So here is the latest from the Impala Project. I was under the assumption I needed to located TDC for piston 1, which is fine, not too big of a deal. The problem was I had nothing to turn the crank with. Right now I'm trying to prolong driving the Impala for as long as possible. Just another few weeks then I'll be tearing that down for the engine install. So the hub, bolt, crank pulley, etc are all still on the drivable car.

Anyways, TDC. I ended up getting a strap wrench on the front of the crank to rotate it a little bit. This turned the engine enough to put piston number 1 right where it needed to be. After all this effort though, I find out that the LT1 doesn't need to be at TDC and the Optispark basically takes care of everything. So....lesson learned. Now that I am done with that, I moved to the cylinder head install.

The head of choice here is the Trick Flow GenX 195 62cc aluminum units. Everyone online says to port, polish and do more with them because off the shelf heads won't generate any power. This isn't a track car and I'm just looking to make solid numbers, so the heads are going on as is. One thing I did before was chase all the threads with a thread chaser from Summit. I learned this is different than a tap, as it wasn't cutting, just cleaning or chasing the threads. I ended up using some ARP head bolts, ARP Moly/Assembly Lube and Loc-Tite Thread Sealer as well. Right now, the passenger side head is installed and looking nice. I followed the advice of Trick Flow and also my LT1 rebuilding guide. For the other cylinder head, I'm going to film that for everyone, just in case you were curious on how these install. Filming should take place in a day or two, just been super busy with everything else in life. I will say though that the first head went on nicely with a Fel-Pro gasket in between. Just following the guides and taking my time it took me about 45 minutes. Here are a few photos below and the next post should be of the other cylinder head install. I also replaced the awful carpet underneath that has seen more than enough oil drips from various projects. Thanks for reading and the next update will be soon.

How to Rebuild Small-Block Chevy Lt1/Lt4 Engines Hp1393 Buy on Amazon

Trick Flow TFS-30400010 Alum Cyl Heads SBC LT1 62cc A/P 195cc Assm (pr) Buy on Amazon

Fel-Pro 501SD FelPro Gasket Buy on Amazon

UNC Thread Chaser Rethreading Tap Set 1/4" 5/16" 3/8" 7/16" 1/2" 9/16" USA Buy on Amazon

Loctite 37615 PST Thread Sealant Stick - 19 g Buy on Amazon