Engine Arrival

The single most expensive part of this build is the engine and gearbox. For my cobra, I have gone with a new LS3 and Tremec TKO 600 gearbox from Roadcraft. These guys come highly recommend by AK and after speaking to Bob (from Roadcraft) it easy to see why. There are very professional and happy to answer all my silly questions. Due to their strong working relationship with AK, they understand the engine requirements. They change the oil pan for a shallower unit and the exhaust manifolds are swapped for a pair off a corvette. They also prime the engine oil system, fit ancillaries, clutch, and flywheel. The kit also includes a Tremec TKO600 which is shipped separately. The only engine component which was not included is the ECU and that will be a subject for another entry. I also chose to purchases these additional items to make my life easier

• Gearbox Propshaft yoke
• Alternator wiring plug
• Mechanical Speedo hole blank kit
• Speedo plug/harness
• Reverse light plug/switch

Once you have made the decision and pressed the go button, there is then a two month lead time. Whilst this is an agonizing wait it does give you more time to finish the brake lines. 

As you might be able to tell from the photos in this blog the engine arrived late summer 2019, so I’m still a little behind with these posts. 

A Knock on the Door

One early morning there was a knock at the door with a delivery van parked outside. What was inside was the beating heart of my AK Cobra :D. The delivery man was jovial and quickly offloaded the 400 kg pallet and carefully maneuvered it and the pallet truck into my garage. 

Package!!

With the black protective film removed the collection of boxes become apparent. Clearly, the large bottom crate contains the engine, which makes the large top box the Tremec gearbox. The alternator and starter motor also seems to come in separate packages. The gearbox yoke is found safely packed away in the Tremec box along with some general instructions (I'll upload these later). Roadcraft have fitted the remainder gearbox speedo items. 

More packaging.

Having removed the smaller boxes and strapping, next was the gearbox. This was a little too heavy and too high to safely lift off the pallet. We, therefore, broke out the engine hoist and some strops to gently lift it down. 

Lifting the gearbox off the engine.

After some careful strapping and boy scout knots, the gearbox was easily lowered to the ground. Whilst my dad wound down the gearbox, due to the unbalanced load, I supported the far end of the box. 

Gearbox almost on the floor.

With the gearbox on the box on the floor, we had a sneak peek of what’s inside. The internal packing cardboard was amazingly sturdy. After admiring it for a few moments it then quickly slid to one side so the engine itself could be unpacked 

Inside Tremec box.

Now onto the main event, the engine. This was trapped in what appeared to be a cardboard box with wooden planks at each end. These were screwed through the cardboard into what turned out to be a wooden frame. With these screws and wooden planks easily removed, the cardboard box could be lifted up. 

Now to unpack the engine.

With the cardboard removed we can get our first glimpse of the engine, wow what a beast. It is however still secured within a wooden frame though so more screws to undo. 

A sneaky peak at the new engine.

The surrounding wooden frame is easily unbolted from the smaller of the wooden pallets and then lifted over the block. 

One last part to remove!

With the engine finally out and in the open, it does look amazing! The engine is loosely bolted to the wooden frame by a couple of metal straps. Whilst these are easy enough to remove, my plan, for now, is to use this frame as a makeshift engine stand so I will leave them in place. 

A first good look at my new engine.

The remaining issue is that the small wooden frame/engine stand is all resting on a much larger wooden pallet which was used for transportation. The larger pallet is taking up far too much floor space, and so needs to go. Given the approx. 200 kg of the engine this is not a simple as lifting it offhand or safely sliding off! Luckily I spotted this issue a few months back and purchased an engine hoist. 

Lifting the bloody thing

Whilst I do have an engine hoist and some strops, I have no idea where to lift the engine from. A good read of the numerous LS swap blogs and previous AK builders blogs, reveals multiple methods for lifting these engines. These ranged from wrapping old seat belts or strops around the block (ref) to using a bespoke metal plate which is bolted into the galley and used as a mounting point for chain/shackles to lift the engine. I didn’t fancy the first approach as you could crush the oil pan, due to the weight of the engine which is supporting above. The later seems to be the approved GM method, with pre-made brackets available from the states, if you want to wait for the shipping. You could fabricate your own custom plate, as this video shows, however, I would prefer to not unbolt too much of block for fear of damaging it before it even cranks over. A quick chat with Roadcraft and they suggested fitting bolts to the end faces of the cylinder heads and lifting from there with a load balancer. My concern with this approach is that you are then effectively lifting the engine from the 10 or so bolts which connect the head to the block. However, since this is what Roadcraft does on a regular basis, I will follow suit. 

This means the next tool to purchase is an engine leveler for my hoist. After a quick look on eBay, this one was soon in the post. Before its arrival, I thought it best to remove the air intake and any ancillaries from the engine to avoid them being damaged by the lifting chains. 

Before I could do this, I first needed to know what I could remove and how to do this. I found this great article online which walks you through the process of removing the air intake manifold from an in situ LS3. I won’t parrot all the steps here, but it’s a simple case of removing the stock throttle body, by removing the 4 Allen head bolts on its front face. 

Off comes the stock throttle body.

Whilst my dad was removing the throttle body, I started to remove the 12 x 10 mm bolts which secure the intake manifold to the heads. These are not expansion bolts and they are all the same length. However to keep things organized I fashioned a labeled bolt holder out of scrap cardboard. 

Throttle body removed,

Manifold bolts.

With the bolts removed next the step is to disconnect the evap pipe from the front of the intake manifold. Whilst removing this it is also prudent to also remove the solenoid (found at the other end of the evap pipe) and its bracket (15 mm bolt) which mounts to the front end face of the header on the driver side. This evap system is not required by the UK IVA test and so can be permanently removed. I will need to plug the open port in the manifold later. 

With that removed the intake manifold along with the fuel rail/injectors can be lifted off from the engine. Having the fuel railed mounted to the air intake is a neat solution. 

Lifting off the intake manifold.

With the manifold removed, the rectangular ports on the header are exposed. To keep dirt/dust out of the head/cylinders a quick cardboard cover is made and taped over the ports. The final part which I needed to remove from the engine is the power steering reservoir and bracket. This is mainly because I intend to use this bolt hole as a mounting location for the load balancer. The reservoir is removed, by loosening the jubilee clip securing the pipe and then slowly lifting the reservoir up and off of the pipe/bracket. The bracket then easily unbolts and the bolt is then placed in the end of the exposed pipe to avoid contaminates entering. 

Removed intake manifold.

With the engine stripped down sufficiently the load leveler can be bolted to the heads. This was done at four locations using M10 8.8 strength bolts (same as those used for the engine mount brackets). Despite having secured the load leveler to the engine, the next challenge is getting the jib on the engine hoist close enough. The problem here is that the base of the wooden pallet is wider than the legs of the hoist. The solution was to carefully cut sections out from the floor of the bottom pallet so I could slice the legs of the hoist underneath. 

Lifting the engine of the large pallet.

Small pallet resting on the legs of the hoist.

With the hoist finally over the top of the engine, the first engine lift was very straight forward and satisfying. This moment of joy as then brought down to earth as when I came to lower the smaller pallet to the ground, I had a similar problem with the width of the smaller pallet being wider and hoist legs (again!!!). The solution was again to cut sections out of the bottom braces. However, this time, that wasn’t the end of the story, as I then noticed that the height of the smaller pallet was a little lower than the height of the legs of the hoist e.g. the pallet sat of engine hoist legs when lowered down. A makeshift solution was to use the offcut pieces of wood from the pallets to rest the smaller pallet on. 

For now, the engine will leave in a corner of the garage out of the way, but as a constant source of motivation to finish the brake and clutch line install so I can get this beast sitting in the chassis. 

Temporary engine resting place.