dart.deanda

OK, bought my 2008 Z06 2LZ in May 2015, did *some* homework, thought there was a date of good v. bad regarding valve guide wear, took the car, kept reading on the internet, decided there is no good date for LS7 heads. Finally pulled the trigger on an AHP package while deployed last fall. Got back home this spring, started assembling the parts. As anyone knows on the forum, Kohle and team have been awesome. I decided to go with the tried and true Package 4 plus a few add-ons. When I got the car, it had catted ARH 1 7/8 headers and a KNN cold air intake, no tune (I just found out when moving from 93 Florida to 91 Vega$)... I had the Josh B. 3" Muffler mod performed by Donv8sten.
Here's a list of the parts:

AHP Package 4 heads, PM guides, Ferrea 2042P hollow ss exhaust valves, titanium intake valves, high velocity street port, decked .020
BTR dual valve springs good for .660" lift
C5R timing chain
New LS7 lifters and trays
Stock head gaskets and exhaust gaskets
7.775 pushrods, whatever brand AHP supplies
AHP Smog legal cam, like between a stage 2 & 3 basically, I have never seen anyone publish the specs, so I'm just leaving them off...
AHP ported stock intake manifold and throttle body

Wrenching underway. I gave myself a week to quick turn this thing in my 1-car garage. Started Tuesay, got the intake and throttle body off and shipped them yesterday to AHP. Yesterday got the heads off and am ready to ship those back for the core exchange today. Getting the radiator out was the biggest pain so far. Took superhuman strength to pull the AC condensor off the radiator tabs on the passenger side. Cut the heck out of my middle finger on the top of one of the heads where the valve covers go, watch that area guys, use a suitable extension to get away from that... Tonight I will clean the block and try to get the cam out.

Going to try to score some Yella Terra 6670s to sit atop the new heads. I'll try to post some pics without the help of F-U-otobucket...

Does this work?



Or this?

http://imgur.com/aNEERTB

Apparently AHP really wants us to put those lash caps on...

Shooting for 550 at the wheels, did not do a before dyno, don't care to know what I had so much as what I'll get, I know all dynos are relative but so is ambient air conditions and random correction factors so...

Many thanks to all the good discussion on this forum, I have learned a ton from you all (of course sifting through all the manure but...)

Cheers, -d'Art

Jaybird29

Sounds like a very nice upgrade. Why not use a CHE kit to update stock rockers?

Javvy

Very similar to what I have ordered from AHP.
Hope they get over here soon.
My difference is the springs are PSIs and they will
be milled 0.030.
I'm keeping the stock cam as well.
Would just changing the heads require a tune or would I
need one after a CAI.
I think thats as far as I would go unless my installer bends
a set of headers and mid pipes up for me, which is their
primary area of expertise.

The second link worked for me for the pics.
Deffo make sure the lash caps are on

dart.deanda

Jaybird, the CHE kit is definitely what my initial intention was. I recently saw one of the major vendors post in a thread that the stock rockers in basically any rendition do not provide a good wipe area once you have added lift. I'll be just below the .660 rating on the BTR dual springs with my cam on the intake side, so maybe that is a lot of lift. The Yella Terras were recommended because they provide more robust/reliable contact with the valve stem (with or without lash cap), are light on the valve side, and pretty sturdy overall. My only concern with them is the need to check the wipe area, and the disclaimer on their website that some stock LS7 castings require machining of the pedestal (does not say what type exactly)...

Javvy, you will definitely need a tune with decking them .030, I originally planned to go that low as well, but did not like the move to 91 octane out here in Las Vegas, so compromised at .020. Lash caps, check&doublecheck...

MTPZ06

Looks like a great build! If you're exceeding ~.630 lift with that cam, the YT roller rockers are a good idea.

Don't forget to put the damn lash caps on!!!

MikeOC

You probably don't NEED roller rockers with AHP guides, but it didn't stop me. Small investment if you consider the cost or time of delaying a guide check.

SPDKLZ1

I'm on 91 octane here in ND and would have liked the extra hp with the bump in compression but it was not recommended by Kohle at AHP....??

dart.deanda

SPDKLZ1, It's all in the tune. My tuner may have to pull timing to get it to work on 91. I am strongly considering a flex fuel sensor and running it on E85 here locally, I just don't 100% understand if I leave the E85 area what happens. Do I need to pull over and switch tunes, or??? Pretty sure I can get away with .020, honestly I think I could have worked .030, but just maybe leaving something on the table without better gas...

MikeOC

With a flex fuel kit, ecm will scale between tunes automatically, at any ethanol level.

dart.deanda

MikeOC, did you do the wipe area test to ship the YTs? Thanks for the flex fuel kit info.

SPDKLZ1, forgot to mention, Kohle agreed to the .030 when I was still in Florida on 93 octane, and I just wanted the compression bump even after figuring it could be tuned.

Just dropped my stock injectors off with my tuner, he has a flow bench. He will check them out and make sure they're all within 5% of each other. He has some 850ccs at 3 bar that I could install instead. He said the car won't run though without a tune...

MikeOC

I have RHS heads with Crowers, Kohle is doing everything. Well past my skill level.

CammedC6520

He's a corvette angel, such a nice guy and gives up allot of his time for his customers that guy truly deserves everything!


Btw you should go with a btr4 cam no regrets

dart.deanda

Most everybody wants more cam afterward... I went with Kohle's smog legal for driveability. It will likely be pretty good with the supporting mods. I think the BTR4 will obviously hit higher numbers, but this is my daily so parking lots, etc is a concern. I trust the Kohle recipe, and unless I'm racing another Z06 with a BTR4, I'll be doing pretty good ;-).

TXGS507

I too am running the AHP 4 heads ( ported) milled down .30 to bump up compression. I wouldn't have it any other way!

dart.deanda

Well, here's the damage after working on it Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday after work.




Tuesday was getting it up on blocks, taking off the intake mani and TB. Packaged them up and shipped to AHP for porting.

Wednesday, got the heads off and packed up and shipped back to AHP for core refund.

Thursday was 5 hours of cleaning. I should have invested in better tools. Spent a lot of time with a metal scraper double wrapped in a t-shirt and dipped in brake cleaner. Went back over everything with 1500 grit sand paper. Then took the vacuum to the pistons to get any bits that fell in near the rings (put paper towels in there first to prevent what I could from falling in).

Tonight I moved the steering rack, and figured out hey, I don't have a puller for the crank pulley, hello early morning harbor freight run...

Weird thing, all the stock pulley bolts I see are silver like the head torque to yield bolts. Check mine out, does anyone think this is an aftermarket crank bolt? I don't see anything aside from the headers and KNN to think anything was modified on this car. My tuner said the tune was completely bone stock...



Getting the power steering pump off was a bit of a **** show. I moved it to the side, then figured out, hey, there are these bolts holding the pump on to the bracket, took those off, removed the pump, and the cooler separately. I feel like "I did it my way" and I'm the only one who will know how to get it back together.

Hopefully tomorrow, I can get it buttoned back up, and just waiting for the intake manifold and throttle body to come back from AHP on Tuesday. Also, my tuner said my injectors were fried. I am probably going to grab some 850s he has so I can be ready for the flex fuel kit in the future... Happy hunting!

pokerpro

Sounds like your doing everything right. I too purchased the stage 4 kit from Kohle with all the goodies but I went with the BTR4 cam. Your are correct about it's all in the tune. My tuner (Powertech Performance St. Pete FL) has 7+ hours tuning it, writing new code, testing, re testing to smooth out a cam that big. While it is very driveable there is still a little surge that just can't be removed.

I too purchased the Yella Terra roller rockers from Kohle so you won't go wrong there. Let us know after it's done how it came out.

American Heritage

Looks Good Sir!

The crank bolt in your picture is not the stock bolt that it came from the factory with. The bolt in your pic is a Chevrolet performance LS7 crankshaft bolt. It is also a one time use bolt like the stock bolt.

http://www.americanheritageperformance.com/
310-326-2399

dart.deanda

Almost done...




Does this look like normal wear on the cam bearings? Car has 43K miles...

dart.deanda

I got some FAST injectors off Amazon, 90 lb/hr. Planning on going with E85 soon. I am just waiting on the ported intake and TB from AHP, they should be here tomorrow. I went and got my old injectors back from my tuner. He said the car probably won't run with the 90 lb injectors on there for the 10 mile drive down to his shop. anybody have any experience with untuned 2X larger injectors and if the car will run on them? Am I crazy to think the bigger heads, cam, ported intake, and TB may lean the car out and the bigger injectors may offset this (just enough to get the car to the tuner)? Or should I just run the old ones, get it down there and let him swap in the injectors? Cheers, d

Unreal

Do not even consider running it untuned on those injectors.

No, bigger heads/cam, etc will not lean it out.

Personally I wouldn't touch the fast injectors and would sell them now for a quality set of ehtanol injectors like ID1050x.