Lima bean. We called my grandson "Peanut" at that stage of his life. Congrats, Sir!

Thanks Frank. Everything is poised for the 'big pull' this weekend.

I painted the front of the radiator support with POR chassis black. May need another coat. Not sure yet. I built another engine cradle out of wood and gave it some Z speed rated castors (that was a joke)

Pulled the center console, removed the speedo cable, disconnected the reverse indicator (question about that in a few) and broke lose all the bolts to the transmission cross member.

Nothing left to do but move the lift over and crank out the engine/tranny!

New engine cradle:

Plans dimensions for engine cradle.. You need a 2x6 8 feet long. You should cut it up into 2-18" boards, and 2-30" boards. One 30" board needs to have a notch cut in it 2.5" from one side. The notch should be 2.0" deep by 4.5" wide. Nail or screw the boards together with the 30" boards running length wise alongside the engine spaced 8.5" apart. This will sit on the oil pan flange nicely.

crude drawings of plans for cradle...

Before and after pictures of my painted front radiator support:

Before:

After:

Very clean shop builds a very clean car! Awesome.

Thanks for the info on the cradle.

Forgot to ask before... Does the engine on that cradle have an oil pan installed?

Yes it does. It slots neatly in between the cradle.

Your fellow Z Enthusiast here on the northside of Houston is also 8-9 weeks in to being a father again. Congratulations to you! Not nearly as nervous about it this time. Watching this swap closely as I will be doing the same job here in the next 60 to 90 days. I am going to respray my engine bay while the old engine is out. I would feel obliged to take my shoes off before walking in your garage.

I only ask people do that when I mop it first.! HAHAHAHA

Oh and Congrats. Yes, the second time is far more relaxing!

My little one decided to give me a break and watch a movie, so I ran out to the garage to drop the tranny crossmember and pull the engine out.

It was actually quite easy. From start to finish, it only took 14 minutes. Chalk that one up to having the right tools.

and presto...

Now the new one sits and waits until I get the engine pay painted. They sit side by side like two acquaintances that share a common friend.

Great looking project - you will be surprised with the upgrade engine and triples - it will have much more torque and instant response once you get your triples dialed in. I have been buying jets from Wolf Creek over the past couple weeks (currently I have 3 different pilots / 4 airs / 5 fuels) surprising enough after 6 or 7 different jet settings I have came full circle to my original one for the best WOT AFR reading. I am still looking for a 6pack of venturi's that I can have for more air inlet - I would like to have two sets (one for street purpose driving) and (one for dyno pulls to see the max horsepower that my engine is capable of). My thought process is much like yours - I can never use all the horsepower that my engine can produce but I can enjoy the low end torque at any time on the street. Dave Rebello says I am losing 40 horsepower by not using the 36mm venturi's but I do not track my car. Just a weekend mountain road carver.

Keep the pics flowing - your going to love the first time you spark it up - don't forget to set your timing up based on your crusing rpm's........I worked off of 3000 RPM's for my baseline.

From my understanding you will be looking for:

• 12.7-13.0 :1 air fuel ratio at WOT at load-
  
• 13.2:1 being the peak high under load
  

Since I have no interstates near me (the closest one is 1 hour away) I have been working off 2nd gear @ 6000RPM's.

Where did you install your AFR gauge?

Edited July 1, 201212 yr by Travel'n Man

Where my header goes from 6 into 2, then into one, My AFR is in the 2 into 1 section.

I will have to get a new exhaust adapter to put into this one, as my old header looks like hell.

Uh, Oh! I see an OSHA violation in the next to last pic of those you posted last..... ;-)

Socks on a glossy floor?

Kinda like Kammy's World famous maintenance photos wearing flip-flops...

Uh, Oh! I see an OSHA violation in the next to last pic of those you posted last..... ;-)