from Griffin. I was disappointed that they won't give me any return credit for the existing one, which is a stock part for them. Their excuse was that I bought it from Summit, not them. I told them that now it will just be added to the worlds scrap metal problems. Go figure.

Can't say I'd recommend them for future work.

 

[WPS 73 Bronco]

Got my WH 23 gallon tank installed yesterday. Pretty straight forward, but challenging doing it by yourself. Thankfully I had a floor transmission jack that made it a bit easier to handle. Regardless, it was a physical challenge.

I ended up returning my Holley 2 piece valve covers because they were too tall. They likely would have worked, but I decided not to fight through the challenge. The problem was on the drivers side where there was only about 1.5” clearance between the top of the cover and the bottom of the Hydroboost. I was going to have to put the valve covers on, while the Hydroboost was partially installed (Bottom bolt barely attached).

 

[WPS 73 Bronco]

Dan Carr has completed my centers console and plans to ship it to me today . We started with the center Tuffy console that I had and he added on to it. The shifters are Lokar SS shifter for the 6L80. It will work in the “manual mode” for the transmission if needed. The twin shifts are from JB Fab. The shifter boots will match my interior which is Tom’s walnut.

 

[ba123]

Nice work!

 

[1969]

Bought the custom shroud from Griffin. I was disappointed that they won't give me any return credit for the existing one, which is a stock part for them. Their excuse was that I bought it from Summit, not them. I told them that now it will just be added to the worlds scrap metal problems. Go figure.

Can't say I'd recommend them for future work.

Summit won’t give you a refund?

 

[WPS 73 Bronco]

Didn’t try because it‘s a custom shroud. Maybe I should give them a call.

 

[gnsteam]

Nice work!

Beautiful console!

 

[ba123]

Didn’t try because it‘s a custom shroud. Maybe I should give them a call.

Summit is really good about stuff if it's under 90 days.

 

[nvrstuk]

Summit's good when you write a note and affix it to the worthless pc of steel "someone" called a flexplate! lol

I had one for over a year, the converter mounting holes were off center from the crank mounting hole. The holes were not evenly spaced on the converter. Two of the holes were 1 full 1/16" from being equally spaced to the corresponding holes on either side. I labeled and marked everything.

I sent it back after calling them, explaining that I've bought dozens of flex plates from them over the decades and they need to check the quality of the parts they are stocking because this was garbage... blah, blah, blah and they returned it. Wasn't obnoxious or anything, just explained that some of their stuff is junk and never used to be. I also said to look up the $550 one I bought to replace it saying nobody should have to spend that much for a non-race flex plate.

Never give up.

 

[WPS 73 Bronco]

I’ve made a lot of good progress over the last week. Several key items figured out and/or resolved. Here’s the list:

1) I got the Terminator X wiring 75% installed. The challenge is where to put the ECU??? Figured that out today as I remounted the dash with the VA GenV evap unit installed. My original thought was to mount it on the VA unit, just in front of the modified glove box. I found out that this won’t work as the clearance is minimal, and it’s totally exposed. This was something I completely over looked. In my past VA installs on Corvettes, there’s a dash cover in front or the EVAP. Not so with our Bronco’s. So I decided to mount the ECU under the driver’s side air box vent, eliminating the air box. This works perfectly as you won’t see the wires. See below.




2). Terminator X pass through the firewall was figured out as I found a great bracket that works perfectly with the firewall. The pass-through is in the center of the firewall, where I have plenty of space. Once I got this done, I wired up all of the sensors except the MAT and the ignition coils. I’m waiting on a relocation bracket to arrive and then I will install that on the back of the fender wells inside the engine bay. There’s a cover that goes on top of that bracket, exposing the wires in two separate slots. Pic below:



3). Got the replacement valve covers installed. I had to order a replacement vent tube that fits at a 90 degree angle. Works perfectly with no interference with the Hydroboost.


4). Received my replacement radiator shroud. It fits perfectly, now giving me at least 3/4” clearance between the fan and the water pump.

5). Designed the DBW pedal mount and will have it fab’d tomorrow.

6). Got the dash components re-installed. I’m still waiting on a few items such as new ignition switch, brake warning light, and my E-Brake button. VA knobs install and so is the Dakota Digital speedo. I also figured out the plan for my Painless fuse box and the Terminator X video screen locations…..mounted in the glove box.

7). Figured out my plan for all of the engine bay radiator & heater hose design and layout. Got the parts ordered and should be here hopefully by Saturday. I went with “hose candy‘s hose bones” for the radiator. The heater hoses are same as ba123 recommended.. All hoses will have heat shrink fittings.

I still need to figure out the radiator mounting brackets and a few other items.

PROGRESS!!!