Turbo-Geist

I'm serious. I was just having trouble following what you were saying. It was like you were saying two things at once. Please don't take it the wrong way. I'm always open to learning new things and figuring out what went wrong. I don't have all the answers, so post up your thoughts.

I am tired of hearing the myth that these engines are a ticking time bomb at 550 rwhp. If I had unlimited time and funds, I would stick another stock LS1 in the car with good head gaskets and studs and push it even further. These things have their limits, but 550 rwhp isn't the limit.

And you are right, there is more to it than the tune. There are lots of little things that have to constantly be checked everytime you take the car out to race it. Things that have to be done every time, year in and year out. The one time that you neglect something it can cause a drastic failure. See above for pictures. Would it have been a chore to change head gaskets? Yes. However, it's much more of a chore to build and install a new engine.

slow ride

If you look at all the big engines that make the 1100 or so with the 62/65 setup they will all have better heads and a decent size cam, fast, etc. It sounds like they are at the limit for backpressure also since everyone wants to get away from the t3 housings. I feel you could make the same power with the smaller engine, but would need to make it at a higher rpm or run more boost which might put you out of the safe pump gas/meth operating range. At some point good fuel would help you out a lot with a smaller cube engine that is still limited to the 7000 rpm range due to hydraulic valvetrain, camshaft or intake design, etc. To me it seems like most of these larger v8 engines tend to work better with a larger split in turbo wheel size from intake to exhaust due to the smaller t3 housings backing up some and not having a larger housing to run.

Some might say that using a larger compressor wheels only help make cooler boost with less work, but that also means a slower shaft speed on the turbo. The slower the exhaust wheels spins can also add to backpressure increasing pumping loss. It all works together as a system and it would be great if we could measure the turbo speed on these engines to try to get the most out of the housing that you can without over spinning the turbos, etc. It would be sweet to try out a kit like the ttix kit on a engine dyno and work through all the little issues to maximize what you could do with it using larger turbos, downpipes, etc.

I'm dying to see a sold roller cam, sheet metal intake high rpm smaller ls1 in a vette make some big power. Something that makes peak power in the 7000-7500rpm range with a 8000 limit. I know its a lot of farting around, but would give you the rpm range to not fall out of boost on the larger turbo/smaller engine combos on shifts. Lowering the peak torque on these engines would also help the transmission live a little easier life Its really the same thing all the import guys do (DSM, Supras, etc). Keep the torque down and hold on to it up top and make some big peak power over a long powerband. Enough of my rambling hehe

JDS99

I remember seeing the video of the 9. Nice job hitting your goal for the year

I may not have a ttix system, but I absolutely plan on giving my 402 with 6265's everything it's got. Didn't build it to baby it. Have a handful of little things today, and should be able to give fire to it again. 402 with dragonslayer crank, Callies ultra rods, custom 2618 Mahle turbo pistons, about 8.75:1 CR, hand ported LSA heads, stock LS3 intake manifold, and 3" exh all the way back. I promise I will push it until the turbos are out of lungs. I'll be at the rental on 1/26. 8's with a 6spd sounds like fun. I may have to chase you down on that

If you do stick with the ttix base, 3" exhaust is going to help with spool on the bigger turbos. More pressure differential. Also, don't know how much fab you are willing to get in to but if it were me I would convert to E-covers which allow the Turbonetics billet 64. You might call Reggie at Turbonetics, and see if maybe they can squeeze their new billet 69mm wheel inside the E-cover. 69/65's would be pretty sweet on a ttix. Something tells me you're not a fan of low boost anyway.

user_name

People have made 1100-1300 on the 6265's numerous times. That's about what they are good for. No reason to chase that. You haven't seen to many try with smaller cubes bc they are converting to 6 bolt blocks, and it only makes sense to go with bigger cubes. Nice, aftermarket heads become the only options as well.

Mine is a low comp 347, that does NOT have the backpressure issues these guys have dealt with. Never would have had the wastegate issues to this extent if I had the backpressure. Only dyno'd it twice with eboost issues once, and then cold clutch issues next 950-980. No intentions of pushing it much farther than the 24psi it has been seeing though. It won't be on pump gas if I do.

I think Turbo-Geist did well pushing that shortblock. I also think it would be a mistake to go with another one at that level. Something will let go eventually. You can push much more with a budget shortblock. Bought mine used for $1500, fresh, with no core.

jimbos'ss

It was your car with the boost control issues, I thought you were running bigger cubes for some reason.

Turbo-Geist

I'm in no hurry on this one. The damage tally so far is:

• Block, windage tray - destroyed
• Oil pan - broken
• #5 rod - broken
• #4, #6, and #8 rods are slightly bent
• Heads may just need a valve job
• Camshaft lobes damaged
• The bottoms of most of the pistons have shrapnel damage

However, the tops of the pistons are all intact and show no signs of detonation or broken ring lands.

Here are the spark plugs viewed as if looking at them from the respective side of the engine.

Drivers side ordered from left to right 1,3,5,7



Passenger's side, on the far right is #2 then #4,#6,#8 moving to the left

Turbo-Geist

I believe Pekka_Perkeles requested some rod bearing pictures. I'll get some pictures of the main bearings this weekend hopefully. Once again the individual view is as if you were standing on the DS or PS of the engine and looking down. Let me know if bearing pictures are clear enough. It's kind of hard to get the distance and lighting right without too much flash.

Rod Bearings


#1 Rod Bearing


#3 Rod Bearing


#5 Rod Bearing


#7 Rod Bearing


#2 Rod Bearing


#4 Rod Bearing


#6 Rod Bearing


#8 Rod Bearing

skull

if my motor goes. I want it to look like that. maybe even a piston thru the hood would make me happy

Chris Stewart

Those looked great. Maybe wipe them clean and use em again?

slow ride

Stick a late model 5.3 with the bigger rods and 799 heads in it and keep at it Any idea of what you want to do with it. It's getting to be a bad time of year to need a machine shop to do work for you that's for sure.

a/c man

Man if they made it through all that they must be bad ***! run them again

JDS99

Those will buff out. A little JB weld on the block, weld that rod back together, press the others straight, and it'll be good as new

I think I saw a 5.3 short block on craigslist for $250......

InfiniteReality

I'm looking forward to the new numbers with the new engine!

PEETYZ

That was quite a way to go out. Looking forward to the next build results!

I am looking at a budget style setup soon for next winter. GM LQ9 370 build or LM7 5.3 bored to a 5.7 347 is my current dilemma

ajrothm

Ben, just build yourself a nice forged short block and go back together with it. No reason to play the junk yard game... Vettes are too labor intensive to keep swapping motors every time you pop one.... Especially the way you like to run them...(big power and track passes)

Get Beau at H Squared to build you a nice short block and be done with the time bombs..

Turbo-Geist

Yeah, the bearings seem to show ok wear for an 85k mile engine that has only been used for racing the last 20,000 miles. Rod bolts and rings were ok also. This is the first time I've ever completely disassembled an LS motor and am impressed with the quality of the factory internals. Between a few different individuals, we probably have enough left over parts to make a complete engine.

Turbo-Geist

Unfortunately, I have a couple of limitations. I want to run 8s, but with a 6 speed, 93 octane and meth. I also will be keeping the TTiX kit. I think it will be tough to achieve the goal with a 5.3. Are the machine shops starting to get busy this time of year? I haven't had any machine work done in over 10 years.

The LQ9 is Gen III based correct, but an iron block? Does the 370 need better heads in order to hit full potential?

I wish this thing had a tube frame front and lift off nose piece. It would be way easier to do an engine swap and I would probably drop another stocker in. The stock stuff is cheap, fun, and works. Doing this on jackstands in a garage is something I don't want to do again for a while. It's not hard, I just don't have the extra time for it anymore.

MawneeC5

QFT!! This is exactly why I went with a forged Iron shortblock rather than a much cheaper 5.3, Ls1/6 pullout. Just too much of a pain in the **** to do twice.

MVP'S ZO6

I heard that!!

slow ride

Well around the midwest the circle track guys crap starts to flood into the machine shop and they come first since they usually spend more money more often. Keeping the original kit like you have with the current stock turbos you might actually make MORE power with a 5.3 than the 5.7 due to less backpressure in the exhaust. If you wanted a cheaper strong iron shortblock a iron 5.3 could be used(or bored out to a 5.7) If you stick with the current turbos I'd stay a 5.7l or smaller as if you just keep going up in size you will keep gaining torque and midrange at the expense of high rpm HP. While more fun on the street it might not be faster at the track.

With the iron block you add 100+ lbs so you have to then overcome that also. Not really a great thing for dropping your ET with a fragile drivetrain. I'm just not sure what you want to spend on this thing. I've seen a local stock bottom end(big rods) 5.3l make over 1100hp on an engine dyno with a geardrive f1x and run mid 5's in the 8th so thay can take a good beating. Bang for the buck aluminum block to build off would be a 5.3, a 5.3 bored to 5.7 or a used 5.7. A better set of heads will give you more off boost power and you would end up making the same power as before with less boost which might drop your IAT's etc. Price starts to go up on blocks (used and new) when you want aluminum 6.0, 6.2 etc etc.