Micheal, I see some similarities in our built objectives and vision of the completed project. Ironically, I see direct opposites in our comfort levels. I'm very comfortable with the mechanics; however, not so much with the body and paint so I will be farming that out.
I expect to take delivery around mid-May. I too wanted to go with the LS7 and Fran talked me out of it. However, as hard as he tried, he was unable to talk me into the LS3/480. I decided that a nice compromise, booth dollars and performance would be the LS3/525. You may laugh at my reasoning...but here it is: I had a drop dead gorgeous Corvette 2005 C5 with a replica 1962 C1 body. A couple of years ago I took it to the Barrett-Jackson auction, everyone that saw the car went absolutely wild over it, that is until I popped the hood and they saw the stock 350HP engine. It was like they expected to see a power plant of equal caliber to the interior and exterior of the car. One guy even had the nerve to ask me if I ran out of money when I got around to the engine?
Call it an ego trip but from on; nothing less than 500HP, even though I will probably never use that extra horse. Example: my 2006 C6 Corvette with an equally drop dead 1963 Split Window Coupe is a ZO6 with a Edelbrock Super Charger putting out 657 ponies!
I did not order the interior panels and will be doing so later into the build. For me it is a space/storage issue. The SLC will make 7 cars in the garage and I didn't want to take a chance on damaging parts in tight quarters.
I too, want to get a jump on ordering as many supplies in advance of the delivery. In reading all of the build threads, a common theme seems to be projects being held up while guys are waiting for that brown UPS truck.
Michael, what model number(s) did you use in ordering your single and double T-clamps, I have been unable to determine what the diameter the brake line is.
Looking forward to reading more posts and best of luck with your build!
Jim