8
I havent posted any updates for a while, I've been busy trying to finish up several other projects so I can get back on mine.
I finished Ricos car, but its coming back this week for me to paint the wheels and fix his drivers side door hinge lol.
I got a lot done on the engine, its all reassembled now and I've been making custom parts to overcome some design issues. I wanted to use my Fiero alternator since I have a brand new one, but the stock Fiero upper alternator mount doesnt fit on the LZ9 engine. Also. the mounting holes in the end of the head are used for the mounting the stock coolant manifold, which was not going to work for my installation anyway.
I came up with a plate that would mount on the stock coolant manifold bolt locations, but welded on a 1.5" aluminum tube for a coolant hose to clamp onto. I them welded up a aluminum tube that would tie the two together, then branch off to a fill cap and thermostat housing. I also ran a hose from the thermostat housing back to the heater return port on the water pump. This way coolant is always passing by the thermostat to open it once it gets up to operating temperature.
I incorporated a mounting point for the upper bolt on the alternator on the coolant flange, and built a lower swing mount for the bottom. I also added a reinforcement brace to the upper mount just to make it more secure.