TEAM PRODIGY 2009 Bull Run Rally Project
 

So it is time to formally introduce our 2009 Bull Run Rally Project named TEAM PRODIGY. We are building this car (named Lucy) for Ted and James, Ted is a member here, team 68 chevelle here on the forum. Ted is signed up for Bull Run, paid, approved and confirmed for the 2009 Bull Run Rally! Now we are not talking about the reality TV show, but the real live Bull Run Race (I mean RALLY) many here know as Cannonball Run. Yes, this race (RALLY) is real! This year the Rally goes from Manhattan, NY to Austin, Tx and is a 7 day event broken into seven 1 day sprints about 400 miles each from location to location. Teams will find out the next location each morning. Drivers go city to city in a poker run of sorts, and while not "A Race", there is some pride in getting there quickest. Each night they will reside in 5 star resorts and have activities and parties each night. As I understand, surviving the parties every night is half the battle. This is a $20,000 to enter and nothing to win Rally strictly for pride. And one of those 100 things you gotta do before you die list!

See more info on the race in the link below.

WWW.BullRun.com

Here is a little promo for the race

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-AfNE...layer_embedded

I talked about this project briefly on one of my video updates a while back but did not have our final rendering or final plans yet on a couple things. We had some surprises come up that changed plans a little and pushed us a little deeper into the project then we planned. The body that we were going to try and "scuff and shoot" for the race, was just to rough to waste any time and money on. So my brother David put some new quarters and outer wheel houses on it, we got some new fenders, and are doing the full treatment to the body. A killer Maroon with flat black accents theme should look racy. Of coarse we are running Forgelines, we selected a set of killer 18" SP3 in matte black with brushed lips. With some high speed blast expected, we need the best brakes in the world to slow this thing so of coarse we selected a Prodigy Customs Total Car G Machine package with Wilwood 13" (6) piston front and 12.2" (6) piston rear brakes! Suspension will be a Air Ride Street Challenge package using some trick new parts no one has seen yet. Pretty exciting stuff indeed. We will also debut Air Rides new Chevelle Tiger Cage.

While I am continually reminded I cannot refer to this Rally as a race, a mistake I make often. We need some horsepower for this RALLY! We also need reliability and fuel mileage for sustained speeds of 100MPH +. Of coarse speeds like this will ONLY happen if they happen to run some place it is legal to run 100MPH to 150MPH? So making the power is one of our L76 6.0 litre engines and will make right at 480 ponies with a little help from Mast Motorsports. There may be some drag racing one night, so we are adding a little 100 shot of giggle gas for the drag strip activities! Keeping it a automatic, a 4L80E combo with a big old cooler should keep the transmission cool if any sustained high speed runs happen. We figure it will get 10 to 12 MPH at 100MPHto 120MPH (I have a officer friend that is going to help me with a 5AM Sunday morning 00 mile test for fuel mileage). So at 10 miles to the gallon and 400 miles between runs, were looking at carrying 40 gallon of fuel n board, adding a 20 Gallon trunk mounted fuel cell in addition to the factory tank.

Lucy is going to be decked with a awesome CB, Valentine, Radar detector, and some other toys to make sure we know where the coppers are.

So this one is going to be fun. And we will be seeing the guys off in NY, then heading to Austin to meet the boys for the finally party. I cannot wait.

Special thanks to Carter Hickman for another killer design!

And Ted....................................Thanks for selecting us to build Lucy!

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...nal2_small.jpg

Sounds pretty cool. I love the rendering colors look awesome. Of course the car is going to top notch since you guys are doing it. Nothing but awesome cars come out of your shop. How close are you going to get to that maroon on the rendering? I would love to have that color on my car.

Frank that sounds like it will be a hell of a lot of fun...Challenge will be to not have too much fun each night, and still be able to hit it hard and make good time the next day.

That rendering is Bad Azz! That's awesome that they are doing Bull Run. Sure would be cool to see them on the TV version too.

That is cool man....hope you win. Name needs some work. LOL

Rendering looks good Frank! Nice to see some chevelles getting the treatment.

Once again we are honored to be part of such an exciting project.
No one can do it quite like Frank and his team at Prodigy.
We are all looking forward to this one, should be quite a trip!

Thanks for all your support.

Best regards,

Scott Main
Forgeline Motorsports
800-886-0093
www.forgeline.com

That's awesome.
Should be a fun little gig.:yes: :thumbsup:

Cool project. Carter did an awesome rendering as expected. :thumbsup:
What kind of upgrades are you making to the L76?

kick ass rendering..:thumbsup:

Just a cam and tuning upgrade using the VVT though Mast Motorsports. Pretty cool stuff. And since I have a supply of L76s.............

So it has been a little while since I posted any updates. I had some family stuff come up that put me a bit behind so I have not had much time to update. We have been going pretty hard on Ted's Bull Run racer. With the race 10 days away now were in full on thrash mode. We had some killer parts show up and more coming in. Tomorrow we have something really special coming that was a 11th hour change...........for the better.

The newest and coolest product to debut on The bull Run Racer has come from Air Ride. That being their awesome new Titanium Series Street Challenge kit including the new remote reservoir shocks, with internal ride height sensors. Our kit also includes the new front splined sway bar kit. The Titanuim series Shockwaves and splined sway bar are upgrades available on the Street Challenge kit . The shocks are a work of art and should only improve a already killer suspension package, and the splined bar, well......................just wow!

We are happy to announce we are now number 9 in Moser sales and heading to number 8 in sales soon, so it is only fitting we would use one of Moser's double throw down, badd to the bone, 33 Spline Tru Track 12 bolts complete with Big Ford End and a Performance cover for good measure. Stuffed with 3.55 Gog's, this thing will have to be game on for whats coming at it! Were putting a little power in front of it, but not worried about the rear which is pretty much bullet proof.

Being Wilwood's biggest distributor in the Pro Touring market, it was obvious we would only use the best brakes. We did not go crazy and over do / over size the brakes. We used one of our most popular selling Prodigy Customs Total Car G Machine Brake Packages including 13" (6) piston front kit and a 12.2" (4) piston rear, along with a Wilwood Billet tandem master cylinder.

Tomorrow I will post up some more really cool parts.

In the meantime, this is some live action of where we are tonight. My hope is to start driving it Friday afternoon, make a quick 500 mile trip this weekend, see if anything falls off, LOL! Nut and bolt the car and send it on another 500 mile trip. The guys are all flipping over who gets to make those test runs. Sunday morning, EARLY, we plan to make a hard run in a special location, around 5:45 just before shift change, and do a little 33 mile sprint to see how she acts at speed for a few miles. Then Weds morning early, Lisa and I will drive the racer up to New York City to meet Ted (who will not have seen it finished yet) to get him re acquainted with the car a couple days before the race (I mean rally).

I have to thank my good customer Bill Hearder for the paint color. The color is amazing and I need to get it in the sun to capture the color. When Carter Hickman rendered the car, we had no idea what color it was, but we knew it was fantastic in the rendering and would be hard to duplicate. Bill called as soon as he saw the rendering and told me what the color was, a special PPG color he was using on his own beautiful GTO project. Thanks Bill, it is dead nuts on.

Enjoy the pics, as usual we have a lot to do and short time to do it. Our 11th hour change has a bit under the 8 ball. But when you see our 11th our change tomorrow, you will see why it was worth the added pressure.

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/DSC_0047.jpg
Brand New Titanium shocks debut on the Bull Run Racer!

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/DSC_0060.jpg
Air Ride going together

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...DSC_0049-1.jpg
Badd Ass moser 33 spline 12 bolt, painted and ready to install

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...DSC_0081-3.jpg
Color is simply awesome. 13" Wilwoods ain't bad either.

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/DSC_0068.jpg


http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/DSC_0093.jpg
Ready for the motor.........soon, very soon!

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...DSC_0085-1.jpg
And the view the other Bull Runner's will get! The Matte black just JUMPS of the super high metalic marron.

Frank, that's a hell of a lot of progress since I was standing next to the car about 5 weeks ago! :thumbsup:

Can't wait to see this AWESOME car running down the road.:hail:

Colors are bitchin dude:thumbsup: Thanks for not showing the wheels on purpose!

I guess Tony was wrong... I won't be the first to post the new TS Shockwaves on Lateral-G...

Looks killer, I love the color scheme and can't wait to here feedback on the Shockwaves

Frank,

What color red is the car? Candy Apple?

Very nice Frank!! Looks like she's gonna be a beast.
Keep us posted please. :thumbsup:

Awesome work Frank.

That is a PPG customs color, I will have to get the name, But it is a 3 stage candy. Super expensive.

OK, so yesterday I mentioned a very important HUGE 11th hour change to the Bull Run car. A while back we discovered Wegner Motorsports front drive system and became a dealer for their full product line including engines and accessories. We were talking with Wegner about running their really cool accessories drive on the Bull Run Racer. Wegner makes one of the coolest LSX front drive systems out there. A system designed to run high RPMs for extended periods of time. These front drive set ups are a smokin deal, priced like less expensive systems and built to the highest quality of the most expensive systems out there. We were ordering the front drive for the Bull Run Racer. So during the conversation about the front drive, the conversation about the project and what engine we are going to run came up.

Carl Wegner got on the phone and quizzed me on our set up and had some questions about the durability of the engine in a car racing 3000 miles across the country. Carl thought we should consider a little more motor then just a stock engine with a cam. Sure we could make some good power, but what would happen if the ring lands on factory Hypertectic pistons decided they were tired of running extended high RPMS? What if the stock crank got tired of 30 to 50 hours of abuse in a short period of time? And how are we going to hand some Lambo his ass with only 475HP to 500HP we were planning. Now if you don't know who Carl Wegner and Wegner Motorsports is, I will tell you. Carl has been building Nascar and endurance racing engines longer then most of us have been breathing. Carl is used to building engines that run 300 to 500 miles at wide open throttle. Carl knows about building engines that will survive in a endurance contest, and that is what Bull Run can be.

So when Carl speaks, I have listen. So next thing I know there is a motor being assembled in record time, and that motor is on a airplane heading to Florida. Stuffed with goodies, this engine is built with a lot of the same technology that goes into there Nascar Spec engines, except de tuned a bit. Compression has been lowered in case we get into some crappy low octane fuel. We are using a automatic transmission and big tight converter to control transmission heat at extended high RPM's, so a very mild camshaft was used to increase low end torque and bring the power range down a bit for more bottom end grunt. The motor still made 601HP and still turned 6900 RPM, but all that is done with technology learned from their Nascar program. So Wegner can make killer power without crazy compression and cam specs! There are tricks inside the motor I need to keep to myself, and more tricks I do not know. But let's just say there are a few exotic parts made of titanium inside, an some custom porting of this and that to help make 600HP with a little baby camshaft and mild compression less then 10:1.

We got our 415CI / 601HP beast today and had it in the car within minutes of unloading it off the Fed Ex truck. As we speak we are finished hooking up the wiring from our good friends at Street and Performance, and getting it ready to fire tomorrow. My celebrity tuner and great friend Mike Norris paid a visit today to look things over, and will save us yet again doing extended hours tomorrow night doing some base tuning before doing some full rear wheel dyno tuning over the weekend.

I cannot thank the guys at Wegner enough. They really have jumped through hoops and have over delivered in every way imaginable. This is a pretty big company with a lot going on and you would swear on our end this was the only thing they had to think about! I have done 100s of motors in 28 years of owning my own shop, and NEVER , EVER have I dealt with guys that were so concerned about our project, and what is best for our project. We have talked 10 times a day for the last couple weeks, Carl or Casey calling, "Frank, Ya know....I was thinking................" And every single thought, every single suggestion, is a good one.

Carl, Casey, and your entire team, you my friends are amazing!

Here is a little dyno video, the dyno sheet, and some pics getting installed.

Excited...............Oh man am I excited!

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...s/DSC_0102.jpg
Michael unloads after a little cross country trip.

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...DSC_0109-1.jpg
There it is, there it is! Pay no attention to the multi colored pulleys, all black are on the way. This was a dyno set to get us running quick. A easy swap of the pulley Monday.

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...K014Black2.jpg
A better shot of the awesomer front drive on another engine

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...DSC_0122-1.jpg
1 hour after hitting the ground Michael and crew are locking it down

http://i169.photobucket.com/albums/u...noSheetJPG.jpg
The dyno sheet is a impressive combination of low end torque, a stunning flat torque curve maintaining 480LBFT or more from the start of the run to peak HP, peaking at 525LBFT. And what a amazing peak HP curve maintining 585HP from 6000RPM, Peaking at 6600RPM to 6800RPM and maintaining 588HP though the 7200RPM cut of! Find a motor that does that!

Enjoy the video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sUpiD4Gf-MU

Oh man this is going to be some kind of fun!

More to come tomorrow

Awesome news Frank. Casey said that my posts might have had something to do with you going to them. Carl has been a good friend to my dad for probably 35 years now. I wish I could do more to help them get some more biz.

I guess I better get off my butt and start posting some progress on my project.

Your name has come up more then once Jeff! They think very highly of you. The Wegners and I have become great friends very quickly. But they make that very easy!

As far as genrating more business for them. I am their bigggest fan! love their products. There will be more Wegner engines going in my projects.

Frank, your crew makes it look too easy!! :hail:

I'm glad I went with the Wegner accessory drive; looks killer. :thumbsup:

Now you got me drooling over the new engine setup....hmmmmmm :willy:

glowing headers too! badass engine

Looks great. Frank any chance of getting a picture of clearance on the steering box? I ran into a snag tonight on mine but I am using the vette acc.
It looks like the Wegner snugs the engine better.

Hey Tom, there are 2 mounting positions for the PS pump. In the low position (where we are running, as in these pictures) we swapped the reservoir pump and are running a remote reservoir pump. But we could have moved it to the higher mounting location, used the reservoir pump and easily cleared our DSE 600 box.

If you want one these front drives let me know. I will hook you up. I am going to announce a little "Bull Run Special" on Wegner products including the front drives and everything else they make.

Glad that Carl and the boys could help you out there a class act and build some awsome stuff. Thanks for the time on the phone, I think I know what direction I'm going now!!!! telly

Very cool.
I hear nothing but good things about Wegner. Are these the same guys that "specialize" in LSx engines as well?
Keep us posted Frank!:thumbsup:

They do. One of their main business is building Nascar Spec LS engines.

Very cool!!!:hail:

It's alive!



So we had a little set back yesterday with the 4L80E transmission torque converter and the LS flywheel hating one another. Long story short, it requires a special flywheel from TCI (part number 399754) to run a 4L80E behind a LS motor. It has to do mostly with how deep the torque converter snout goes into the back of the crank, or in our case how far is doesn't go into the crank. The factory LS flywheel puts the converter .300 farther away from the motor. We realized this at 8PM last night long after Summits cut off for overnight air. Because it is July 4th weekend UPS nor Fed Ex are running on Saturday deliveries. So there was no way to get a flywheel here even for a Saturday delivery. it would be Monday at the soonest before we could get one here.

So I slept on it, dreamed about it and came up with my best Macgyver solution I think will be OK for the weekend until the correct flywheel comes in. Besides the converter depth being wrong, the bolt pattern was too short on the converter bolts also. Since the converter will not be centering in the crank right now, I very carefully machined each hole to the exact distance from center of the flywheel to the outer most edge of each converter mounting hole. I got every hole to the 1/1000th with zero extra clearance in outside of the flywheel to converter holes. So the converter has no wiggle room to bolt up off center. I have measured it every way I could dream of and am convinced I have it as perfectly centered as it would be if the converter snout was in the crank like it should be. We also shimmed the transmission back .250 so the converter is not buried to deep in the pump so it does not cause pump damage.

This is by no means a proper long term fix as I would have to think over time it could wallow the holes as the torque converter is not designed to ride on these bolts. But I do I think this fix will allow us to drive it around a little, do some drive ability tuning, and check out other systems like brakes, suspension, rear, etc. If it is vibration free, smooth, no problem, if it vibrates, we simply will wait until Monday to drive more. But this is something we had to try to avoid losing the entire weekend.

So anyway. After a long day at 12:30 4th of July, we fired it up in the car for the first time. As always, the videos below are "real starts" not staged starts. So they are not without incident.

The Bull Run Racer was flooded badly and had to much fuel pressure first time we cranked her. She made some big backfires out of the headers. But after a couple time we dry fired it, let is run 15 seconds or so and called it a win.

I am really proud of the guys. Not one leak anywhere. No fuel system connection leaks, oil drips, nothing. They have really done a thorough job of double checking everything on this car.

So here are a couple raw videos, I am to tired to blend them into one. Car sounds fricken NASTY on open headers. Tomorrow we will muffle that a bit though.

Enjoy.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImFO6ruwBXQ

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=efsyeqWtZds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGjEie6BBr8

Sounds and looks killer! Great job guys!! Now go to bed!! :cheers:

Great Build Guys!!!!:hail: Prodigy Customs are Bad *ss!1!1!

Door Handles?
 

Frank,

What door handles did you use?

V/R,
Ty

They are factory door handles, just sandblasted the chrome off and painted black

Body color - not stock
 

Frank,
33 seconds into the last video... they're body color and not stock?
Just wondering... I know you're busy... they look cool btw!
V/R,
Ty

Look black and stock to me.....................

The door handle thing is totally a reflection