Went to bolt the engine to the trans and drop it in on Saturday... one of the alignment dowels is stuck in the 4L60E and no amount of heat or hammering would remove it. Called around, and the only GM dealer that stocks part within an hour of me wouldn't have it until Friday... so I ordered some billet ones on Amazon and I'll have them today. Its absolutely downpouring so I'll try to get the engine and trans bolted together in the garage so I can drop them in tomorrow after work before it gets dark.
Tool repair comes first
Then a little degreasing and scraping of the 5.3. I didn't spend a lot of time on this, just get the thick goopy stuff off. Its all going to get pulled and painted in about a year but I want to work out any kinks and figure out if there are any leaks first.
Got the 4L80E flexplate bolted on and just barely snugged up the DirtyDingo engine mounts. I'll torque them properly once I know where I want them. Trying to avoid buying a different trans crossmember but the one I have has bolt holes up between the frame and the body so I dont know how I'd drill those without removing the cab. If it comes to that, I'll just order the summit tubular one and make that work. I still had some daylight so I finally swapped out the super blown out front shocks with some BellTech drop shocks. They're a tad short with the stock springs in but I have 2" drop springs to install... sometime.
The old Gabriel Red Riders had seen better days...
More update photos to come - even if I don't get the trans bolted to the engine tonight the plan is to start assembling my fuel tank, pump, and pickup stuff. It will be my first time messing with AN fittings and braided fuel lines so that will be exciting. Here goes nothing.