JUIC3D

Advice noted. So without dumping a lot of cash, what I'm gathering is that it's not exactly feasible to have a triple duty car--daily driver, road course, drag strip.

Instead of going the engine mod route, perhaps it's more advantageous to employ suspension mods and try to put the 420whp to the ground more effectively. Either way, I love this stuff and want to soak up as much information as possible.

As a kid, I always dreamed of being in a financial position to afford a nice car, and I liked to think of all the different things I would want to do and the goals I would want to accomplish. I can't wait to continue on this journey.
Thank you again for all the helpful advice

travisnd

Some of the fastest cars on track are TTA C5 Z06s which are basically stock on stickey tires.... 360 rwhp can move you around plenty fast.

JUIC3D

How does upping the whp by ~70 equate to $10-14 grand?

Decent set of headers and x pipe should net about 25 or so, so now we're up to ~405whp. Headers+x pipe cost roughly $1800 so for another 45 whp, you're saying it would cost about $8000-12,000? I can understand the need for safety but even a dry sump kit from what I gathered in my quick research is about $2000 or so.

What am I missing?

Maynor29

More research.

If a shop installs a custom dry sump set up, you're looking at $5k - $8k. If you do it yourself, parts are in the $3500 - $4500k range.

John
LS2 M3

JUIC3D

Hm, ok. I was looking at setups from here and even their most expensive setup is $3315 which I would think is overkill for my amateur racing. I'll need to research a lot more of course, but I think that's a good start.

Maynor29

Lines and fittings not included in that price... Depending on install location, that can add hundreds to a thousand in additional parts only costs.

QUIKAG

Add the extra quart of oil, keep the stock tune (or a VERY good aftermarket tune), and no internal engine mods and you don't need a dry sump IMHO. Others will disagree, but that's my humble opinion.

travisnd

What tires are you running on and are you running lap times close to the actual racers.

The average joe running on a stickey street tire or DOT-R will be fine.... he's not generating the cornering loads to run the pickup dry.

Slap on some Hoosiers and put the right nut behind the wheel and it's boom time.

JUIC3D

Is it ok to run the extra quart of oil outside of the track? The vette is my daily driver and it would be tedious to drain/refill after every event. But perhaps, that is the best option.

When you say "VERY good aftermarket tune", what do you mean by that? Presumably, a mail-order tune is what you're referring to as what to avoid.

I'd gladly invest the money in a quality tune from a reputable shop who has a history of solid performance.

I'd ultimately like a good header/x pipe/catback combo, intake, intake manifold, maybe a bigger throttle body, a solid tune, and hopefully that will put me at 415-425whp or so. I don't know of any other mods to put me at 450whp without changing the cam or heads and without involving meth, or any other power adder.

Maybe with the intake/exhaust, the best step would be a suspension setup that can pull triple duty. (road course, dragstrip, daily driver)

Jason

If you're going to put that much in a C6, just buy a Z06.

QUIKAG

On my '08 LS3, I ran Toyo R888 tires 275/305 f/r, motul fluid, hawk pads, quart over. Oil temp would frequently get near 300F, I'd trash a set of pads in one weekend, so I wasn't exactly easy on the car. Times were very competitive with the top run group which I've run in for many years. Only a few cars quicker than me nowadays at 100+ person track weekends. So, not sure what you mean by 'actual racers', but I would definitely push the car hard.

Call me a skeptic, but people that plow thousands into a dry sump system along with a bunch of other mods and then they still blow up, I would have more reason to suspect the aftermarket parts (including the oiling system) as a contributing cause, if not the primary cause. I've always kept it simple with no internal mods, no aftermarket tunes (or damn good ones in my case with the LS3, custom tunes with datalogging on the track and street by very reputable tuners), and the quart extra. Never had any oil burn, never had any engine issue in 3 years of hard track days with my LS3.

I have a ZR1 now for 4 months and I'm going to my third track weekend this weekend. Keeping this one bone stock (except for Motul fluid) and I expect it to run for several years of track days without significant issue while beating on it.

GM is far from infallable, but these cars are pretty stout if you're smart and keep it relatively stock if you're going to run hard track days.

Gray Ghost GS

Hey guys, it's been awhile since I've posted.... life gets in the way. I lost my LS6 based 383 (lasted me several years and produced insane power) due to an internal engine issue (long story), not the Accusump. However, I had a lot of problems with my Accusump leaking oil unexpected times through the blow-off valve. It's not suppose to release pressure until it exceeds approx. 125 ft/lbs. We replaced it, same problem - faulty. Virginia Speed was able to modify the blow off valve and now it appears fine. Going to VIR this weekend with the new forged LS2 engine and updated Accusump system. So far no leaks or issues. Fingers crossed!! I had a choice of going LS2 or LS3 with my new engine project and chose the LS2 for the reasons stated in this thread.

travisnd

10-4

Toyo R888 != Hoosier R6 let alone A6s

Advanced HPDE != Racing/TT use

I agree with you that going nutso on a dry sump is overkill for most. The dissapointment is that the LS3 can't take serious use without bandaids whereas the LS6 could.

I've yet to see anyone running TT with a LS2 or LS3 car in my area.... everyone has a C6Z in TTU or a C5 in TTA/TTS.

QUIKAG

Not an engineer or computer guy, but I presume the "!" means "not equal to" and I agree. If someone is WTW racing with suspension, race slicks, etc. then all bets are off. I wouldn't trust any production motor/oiling system (save for possibly a Porsche GT3 engine) for actual racing conditions.

I would beat on my car for 20 minutes or so each session for 8 sessions or so each track weekend and never had a major issue over several years. Sustained high-rpm operation in racing conditions with true racing tires is just asking for trouble with a stock engine/oiling configuration.

ScaryFast

Dude, that's what the last 6 pages of this post have been saying...

travisnd

Exactly... average to above-average HPDE use = LS3 fine

TT/race use = LS3 kaboom

TT/race use = LS6 lasts longer before kaboom

To me it's quite simple... the LS6 faired well enough in T1 that you had to leave it alone.

Then the wonderful LS2/LS3 started blowing up so much that SCCA had to modify the rules to allow a dry sump.

ScaryFast

Quite simply, Chris has spelled it out time and time again based on his testing - over about 1.2 g's these cars go kablooey. Hoosiers and a decent suspension get will over 1.5 g's, my data acq often shows 1.8 g's with spikes over 2 g's on banked corners.

Oh, and my LT1 will never blow up, but it also mostly doesn't start.

QUIKAG

That's disappointing as I had always thought the LS2/LS3 were nice improvements over the LS6. I thought the LS3 was damn near bulletproof from what I had read on it's durability and the basis for the LS9 engine, etc.

The 1.2g max though has me a bit surprised as I ran 2 times at Texas Motor Speedway on the roval course and the banking with the R888 tires I was easily pulling over 1.2g left hander for many seconds as I swept through Nascar Turns 3 and 4 redlining 3rd gear and climbing towards redline as I hit the front straight. Not to mention Texas World Speedway that has a few left hand long sweepers on the CCW configuration. Guess I dodged a bullet getting rid of the '08 Vette. Hope the ZR1 holds up at least as well considering how much more it cost over the '08 base Vette.

travisnd

The LS2 is meh... but the LS3 is a nice step up in power. You can get 430 rwhp out of some long-tubes and a tune which is what my old Z06 with a moderate cam made (G5-X2 making 436 rwhp).

It's just they started to show issues when raced in T1.... Chris (White Knight) was one of the first go move from a C5Z to a LS3 car and had all kinds of issues. If you read this thread you'll see that GM development worked with him on trying to fix the LS3, but ended up slapping the LS7 dry sump on it.

ScaryFast

The problem was more evident turning one way over the other, but I can't remember which. Perhaps it was to the right? I'd have to dig up the old thread from last year and I'm not going to...