Hood vents!

Nice I like the vents!

badazz!

Mark-

What's the latest on this? You still in SF? I'm debating ditching the leafs on my camaro and would love a ride to Alices (I'll buy!) if you've got this dialed in.

Jason

Jason- It's still in TN.... haven't thrown much money at it lately so it is kind of in a corner in the shop. I did have the hot side Jet Hot coated which was $$$$. Need reassembly and the wiring finished, the rest of the exhaust and some other little stuff.

If you want to be a bad ass put this in your Camaro:
https://lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php?p=695393

My work has been pretty crazy the past few months and in January 2020 I expanded my business by about 75% so it got even more busy....

Updates on the car being completed by Coffey Fabrication in Nashville, TN.

Running the Holley EFI digital display would be better suited to running a 1970 Chevelle dash so a fiberglass one from GlassTek was ordered along with a front spoiler which Chris will further modify. In the pictures it is being test fitted and needs to be positioned more laid forward to make the dash readable and instrument HVAC components easier to use. He also added a pushbutton start and key swith to the dash and put back the old HVAC vents and related buttons.

The wiring is nearing completion and the seat wiring getting on board as well with functional heated and cooled Recaro seats from a 2009 CTSv.

Had the hot side coated by Swain Tech Coatings which turned out great.... although my wallet cried with the cost haha. They do it in white; however that would stay clean for about 5 minutes knowing my luck so I had them painted black (looks gray). Should really help with heat control.

I also swapped out the brand new T56 Magnum for the newer version and long awaited T56 Magnum F style which has the superior 4 bolt style shifter found on the older T56's and allows a MGW shifter. Most likely need a new 4" driveshaft as the newer version is 1.9" shorter in overall length (Still TBD).

Last but not least Chris and team put back the hot side on the car and then started where the 4" downpipe terminated at the firewall to finish the exhaust which is 4" ovalized s/s tubing and a single 4" race muffler. We were planning to put an e-cutout on there by the firewall or just past it; however there doesn't seem to be much room. The lowest part on the car is the torque arm so far.

Of course the transmission and torque arm mounts had to be notched/clearanced to clear the 4" exhaust. You can see on the frame the welds from the frame boxing kit they added to further stiffen it up.

They are making headway and the stars may finally align where it is driveable in the next few months. Going to have traction control via the Holley Dominator EFI using boost by gear/time. The ZR1 front hubs have speed sensors and then a trigger wheel/pickup will be added to the rear pinion flange. The Holley plots the acceleration of of the front wheel vs. driveshaft speed to determine if timing/fuel should be pulled. The brand new tires are now officially 2 years old... so they need to be exercised ASAP :)

Current test motor is an aluminum 5.3 with ported cathedral heads/LS6 intake, and 120lb injectors. I plan to push it as far as it will go.... meaning 1000rwhp and driving this weekly most likely around 14psi which will be around 750rwhp as max power. Lower gears get lower boost levels via boost by gear.

Summit had a sale on LS9 blocks last year so I picked one up for $1808 delivered. Being machined with torque plates from GM at the factory they basically need ZERO machine work. Getting a Molnar 3.622" crank/rods and found some low mileage used LS9 heads to be ported for the final motor going inside. That should make the GTS76 turbo spool nicely with an additional extra liter of engine capacity (.9 liters). Most likely just run a stock LS3 intake as we have made 1200rwhp with them using a bigger turbo already in my LS9 turbo RX-7. It will be mothballed until the 5.3 gives up the ghost.

Glad work is still progressing on the car.

I love the MGW shifter on my T56.

Been a long road getting this car to near completion.... Pretty much the only thing left to do now to get it running/driving is some wiring. New windshield goes back in next week....

That's a very mean looking car!

Very nice build.
Do you plan on using a thermal blanket around the intercooler & piping?

I'm thinking I will need to insulate the intercooler in order to prevent condensation etc.... any links you can provide for ideas :)

Windshield goes in this week...

Cars looking good man. Won’t be long.

That's what I like! The pro touring cars that have the pro look!

After doing some digging around it looks like this should be a good thermal insulator for the intercooler tank in the trunk.
https://www.zoro.com/k-flex-usa-36-x...yABEgLqpfD_BwE

Anyone have suggestions for the intercooler itself under the hood?

I'm going to be trying this on my headers and exhaust piping, claims it reduces radiant heat by 90%.

https://www.zycoat.com/zybar-color-coats/

https://cdn2.bigcommerce.com/server1...1529946953.jpg

I've seen several guys use this type of insulation, depending on if the color would work for you. they claim 90% heat reflection.

https://www.heatshieldproducts.com/cold-gold-shield

https://www.heatshieldproducts.com/p...-300dpi-17.jpg

Raptor liner for truck boxes is what several Air to water drag race guys use. Condensation dripping will get you backed out of the beams instantly.

The Zycoat stuff look like a great product, but at $1900 a gallon, I’d have to have a lot of positive reviews before I ponied up the coin. Let us know how it turns out Jody. I’d love to coat my ARH headers and complete exhaust. I have a ton of under hood and undercar heat from my exhaust. Been thinking a lot lately about coatings.

Windows back in.... still some wiring to wrap up.

In the trailer heading home. Had an opportunity to get it trailered home for a deal as NorCal Garage was out there with an empty slot to fill. I'll be finishing the wiring up at my shop now. Pretty excited....

Finally arrived back in CA.... 9 years worth of dust!

Wiring, bleeding brakes, clutch spring/rod, rear axle seal leak, lots of little things to wrap up.... but the big parts are done. Very happy to have it back at my shop.

Great to see. You must be elated to have it back in your possession. The vacuum pump ran off the alternator is trick! Never see that before.
Get this finished up. It’s going to be a hoot to drive.

I'm excited. Will have time in July to continue work on it.

Summer is finally over and my swimming pool biz is slowing down a bit. Finally had some time to get the car running. Fixed a leaky fuel tank (pinhole leak), nut/bolted the car, cut the wastegate piping flush to the bottom of the car for more ground clearance. My buddy Mike quickly wrote a basic tune and it literally fired up on the 1st attempt as you can see!

The engine may have a vacuum leak as it doesn't want to idle below 1500rpm. Still tinkering a bit more... next week it should go off to Hill's Rod & Custom local to me for new axle seals, longer rod in the brake master cylinder (not enough stroke to bleed the brakes), corner weight and alignment. Kurt Hill races a wild K5 Blazer dropped on top of a C5 chassis. He will also shake down the car to see what else is potentially needed to make it safe.

Pretty excited to FINALLY hear it run.



exhaust note:

Congrats on reaching this milestone! Hope you're out driving it soon and enjoying all that work.

The master was missing the aluminum slug. Not sure why it wasn't installed previously. Once it was in there... I bled the brakes in about 30 mins.

Took it for a short drive on Saturday finally... has high idle and we need to mess with the tune. Maybe bad IAC motor in the throttlebody.

It has an 11lb McLeod flywheel and RXT 1200HD clutch which drives beautifully! Love it. Super light pedal pressure.... non grabby.

Idle fixed (simply a poor base file) and I had Andrew Borodin remote tune it ultimately (Holley Dominator EFI) whom I have known for a long time thru LS swapped RX-7's. He did a great job and cleaned up a bunch of things... we adjusted the IAC with the throttle stop screw a few times, apparently the vacuum signal my adjustable FPR is poor (so it can't do fuel compensation), the PWM that controls my efan isn't working (wired up fine... maybe a dead unit as it is used), but otherwise seems in good working order engine wise.

If you want to get remote tuned for Holley EFI Andrew is very talented and actually has a PHd as well! Smart guy and knows does tuning 100% for a living:
https://drefi.net/

Dr. EFI.... I know I'll use him when the time comes.

Been driving it around a little here and there... Still need to fix the leaky axle seals and fan PWM. The heim joints all around are a bit noisy being metal/metal.... but otherwise it seems to be good. Haven't even made any boost yet and it feels very peppy.

side shot! Pretty good stance... been driving it around and shockingly hasn't scraped on anything yet. Haven't gone over a speed bump yet....

Dropped it off at Hill's Rod & Custom in Pleasant Hill, CA for some safety stuff/checks, ride height/corner weight/alignment and some rubbing issues to resolve hopefully all related and easy to solve.

Curt Hill races and builds all kinds of cars including his green K5 Blazer that he dropped on top of a C5 Corvette chassis running a 468ci LS engine. He did a ton of work on my buddy Dustin Reed's C10 (gray) with a 416 (I helped build the motor and sold him a T56 Magnum). http://digitaleditiononline.com/publ...articleBrowser

2 weeks ago it was in the high 80's and I was out on my waverunner. This week it has been in mid 30's in the am and low 60's during the day. Fall has arrived in Northern California. Getting some much needed rain also as we have been in drought for waaaaay to many years and lakes are at an all time low level. Can't wait to drive this car... it will be on wastegate spring for the first thousand miles until I break in the clutch/T56 Magnum and work out any other bugs with the car. Thus far the pedal pressure is light and the 11lb aluminum flywheel drives GREAT from McLeod.

I recognize the name Dustin Reed as I'm a C10 guy & also have a set of Curts raised inner fender wells for my 67/68 C10.
Good shop & that Blazer scoots....

Had to fix some rubbing issues.... transmission tunnel cut out from behind the transmission (dshaft contact), rear tires luckily just needed thinner spacers, added a shim on both sides of the front sway bar as it was rubbing on the frame bolts to space out the arms on the splined ends of the bar. Added some Crow Racing seat belts.. still more sorting but it drives nicely now without metal on metal contact. Was able to lower the rear a bit as a result of the new tunnel. The 4" driveshaft wasn't helping with clearance either.

Intercooler water pump is on an MSD solid state relay triggered by the Holley Dominator EFI need to make work..... so I can't really make any boost yet since the intake charge isn't getting cooled. Going to get this dialed in next week when I can make some time.

Here is a video of my girlfriend getting her first ride in it... I'm at maybe 20% throttle and barely making boost as I'm in 91 octane and the intercooler not working as it should. It was 70* this day... on Thanksgiving!

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/cnfa7t-VrlQ

Need to tidy up the interior.... thinking about getting the dash flocked... and need some black carpet. I'm going to just rock the original green door panels for now. Headliner needs redone also. Added a Momo 350mm suede wheel with buttons most likely for rolling anti-lag/2 step and maybe some nitrous to spool it up quicker.

The CTSv seats are super comfortable. After driving it around for about 100 miles the spring rates in the coilovers are waaaaay too soft. Need to change them for something quite a bit stiffer. Not sure what rates are in there... will check this week. It drives soooo nice with the current springs it literally could be a daily driver. It is a bit low out back as entering/exiting angles driveways the rear tires are hitting the wheel wells and stopping the car in its tracks.

The steering seems quite slow... even though this is supposedly a Cherokee "quick ratio" box. Not sure what to do there.... Any suggestions?

The water pump for the intercooler isn't being triggered by the Holley Dominator so I need to get that working.... haven't made more than 1-2psi as there is no cooling of the intake charge happening and I'm on 91 octane and it has 59cc heads on the alum 5.3.... but it feels healthy so far. I'm guessing on 8psi it will make around 500rwhp or a touch more. On kill I'm shooting for 1000rwhp on e85.

I have around 300 miles on it mainly in town breaking in the clutch and transmission with truly only about 30% throttle. The engine has 150K+ miles on it so it doesn't need any break in that's for sure. Andrew put a basic conservation tune on it and it drives GREAT. Even on cold starts with 45* water temps it starts right up without issue. I did notice when I would get on the freeway (50% throttle or so) and give it more throttle to actually make the turbo make a couple pounds of boost that the engine didn't seem happy and I was hesitant to give it more...

I added some TORCO to the 91 bringing it up to probably 93-94 octane on the last tank. Getting on the freeway it was doing the same thing.... didn't feel healthy.. Well after getting off the freeway and the car dying (near full tank of gas) with a struggle to get back to my shop.... I tested the fuel pump relay and thought maybe the tank was empty... same symptoms of the pump not powering up/prime upon start. I finally opened the trunk and found most of the wires going to the MSD solid state relay block were not tight. Well next test drive after tightening them going up the on ramp did the same style driving and the turbo comes on and blows the tires off (2nd gear) even with part throttle. The 5.3 doesn't seem to have any problem spooling this 76mm (1150hp rated turbo). I'm guessing the Holley was saving the motor as it was going lean (Dominator EFI). Part throttle it drives the same... but once in boost its painting a smile on my face now. Hope to do some more testing next month and break in miles on the transmission/clutch and then do some E85 and turn it up in spring.

I'm getting some tire rubbing out back going in/out of driveways... so I need to raise it a bit... and maybe space out the rims a little more. Other than that it really drives like a kitten and just needs more power.

Glad to hear it's going well for you. Enjoy breaking it in!

Around 500 miles on it.... been beating on it a little harder. Raised the rear ride height about an inch... much less rubbing. Still on wastegate spring pressure... but it certainly pulls good in 2nd and 3rd gear.