Project - Ashes to ...?

[groovyjay]

LSX's are known to loose a lot of power from hot air and I wonder why so many running them are choosing to put the air intake/filter usually between the radiator and the engine where it will only suck hot air and therefore loose power. Maybe people with all the retrofitted LSX motors are just taking them to shows and such and not really finding out their performance limits.

I always push my cars hard, so I wanted to make sure that cool air is available at all times.





Here's an early mock up. Very tricky to get it all lined up, so it will fit in side the hood bulge yet not touch anything and clear the hood structure when opening and closing the hood...



I opted to do the sidepipes out of 3.5" tube, I was first going with 4" but then decided against it after few mock ups. I'm sure these will be big enough for the LS3... Home made mufflers inside of course. Sound clips to follow.





Both the intake and the sidepipes will be coated to match the rest of the cars theme.

[Bowtieracing]

Originally Posted by groovyjay

LSX's are known to loose a lot of power from hot air and I wonder why so many running them are choosing to put the air intake/filter usually between the radiator and the engine where it will only suck hot air and therefore loose power. Maybe people with all the retrofitted LSX motors are just taking them to shows and such and not really finding out their performance limits.

I always push my cars hard, so I wanted to make sure that cool air is available at all times.





Here's an early mock up. Very tricky to get it all lined up, so it will fit in side the hood bulge yet not touch anything and clear the hood structure when opening and closing the hood...
.

That is clever!! Totally something new for a while, and looks really nice!!

And dig the huge an fitting on coolant hoses as well.

[groovyjay]

Originally Posted by Bowtieracing

That is clever!! Totally something new for a while, and looks really nice!!

And dig the huge an fitting on coolant hoses as well.

Thanks. I used -20AN for the radiator lines and -10AN for the heater lines.

[Jay Hilliard]

It is turning out great. You have made a lot of progress. LS3 looks at home.

[groovyjay]

I'm pretty sure I updated this space couple of weeks ago and got few replies that have vanished along with my update? Was I only dreaming?



Car turned out even better than I ever dreamed of. It's a race car for the street, power to weight ratio is pretty good with 500hp and 930kg (2050lb). Windshield is so low that it only just prevents the bugs hitting your teeth, you really are exposed to the elements in this car. I still need to play with the rear suspension a little, I'm sure I can get it dialed even better. Ride, handling, steering, braking is spot on. 6-speed was the right call for this project along with the lsx power plant. I'm having the car professionally photographed for an UK based car mag and hoping to get some decent shots to share with you guys soon.

[Payton King]

Cannot wait to see the pictures! Love this car!

[groovyjay]

What would you first do when you finish a 10yr long project?

You might say that the sensible thing would be a cautious first run around the block, just to see that everything works. Stay within 200 yards from the shop, don't even think about getting on the freeway on the first time you get it running. Check for leaks, check this and that and then double check everything again and again.

This might make sense to many, but this is not such a case.

How's this for a sensible scenario; You've been working on an old Corvette project for 10 years, it's been a real struggle to get it finished a real nightmare project to say the least. The whole project started when the car caught fire and burned down to the ground. This should have been a clear indication that this particular Corvette should be left alone, buried under ground and never to be restored again. But I just thought that it would be a nice little project. The car will be featured in one of the big Corvette mags soon, so I'm saving the car introduction for that but this is more about my 1st test drive.

So, I had the car first running around 2am one night some time ago and had to be back at work at 5am, so I was just happy to get the car running. I HAD to get the car running since I was about to do its first test drive right after I got back to the shop from work. I got back to the shop around noon and found out I had a small brake issue, so I had to take care of that. Well that took couple of hours to put everything back together and bleed the brakes again.

It might be a good idea at this point to mention that I had booked a ferry ride from Finland to Sweden along with 10 other Club members months prior to this. I was so confident that the car would be finished way before this trip would take place, but boy was I wrong. Whole idea was to go to Sweden to their clubs 40th anniversary party and do a road trip through Sweden and Denmark while we were at it.

So, back to the first day. Car was still on the lift around 2pm and the ferry would leave at 5pm and we had to be onboard 1hr before. I hadn't had any time to pack for this trip, so I had to go do that and this left me no time to do a test drive. My co-pilot for this trip was flipping out since he was expecting me to be there picking him up around 2pm and we could easily cruise to the ferry way ahead of schedule. So I quickly packed for a 9 day trip, didn't have time even for a quick shower. After I got back to the shop it was 3.30pm and all the other vettes going on this trip had gathered in front of my shop and they were all waiting to go in a hurry so we wouldn't miss our boat.

So I told them to leave before me because I still had to make a de-tour to pick up my co-pilot, who was getting very nervous at this point. So, I fired the car up and it seemed to run just fine. First time pressing the clutch, feeling out if it would engage and release, worked fine. Lights on, they all seemed to work. Slowly rolled out of the shop and pressed the brakes, car stopped! So now it looked like I had a car that would go and stop and in my book that is pretty much all you need to get around, right?

So I went for it, I was running against the clock at this point. No room for any faults or errors if I dreamed on getting on that boat on time.

My co-pilot lives 15 minute drive away from me and from there it was another 30minutes drive, so I was still confident. The sun was out, so that has to be a good sign. While driving to pick up my friend I was going through all the stuff on my check list I forgot to do. One thing was spare parts and tools, yup left those in the shop. Did I even check the oil... pretty sure I did or not... :crazy2:

My friend was already waiting by the side of the road and made a Miami Vice style jump in the car with all his stuff he'd packed. Talk about getting crowded in an old Vette. We nailed it and the car still seemed to make all the right noises and do the right things so I was still feeling pretty good. At this point I might add that I hadn't slept for 3 days, because I had been trying to get the car up and running for this journey. So, we made it to the docks only to hear that everyone in our group had given up on us making it on time. But they seemed to be just as happy as we were when we arrived.

And now after this 45minute test drive I was confident enough to get onboard the boat and head to the unknown, in another country all together.

And here's how the story of our road trip unfolded.

Here's our planned route for this trip, this might give the readers little better understanding on where were are going during the adventure.



I copied the following from another forum:

Hello everybody,

It's always exciting to go on these long trips and this time it was even more exciting for me since I literately finished my Grand Sport 1 hour before we left to Viking Line Ferry!!! This has been a 10 year long project and I did absolutely NO test driving before we left... :mrgreen:



That's my car parked along the other vettes on the docks of Helsinki.





We had a group of 10 vettes which consisted 6 mid years, 1 C3 and 2 C5's and 1 C6.



Here's our group just about to leave Stockholm, the weather was just perfect for driving a roadster. 8)



Video

JeesJeesClub on the road !!! - YouTube

On the road again. :arrow:

No real drama on the first day, just easy to cruising from ferry to another ferry. We had booked our first night stay in the Gyllene Uttern and we visited Gränna and Visingsö. Can't say enough how nice that little island is, hot summer night, group of friends enjoying the cruise around the island, good meal and drinks afterwards, doesn't get much better than that.