Ok page 8 and nearing two weeks until I would IDEALLY like this project done. That would be two weeks before GPG04.
There is no EASY way to make the motor and trans bolt up. Having a custom one made by a company called Kaisler is like $400-$600. Ken and I are thinking and being creative again. We come up with the easiet solution. Take the T56 bell and cut off the trans side we need and then take the 3.8L manual Camaro bellhousing that bolts to the Northstar and use that motor side and mold them together. We measured the input shaft length so we know how wide/deep the bellhousing has to be. We took both bellhousings and cut them to their desired sizes and then put them on the mill to make them perfectly flat.

Now you have to half bellhousings... where is center? Where is the top? We did the best we could to find "center" of the opening of the opposite end. We temp tack it together and I go try it on the drivetrain and...

its a little off. We have to move the Northstar bell up 1/2 inch and over less than 1/4. Ok lets go back and readjust it. We retack it to the newly measured and more accurate numbers and look at that.. SHE FITS!!

Now that my 14 hour day is nearing its end I do a few little major mods. The first here being a modified firewall to enable the steering to have a better angle at the rack. The rack isnt straight down in the back of the bay anymore, its mounted on the front of the Trans Am k-member.

The second small thing I did was cut 1" off of the welded on rack and pinion guide/mount hole. The motor wasnt center because of it. Simple fix but I will probably gusset it from the side where I cut it.

It's now time to test fit it in the engine bay. I cut out come of the doghouse/firewall to guide from inside the car and to give more clearance for the dip the drivetrain has to make.

GOING IN!!

Ok well theres obviously not a big enough cutout there!! So gotta pull the drivetrain for the 9th time :)

10th time

11th time, nope not yet keep on cutting!! :)

Drop it some, push it back some, drop it some, push it back some. Long tedious work alone.
Nope a little more back and down

JUST a little more!! It's very very close... pulled it to trim out the top of the doghouse area.

THERE WE GO... NOW ITS SITES RIGHT...

What a great view! Looks great so far.

Got it sitting down in there nice finally. Got it squared up and balancing on the crossmember for a bit

Pulled it one last time for today and time to mark where the mounts should go. Engine mounts? Hmmm Where are those gonna go now. Dang.....Time for a break and lunch, its been a long morning fighting with a 600lbs drivetrain all by yourself.

Page 1 - Intro, parts list/description
Page 2 - Rear susp. removal, new rear end,
- gutting engine bay, new front susp.
- welding in front susp. for travel
Page 3 - Front susp. prep and travel
Page 4 - CUT IT UP!! and 79 Camaro stub attempt
Page 5 - Front susp. framing and fender building
Page 6 - Rear susp. control arm mounts and axel fitment/framing
Page 7 - Engine test fit and oil pan chop
Page 8 - New bellhousing and room for doghouse choppin
Page 9 - Engine, power steering and alternator mounts made
- Master cyl. and rod relocation, trunk/fuel cell
Page 10 - Shifter box and doghouse,lengthening wires across body
Page 11 - Front brake PC'ing, engine removal/ rad. support chop
Page 12 - Sheet metal protective plate and engine pics
Page 13 - Most B4U sanded, Instr.cluster, cooling lines/coils
Page 14 - Underside pics and clutch pics, radiator/cooling fans
Page 15 - Clutch, Powered up, engine cover and wiring fun!!

Enjoy!