Transmission swap is not as much fun as I'd hoped.

The swap of the original 3 on the tree transmission in combination with a diff swap makes a lot of sense on paper. The drivability of the old truck will be much improved, but the task has presented some worse than expected design issues.

I fully expected to have to cut and trim a bit to get the tranny in. I did not expect it to require a major mod of the center cross member. The shifter literally comes up right through the damn thing.

As you can see I've got some clearance issues. The cross member in the last picture is still 2" from it's mounting point the image shows the required area to be out. I'm also not sure if I need to provide support for the tranny it does have a mount position on the tail shaft housing.

The engine is in!

It's been a long road, but at last the engine is in frame. Tons of thanks to Pro Stock Performance Machining and my friend Richard for helping me get the engine between the frame rails.

Somehow I lost a year....

I have to say I was happy to see 2018 fade into the distance. I had some very unexpected health issues that cost me the whole summer and frankly derailed the project. Funny the way real life gets in the way of project schedules. As spring of 2019 approaches I'm well positioned to make some serious progress this summer. My motor is completed and that means the entire drive train can be installed. I thrilled at the prospect of having a hundred small detail intense projects to finish. Plumbing the brake system, converting the electrical to 12 volt, getting the drive shaft built, aligning the power train, updating the ignition to electronic and of course firing the damn thing up!