NVA2010

Decided to start my own build thread just for fun. I intend to build it into a Street/Track car, but let's see where the rabbit hole goes.

How it began:
Purchased from Florida 12/31/16
Delivered to California 1/18/17

2010 Z06 3LZ clad in Cyber Gray (my favorite color for the C6).
Bone stock
20592 miles
1 previous owner



The day it arrived...yes, it was raining on and off that day. So yes, it has seen rain



Over the course of the next week I was getting smog inspections taken care of. Then I got to work making the car my own. I started small with street oriented cosmetic stuff while I already had the car down for fluid changes.
LED interior and exterior lights
Oracle side markers, Ghosted Carbon Flash
Adjure Onyx Taillights








A few weeks later and the exhaust went on.
Akrapovic Evo, Stainless
Elite Engineering 1/4" tunnel plate w/Thermal Abs




Picked up some parts along with the associated belts, gaskets and ARP bolts before pulling the trigger on AHP heads. Then I got to work pulling everything apart for the H/C swap.
Synergy LS7 Smog Cam
ATI 10% UD harmonic balancer
Katech C5R Timing Chain
Katech Blue oil pump
AHP Pkg 4 Heads: MS90 guides, milled .010", street porting, GM sodium exhaust valves, PSI 1515 springs, BTR Ti LS7 retainers







I got a lot less done the second day when I pulled the timing cover. That radiator just did not want to separate from the condenser

And that's where I'm at as of now. Currently I am getting my tools set up to degree the cam and then it's on to pinning the crank. AHP had a huge backlog of work due to an apparently unexpected large quantity of orders and shop work being placed in a short period of time. For reference, I ordered the heads at the end of May, but they just shipped this morning and are expected to arrive on Thursday this week. Can't wait to get it all buttoned back up and get it tuned. Then I can unleash that 7 liter beast

I've already got a few more things planned, but they'll have to wait...for now

EDIT: 11/21/17

When the heads arrived, I just admired the work for a good 30 minutes before putting them back in the box to await installation the following day.







Degree'd the cam, installed the C5R chain and Blue oil pump and then put the cover back on and installed the ATI damper. Once that was done, I got the new heads bolted on. Now it was time to wait for a little while as I searched around for some more "do it while you're in there already" parts.





Picked myself up a ZR1 radiator and oil cooler, as well as a Mamo ported OEM throttle body and Corsa air filter system. Slapped everything on and now it was ready to tune.






The car sat in it's finished (for now) state for about 2 agonizing months before I actually had the time to take it over to Synergy and get the tune done, but it was worth the wait in my opinion.

psp6158

Man, that didn't take long. I'm jealous of not being able to do my own work like you, all top of the line stuff, are you shooting for any certain numbers?

NVA2010

Didn't want to take too long to get the heads addressed and a lot of the other stuff was just a, "Might as well do it now.", sort of situation.

Is it lack of mechanical inclination or just lack of time to do the work yourself? I wouldn't be too bothered by it either way. Not everyone can do, or is comfortable enough to do, the work themselves and there's nothing wrong with that.

I do have an end goal of 600whp NA, but I know that is a tough number to hit. Realistically, I'd be fine as long as it were over 550 by the time I'm done adding power. With just the H/C as it is going to be for a while, I think it should be able to hit anywhere from 500-525ish depending on how the car reacts to the changes.

MTPZ06

Looks like a quality build so far. Purely curious...why the 1515 over the 1511's? Are you planning to replace the lifters and trays? If so; OE or ? Who is going to tune the car when you're done with the build?

NVA2010

Thanks

I went with the 1515's because the lift of my cam puts me too close to coil bind on the 1511's for my personal comfort.

I juggled the idea of replacing the lifters and trays, but at ~24k miles i don't really see the need. I will change them if I find any problems, but so far I haven't seen anything noticeably wrong with them. If I do end up changing them, I'd most likely go OE again or maybe splurge on some Morel link bars, but I'd have to do more research on that subject. I was interested in the GM high speed lifters at one point, but read too many horror stories for my liking.

It's going to be tuned by Rick at Synergy Motorsports. IMO he's the best tuner local to me. Gets to the point, gets the job done right the first time and doesn't beat around the bush.

ChoppinVette

Looks great. I too am jealous of you doing your own work. I've completely rebuilt my VW from scratch, down to the rings and bearings but I have never done a head/cam swap on an LS before and worried i would mess that up on such an expensive car/engine. Never had to deal with push rods, lash caps, etc etc.

Car is beautiful and I agree, cyber is the best color.

NVA2010

Haven't updated this in a while, but just wanted to say that I got the car in for a tune yesterday and she put down 523whp/492wtq. Right in line with what I expected it to have for now in terms of peak numbers, but area under the curve is the real story here. I feel as though I've made the jump from LS2 to LS7 all over again, except it's still the same LS7 this time around. That's how different it feels from stock. Unfortunately I don't have a baseline from when it was stock, but typical stock LS7 numbers have been shown enough times already anyway.

An MSD manifold is next and maybe some LTs, but haven't decided if I really want to bother with those. Suspension and weight reduction are going to be the focus now though.

I will be putting some more pictures up soon to show how everything went along the way, as well as the dyno charts for those that are interested. Let the journey down the rabbit hole continue.

jayyyw

If you want to make 600, you'll need a bigger camshaft. I'd venture to guess that you'd be sitting right around 560whp after headers and Mamo MSD upgrades.

NVA2010

Most likely true. That's why I said anything over 550 was more realistic and I'd be happy with that. 600 just sounds nice.

NVA2010

Edited first post with the remaining photos I had.

LMB-Z

Congrats. Great story. Mine makes 524.04 and I'm told it has a baby cam (not sure the specs I was given are correct), but mine also has headers. I'm guessing with a set of headers, you will be close to 540 or more.

NVA2010

If you don't mind my asking, what are your "baby cam's" specs?

I think you're right, a set of 1-7/8" headers ought to gain 15-20 and if ARH 2" headers live up to the hype, I'm sure they could squeeze out 20-25.

jayyyw

I gained about 18whp and 30wtq adding TSP 1-7/8” Headers to my heads/cam car. I can see a little more power with a better brand/bigger primaries.

danziger

Nice pics and write up!

NVA2010

Nice gains! Especially on the TQ side of things

Thanks

jimbob8915

Anyone make a California compliant header?

Racingswh

Congrats!! You should be very proud of your efforts. Great build!

That car is beautiful and making torque when it does it's going to make a great track car!!

MTPZ06

For the C6Z...No. OE manifolds flow very well for stock equipment. In order for it to be CA compliant, you cannot relocate the placement of the OE catalytic converters...so shorty headers are the only option here.

Base C6, Yes...I believe JBA and Magnaflow have CARB EO#'s for their shorties. Maybe some others as well.

I recall reading many years back that Callaway was testing a set of shorty headers for the C6Z to include in their package; but their testing showed an increase of ~6 HP and at ~$1200, they didn't feel it was worth the added expense.

I had B&B Shorties (w/ CARB EO#) on my C5Z...they were good for about 10-12 rwhp over the OE manifolds, but the C5Z OE manifolds flow nowhere near as good as C6Z manifolds.

MacofTampa

I wish I would have seen this last week, I put my heads on the wrong side had to pull them off and start again! Are those your notes or AHR's?

Nice work!

MacofTampa

One question to the OP, why go with the new Oil cooler?. I'm new to Corvettes, I only drove mine 1500 mile before I started the Heads, Cam and exhaust project. Thanks for any advise....Mac