Mikelly

Clocks ticking! Let me know if you need help. I'm in the middle of my own install (Getting the new LS1 Prepped), But I don't have a deadline. If you need the help, I could come up Saturday morning. Mike

Well this little experience has made me re-think ditching my old school 383 stroker in the Zcar project. Dr. Hunt, You pretty much captured the issues the LS1 suffered. The LS6 is not much better. They are still suffering from most of the same problems. I believe this is the exact reason a drysump ended up on the newest Corvette. Whoever ends up buying my 99 C5 Corvette will have a car that has none of these issues, and will have a car more capable than most can use. Mike

Got them, and then some... I hope to not deal with this issue again! LS1s starve for oil...Can't stress it enough. Mike

Got my motor yesterday for the C5. I should have all the parts in house and everythign ready to go back in within a few days if all works out properly. I plan to install the oilpan and pickup tonight and a few of the sensors... Might even go ahead and plumb the oil cooler block an lines. Mike

BAsed on what I'm told, if you plumb it to the port I show in the pics located in the link above, that is the most direct and best location. Anything else isn't gonna be as immediate and won't be nearly as effective. Steve, Where did you get your fitting from? I'm trying to source one today. Mike

Sorry guys, Had some internet at home disruptions... My cable company sux! Mike

I dropped the oil pan and took off the heads and that is as far as I went. I know the cam is wiped, the crank is trashed and every cylinder has gouges in it. I'm gonna go ahead and finish the tear down so I can recycle the block at the local recycler, but otherwise the accesories, oil pan, intake and heads are all I'm guessing that survived. It is a MESS in there... The amount of debris in the oil pan was over an inch deep in spots. I was hoping to be able to rotate the crank once I got the pan and all the broken "stuff" out of the way, but the motor still won't rotate. Mike

I had Zero help and it took about 6 hours total. Thanks god for my shop, lift and tools! Mike

There is a video link of it posted in the Motorsport section... Mike

Alex, Are you planning to drive the car a lot on the street? If so, you might want to play with those spring rates. JIm's V8 Zcar is very HARSH with 300-325# rear springs... I was just on the phone with Ross last night and we're gonna order a bunch of springs and try to dial Jim's car in with a rear sway bar and some softer springs in back and front. For a track car, I really like Jim's setup, but I'd be towing to the track a LOT and Jim drives his cars on the street TO track events. Mike

You guys might want to think about a few items for your LS1 powerplants... http://photos.yahoo.com/dat74z go into the vette folder... Check the damage to the engine and then see the port I mention with text. That port is where you would install a Canton port adapter. That port feeds the main oil galley for the motor and is where Dave Farmer and others racing Vettes in Speed World Challenge are plumbing theirs. The part to plumb an accusump in at this location is 8M16C8OMXS located Here: http://www.parker.com/tfd/cat/pdffiles/C-Triple-Lok.pdf I'll probably use the Accusump I have slated for the Z in the Vette and buy a bigger unit for the Zcar. Check out the pics of the damage to the motor... pretty "explosive", No? Mike Mike

Clifton gets the nod. GPS for tracking is about the best way to do it now days if you're going solo... Clifton, How about a run down on your car to remind us of the setup, suspension and aerodynamics-wise... Mike

Scott, I thought all along your exhaust system was the culprit. Glad to see you got it resolved. Once the Vette is up and running again, I will be working on an under-car tray system for my Z track car. The car will have a COMPLETE sealed under-body from the nose to the tail. I have no idea how effective it will be, but I plan to dump my exhausts out the sides behind the rear wheels, and won't use mufflers, other than the race units that are super small... I don't care about noise in the car, since this car will spend 95% of life on the track. I'm undecided as of yet about a rear spoiler, although a pedistal "Wing" ala the ricer crowd, will likely be used with HIGH pedistals. This, along with a Kaminari or MSA front spoiler that can be modified to accept a chin splitter and side winglets will be used... Otherwise the car, as of right now, will have no flares and no side railes. I will also not have any glass in the car other than the front windshield and the rear lexan hatch. MIke

YOu guys who have done these.... Question: How are you pre-oiling the motor before startup? I"m getting my LS1 for the Vette on Monday, so this weekend I'm wrenching the vette to pull the motor and this issue dawned on me... Mike

With CV Axles, I don't believe a front mount bar will work. Check with others, but I thought the reason to go with a rear mount bar was directly caused by CV conversions, and WHY I had to make rear control arms with two different mount locations for the end link. Mike

John/ Ross, That is the bar we were looking for for Jim McNemar's car. I think we ended up with the 280 unit. We need one that will mount to the rear uprights.. Mike

Some things I found when shopping for a shipper for my C5 Vette motor... If at all possible, Use a business to have items picked up from or dropped off to. Much cheaper qoute than having to deal with a residence. Explore Depot to depot shipping options... My engine builder shipped a 380# LS1 motor to me for $189, including $5000 worth of insurance. We got a great rate because he took it to the depot in Little Rock Arkansas and I'll pick it up at the Depot in Dulles Va. Most shippers only take PRE-Payment in the form of money order or cashier's check... plan to lose a day or two because of this issue alone... NO credit cards and no COD was what all the shippers I spoke with advised. Looks like I'll have my motor on Monday. I'm tearing the Vette appart this weekend. Mike

Excellent News Jody... Can't wait to see it! My Vette's LS1 is shipping out today! mike

OH Hell that was hilarious... And I didn't need sub-titles! Mike

John, That quote is funny as hell... Mike

One of the reasons I bought some Marsh Racing Carbon Fiber/ Aluminum wheels years back was the unsprung weight issue... Steve and Ian up in Frezno ended up with them. They were 15X8 and weighed about 10# each. I read somewhere that 50# rotating mass was equal to a 100HP gain on road courses, because the benefits are everywhere it counts... Braking, corner speed, acceleration... I want to say the book was "How to setup you race car" but I no longer have the book and can't confirm where it was I read it... That chapter on rotating mass and unsprung weight helped me change a LOT of things in my program that helped me win an regional AutoX Combined modified/ Prepared group championship in 1995. Mike

ICewtr, Welcome to the board, and good by... If you can't use intelligent means of communication, you can't play! Now, for the others interested, a comparison of what he "claims"... The C5 corvette 6speed is good to 103mph in 3rd gear all day long. At 104mph you get into the rev limiter. 4th gear is good for 142mph again, all day long. If you get up to 145mph you're again in the rev limiter. This is with stock Z06 size wheels and 3.42 gears. I don't know what the troll above is talking about, but I'm pretty sure my 305-30-18 slicks are around 26 inches tall... I hate trolls with a passion and think they should all be beaten with their mice. Mike

Funny this came up. Two weeks ago I was at a shop where the repair of a Spinner that wasn't spinning was in the process... They had one wheel off and appart and one wheel off the vehicle. These were 24inch wheels and they were HEAVY... I was asked to move one of them and the damned thing had to be rolled, not lifted. They also warned me NOT to be near it when it fell over... Nice... Mike:cool:

Something to consider is that a lot of these hipo failures with 700R4s have a lot to do with who set them up in the beginning. A lot of documentation has gone into correcting the TC Cable issue so most failures can be fixed before they become failures... Another thing to consider is that The Zcar is much lighter than most of the applications the 700R4 is being used in... I had a 700R4 in a low rider Full sized GMC truck with a cam and some boltons. We regularly towed well beyond the rating of the vehicle with no added coolers or work to the tranny and that truck was traded in at 290K+ miles on it. The tranny was the only thing that didn't require work. A T-350 trans is going to push 55mph up in the 3K+ RPM cruising range depending on tire size. Mike

John, One of the guys I HPDE with regularly, Joe Gaudette, Actually holds a couple of records there and pretty much gave up going because the place got to popular and the tech lines to darned long... Let us know how it goes for you... Maxton sounds like a hoot! Mike