After David and Michele left with the body parts (sounds like a horror movie, doesn’t it?  ), Randy and I focused on Red’s new engine, the LQ9 6.0 liter out of the 2003 Cadillac Escalade.
First, we successfully got it onto the engine stand, using the engine hoist to do the lifting and positioning:
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh16/JimGnitecki/Valueofexpertiseandexperience005eng.jpgWe mocked up the engine mounting on the passenger side, and here are a couple of photos of that:
http://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh16/JimGnitecki/Valueofexpertiseandexperience006eng.jpghttp://i252.photobucket.com/albums/hh16/JimGnitecki/Valueofexpertiseandexperience007eng.jpgNote how this 100% bolt-in / no welding engine mounting setup for the Advance-Design series trucks works, on each side of the engine:
- The stock LS series engine mount comes entirely off the LQ9
- The billet machined Chassis Engineering “LS adapter plate” bolts onto the engine
- Half of a “standard” Chassis Engineering small block Chevy (SBC) mount bolts to the LS adapter plate
- That SBC mounting piece bolts onto another piece, what I will call the “channel piece”, via a sophisticated rubber / steel engine mounting sandwich
- That channel piece slides into the AD truck frame rail channel, and then you drill 2 holes from above the frame rail and 2 holes from below, and bolt the channel piece to the framerail with a total of 4 Grade 8 or better bolts (10.4 would be ideal).
At least in theory, this arrangement has several advantages over custom or weld-in solutions:
- No welding, so no chance of damaging the frame rail, or creating an inadequate weld
- Predictable, “standard” height of the drivetrain relative to the chassis, which at least minimizes the opportunities for interference with other parts, and for driveshaft angle issues, since it has been pre-engineered
- The channel pieces can be slid forward or rearward to wherever the engine positioning is BEST, all things considered, before being bolted in
- Inexpensive, compared to custom fabrication
- Higher probability of everything fitting (nothing is CERTAIN in hotrodding!)
There are however two dampeners to all these advantages:
1. Despite the apparent fore and aft flexibility, and despite the fact that an LS engine has no nasty distributor trying to bump into the firewall, the width of the cylinder heads and bellhousing limit how far back you can go, and the incredible fore and aft depth required for front end accessories and their drive (FEAD), limit how far forward you can go before bumping into the front crossmember, or core support, or radiator.
2. The LS adapter plates extend further FORWARD than the stock engine mounts (in order to achieve the rearward overall engine placement), and so the passenger side plate interferes with the mount for the air conditioning compressor, and with the AC compressor itself.
The AC compressor mount can be trimmed a bit to fit, and we might even be able to keep all 4 mounting bolt locations for it. But, the stock AC compressor will LIKELY hit the new engine mount (Randy will do some measuring at his jobsite today to see if that is in fact the case).
So, we are bracing ourselves for the probability of needing to find a different compressor, maybe one off a compact import car, that will be SHORTER than the stock GM one, and no greater in diameter (we estimate we have only 5 ¼ inches or so of working diameter space before we encounter the inside edges of the framerail channel). We would then need to fabricate a mounting adaptor. We also need a compressor that comes with, or can be fitted with, a pulley compatible with the belt type and size on the LQ9 harmonic balancer that drives the AC compressor (separate from the serpentine belt).
I’ve told Randy that this is a surprisingly vital need, because if we need to change FEAD system altogether, to get the compressor moved elsewhere (like above the passenger valve cover), the aftermarket FEAD systems for LS engines START at about $2300!! That’s more than we paid for the salvaged LQ9 engine! That is way outside any semblance of budget for the project. So, we need to resolve this compressor issue, or I’ll be traveling without HVAC for a while, and Texas summers get HOT! But with Randy’s experience, I know I have the very best guy looking for the right solution. Randy has seen SO many compressors.
Continued . . .
