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The weather gets cold here in Colorado and winter is the perfect time for some upgrades. I really love hanging out in my garage making my car even more awesome, and I've been accumulating parts all year long for just that. The plan, install the expansion tank I designed and had built by Canton Racing products, install Borgeson steering box, replace stock A/C condenser with crossflow from Classic Auto Air and install my "243" heads that I bought on Craigslist off of a low mileage CTS-V and that I had CNC ported by Advanced Induction. So back in October I started taking it apart.
And was horrified (and secretly pleased because I now had an excuse to upgrade my engine) to discover that the inside of my engine was covered with sludge.
It was at this time that I decided to buy a 383 short block from Texas Speed to put my heads on.
Fun!
You have the jump on me up here in Bailey. Mine had to come down to the frame to replace all the rubber stuff! I started at the beginning of last month.
If you have sludge, you're probably running a little too cold on that thermostat.
So I pulled out the engine and realized I couldn't put the brand new one in such a tired looking engine compartment. After consulting with the nice people on this forum I had a plan for cleaning up my engine compartment. After degreasing and sanding with scotch-brite I was ready to paint.
I also realized that my new engine was going to be delivering quite a bit more power than my old one so I had Jeff at TruTech build me a new 4L65e that will be able to take the torque of my 383. Here's a picture of it as I'm getting ready to mate it to the engine.
And here they are going into the car.
And they're in.
Last edited by Illegal Vette; Dec 19, 2015 at 10:38 AM.
Fun!
You have the jump on me up here in Bailey. Mine had to come down to the frame to replace all the rubber stuff! I started at the beginning of last month.
If you have sludge, you're probably running a little too cold on that thermostat.
I suspect it was there there before I installed it 6500 miles ago. I've got a stock temp thermostat in it but who's to say what temp the the thermostat I took out of there was. It ran really well and I could have cleaned it all out but it was more fun to build a new one!
That's beautiful! I'm using the factory setup for an '02 f-body except instead of going into the radiator the steam line now goes into the expansion tank. I also have the heater core return line plumbed into the expansion tank which is now the highest point in the cooling system so I don't expect to have any problems with air in the system like last time.
They used a new 5.3 block bored to 3.903, forged pistons with 11.1 to 1 compression ratio, 4.000' Stroke, 6.125' Rod Length, Tick performance recommended cam, 228/232 .615/.600 116.5+3 which will give me plenty of torque, pass emissions and use the stock converter, 243 heads from a CTS-V CNC ported by Advanced induction, LS6 intake, ported throttle body. It should be a tire shredder...
They used a new 5.3 block bored to 3.903, forged pistons with 11.1 to 1 compression ratio, 4.000' Stroke, 6.125' Rod Length, Tick performance recommended cam, 228/232 .615/.600 116.5+3 which will give me plenty of torque, pass emissions and use the stock converter, 243 heads from a CTS-V CNC ported by Advanced induction, LS6 intake, ported throttle body. It should be a tire shredder...
Looks pretty trick, what do you think horse power wise?
Who cares, it's going to be a smile maker for sure!
I can hardly wait to drive it, I'm still waiting for a few things before that can happen though. I started it for just long enough to verify oil pressure and listen for any unpleasant noises and it sounded good.
Really looking nice..
Looks like you are managing the mission creep better than I do!
Thanks, it went faster than I expected. I got it together except for the differential. It's supposed to be on it's way so hopefully I can drive it soon!
Winter upgrades=mission creep.
DSCN5182 by Richard Hayes, on Flickr
