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Thanks for visiting - I hope you enjoy my insanity!
As much as the title says Oklahoma, the car is here with me in CT. It is a 2003 Z06 in pretty top condition overall, but the adventure it has already sent me on I figured is worth documenting here as a build thread.
I wasn't even looking for another car. I still own a black 99 6spd Coupe in excellent condition which I daily drive for half the year. I am the second owner and it has been with me since 2012. Other than the transmission and shortblock, there is not an inch of that car I have not been into over time. Big mods, little stuff, and custom touches all over. But in broad strokes it is a stock LS1 with an A&A P-1SC making 9psi with FBO, Ridetech HQ coilovers, CCW SP500s, and I can't post a thread without singing the praises of the McCleod RST clutch when combined with a lightweight Fidanza, Tick Master, and an MGW riding in a TMODcustoms box along with the anti-venom mod - there is no better shifting combination for these cars.
Did I mention I wasn't looking for another car? The 99 is "done" save for tweaking my Alky kit. But my buddy, Mark, was looking to buy a new house with a large enough garage for him to get back into building. We both LT1 / 4 swapped our 3rdgen Camaros in the 90s - that was back when there were no "kits" or easy-by accessories, and there certainly were no Racetronix wire adapters of harnesses. He was looking to LS swap something fun. A 3 series Beemer maybe? I got on the forums here to throw a few teaser deals his way to whet his whistle. Up in the northeast here, cars tend to cost more. Sometimes deals can be found out west or down south which are worthwhile. Dang if I didn't find a few sweet ones. And you know exactly where this is going. I saw a really clean Electron Blue 2003 Z, low miles, great mods. And best of all, the labor time was already done because the car already had awesome PRC 225s, a big cam, and a new and slightly better A&A kit running a V3Ti. I ended up reaching out to the owner, who was very informative about the car, and before long money changed hands and it was heading my way in a race trailer. My logic in all this, based on the AMAZING price I got on the car, was that I could probably sell my 99's blower kit and then that car itself and juuuuuust about break even on this deal. Newer car? Better paint? More power and very very low miles in the entire H / C / I / Supercharger setup? All for some labor? That's a big win! (And it still is - just in a pain in the butt roundabout way now but where I spend another 5k on parts!)
Now, I'm not pointing fingers. I can't prove one way or the other, so I've let it go. I had seen video of the car running, but when the car arrived it would not hold idle well. I knew it had not been finished being tuned as the owner had been using a reputable shop to send tunes by e-mail. I happened to have the same tuning software in full suite, so I plugged in and no red flags popped up. And as the car warmed up, the idle smoothed out. I registered the car and was excited to drive it to work the second day - mindful to keep it under 2000 since I don't yet know the car or the tune, and with the intent of doing some logging. That was not to be. Half a mile from home, sitting at a light, I went to turn onto the highway and I heard a metal noise thunk-a-thunk... and my hand was on the key faster than lightning. Shut it down and parked it right there on the side of the road and she got a ride on the flat bed.
Not bad for two days in, right? Shoot!
I don't have tons of time to spend in the garage, but I diagnosed it fairly quickly as being a lifter issue. The #6 intake lifter appeared stuck. When I pulled the heads, it wasn't just stuck.... the roller head had blown clear off. I ordered a new cam (Jam Cam for the blower), a 2-piece timing cover, traded some work for a set of Johnson racing lifters, and also picked up an RKT timing set and IW balancer. I figured if I have to get in there and rip the car apart, then I may as well do some common sense upgrades as I go. Straub bushings, also.
My hopes at this point are high. While not happy, my plan was to make sure the needles and the roller tip were accounted for, slap it back together and SEND IT.
Last Saturday I set the entire day aside to do just that. I hoisted the engine, dropped the crossmember and dropped first the lower and then upper pan. Found all the needles down low. And when I looked at the upper pan there was the remaining half of the roller and its center pin. But off in the corner was a rough piece of metal....... which I quickly realized was part of the block around the lifter bore, which the lifter must have knocked out when the roller blew up on the cam. Oddly, I've been really calm about it. Ok, the block is toast.... just going to build a new engine. Years ago, I blew my first LT1 wrapping rods around one another and blower pistons to powder and I remember being young and using a Mag-Lite to beat heck out of guard rail. None of that here.
And that brings me about current. For all the talk of "LS swap the world," when you need a decent block they are not to be found. Just a few 5.3s which are too small to bore right.
But I ordered a fresh LS2 block. I just bought some billet rods tonight. And I am pursuing crank and piston optons with the intent of ordering this week. The car will be decent when done, it's just going to take time to get there.
I've got to say, I greatly appreciate the fairly complete primer I've received from Bray (as I call him from one Brett to another Bret) aka BlownBlueZ06 on modern build theory and parts design. I am just as grateful for an understanding girlfriend who let me get away with shushing her when she interrupted one of those calls with Bret! LOL
I will try to update this as I go with pics and data. One man's misfortune might be helpful to someone else who experiences similar.
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Edit: What is a build thread without a list to track what's been done? I'm adding it here so it is easy to find and now somewhere in a future "post # 983." For now it is a parts dump which I will organize later. (wow is THAT out of date! Now we're going smaller cam twin turbo!)
LS2 402
Lunati Signature Pro billet I-beam 6.125" connecting rods
Dart Billet CCW 4.00" crank
Diamond LS2K pistons
Melling high pressure oil pump
Johnson Custom tie-rod lifters
Crower steel shaft-mount 1.7 ratio rockers
Macleod aluminum flywheel
ARP stud kits for mains and heads, generally bolts throughout
Improved Racing oil pan baffles
C6 Z06 rebuilt calipers with rotors, speed bleeders, DRM AN stainless lines, and PS Z26 pads
RKT Elite timing chain
BTR Arun's Jam Cam
A&A Vortech V3Ti kit
A&A secondary drive kit
Innovators West 10% OD blower balancer for A&A secondary drive
DeWitts short radiator
SPAL dual fans
Powermaster xs torque starter
TurnOne power steering pump
MM pcv system with catch can
Tick Master 3/4"
Hydratech ps-referenced brake booster
Dual Walbro 450lph fuel pumps and return-style fuel lines
C6 TR6060 and 3.43 diff - base model for now
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Addendum added 01/02/2024 to help locate topics. When you're locked in a room for five days of isolation with covid you run out of things to do and so this happened.
The sister car, a 1999 black/black M6 coupe, met her end today in the pre-morning commute. I had left for work at 430am well ahead of the bad weather supposedly in order to get there without issue. When I left home the roads were simply wet and remained so for 15 minutes until I apparently came under a different weather cell which had dropped snow, not been plowed, and was dropping it sufficiently to create a whiteout as well as cease my forward progress up a hill in the highway. I pulled over and parked the car with the tires resting on the curb to be as far out of traffic as possible. Flashers on. High beams on. In the dark under the storm clouds I guarantee I was highly visible. The singe lane out of three which was passable for those with 4x4s was far away from me yet as I sat there about to dial 9-1-1 since they push priority for safety to get flatbeds out and clear the roads (I did not want to be a nuissance to anyone and I had already been waiting a while for the state plows to come by) a black Tahoe slammed into the car from behind. I didn't see it coming. Just a bright light in the mirror at about the same instant as the giant crunch. I couldn't exit the vehicle. The battery also died within minutes, maybe knocked loose. I waited for the fire guys to get me out and escort me to the ambulance. I saw the car for only a moment and know the passenger door would not shut, the bumper cover was smashed in and ripped apart, at least the quarter facing me was ripped apart, likely the fiberglass trunk tub was impacted, the trunk was apparently popped up and I could see the bumper rail fully exposed. Guessing frame damage if the door won't shut. And if the trunk tub got cracked I'm told that is a large decider for repair vs wrecking a car.
It makes me sad. I have had that car since late 2012. It was the car which proved that HUD could be retro-fitted to non-Hud year gauge clusters. It was the car which I drove my wife home from our wedding in. And to her credit she wants to fix it - though she has no idea what that would actually mean. Amazingly, that car did have one dark star over it because since owning it I have been hit in the rear FOUR TIMES. Three while fully stopped or parked. Delta correlation to that is that it was never hit when I ran the LED Halos. It was only hit when I had the oem brake lights on the car. So you can bet your life this Z06 will be retaining it's existing Halos, or the fresh set I bought (cleaner lenses), or possibly one of the new to market versions later this year.
I will miss this awesome ride and all the awesome times I have had with it over the past decade. I learned a lot about C5s through all my projects and that knowledge has made the Z06 that much cleaner and better done for it.
Despite the loss, there may be some positives for the Z06 in this thread. I don't need to invest my recently non-existent free time in prepping the coupe for sale as I was going to do over the next two months and this will hopefully leave more time to focus on the Z06 work. And also, when you have two Corvettes and get your fix almost every day the drive to get a second one falls well off the target board. I will likely be getting a more proper daily now, or a beater for the short term, so the drive to see the Z06 on the road will only heighten. Don't forget the OTHER dark horse parked waiting for some love. There is a 2003 S600 which is a few projects away from going right back on the street and I already have a pile of parts in its trunk waiting to go.
Forgive my pictorial homage to the coupe. I really will miss this car quite a bit.
Apex status at Mark's Auto Cruise, the largest weekly cruise in New England - no longer being held. Here the car was running 10psi of boost, full exhaust, coilovers, maxxed out oem brakes with aggressive pads, CCWs and some sticky street tires. Corbeau A4s were soon to follow!
Day 1 picking it up in Florida, NY with 32,000 miles in absolutely mint condition. It already had headers and Borla S exhaust accompanied by C5 Z06 springs and sway bars with Bilstein shocks. Supercharged is preferred, but if you don't go that route this is a great combo to cruise or blast around hills with.
Their natural state: up in the air
Proof it has been done many times over the years. She didn't die trying or by error or me having wrecked her, but by my being responsible and NOT getting stuck in the middle of the road and parking to the side.... the car then took the hit when a Tahoe which was driving too fast for conditions crashed into me.
One of my favorite pictures. I grew up along that ridge to the north and I got married along that ridge to the south. This was taken on one of those hot summer weekend nights after a long cruise to the beach and back. Those nights where the air is still thick from the heat but just starting to cool off and feel comfortable again.
It's always something. I am a tinkerer at heart. Maintain. Modify. Upgrade. Replace. If not always perfect, then always cared for.
It won't look like this again until many labor hours have been consumed. Attachment 48347349
The first indication of the problem source: that shouldn't separate so easily. Attachment 48347350
Further inspection with heads off reveals the dead #6 lifter as viewed from the driver side. Only the one cam lobe was chewed on. The rest of the cam was pristine. Each cylinder bore is pristine. I definitely shut it off before further damage was done. This is why I thought it would be ok until I found the chunk of block.
The car had several owners before me. Fewer than are listed though because the first one had it registered to his company and kept transferring it.
Frustrating as it is to have a new car detonate on you, I am glad for the chance to go through it. Different people have worked on the car with varying levels of experience or knowledge. Some things were loose which should have been tight. Others were too tight and should have been torqued lower. A couple of small parts were damaged, and others were showing wear. Nothing critical in nature, but it sets a tone for the car and I will be sure to work my way in everywhere on this Z just like the 99.
A thought I have on the car. The prior owner still strikes me as earnest and well intentioned. If the car was sold to me damaged, I don't think they were aware. I wasn't aware of the lifter, either. But I did have a friend make note of valvetrain noise the night before. I did not hear a thing. Just the common LS sewing machine noises and the cam loud enough I couldn't hear the blower whine. Though I think I have an answer as to why the car was never able to be tuned right. Even by e-mail, a reputable tuner working on a car with fairly common non-custom mods should be able to get it dialed in. They were not able to. And this was one of the bigger known vendors/tuners in the southeast. But if you're not getting any codes, not incorrect or odd readings from sensors, and the car will work or then not work as expected intermittently - there is no way a remote tuner can diagnose a developing problem with a part. I suspect this is what was occurring with the car. It felt to me even before the lifter failure that perhaps the owner had built themselves out of a car. The guy before him had done H/C/I. Then the guy before me had added the blower. But perhaps it wasn't that they built themselves out of a car so much as they built the car but couldn't get it to run the way they wanted and couldn't resolve the issue despite throwing money at it. And if I didn't hear the lifter wobbling and I suspect I usually might, then who can second point blame at anyone prior? It must have been a frustrating mystery why the car would not dial in above the 4,000rpm they had tested to.
I just wish it made a little more noise and didn't let go so soon. I still would have pulled the heads, but maybe I'd still have a usable shortblock.
Side note I agree on 5.7 blocks being not easy to find.
I’ve been looking at all the major builders and NONE have an LS6 block on had to build up. I wanted to build a forged very high rpm screamer and swap into my car when finished. It seems I’ll need to find my own block.
I don't want the ls2/3 genIV relocated sensors, I want an LS6.
I was not aware of that fact about the lifters by year. Even so, the 99 Ha seen consistently maintained, never over spun or abused, and tuned directly by Doug @ECS. There is power left on the table with that car because I would rather have a safer tune and a consistent car than edge towards risk if I get a tank of bad gas.
There's a lull in activity while I decide on the shortblock build. I've also been shutting off like a light switch by 6pm with Mono.... had it as a kid, at 40 it is really slowing me down.
That said, the shortblock is shaping up to be a bit overbuilt for a seasonal daily.
LS2 aluminum block
Lunati Pro 3.622" crank
Lunati Signature Series 6.125" rods
JE LS FSR Dish Ultra Series 6cc
With a 62cc chamber and LS9 gaskets, using the Diamond Compression Ratio Calculator it should come out to 10.55:1. That should leave room for more boost someday if I get ambitious.
I bought the car thinking a H/C/I/Blower combo at about 600rw would be right on for fun on the street. Now it looks like with the Jam Cam it will be closer to 700. I don't know yet if that will be too much for my interest or not. I know I'll need to be planning for diff/trans and suspension anyway. I found an e-bay vendor selling some nice delrin and aluminum bushings for the rear and front A-arms which caught my attention. All in due time. Engine first, parts swap from the 99 next, and then on to the rest of the car. For now, I am daily driving the 99 on mis-matched 18" wheels (wagon front, Z rear) and haven't washed it in a few weeks. I have become the dirty vette driver, but I'm still getting waves!
Mild changes and the final setup is a Dart billet 4.00" crank with 8 counter weights along with Diamond LS2K pistons.
The block, ARP main studs, and Lunati rods arrived today. Thanks to RJ0351 for sending them my way. I opened the box to look at them and could only think: "These look much too nice for me to have in my possession."
Bret was excellent to me in sending me his own Dart crank he'd been sitting on for "some day." With the mid-summer demand, these have been on backorder.
Here is a much-needed update. The machinist finished the engine a week ago. I hope to get it home next weekend and start the process, but still need to remove the LS6 shortblock. While the 402 has been away at the shop, I've been slowly picking up other parts and things on the side. In for a penny, in for a pound, and a lot of things like starter and steering pump are quicker and easier to swap now than when buttoned up. So a Powermaster XS torque starter and a turn one steering pump are on the shop bench. I need to nail down specifics of the fuel system, but there is time for that. Likely a Fore Innovations 3x pump kit to err greatly toward safety. I had also been able to purchase the A&A variant of the IW balancer used for their secondary drive kit. I will grab the rest of that kit from them now ($800 for the kit minus balancer) and get that set up before I drop the engine in.
As for the engine, the final version is a 10.55:1 402 on a fresh GM LS2 block. I bought the block initially intending to swap LS6 guts into it and do it cheap, then I changed direction and built the 402. In retrospect, I wish I had waited another week to buy the block because I would have gone with a proper racing block. For my purposes, it should still be totally fine though.
I did opt for an oil bypass kit. So it will never pass unfiltered oil into the engine. The tradeoff is that I will run race filters to keep flow. I did go for the Melling 295 normal volume, high pressure pump.
Without further ado, enjoy some Sunday Night Engine ****. Thank God none of you are on dial-up anymore!
Two critical questions remain which I am trying to resolve, though they are purely aesthetic.
What color should I paint the block?
And what should I do for valve covers? I will remote mount the coils in the fenders as I did on the '99. With aftermarket fuel rails, I could still adapt my fuel rail covers to fit and work. They really do give a clean look from the factory, and mine my buddy sanded down and sprayed so they look like glass. So I could do that. But the factory valve covers from the LS6, now on the 402, at the very least need the grommets gaskets replaced. I could clean up the factory covers and spray them wrinkle black like the accessory bracket and alternator. I could also go an extra mile..... have all the protrusions ground off and filled, smooth it out, and THEN spray them. Or the final option would be a set of ProForm angle covers in either black or chevy red.
Painted FRCs on the '99 - I guess they pretty much cover the entire valve cover area. But it still begs the question no matter which covers I use: Black, or Red?
A plain red setup.
Be honest. This is just how it is. I've got both and love them equally!
The ProForms look pretty good sans FRCs. I wager even better without the coil packs seen here. But then I'd have to put a lot of effort into cleaning up the wiring, trying to hide the remote oil pressure sender, any egr/catch can lines, etc. It's never as pretty as you'd like along the fuel rails. Plus I will have the LPE box to convert my 58x to 24x signal, as well as extensions for the front mount cam sensor and external knocks.
Proof that I have been a fan of FRCs for a long, LONG time.... seen here is my first conversion. This is a 1991 RS Camaro with an all forged long-rod 355 LT4. I did this with no prior mechanical experience, but a HECK of a lot of time on the forums and a lot of bloody knuckles and late nights. The nightmare was converting by hand the wiring harness from a junkyard LT1 Z28 harness and ECU to the 1991 RS body harness for gauges, security, etc, and then also getting it all to function correctly. But it did in the end! I do miss the car, but it was an automatic with a 3600 stall. And in 2000, after spending a year working 18 hour days saving every penny after getting out of college in 18 months, I went and did something stupid: I bought a 2000 Corvette Coupe with a 6-speed...... and I never looked back at the auto again. I sold it finally in 2007 to the heir of a plumbing or electrical supply company in the Carolinas whose dad liked to fly around their property with a surplus Army training helo he bought. Cool story. I like to think she is still ripping it up out there somewhere!
Also - this was when the LS1 had just hit the streets. I should have gone into the conversions market. Could have made a killing. They did not exist at the time. Now everyone offers plug n play kits.
Finally getting to what's important this weekend. Multiple interruptions from the new job last night. Working from home today to get a leg up on the week. But I'll be back in the garage after dinner to get the bellhousing and flywheel off. If I need help guiding the block out, I may need to wait another few days, but I'll at least get it free today. Then I can get the LS2 home next weekend and... maybe... at least bolted in!
BTW - if you see those ads on FB or amazon for the 5000 lumen 3-panel LED lights for $29? That is what is in the main bulb socket. It is a true daylighter and worth every penny.
I had a buddy down Sunday night and we got the block disconnected from everything, but called it quits at 3am. I am going to get back to it Wednesday night, reattach the flywheel/pressure plate and remove, instead, the TT bolts, get some pressure on the connection from a jack and see if that will prompt the block to slip free.
The plan then is to pick up the new engine this weekend. It won't be going in immediately, as I have a few other projects easier to achieve with the engine out, but I will also need to grind for the engine mount, drill and tap for the external knock sensors, rig up some harness adapters, and I may go the extra mile and paint the block. While it is out I will also want to take a look at the existing harness. When I got to the bellhousing and pulled the headers (which were never socked tightly to the mid-pipes, just slip fit into them by whatever shop did the work) I found a lot of the looms were baked through and crumbling. I'll replace the wiring and also seek out a higher direct heat resisting cover. I sense more expensive DEI products coming my way, LOL. I already got a wrap for the starter and a few big sheets of their tunnel cover. I'll swap over my heavy tunnel plate, but I think I'll wrap the inside of the TT tunnel up top to insulate and then with the plate in place run some strips around the exhaust area. I have lived with melting feet and burning knees in the past and won't be doing that this time around.
The Oklahoma Z Build
