Specifications / Parts
Bottom End
LS1 block honed .005, stock crank, Lunati Pro-mod Rods, Diamond Pistons, JE Rings, ATI Dampener, ARP Main and Head Studs, Ported / Shimmed Oil Pump
Top End
GTP Stage II LS6 heads, LS6 Intake, LS6 PCV, Katech / Thunder Throttle Body, Custom Thunder Racing Valve Cover Spacers
Valvetrain
Custom Solid Roller Cam - 242/242 .650/.650 114, Ferrea Valves, T&D Shaft Rockers, Crane Lifters, 3/8" Pushrods
Other Stuff Added at the same time
Hypertech 160 'stat, Katech tensioner pulley, Madman Manual Rack & Torque Arm, BMR K-member and A-Arms, HAL front shocks & springs, Futral Motorsports custom Y-pipe and cutout, Jay Fisher coil relocation kit and wires, Prothane LS1 Motor Mounts & Tranny Mount, Racetronix 'drop-in' '98 Fuel System Kit
If you want to read the full story of Phase 1, scroll down past the pics. :)
My car at Thunder picking it up on 6/7/03
The "tow rig" the morning after the 950 mile round trip
Engine Pics
OK, now how did all this get started...
It started in October '02 with a call to Thunder about a Heads/Cam package. I was impressed with Jason's heads/cam solid roller setup from a couple years back, and was very interested in that. After talking with Paul (heretofore known as "Evil Paul"), we went from discussing a heads/cam package to a full motor. Looking at putting a solid roller setup (meant to rev high) on a 50k+ mile stock bottom end just didn't make much sense, and a nice bottom end isn't that much more money anyway. ;)
So we started the project. I ordered a block, crank, valve covers, and a bunch of other misc stuff from Valvegod (Shaun Carter at SMC Performance. Had all the stuff drop shipped to Thunder. The bottom end went together smoothly and quickly (Jason can build the heck out of a 346 ;) ).
Meanwhile, Thunder got the heads on order from GTP. However, this is where things started to veer off track...
When the heads came in (done) from GTP, Geoff didn't like the valveguide clearances. So he sent them to a local machine shop to get new guides installed. This involved a new cut on the valve seat - after porting. So, after the valve guide install, the heads were sent back to GTP for matching with the new valve guide and seat cuts. I'm not sure if Craig re-cut the seats, but I think he did. So, this sunk the valves waaay in to the heads, to the detriment of flow numbers...
The heads flowed 'okay' this second time around, but we knew they were down. But we decided to proceed anyway, just to see what happened. The motor was just about ready - it was being built at the same time as Jason's full solid roller motor (the 10.59 motor). My motor was scheduled to be completed about 3 weeks after Jason's motor was done.
About a week after Jason's solid roller motor was running, it wasn't running any more. It was experiencing coolant loss, and a few other problems. This halted everything on my motor, since it was identical (the "Evil Twin", as I called it). Geoff did figure out the problem - the cam profile / spring combination was not a good match. He spent a while on the Spintron, determined a new profile / spring combo that *could* live, and my motor project was once again in progress.
Upon assembly, my motor went on an engine dyno. This was Thunder's first time at this engine dyno, and it didn't quite turn out as planned. They spent several days fabricating brackets, wiring harness, getting the LS1 to fit, etc... But fuel system problems caused them to stop 'fiddling' with the engine dyno and they simply asked me to bring my car to Louisiana for an install, and made me a screaming deal on the price (I was going to install the motor myself with the assistance of Gary at L&B Performance, my local pimp-daddy shop owner). :)
So, the car went to Thunder at the end of March '03. The motor and a ton of other parts were installed. The car was dyno'd, and as expected, the numbers were a little low. Not terrible, but not great for the setup. But open headers isn't good for the street, and my old Y-pipe was complete crap (it was made from 15 sections of pipe welded together - no lie! I bought it used with the headers)... And since Thunder doesn't do much welding or exhaust work (they outsource ;) ), the car was sent over to Futral Motorsports for a Y-pipe and the torque arm installation. Beautiful work, Allan!
The car was redyno'd with the Y-pipe and cutout, and it only lost 6 HP with the full exhaust, and it GAINED 6 HP (and tq) with the cutout over open headers. Heh.
Now, why do I call this Phase 1? Because since the dyno numbers didn't hit our goal, Geoff at Thunder has ordered a new set of LS6 heads, and is having them worked over differently. So these new heads should provide the missing horsepower. He is doing this at no charge, and I am extremely grateful. So Phase 2 will be with the new LS6 heads, which should be mid/late Summer '03.
The car runs just fine - Geoff primarily did dyno-tuning at WOT. He left the driveability tuning to me. Heh heh heh, since I have LS1Edit, that's the part I like the best anyway. That's the fun part.
As for sound, does it lope? HELL YEAH, it lopes. Hard. Valvetrain noise? Honestly, I've heard louder hydraulic roller setups. To my untranied ear, I don't hear anything different. It sounds awesome through the SLP 2OTL cat-back, and even meaner with the cutout open.
Massive props to "Evil Paul", Geoff, Jason, Angie, and the rest of the Thunder crew for a great job on Phase 1, and I look forward to Phase 2. Also thanks to Allan Futral for building a great Y-pipe and dealing with the difficulties of the Madman torque arm install.
Just a note. For a Grover armed guy like me (Grover, from Sesame Street), 275-40/17 tires are NOT RECOMMENDED for use with a manual rack. :^P Skinnies are MUCH BETTER! First thing I did when I backed the car off the trailer was put my Bogart Rims back on the car.
As for the NX kit in the pictures, yes, I will be spraying this motor. But not quite yet - Geoff wanted me to do a bunch of data logging and testing with the motor before spraying it. No problem with that! It's pilled right now for a 100 shot, and I plan to work my way up to the 150 shot.
I hope to hit the track next weekend. With the 4.56 gears, 28" ET Drags, Moser 12-bolt, Cartek clutch, and everything else, this ought to be a blast, even in the heat of a Texas summer...
Update after 2 weeks - 6/20/03
Car is still going strong. Didn't get to drive it much this week. Got about 200 miles on it so far. I *did* manage to make it to the track last weekend, but the loose nut between the steering wheel and the driver's seat caused some problems. I made 6 passes. On 5 of them, I missed a gear (2nd or 4th). The only complete pass was an 11.82 @ 117.59, 1.63 60' - short shifting, granny style. This was on a hot humid Texas day, 2800' DA at Temple Academy Dragway. Hoping for more skillz next time out. ;) Why did I miss gears? I figure it has to do with my changed driving position due to the manual rack. I need more leverage to pull the wheel, so I moved my seat forward - which changed the angle that I pull back on the gears.
As for tuning, I really haven't had to do anything to the car. :) It's running / driving just great. There has been NO funny business with the motor. It starts immediately on the first kick, doesn't surge/hunt/buck, it runs very clean, and is pulls like no tomorrow. It's pretty much running the same program I made for the B1 cam in the old motor. Runs very well. I'm impressed.
I purchased a fuel pressure gauge and Exhaust Gas Temperature gauge, hopefully I can get them installed by the 28th of June. I want to run the NX at the track when it's well prepped for the 10.5" Outlaw guys. :)
I can hear the valvetrain noise now. But only when the car is sitting out in the open, and I'm leaning under the hood. Like I've said before, I've heard more 'sewing machine noise' out of heads/cam cars. Geoff did a great job with this valvetrain. I don't notice it when I'm sitting in the car.
I will be posting the dyno graph when I get it scanned. The car dyno'd low for the setup - but the numbers were 442 RWHP / 394 RWTQ at peaks. These numbers should increase with the new heads. :)