79 Malibu 5.3 swap has officially BEGUN!!!

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Bought a new stall converter, trans cooler, spacer for the crank to converter, and a flywheel drilled for a th350 this week. Also notched the passenger side clamshell to clear one of the AC bosses on the block.


Lol and please dont make fun of my notch it didnt go as planned but will work :rofl:
2700stallandcooler.jpg
Notchedmount.jpg
 
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Cool build man. Reading it makes me laugh a little. In a good way. The way you work is just like me. If I can find something to do then ill do it even if its not at the right time lol. I hate sitting around when theres work to be done! 😀
 
Lol yea i know what you mean sitting around bugs the crap out of me. When I was younger I even had a hard time sleeping at night knowing there was work laying around lol

Thanks man 😀
 
Well guys I still don't have my MSD box or carb yet so i cant get it running until then, but my fuel pump and a couple other things are on they way and its supposed to be in the 60's this weekend where I'm at so i think I'm gonna try and drop this thing in! Or at least get a head start on it. LOL If you dont see any pics from me this weekend i either forgot to take some or had a change a plans but either way il try and keep you updated
 
Where do you plan on mounting the trans cooler? Im getting one when i get a new trans, need some ideas on where to put it. Btw builds looking good dude!
 
Where do you plan on mounting the trans cooler? Im getting one when i get a new trans, need some ideas on where to put it. Btw builds looking good dude!
Ive thought about just under the car but the instructions recommend in front of the radiator so thats where im putting it. And thanks for the support!
 
Your thread has inspired me. I found a 5.3 this evening for 400 bucks. Gonna look tomorrow. What headers are those?
Sweet deal man I hope its a good one. The headers are some polished lsx swap headers I found on ebay for $150 they are very well built. I just typed in ls1 headers on ebay there they were.
And man im glad I could help inspire you. I was scared to death about the ls swap that I would spend a lot of money and not be able to make it work. But it really is just as simple as buying a few bolt on parts and drops in just like a 350
 
Yep so i know im about a week late for an update im sorry guys i got caught up with some stuff at home. But i did get it dropped in today finally. Those car shop inc plates work perfect!! The mating surface of the trans and block were still in the same location Ive only got 2 bolts in right now for test fit but its there. The cross member is still in the stock location. And the drive shaft still fits perfect. Thats a load off my mind. Someone told me that the power steering pulley had to be changed with a smaller one. Nope. I can fit my hand between the pump and the steering box. All i had to do was bend the return line a little on the pump because it was hitting the steering shaft. Now anyone looking to buy those headers i bought. The passenger side fits perfect. The driver side on the other hand hits the fire wall. So those are a no go. But il figure it out later.

My only problem right now is the stall converter and maybe you guys can help me on that. That thing did not want to drop in right away. I finally got it to drop 3 times after about 10 minutes of rotating it around I THINK! I put the stock one back in for giggles and it just clunk, clunk, clunk right away. But the new one wasn't that easy. The splines and everything were the same. My excuse was the trans was used its the original for the car. The converter is new and hasn't wore with the trans. Maybe that's why i don't know. Is that normal for a new converter to not drop in right away?? Even though it eventually did?
 
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