I know it has been a very long time since I have posted any news about my project. I also suspect that many of the people who were following this project have moved on and away from the Cobalt platform. While progress has been at a snail’s pace over the years it is getting exciting again. I have a bit of an update that skips a few things but gets me to where I am at as of today. If there is anyone here who is keen on the project, I will take the time doing regular updates going forward from now on.
During the last year I have been working lots of overtime and accumulating parts as well as planning what I can do to keep moving forward as I wait for those parts. Just a heads up, this is just a final mock up with a dummy block, this is not my LSX motor, more news on that later on.
I have had many one step forward and then wait for new/missing/correct parts. One of the parts that I needed to change was the drysump pump from ARE. This new pump is a 4-stage pump that still uses the LS1 pan that I previously bought from ARE. The pump uses an HTD system (cog style belt) with a collet for tightening on the pump shaft. From there I had an issue getting the ATI Damper hub for the Vortech to line up to the pulley on the drysump pump. ARE didn’t have a solution, ATI didn’t have a solution and ATI was way to busy to make me a custom hub. I finally managed to get the right hub from another customer of my engine builder, the same guy who built a LS motor with the same supercharger. The only thing I need now is a slightly longer belt for the pulley.
I ordered the alternator with bracket/pulleys/tensioner/bolts that were on the 2013 Camaro because it didn’t use a power steering pump, just like my setup. The problem was it wasn’t lining up with my water pump. I ended up exchanging the Corvette style water pump for Meziere’s electric water pump. When the pump arrived, I was stoked, so after a long day at work I went to install the Meziere pump. Guess what it didn’t line up either. I needed to get the 1.75” spacers from Meziere so I placed my order. When it arrived back down stairs to do the install and guess what I discovered? Meziere sells me 1.75” spacers but they don’t ship the longer bolts needed. In fact, they don’t even sell the longer bolts period. Off to a hardware store the next day and buy some bolts. Went home and installed the pump and then it was time for the serpentine belt to go on. AND GUESS WHAT FREAKING HAPPENED?
It fit. After all of the waiting and then some more waiting, watching it all line up was a sweet thing.
Next up, installing the custom motor mount to see if the new drysump pump fit, it didn’t. While one area was close there was still the issue of a proper fit and having the fitting’s all line up. So, I thought let’s see how close it was. Here is how close it was.
Here is my slight butchering mod to see what I needed to do. At this point I thought I was looking at getting front/rear engine plates to use as motor mounts.
The surprise came yesterday when the owner of a fabrication shop came to the house to look over the project and he said he can make the mount work with some enhancement to the remaining supports. I admit I liked hearing that.
After I had that all done, I needed to find out the burning question, will the S/C fit in my engine bay because I don’t quite have the same space as a 2013 Camaro. So, I mounted this beauty…
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Keep in mind I am mounting all of these components using minimal bolts, so I don’t have to dismantle everything when something doesn’t work out. I mean, it’s not like things ever go sideways for me, right? Here is the modified motor mount waiting for the engine to be put in place.
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