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Trashed motor is going to cost around $7500 to repl. Just curious if it is worth anything as a roller before I go to the effort and cost of new motor. Only roller I found in search was the full blown race car that was going for $15000. Mine is a 2002 Z06 with 74k miles. I have had it for over 8 years and 51 track days in it. It is my dd and my track car. Here are a few of the options:
Hardbar towhooks front and back
Dewitts radiator
Setrab 625 oil cooler with Accusump and lines
Vararaam CAI
Hinson Motor mounts
T1 bars front and back
Pfadt 2nd Gen coilovers all around
SKFs on the fronts
Wilwood SLAs on front with 3 sets of rotors
Turn One rebuild rack and PS pump
Aligned by David Farmer in Mar, '15
Pfadt CA bushings installed by David Farmer
Track Spec hood louvers installed
MGW shifter
Tick Level 1 rebuild on trans
Tick clutch master
Clutch remote bleeder
Repl guibos with al in rear and rubber in front
SPec 3+ clutch
Arizona Speed Harness bar
I am sure I am missing a bunch of other stuff.
Some pics:
I have bunch more pics if needed. History of car can be traced on forum by searching my posts.
Have you thought about finding a good used ZO6 motor as a replacement? Did the trashed engine have any mods that you would want to have in another engine?
From the list of things that are on the car, you could recover some of the cost if you want to go to the trouble of removing what you can then selling. But if you still want the car as a DD, then it may be more cost-effective to find a good used engine.
Broken valve spring = dropped valve = damaged cylinder walls. Block cannot be sleeved or bored out any more. Machine shop said they could repl block/pistons etc and rebuild for around $3,500. I can get new short block for ~$5,500 less what I can salvage for rods/crank etc from old block. So for less than $1000, I would have a nostly new motor. Specing out a LS7 looks like it would be about $3500 more. Not sure LS7 would add that much to resale if I ever did sell it. Still on fence with that. Fortunately, my AFRs were salvageable so that is probably the deciding factor in motor choice.
Broken valve spring = dropped valve = damaged cylinder walls. Block cannot be sleeved or bored out any more. Machine shop said they could repl block/pistons etc and rebuild for around $3,500. I can get new short block for ~$5,500 less what I can salvage for rods/crank etc from old block. So for less than $1000, I would have a nostly new motor. Specing out a LS7 looks like it would be about $3500 more. Not sure LS7 would add that much to resale if I ever did sell it. Still on fence with that. Fortunately, my AFRs were salvageable so that is probably the deciding factor in motor choice.
Was it a stock LS6 bottom end? More detail would be great. What AFR heads are they?
Sorry to hear that! I think most people go through the same phase as you are when they lose an engine (or two...). How much can I get for the car as-is? And then after running the numbers realize it's almost always better to replace the motor and get the car running before you decide to sell or keep it.
I also lost a bottom end LS6 but still had good heads, so I replaced my engine with an LS2 bottom because my builder happened to have a used LS2 block sitting in his shop. I like the extra torque. Your other option is to buy a crate LS3 off Jegs for around $6500 and the adapter harnesses from Lingenfelter. You can sell your AFR heads. I came very close to going that direction also. Make sure to throw away your oil cooler and buy a new one. And thoroughly flush out all your lines and anything else that ever saw oil.
Trashed motor is going to cost around $7500 to repl. Just curious if it is worth anything as a roller before I go to the effort and cost of new motor. Only roller I found in search was the full blown race car that was going for $15000. Mine is a 2002 Z06 with 74k miles. I have had it for over 8 years and 51 track days in it. It is my dd and my track car.
Originally Posted by waddisme
Broken valve spring = dropped valve = damaged cylinder walls. Block cannot be sleeved or bored out any more. Machine shop said they could repl block/pistons etc and rebuild for around $3,500. I can get new short block for ~$5,500 less what I can salvage for rods/crank etc from old block. So for less than $1000, I would have a nostly new motor. Specing out a LS7 looks like it would be about $3500 more. Not sure LS7 would add that much to resale if I ever did sell it. Still on fence with that. Fortunately, my AFRs were salvageable so that is probably the deciding factor in motor choice.
Not sure I understand your cost options here. First you mention $7500 replacement cost, then a $3500 replacement cost with a rebuild from what you have, then $5500 for a short block + the rest of what is needed followed by the less than $1000 difference. If the car was a purely stock in excellent condition the best you could expect to get for it is around $16K with a fair condition car going for about $12K. If you try to sell the car without a motor it is probably worth no more than $8K.
To me the best solution is to go with the machine shops offer to salvage/rebuild for $3500. That gets your car back on the road, gets you back to the track and doesn't throw too much money at the car. It also gets more people interested in the car if you decide to move up to something newer.
I wouldn't swap in an LS7 engine since their are questions about the durability of the stock valve gear in the heads and you really won't get that much more benefit for the dollars you spend .
There's a sweet spot for selling a car... if it doesn't run, you'll eat sh*t, but pretty much any work you do beyond that point you never fully recoup.
Until you make the car absolutely perfect and find that one in a million buyer, which only happens on TV.
Not sure I understand your cost options here. First you mention $7500 replacement cost, then a $3500 replacement cost with a rebuild from what you have, then $5500 for a short block + the rest of what is needed followed by the less than $1000 difference. If the car was a purely stock in excellent condition the best you could expect to get for it is around $16K with a fair condition car going for about $12K. If you try to sell the car without a motor it is probably worth no more than $8K.
To me the best solution is to go with the machine shops offer to salvage/rebuild for $3500. That gets your car back on the road, gets you back to the track and doesn't throw too much money at the car. It also gets more people interested in the car if you decide to move up to something newer.
I wouldn't swap in an LS7 engine since their are questions about the durability of the stock valve gear in the heads and you really won't get that much more benefit for the dollars you spend .
Hey man - I forgot you moved to Charlotte. I hope you are liking it down here. It has to be nice being close to VIR, RD ATL, AMP, CMP and Roebling Road. Don't forget that Daytona is less than 7 hrs away.
The $7500 was basically the $5,500 for motor and another $2,000 to install motor, tune etc, but that number doesn't take into account what I can salvage from busted motor (crank, rods, etc).
Thanks for all the input guys. I am staying with the LS2. Talked to Texas Speed today, so getting LS2 short block ordered tomorrow. 2-3 weeks for that and 2-3 weeks to install and I will be back on the road I lost my Mom unexpectedly last month, lost my motor back in April, and lost my wife to menopause last year, so it will be nice to be able have one of them back.
Hey man - I forgot you moved to Charlotte. I hope you are liking it down here. It has to be nice being close to VIR, RD ATL, AMP, CMP and Roebling Road. Don't forget that Daytona is less than 7 hrs away.
The $7500 was basically the $5,500 for motor and another $2,000 to install motor, tune etc, but that number doesn't take into account what I can salvage from busted motor (crank, rods, etc).
Thanks for all the input guys. I am staying with the LS2. Talked to Texas Speed today, so getting LS2 short block ordered tomorrow. 2-3 weeks for that and 2-3 weeks to install and I will be back on the road I lost my Mom unexpectedly last month, lost my motor back in April, and lost my wife to menopause last year, so it will be nice to be able have one of them back.
I am not an advocate for cookie cutter engines, but before you buy from Texas speed, give Thompson motorports a call. I have taken a couple of their engines apart to freshen them up and their machine work is just great. They are priced very fairly as well, probably cheaper than Texas speed.
I am not an advocate for cookie cutter engines, but before you buy from Texas speed, give Thompson motorports a call. I have taken a couple of their engines apart to freshen them up and their machine work is just great. They are priced very fairly as well, probably cheaper than Texas speed.
Don't think I've ever heard anyone call Texas Speed a cookie cutter engine. I own a CNC machine shop and checked out their block before it was installed in my car. It was very impressive work at any price point.
Don't think I've ever heard anyone call Texas Speed a cookie cutter engine. I own a CNC machine shop and checked out their block before it was installed in my car. It was very impressive work at any price point.
Checked out their block?
I own a machine shop as well....
Did you take it apart and check bearing clearances or measure ring gaps?? Just because the deck has a nice finish and the cylinders are honed nicely does not mean everything else is as perfect as it can be. Did you take the time to measure your bore centerline vs your rod journal centerline to see if the bore was actually exactly where it is supposed to be?
I have rebuilt a few engines that have come from texas speed, although a really good cookie cutter engine, its not something I would build. When you pump out that many engines a year, you simply cannot have the level of quality control a smaller shop does.
Between texas speed and Thompson, I would choose Thompson. That is my opinion.
The bottom line here is that the OP can have his car back up and running for a lot less than $7500.
If you love the car, I would keep it. If not, sell the roller, it is desireable to a lot of people.
Sorry to hear about your motor man! But I think now is a good time to drop in a LS7 or say F it and go C6Z!
C6Z has NO advantage on the road course that I have found when the cars are set up equally. (I own one of each FYI)
C5Z Weight: 3118
C6Z Weight: 3132
C6Z has wider tires but the same widths can be ran on a C5Z with a mini tub or fender flares in the rear. Standard track setup of 315's squared levels that field on a totally stock C5Z with 10.5" rear wheels up front.
Brakes? C6Z brakes are better than C5Z brakes but the PBR calipers are both junk and the consumables wear unevenly and are expensive. I believe the OP already has aftermarket brakes anyways, so that eliminates that comparison.
So what do you have left? Suspension is the same stock. Shocks with transverse leaf spring. Sways on the C6Z are larger but this car already has T1's, so it has better sway bars anyways...
If its a 08+ the Z has the TR6060 and the stronger diff, no doubt.. But considering im holding over 1000whp on of my cars with a T56, don't read to much into that. Billet shift keys, upgraded shift fork, and a upgraded main shaft they are pretty stout for most peoples needs...
So what does that leave you with? the LS7 vs this car with a blown engine. You can hardly touch a super high milage C6Z for $30 grand at this point. This car is paid for im sure and owes the OP nothing most likely. So instead of selling this thing for 8 Grand and spending $25K on a car that wont perform any better on the road course he could dump a NASTY $10K engine into this thing and go have a blast.
Dollar for dollar, selling this car makes no sense if he is going to continue to race or run HDPE days unless he is tired of the C5 look...
Last edited by SquatchMachining; 08-25-2015 at 04:16 PM.
08-24-2015, 02:13 PM
Is my car worth anything as a roller?
I lost my Mom unexpectedly last month, lost my motor back in April, and lost my wife to menopause last year, so it will be nice to be able have one of them back.
