Engine painted!

The last pieces of the engine painting puzzle was the fiddly bits... inlet manifold, fuel rails, throttle body, coil packs etc...








Finished product...








One of the big inspirations for the orange/black theme has been this engine...

...from this '57 Chev LS conversion project.


We'll see how the exposed coil packs look for the moment. At some stage down the track I may well relocate them and go for the series 1 SBC rocker covers with adaptor plates.

The other option for the future is to swap-out the inlet manifold for one that maintains multi-point fuel injection, but has the throttle body in the same position as the traditional carburettor. Like so...

More info here.

J

In the clear

A few days after the engine, it was the transmission's turn...






A good clean (...a VERY good clean...) and simply coating the trans in several coats of clear-coat did the trick.

J

Clean and paint, clean and paint...

With the engine and transmission apart, it was time to strip all ancillaries, get cleaning and mask-up in preparation for painting.

JtC did the vast majority of the work as my attendance was sporadic at best!

As they say, preparation is everything when it comes to paint and JtC was at his meticulous best...






Few coats of etch primer...






Then finally some colour; Chev Orange with black ancillaries/brackets for a retro feel...






Could not have been happier with the result!

J

Oil Pan

Time to swap the standard Holden VZ Commodore oil pan for the Holley LS conversion oil pan (Part No. 302-1) to suit B-bodies.

The 302-2 developed for A-body Chevs is not required (I hope!) as the Impala has the steering drag-link at the rear of the cross member and lower down, so there are no issues with the drag link fouling the sump.

Because the two lowest engine-to-transmission bolts picks-up the sump, the trans and engine need separating...






We lifted the 4L65E onto the workbench, ready for cleaning prior and hitting with a few coats of clear-coat.

With the sump off, we could have a look at the crank, underside of pistons and the base of the bores; looks pretty good...




Holley sump going on...




A very nice product from Holley; good bit 'o kit.

J