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[Z06] It is Finished! My build complete build with all the details
C6 Corvette ZR1 & Z06General info about GM’s Corvette Supercar, LS9 Corvette Technical Info, Performance Upgrades, Suspension Setup for Street or Track
It is Finished! My complete build with all the details
Well before I begin I will give you guys a quick background on me. I have been a forum member since 04 and a corvette lover since I was 10 and rode in my Uncle's 65 convertible and was obsessed ever since.
I always wanted a 427 corvette and I love the C2's but at 6'4" they are a little tight for me and they don't have all of the modern creature comforts of today's cars. Even though I knew all about the LS7 head issues I didn't care and bought a 13' 427 convertible, and I love every day I get to drive it!
I want to give a special thanks to Kohle at AHP, I have been working with speed shops for 30 years and Kohle has been the most professional with the highest quality of work I have seen, it has been a pleasure working with him and I recommend him to anyone!
Also, want to thank the forum members who have helped me over the years including Michael D, Dan Smallwood and many more..
Ok, now for the build. My goals were very simple, I wanted to build my motor for reliability, efficiency, and 100% drivability. I had no interest in a dyno queen or peak numbers, no loping cam that shakes the car and I have to listen to my wife complain about it. I wanted to make the most of the parts I had chosen. First thing is the heads!
As stated Kohle and his team did an amazing job on the heads! I went with the Moldstar 90 guides, PSI 1511 springs shimmed at 1.79" height with Ti retainers, polished intakes and Ferrea hollow stem exhaust. I also had Kohle do his street porting to go with the mild cam, and I sent him my FAST base to port match it after milling 0.030 off the heads. Here is his work..
Next up the rockers, Dan Smallwod and I have been working on Spintron testing of the Yella Terra's for about a year and finally got it done last November, if you have not seen the results here is the thread
After receiving very good results from the spintron testing I decided to go with the YT's and I was very impressed with the quality of them. When I installed them and added the shim from the kit I was still not satisfied with the contact point on the valve stem so I added 2 shims to each rock and it was perfect. Only problem is I had to order them from Australia and it took a few weeks and $85 to get them. I also upgraded to the Johnson 2110 lifters with BTR pushrods with 0.040 preload.
Intake lash cap
Exhaust
Next is the cam, as some of you know I wasn't planning on swapping the cam, but after finding some scarring on my lifters and cam lobes I wasn't comfortable in leaving it so I pulled it out. Here is my thread
I designed the cam myself with 100% drivability and stealth in mind. It is a 220/232 120+3 .603 intake and exhaust. I call it the "Pediatric Cam" because it's smaller than a baby cam I went with the cam motion with the 8620 steel core.
I also added Phadt 1 3/4" headers with cats and had the whole system ceramic coated, and the Halltech CF112 CAI.
I also added the new Mighty Mouse Gen 4 can that performed very well on the dyno after 8 runs there was no oil in the intake and you could see the vapors coming out of the filter at WOT. I also have the Katech VC with the coil relocation kit & RSI fuel rails. Here is the finish product.
Now for the tuning, I met Alex Peitz about 6 months ago and read nothing but great things about him. He was an instructor at the tuning school in Florida and has now opened up a shop here in Houston. I felt he did an excellent job on my tune keeping everything safe. The only issue he had was my knock sensor was showing a knock and retarding around 5500rpm of upwards of 7 degrees of timing. He said this is common with LS motors to get a "false knock" so he slightly reduced the sensitivity of the sensors and set the final timing at 18 degrees at WOT (a little low but he wanted to keep it safe). Have any of you guys experience a false knock when tuning?
Alex uses a Mustang dyno because it a better tuning tool for adding load while your tuning the car. We had about 8 pulls and the final pull put down 487rwhp and 477wrtq when the motor was very hot probably would have been close to 500 if we let it cool down. On a Dyno Jet it would have put down roughly 545 to 550rwhp, so I am very please with the numbers! Check out the smooth torque curve!
A few other items I did during my downtime was adding the Katech splitter reinforcement behind the bumper which I HIGHLY recommend because the stock bumper cannot support the forces at high speeds and will actually pull the bumper down and stretch it out.
I also had my rotors treated with Cadmium and they came out great!
No issues with false knock. It is showing knock for a reason, not because the sensors are too sensitive. Find out why it is showing knock, don't turn the sensors down.
He told me he's tuned a lot of LS7's and many times he has seen what he feels is a false knock. He said if you add race gas and still see a knock then you know it's false.
I guess it's possible I could have some bad gas or something with the rockers or headers could be making a noise that the sensor is picking up.
Instead of turning down sensors, you fix the issue. If it is a header banging the frame (seen it too many times with the brand you chose) you fix that, not turn down the knock sensors.
Yah, tweaking sensors is the very last resort solution....hell, even with my wonderful 90 octane fuel, I am able to run 18 at peak torque areas of the map. No f'ing around with sensors. And being brutally honest here, but I have yet to anything from the Tuning School that I'd trust. Some of the crap they promote (and yes, I did buy their books), is just wrong. Their so-call injectors with their so-called "correct data" are ****. Wasted $600 on a set that I could not ever get dialed in...end of rant.
But that friggin engine sure does look good. Way-super-duper-good. Glad you are happy with how she runs too! I know you put a butload of research and time into it, including years prior to owning it. Well done BJ.
Great build and what a great looking Vette!!! Very clean and well put together/organized!
Glad you liked our heads. We aim to provide the highest quality product available at a reasonable price point.
Drive and enjoy Sir!!! Thank you for the thread and if anyone need some heads or some LS7 parts give us a call 310-326-2399 or shoot us an email hp@americanheritageperformance.com
A lot of well thought out work, the engine compartment looks fantastic and of course the outside, well, what can you say...it's a 427 convertible...nice job.
If its a stock belt tensioner. That may be your issue. It will vibrate and resonate on a "metal-to-metal" frequency/harmonic that it will trigger the knock sensors.
Just start your car, CAREFULLY place your finger/hand over the tensioner and you will feel it/hear it.
I'll definitely check that out. On one of the dyno runs I stood on the other side of the car and watched the tensioner and it seemed solid and never visually vibrated.
02-03-2017, 03:58 PM
It is Finished! My complete build with all the details
I wanted to make the most of the parts I had chosen. First thing is the heads!
I went with the cam motion with the 8620 steel core.
