Engine & Trans meet Chassis

Its in, or should i say on.
Feel like a milestone has been made when i married up the Chassis with Engine  / Trans,

 

Front Left Hand Engine Mount Mounted to the Chassis.

Rear mount is standard VE TR6060 gearbox bracket fitted with an off the shelf Mackay Rubber rear gearbox mount part number A1115
Common in many early Holdens.








Rear Mount sits snugly between the chassis cross tubes, there is about 3 or 4 mm clearance to the tubes, may need to be relieved a little more pending how much the engine moves around.








The rear mount sits on the Classic Revival mount supplied with the Chassis.
All the bolt holes aligned perfectly.









View from the LH rear.

TR6060 Tremec 6 speed Gearbox

I spent a lot of time trying different cleaning fluids and chemicals to try and restore the aluminium sheen without resorting to polishing, the box was spick and span, but still didnt look any better so i painted it, and in keeping with my black and silver theme, it ended up black like the diff.
Other than a partial strip to check the condition, the only mods are the remote clutch bleeder and the shifter.

All black, not sure if the original commodore tail shaft flange stays or goes.

This box came with the engine i bought from a 21000k VE HSV,
the insides look like new so back on with the housings and painted up.

After reading that the TR6060 didnt have a speedo drive, i was flicking through a VE assembly manual and discovered that they do have a pulse generator fitted at the rear of the box extension housing on the right hand side.
This has simplified my thoughts of taking the speedo readings from the ABS sensor in the rear wheel.

Reverse Lock Out Solenoid.










The VE Commodore has the shifter mechanism mounted off the rear of the extension housing with a lever shaft and ball mounted back to the center mount.

Removing the cover reveals the ball mount for a mid mount shifter mechanism.





This is a Core - Hurst Shifter mechanism,
All Hurst components fitted into custom TR6060 mid mount housing.

These shifters are less than half the price of locally available options and appear to be very well constructed, the Movement feels very snug but smooth.

Standard Hurst shift lever will bolt straight on.


This pic shows my custom remote bleeder.
The fitting to the slave cylinder is unique, its a custom made 8x1.25mm male thread with convex end on the slave side, and -3AN 3/16 male on the output side, mated to a 3/16 brake flex line.

To make the fitting, i bought a -3AN male to male steel adaptor and machined off the thread on 1 side and then tapped to 8x1.25mm to suit the slave cylinder.

Fitted to the other end of the clutch bleeder line is a 3/16 to 10mm female concave fitting with a Russell speed bleeder nipple screwed in to it.

I still have to make a bracket to mount the end to the gearbox securely so its not floating around.

The Brakequip guy in Pakenham made up the custom length flex brake line with standard fittings..
$55 all up.

Plug Leads

After putting the general engine assembly back together, it was time to plumb some ignition leads to the new coil locations.
I bought an MSD universal engine ignition lead kit which has the plug ends already crimped, but long lengths of lead to be custom cut to length by the installer,
After i routed the leads and marked them up for length, i was surprised to find the kit didn't contain the type of coil connector used by the LS individual coils, i had assumed these would be something common, but not to be.

Plenty of different connectors and caps, including some spares....except the the LS coil type connectors i needed.

The top 2 connectors come in the kit, i found some connectors on the web after feeling like i was being mugged by the local ignition specialists.

The black 90 deg boot came in an LS connector kit from Taylors in the U.S.

After routing the leads, mark up the length of lead to the center of the right angle boot.
I used some zip ties to hold them in place while i adjusted angles and lengths.

I used the crimp length guide and crimp tool included in the MSD ignition kit.
Insert the lead into the tool lining up the mark you made to the left side of the holder, then cut through the silicon lead cover while rotating the lead.
The holder prevents the knife from cutting too deep.

After cutting the silicon sheath and pulling off, fold the lead conductor back under the lead and push into the crimp connector, then insert into the crimp tool, and squeeze together in a vice.

I used the grey 90 deg boots supplied in the MSD kit for a lower profile look over the larger Taylors boots.

The MSD kit also comes with cylinder lead number tags.

Finished.