Re: Where are you at picture

by 73ss Tue Dec 18, 2018 7:02 pm

g3chevy wrote:Hey Kevin, those motor mount brackets came out of a 66 SS Impala with a 454. So I'm thinking they should be the same as the ones on my 75 El Camino 454. I can take pics of them tomorrow for reference if you think that will help. Otherwise I can bring them down to you next time we get an opportunity to work on your beast.

A 66 impala would have the old style rubber mounts bolted to the block. The frame mounts were solid metal, block mounts rubber, opposite of what a G3 takes. That style was known to break. Thats why you would see guys attach a chain or cable to the driver side of the engine somewhere. GM changed it in the early 70's.

by REVINKEVIN / Mr. 600+HP Tue Dec 18, 2018 9:29 pm

Hey. The one's that I have apparently are not from a 66 SS Impala. They look like the one's the G3 would use but they have the wrong bolt pattern. Here is a pic. I bolted the mounts back to the frame today and we are going to do some welding and modifications to these. I would really like to try another set. I think the ones I have are from a truck. It looks like they have a date stamp from 7 of 84. And one more thing, thank you very much for your input.

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by g3chevy / Mr Pontiac Tue Dec 18, 2018 11:05 pm

When my buddy did this motor swap on his 66 he did pull a 454 out of his square body pickup. So that's probably where those came from. I didn't get over to my shop today so I wasn't able to take a pic of my 454 brackets. I should be over there tomorrow.

by 73ss Wed Dec 19, 2018 6:47 pm

Glad to help. If I were you, I would try a set of G3 small block brackets and see if the motor fits. If it does, Try to fit your headers. That's were you will run into problems.

Wasn't someone on here parting out a BB 73 monte carlo? The brackets probably went with the motor.

by REVINKEVIN / Mr. 600+HP Wed Dec 19, 2018 6:57 pm

I have my machine shop guy looking for some right now. I did not work on it today because I am waiting on him. I have the month off to work on my projects but time is running out. I had made a series of trades and picked up a set of Corvette Grand Sport wheels from a 2013. I have been working at night like a shoe cobbler trying to get them to fit my 2001 Camaro SS. The rear tires are 325/35/19 on 19x12 wheels. Fitting these under this car is turning out to be harder than getting that engine in. I only have a slight bit of rubbing right now. The picture doesn't do it justice. Anyway, back to the Laguna tomorrow. Another 91 hour a week job is coming up sometime in January and all fun will cease.

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by REVINKEVIN / Mr. 600+HP Fri Dec 21, 2018 1:08 am

I found some brackets today. I have studied the motor mounts on these cars like I am going to have an exam on the subject. The one's I found today are about 1/2" closer in the bolt hole location. I am going to try and fit them tomorrow. Wish me luck. I have everything on the chassis torqued and greased so when I get the engine and trans in I will be ready for the body swap. Now that will be exciting.

by REVINKEVIN / Mr. 600+HP Sat Dec 22, 2018 3:17 pm

Finally, it's in.

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by Joe73 Sat Dec 22, 2018 3:51 pm

Make sure you only torque all the control arm bushings with the full weight of the vehicle on the frame on the ground.

Is the trans shifter further back than stock ??

by g3chevy / Mr Pontiac Fri Dec 28, 2018 1:16 am

So how did you get your motor to fit? I finally got a chance to compare my 454 motor brackets to the ones I have on my 400 sbc. There is about an 1/8" difference on the mounting holes on the big block mounts. Here's some pics.

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by REVINKEVIN / Mr. 600+HP Fri Dec 28, 2018 1:35 pm

Hey. I only had to slightly shape the holes to get it to fit. Thanks for the measurements though. I was working on the transmission mount when my wife told me that we are going out of town for a few days. I am in this bad a** house on a hill in Kerville Texas right now. There are about 15 Axis deer laying down under a tree and 2 large White Tail dear are walking around. I should be home in a couple of days and I will get back to work. As for the shifter location, I have 2 places to mount it. After I get everything lined up and the body on I will know which one to use.

by g3chevy / Mr Pontiac Fri Dec 28, 2018 2:35 pm

Love going out to the hill country. Kerrville is beautiful. Glad you got a chance to get out of the big city for a few days. Let me know when you're back in town and ready to work on the car again. Here's some additional info I found on the motor brackets. Happy New Year!

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by REVINKEVIN / Mr. 600+HP Wed Jan 02, 2019 6:59 pm

Hey. Happy New Year. I had a chance to get my transmission mounted today. Now I am trying to get these big arse headers to fit. I am almost there. When they are in I can start to see what my exhaust will look like. It's almost time for the body swap.

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by g3chevy / Mr Pontiac Wed Jan 02, 2019 9:23 pm

Happy New Year! Looks like that exhaust is gonna be a challenge. You gonna weld up the exhaust yourself?

by REVINKEVIN / Mr. 600+HP Wed Jan 02, 2019 9:53 pm

I’m thinking about it. I have the perfect little welder for it. I can just envision burning right through it.

by REVINKEVIN / Mr. 600+HP Wed Jan 02, 2019 10:38 pm

For those of you who like deer. The one pic has 11 Axis deer in it. Took these while drinking coffee on the upper porch of the house in Kerville. Back to the real world.

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by Joe73 Thu Jan 03, 2019 10:41 am

I love deer, their delicious. Thats a nice buck.

by REVINKEVIN / Mr. 600+HP Sun Jan 27, 2019 9:43 pm

Hey. It's been a little while but things are going forward. I finally got my car loaded up and took it to the country for the body swap. Now all I need to do it lift it up and roll the other chassis underneath it. That should be easy Rolling Eyes

I am soooo glad g3chevy is coming to help.

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by g3chevy / Mr Pontiac Mon Jan 28, 2019 12:00 am

Ha! I hope that g3chevy guy knows what the hell he's doing!

by REVINKEVIN / Mr. 600+HP Mon Jan 28, 2019 12:48 pm

I hear he is an "OK" dude. You never know what you are going to get on these forums you know...

by g3chevy / Mr Pontiac Mon Jan 28, 2019 3:12 pm

Well you are going to find out soon enough!

by REVINKEVIN / Mr. 600+HP Tue Jan 29, 2019 11:13 pm

What a day. Massive thanks to g3chevy and to an unexpected group of retired farmers. When I got to the barn my father in law had some retired friends over for stew. When Bill got there we started working. Much to our surprise, all of the older gentlemen were all into doing a body swap on a Laguna. About 8 of us worked for about 6 hours and did the deal. It was awesome. I can't think Bill and the gang enough. It has been a lot of work and sacrifice to get to this point. Now the body is on it's new home/frame. I hope to get a lot of items bolted to the car in the next few weeks. I hope to try and start it in the next couple of weeks. Here are some pics...

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by g3chevy / Mr Pontiac Tue Jan 29, 2019 11:58 pm

What a fun day with a great bunch of guys! This is truly what the car hobby is all about. Thanks for including me on this project Kevin! Even more pumped than you about this beast getting finished!