BBYHUMR 06 Re-build

[BBYHUMR]

Well progress has been made today, however I don’t have any photos to go along with the update unfortunately.

Motor mounts fully installed and tightened. Fought with the passenger side motor mount bolt for a bit longer but finally got it inserted. Would have been easier to either pull the AC compressor or install the body side mount then bolt it to the motor but oh well, unfortunately there isn’t a “how to” for these swaps so you just have to live and learn.

Got the flex plate to torque converter bolted together and the remaining transmission bolts and starter re-installed.

Got the harness all connected minus the battery connections and the BCM plug since I still need to finish running my OBD2 wires, and loom the wiring.

Realized I didn’t swap the transmission mount from the 06 to the Alpha so I got that swapped over (they’re the same but the Alpha mount was completely collapsed).

Ran the fuel lines just to realize they won’t work. The connections are both pointing in the same direction (motor and body side), and twisting the engine side of the fuel line to get it to connect causes kinks in the braided portion of the line so I need to figure out a solution, but will probably use a combination of the old fuel lines and the new (alpha) fuel lines with a few inches of fuel line to connect them. I’m by no means devastated by this as the lines were showing some rust and I was extremely surprised GM routed the fuel lines like they did around the exhaust. Just seems like a lawsuit waiting to happen. I will try to route the fuel lines high up on the floor with some heat wrap around the connectors.

Started running the transmission cooler lines (yes I should have done this while the motor was out) but realized the oil filter drain funnel thing on the front crossmember is in the way since I’m using the Alpha power steering cooler so I need to pop that off. It won’t be used anymore since the V8 filter and drain plug are both at the rear of the engine.

Tomorrow I will finish getting the transmission lines run and hopefully resolve the fuel line issue. After that it’s a matter of dropping in the rad & condenser, running coolant hoses, changing/filling fluids, finish wiring the OBD2 port, then fingers crossed it doesn’t catch on fire when sending power to everything.

 

[BBYHUMR]

Back to updates with pictures!

Tackled the fuel lines today.

Like my previous post the Alpha fuel lines won’t work without kinking the braided portion. You can kind of see in the picture below the angles of the hard lines when they’re attached to the motor

The body side of the Alpha lines run forward rather than a direct 90* bend at the frame rail.

Luckily I still had my old lines from my i5 so I pulled those off lopped them down to around 20” and laid them up to figure out a way to join the two sets together.

Surprisingly enough my first cut was actually pretty accurate. I probably could have cut them just after the bend but the rubber hose allows the angle necessary to wrap around the body.

I cut the Alpha lines just after the transmission bolt bracket, you can see my tape “guide”

This allowed the pipes to line up pretty closely. I ended up cutting another couple inches away from the i5 vent line to give a bit more of a “sweeping” curve for the rubber rather than a sharp 45*

This morning I had picked up 2 feet of 5/16” FUEL INJECTION hose. Make sure it’s fuel injection hose, otherwise it will split or erode within a month or two. Ran about $10 a foot so it’s certainly not the cheapest stuff. I used a little over a foot of it along with 8 hose clamps and a small flare at each end of the hard line.

Then I wrapped them up with some heat wrap around the rubber portion of the hose and extended the wrap a bit to hopefully help with the exhaust temp.

Very difficult to show but the lines run along the top of the transmission similar to how the old lines were run with roughly an extra 4-5” of clearance from the exhaust over the stock routing.

After I was happy with that I moved on with the reassembly.

Got the transmission lines run and connected. Found this was easier than I was planning on it being after breaking off the drain funnel thing off the front cross member.

Got the radiator/condenser installed along with the fan shroud.

Got all the AC lines run and connected to their components.

Got coolant hoses all ran and connected.

The only reason I’m okay with connecting all the hoses is because I tested the motor before I pulled it. If there are issues it will be in the wiring which is all pretty easily accessible with the hoses and what not installed.

Started working on my intake system but realized I ordered the wrong elbow size so I need to order another elbow. I will need to cut roughly 2” off the aluminum tubing but I had planned on it needing some trimming. I did need to lop off the stud on the passenger fender since the box wouldn’t line up with it (my i5 box was broken) so I’m using the Alpha box. I’m happy to report everything else lines up perfectly and clears the shroud as intended. I will likely eventually drill a hole and throw a stud in the missing location since the box kind of “bounces” in its location.

After this I kind of ran out of steam. So I threw on the engine cover and snapped one last picture as a little motivation for myself before shutting the doors for the evening