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I figured I’d finally start a winter build thread because I might actually start making progress now and also because everyone else is doing it and I was feeling peer pressured to hop on the band wagon. Anyhow as most of you know I went to a track rental in August of 2008 and that is where it all started, Here is a little video I put together to give you an idea of how things went.
http://media.putfile.com/Milan-Track-Rental-81408
After the incident at the end of the track I felt the car miss and then backfire a little. I grabbed my slip and quickly returned to the pits where I parked the car and looked it over thoroughly. I let the car cool for about a half hour and then decided to check on it again, upon firing it up and having my tuner Phil look it over, it was determined that the motor was consuming coolant and we thought I had blown a head gasket. Unfortunately I was miles away from home and had driven it there so I limped it back, the car backfiring the entire way, and parked it up on the lift in preparation to swap out the head gaskets and get it ready for another track rental that was a few weeks away. When I finally got the heads off this is what I found.
The #7 piston busted a ringland due to the car running lean, whether it be from a fuel pressure drop because the pump was hot or possibly a clogged injector I don’t know for sure but what I did know was that it was time for a serious teardown. So the next day Jonny came over and in a few hours Voila!
Unfortunately once we were able to get the motor out I soon discovered that not only had I busted a ringland but that the cylinder wall was also cracked into a water jacket which meant the block was scrap Therefor I quickly snatched up an amazing deal on a 35K complete LS1 shortblock out of an 02 vette.
I was very hopeful now and it seemed like this wouldn’t be too bad of a teardown after all. I just needed get my head fixed and swap over the top end and cam onto the new shortblock and be done, right? WRONG! I couldn’t stand the fact that I had torn out the entire motor and it would simply go back together making the same power as before and running similar times no no no I had to do something to make it bigger, better, and faster. So I browsed the web searching for this and that to spice up the car and came off with a few good things.
Dual a-pillar gauge pod and a new fuel pressure gauge to ensure my pressure wouldn’t make a sudden drop without me knowing about it.
UMI LCA relocation brackets with new adjustable LCAs on the way as well
A thunder racing catch can to keep all that nasty oil blowby from the pcv system out of the intake.
Poly motor mounts to stiffen up the car a bit and help with exhaust movement and rattle.
UMI tubular k-member to drop a few pounds off the front end and also free up a bit of room under the car, I might as well do it while its out right?
After these great purchases, which I got amazing deals on, there was still something left to be desired. I came across a few ads for LS2 shortblocks and they seemed to be pretty reasonably priced so I investigated a little bit and found some very impressive numbers from many GTO guys whose cars weighed much more and also had IRS yet still managed to run amazing 1/4 mile times and put down even more impressive dyno numbers. Plus 18 cubic inches didn’t hurt at all. In the next few days I found an ad for a complete LS2 longblock out of an 05 GTO the owner said it was a stock vehicle under warranty and the dealership replaced the entire motor due to a spun rod bearing. After talking it over with the guy I decided to see if I could sell my ls1 shortblock for enough to justify the purchase. The motor sold in a couple of days on craigslist and for much more than my original purchasing price to boot. I bought the LS2 and had it shipped from Alabama determined to get it fully rebuild and start with a brand new motor.
Once I got the new motor all tore down I was able to sell most of the parts off of it and I easily made back the difference I paid and much more. I sent to motor to Dave at Enginecraft for a full rebuild to factory specs. He had the crank slightly ground and installed new pistons and rings as well as all new bearings and ARP rod bolts.
During this process I decided that my new goal for the car was to retain daily drivability as it had before but run 10s on motor alone at the track. For this reason I decided to upgrade my camshaft while I had everything apart and sent several e-mails to Patrick G for a custom spec’d cam that would fit the bill. He soon after sent me specs and I am awaiting the funds to order the new cam as of now.
I still had lots of work to do in the meantime thought so here are a few progress pics of what has gone on so far.
After getting the trans disconnected from the old ls1 and then removing the motor from the k-member we were left with this.
Cleaning up some of the old parts.
I’ll try and keep everyone updated now that I have my own project thread, and we’ll see if I can’t get this car slapped back together, tuned, aligned, and ready for battle before the Meet and Greet and also get it ready and running right for Pinks All Out.
http://media.putfile.com/Milan-Track-Rental-81408
After the incident at the end of the track I felt the car miss and then backfire a little. I grabbed my slip and quickly returned to the pits where I parked the car and looked it over thoroughly. I let the car cool for about a half hour and then decided to check on it again, upon firing it up and having my tuner Phil look it over, it was determined that the motor was consuming coolant and we thought I had blown a head gasket. Unfortunately I was miles away from home and had driven it there so I limped it back, the car backfiring the entire way, and parked it up on the lift in preparation to swap out the head gaskets and get it ready for another track rental that was a few weeks away. When I finally got the heads off this is what I found.
The #7 piston busted a ringland due to the car running lean, whether it be from a fuel pressure drop because the pump was hot or possibly a clogged injector I don’t know for sure but what I did know was that it was time for a serious teardown. So the next day Jonny came over and in a few hours Voila!
Unfortunately once we were able to get the motor out I soon discovered that not only had I busted a ringland but that the cylinder wall was also cracked into a water jacket which meant the block was scrap Therefor I quickly snatched up an amazing deal on a 35K complete LS1 shortblock out of an 02 vette.
I was very hopeful now and it seemed like this wouldn’t be too bad of a teardown after all. I just needed get my head fixed and swap over the top end and cam onto the new shortblock and be done, right? WRONG! I couldn’t stand the fact that I had torn out the entire motor and it would simply go back together making the same power as before and running similar times no no no I had to do something to make it bigger, better, and faster. So I browsed the web searching for this and that to spice up the car and came off with a few good things.
Dual a-pillar gauge pod and a new fuel pressure gauge to ensure my pressure wouldn’t make a sudden drop without me knowing about it.
UMI LCA relocation brackets with new adjustable LCAs on the way as well
A thunder racing catch can to keep all that nasty oil blowby from the pcv system out of the intake.
Poly motor mounts to stiffen up the car a bit and help with exhaust movement and rattle.
UMI tubular k-member to drop a few pounds off the front end and also free up a bit of room under the car, I might as well do it while its out right?
After these great purchases, which I got amazing deals on, there was still something left to be desired. I came across a few ads for LS2 shortblocks and they seemed to be pretty reasonably priced so I investigated a little bit and found some very impressive numbers from many GTO guys whose cars weighed much more and also had IRS yet still managed to run amazing 1/4 mile times and put down even more impressive dyno numbers. Plus 18 cubic inches didn’t hurt at all. In the next few days I found an ad for a complete LS2 longblock out of an 05 GTO the owner said it was a stock vehicle under warranty and the dealership replaced the entire motor due to a spun rod bearing. After talking it over with the guy I decided to see if I could sell my ls1 shortblock for enough to justify the purchase. The motor sold in a couple of days on craigslist and for much more than my original purchasing price to boot. I bought the LS2 and had it shipped from Alabama determined to get it fully rebuild and start with a brand new motor.
Once I got the new motor all tore down I was able to sell most of the parts off of it and I easily made back the difference I paid and much more. I sent to motor to Dave at Enginecraft for a full rebuild to factory specs. He had the crank slightly ground and installed new pistons and rings as well as all new bearings and ARP rod bolts.
During this process I decided that my new goal for the car was to retain daily drivability as it had before but run 10s on motor alone at the track. For this reason I decided to upgrade my camshaft while I had everything apart and sent several e-mails to Patrick G for a custom spec’d cam that would fit the bill. He soon after sent me specs and I am awaiting the funds to order the new cam as of now.
I still had lots of work to do in the meantime thought so here are a few progress pics of what has gone on so far.
After getting the trans disconnected from the old ls1 and then removing the motor from the k-member we were left with this.
Cleaning up some of the old parts.
I’ll try and keep everyone updated now that I have my own project thread, and we’ll see if I can’t get this car slapped back together, tuned, aligned, and ready for battle before the Meet and Greet and also get it ready and running right for Pinks All Out.
357ci LT1, cammed, stalled, and driven. 
with the new build 
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