Yea
 

I know Steve. I looked at Penny here in NC before he bought her and in turn he looked at a M3 convertible for my wife in Ca before I bought it. Shot my car for Camaro Performers.

He is a good dude. Just hate he lives on the wrong coast. LOL

I agree Jody. And a "track rat" as well.:thumbsup: :cheers:

Well, we fought the good fight but I'm dead tired from working all day and then till 10pm every night (then an hour drive home).

Was going well, but we ran into a couple of small items. Namely the sensor bungs we put in the radiator sides were in exactly the wrong place and need to be rotated to the other side.

The biggest problem is a substancial oil leak from the rear cover. I don't know if the gasket was FUBAR'd or I screwed up torqing it down.. but it leaks and that means the trans has to drop.

Not a HUGE undertaking but with 36 hours until the show I just don't feel like killing myself and the friends that work with me to make some arbitrary date. This way I won't have to rush it together and then have to go back and "fix it" after Del Mar.. Instead we are going to have it right the first time.

But, as a consolation prize here's how Penny's new LS454 sounds though the exhaust system. We all agreed that it's much more pissed off sounding.



Tomorrow we mod the radiator and then next week we drop the trans and fix the leak.. I hate leaks!

oooh she sounds mean!

Sounds VERY healthy !!!!!! :hail: :hail:


Jason

Kind of surprised it ran that good with no MAF, no water, no alternator (no belt) and no specific tune..

The first time we tried to fire her up we were like WTF? then we realized we didn't put on the ground strap.

She'll be on the road in a few weeks.. since we missed the show we can take our time and do it right.

I'm diggin it:thumbsup:

I'm taking this video over to the shop building my motor - tell them "this is the way a killer motor should sound"....

:hail:

As always...:bow: Love the sound!

Riding lightly and carrying a big 454 cid stick. :unibrow:

Pissed off engine sounds good!!:thumbsup:

Where is the video on the engine run??

Man that thing sounds badass Steve.:thumbsup:

The motor sounds great Steve. You'll be happier doing it right the first time.

Dang it man----I just slammed a PS pump in mine to get to Del Mar tomorrow because I wanted to see your car run there---you are just a tease--will you be attending the show anyways?

Wanted to tell you something that I overheard James saying to someone else at RTTH--He got the usual "Hey is this Bad Penny?" question, James says, "No, this is her cousin, BAD PESO". Dude---I laughed so hard---maybe he's been using this gem for awhile, but it was the first time I heard it---been laughing everytime I think about it.

Doug

Just listened to the video clip!! My kinda of exhaust note :D That thing sounds wicked!!

Yep Doug.. I will be there.. will buy you a beer :) :cheers:

It must of been really bad when he was running my wheels.. Personally I'm flattered to have my car and his confused given how nice his is.

:rofl: :rofl: I'm sure he has plenty of practice. Those cars look identical from a distance. Meaning, stance and manners. I'll never forget them both rolling out for the Optima Challenge practice. It was apparent that Pozzi set them both up.:thumbsup:

Very nice Steve, that thing sounds freakin' awesome.

Update:

Car is kicking our asses.. lol

Took out engine/trans.. pulled Canton pan and made sure it was flat. Put back on with RTV in the four corners and made load spreaders for the rear two oil pan bolts.

All looked well.. was finisning up the reinstall today and noticed a small oil puddle. Looks like a leak at the rear of the pan just above the starter.

I re-pulled everything and the engine is back out tomorrow.. I'm getting where I can pull the engine and trans in well under three hours.. ack!

Going to fix and ask Turn Key if we can run it on thier engine stand to check before putting it back in.

They come out nice because we do them twice.. or three times.

I'm certainly not gonna tollerate an oil leak..

Stupid statement cause I know nothing about LSx motors... (Or anything else for that matter) but are any of the pan bolts into the case all the way thru? Maybe some oil is getting thru the threads... and weeping.

Also - what about the seal (if any) at the crankshaft?

I remember doing a 440 block with a nice billet rear seal - and I didn't offset the seal and the spit of the seal/block mating surface -- it leaked... Once I rotated the seal so it was offset - dry as a bone..

Sorry to hear of your hassles.

Dang! I hope your luck turns around steve.

Good luck Steve. You're in good hands, so not to worry.:thumbsup:

The Canton pan is a bit tricier since it has a thin upper flange unlike the THICK GM flange.. My last one never leaked, no so this time.

We thought about the bolt holes, but they are blind. We also though that the oil pan was nice and flat, guess we missed a spot or maybe something else. Typically the GM oil pan gasket is hard to screw up. Feels like the leak is coming from above the pan where is meets the block. So we fixed the first leak but developed another one.

Oh well, it's parts of the building experience.. pretty sure I could do this now with my eyes closed.

Anyways, like they say, "third times a charm" -- on a positive note we keep fixing little things along the way. :)

Steve -- good to hear.

I have a Canton pan for the LS6 I'm going to use in the Minotti.... it appears to be a real nice piece!

I know you'll let us know what you find the problem was - so we can all learn. The transition from old generation chevy to new gen chevy is a learning curve for sure.

FIXED!! :woot:

The engine is back in the car.. fired up and NO LEAKS.. thank God.. that was getting old.

Cooling system is hooked up, just need wire in the new fans. One small brake like leak to fix, then bleed them all out, do a bolt check toss on the rollers and she's off the lift.

Everything seems to be working great. Poor car needs a tune bad since everything is different, but it fires right up and somewhat idles.


Sorta sad that in 4 mts I will be pulling this engine in favor or her final mill, theCOMP/Mast Motorsports 460 that will be centered on the RHS race block. Oh well, we're pretty good at it now.

I've decided that I'm going to put this 454 into Track Rat, should make burn outs a breeze. So if anyone needs a good deal on 500hp all-aluminum 5.3L let me know. lol

There ya go Steve! Progress!

I've been hounding the shop building my 406 (old skool SBC) about leaks... and that there better not be any! Hate leaking junk! :thumbsup:

Sweet.....let's see those chassis dyno numbers. :unibrow:

Oh, you know I will.. with video.. :yes:

Any bets? 650/613 on the engine dyno will translate to what with drivetrain loss, air intake, exhaust, etc...

My guess.. 580/550

536.25hp/508.79tq Or around there....:unibrow:

I think you overestimate drivetrain loss.. lol

My old combo made 488/474 on the chassis dyno from a 560hp/535tq 402...

:yes:

560/530

Jody

That's less than 13%. Are you sure you didn't put a better tune on the 402 in the car? Will the new magnum effect the outcome? I factored in no accessories. I hope I'm dead wrong.

Not that I know of.. in any event we should know within the next week.. remember how lite my drivetrain is .. 15 lb flywheel, lite metal clutch, alum DS, lightened rear gears, no parking brake drum weight.. etc.

I'll throw in my guess.
My guess.. 575/560. GOOD LUCK STEVE!!!:thumbsup:

Define good deal as you've peaked my interest.

[email protected]

:)

Today was a good day.. the fans are hooked up and working (thanks Chris) and there are ZERO leaks from the engine, trans or any of the new brake lines.

Car starts, and somewhat idles but the current tune is FUBAR'd and needs some lovin'

Good oil pressure, I have mech gauges on the front oil system. It's 50psi at cold idle going in and 48psi coming out. I imagine the drop is minor resistance in the Canton oil t-stat. System holds about 8 quarts now.

Here are some shots.. did a lot of things I had wanted to do like clean up wiring.. heat shield other wires and install some XRP insulation on the fuel line were it goes over the header. The whole underside was recoated with Wurth SKS Stoneguard and most stuff was re-powder coated. I didn't bother re-coating the exhaust system since it just ends up getting messed up.

Dyno tune is set for Thursday afternoon at Westech Performance. I cleaned my front wheels and found that they are both missing their wheel weights, for how long I don't know but they both have small flat spots. I will most likely be moving to a 285 front tire anyways.

Now to pull the front seats to install my new RaceQuip harness' and possibly plumb in my halon fire system.

Bottom side (can't really call it the "dirty side" just yet)
http://i42.tinypic.com/mcx6dj.jpg

http://i44.tinypic.com/k3uk3d.jpg

Top side..
http://i40.tinypic.com/28tvngy.jpg

:D cool shots!

Oh and as always amazing.