Been a little slow on the updates recently. Not a lot going on, and I kind of got distracted again lol. After getting the car together and messing around with it a bit I really haven't been driving it. I think it sat in the garage unmobile for the last month+. Pretty tired of driving the roads around here locally, and not really leaving the house at all...really missing races and meeting up with friends. My local track Autoclub Speedway cancelled all racing for the year at the strip. I'm actually worried they're not even going to re-open as a drag strip. They're making so much money simply storing vehicles on the drag strip and there's no liability in that.
I did actually have a chance to race over the 4th of July weekend at Sonoma. My dad an I double entered our wagon, and by the end of the weekend the cylinder head started leaking in the exhaust port due to the porosity in the port and is currently torn down with the cylinder head back at Frankenstein. Super cool. I managed to get down to 8 cars out of ~180 in the $20k to win race before losing a very tight one. I honestly thought it was my day I was crushing it.
Brakes progress - everything is test fit and designed. I just need to make billet brackets and order the rotors. Just ran out of motivation to drop the few G's required to get it all done. Other than that, looking very promising! The rear bracket is pretty cool. Very compact...barely gets on there. Had to file down the ears on the upright and tap the thru hole for a bolt to thread into the bracket. The rear bracket will need to be steel because of how tight it is, but will be stronger than the front in the end.
LS7 progress got a little stuck when I found the mains significantly out of round after the block had already been to the machine shop. Probably the ARP studs causing it because the crank wouldn't last in there the way it was. I measured the mains before it went and I have no idea how I missed the fact that some were .002 to .003" out of round. No issue other than lost time. The block went back to the machine shop and has since been align honed and now just sitting there waiting for my ass to get in gear.
On the days I do get up to my dad's we've mostly been putting in work on the Fiat which is now ready to run. Hopefully in the next 1-2 months we can hit a test day with it. Everything refreshed/rebuilt, new tires...ready to go. 454 BBC topped with eight 2.900" butterflies with mechanically injected methanol! Should be a blast.
Out of complete and total boredom I've taken the FD apart to swap cams lol. It isn't that bad of a job and I'm enjoying just wrenching on it. I realized it wouldn't cost me anything other than time and some gaskets since I already had the cam on the shelf.
Swapping in a 242/250 on 114 from a 226/242 on 117. 18 degrees more overlap, more duration and slightly more lift. Yeehaw. With exhaust manifolds it never made much sense to throw a big cam in. Now with longtubes and no cats I can take advantage of the scavenging. Should be terribly obnoxious but lots of fun.
I may have uhmmm...also deleted my HVAC. I'll take "Decisions You'll Regret" for $600 please Alex!
With the ls7 I wasn't planning on running AC since I'll have an external oil pump where the AC compressor goes. When I drove it last the AC didn't work, and a good 50% of the fittings including the AC compressor itself are covered in oil from leaking. I've re-charged this system so many times and it has so much stop leak in it I'm really just fed up. I need to take a serious look at all the lines and the compressor and see what is salvageable and what needs to be re-made.
Also I made a joke about my rotary cam going flat, and turns out the old cam had failing heat treat on one lobe and was chunking some metal off...so go me I guess.
I'm a good 3-4 hours away from firing the thing back up.
Other exciting news, I finally took the plunge on a Holley system. I've wanted a standalone for years, and I needed a 58x capable system for the ls7. Talked myself down from a Dominator that I had spec'ed out before to the Termi X system. Without the screen it is only $899 including the O2 sensor and harness which is just an outrageously good price for what you get. Adapting the E40 ecu to the ls7 is doable, but would require a $700 NW DBW 102mm tb, and a $250 Lingenfelter converter box. That adds up to more than the ECU...Other sensors and things I've purchased I'm probably ~$1800 into it which still isn't bad. I already have the 7" Holley screen ready for it so I didn't need the little 3.5" unit. I'll be converting to a cable throttle, and likely porting out my LS3 intake to work the 105mm Holley TB, or just running a 105 to 90mm adapter plate.
I think I'll actually get the LS2 running with the Termi X and then I will really just need to drop the LS7 in. Doing this in stages has been a lot more fun and less overwhelming than trying to rebuild the entire car in one go. It'll also hopefully prevent any major fuck-ups with the new engine since everything will be vetted out and ready to run. The biggest thing is I can also do all this pre-ls7 work in my garage, but once the car goes for the engine swap it is stuck at my dad's until it is running again. Judging by how little I've been up there to work on the engine the car would've never moved again lol.
Excited to play around with the new cam, and all the fun features in the Holley. Got a pressure switch coming for the clutch speed bleeder so I can program things off it like a 2 step and no lift shift. I also have a flex fuel sensor to go in, and new injectors for the ls7 that can handle 100% E85 if I want to run that high. I'll also be installing a Meziere EWP which can be controlled by the Holley, and the fans too. I'm looking forward to being able to better manage heat soak by running the cooling system independently.
