Boy it has taken me a long time to sit down and process the photos and do some status updates.

When we last left this exciting story it was last August and I had just taken delivery of the LS3 Corvette Connect and Cruise Package. The 1st order of activity was to assemble the engine, torque converter and transmission  and place them into the chassis to see what fit up issues I will have.

The chassis had been set up for an LT1 engine and 700R4 so things were pretty close to being right where they should have been. The engine mounts had been removed before I got the chassis, but were included so all I had to do was clean the welds up and then locate and tack them into the chassis.

The main clearance issues at this stage was that the header flanges interfered with the X cross member and the transmission oil pan was interfering with it as well. Both these issues were apparently were there with the LT1 since the passenger side header and transmission had previously been clearanced, How ever the driver’s side pipe needed some clearance and I had to put a dog leg in the brake pedal lever. Once all the clearances were taken care of I put the engine in the chassis and blocked it up until it was centered and the tail shaft had around  -3 to -5° down angle.

I then bolted the engine mounts to the block and then tacked them in place once I was sure that everything was where it was supposed to be.

Mounting the Engine & Transmission to the Chassis.

Next I test fit the radiator to see how it would mount up. Of course I had to do some clearancing on the frame horns to allow the radiator to be removed for service without taking the entire front end clip off. Once I had the proper clearance, I checked to see how much room I had to mount the electric cooling fan. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had a good 7″ + from the water pump pulley to the radiator.  Plenty of room for a Lincoln Mk VIII fan and shroud, that I happened to have in stock. I had bought it for the ’56 Dodge Wagon project but it didn’t fit the Chevrolet radiator that I modified for the Dodge all that well and it was really too thick to clearance the water pump pulley on the Dodge. I settled for a smaller Taurus fan which works great with the 345HP Dodge Hemi. HOWEVER!  The 18″ MarkVIII radiator fits my aluminum 1940 Ford radiator perfectly! It is a two speed fan that can pull around 3000 CFM  which may come in handy with the higher out that I will be getting with the LS3. Plus, if I read things correctly, I can use the ECU to control the fan. I mounted it to the radiator using some 1″ aluminum angle stock attached to the fan shroud.  As the photos show, there is a lot of room between the water pump pulley and the fan motor.

Mating the Lincoln Mark VIII Fan to the 1940 Ford Radiator