403 LS2 FD - LS7 Build for 2020!

[kinger]

Going to see what it takes to make an MSD atomic intake fit. Mark GNX7 has one on his car with my same Holley 105mm tb. With the extra clearance from the hood I don’t think I’ll have much struggle. Firewall clearance TBD I might need to shave the firewall lip.

Lots of work left to do just in turning wrenches and a pretty long list of “while you’re in there” things, but chipping away at it.

Yay!  I will be doing this in 2 months so I will copy you 

I need to purchase a TB yet.  I didn't know Holley had a 105mm cable. 

It doesn’t work for your car, sell it to me [emoji12]


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It doesn’t work for your car, sell it to me [emoji12]


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I called VIS and they had one left in stock. I live right near their HQ, and they had a distributor they referred me to.  I had it in a couple days.  Not sure if you'll have the same service in Canada

Going to see what it takes to make an MSD atomic intake fit. Mark GNX7 has one on his car with my same Holley 105mm tb. With the extra clearance from the hood I don’t think I’ll have much struggle. Firewall clearance TBD I might need to shave the firewall lip.

Lots of work left to do just in turning wrenches and a pretty long list of “while you’re in there” things, but chipping away at it.

Yay!  I will be doing this in 2 months so I will copy you 

I need to purchase a TB yet.  I didn't know Holley had a 105mm cable. 

Yea it is this one.  I got it for not even half that much 2nd hand. Holy shit it has gone up in price! Lol.  Might as well get a motion raceworks or something, or just an el cheapo copycat.  Holley has some sniper branded ones, but you can probably get the same part for half as much off ebay or elsewhere.  You definitely want a 102mm+. 102 vs 105 is next to near the same.

https://www.holley.com/products/fuel_systems/fuel_injection/throttle_bodies/gm_throttle_bodies/parts/112-581

For that much money I'd 110% be going DBW.

Ugh DBW so much want so lazy on switching ECUs….


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[Esser]

I prefer drive by cable

[kinger]

Good news is the VIS hood is pretty cool, and fits ok. It’s not latched in the pictures but I could push the front of it down. The hood seems too short? By quite a bit. The bumper gap is going to be big. The gaps to the fender and the shape seem spot on. All I can think is to slot the hinges and pull in forward. It’s at least a half inch short to the headlights and bumper, and unfortunately the lines are perfect at the windshield. I’ll figure it out later.

The intake clears. The height is about 7” from the valley plate. Bad news is the throttle body sticks up an inch higher than the intake and there’s no way in hell it’ll fit.

I’ve moved on with life. Going to see what it takes to make an MSD atomic intake fit. Mark GNX7 has one on his car with my same Holley 105mm tb. With the extra clearance from the hood I don’t think I’ll have much struggle. Firewall clearance TBD I might need to shave the firewall lip.

I might go with the same hood.  Debating between that and ronin mazdaspeed one.  Anyone have any aero data for the VIS?  I am hoping to extract heat and lower lift, man the stocker bounces around.  I think both clear the TB fine. 

[paul_3rdgen]

I think the VIS scoot hood is the only hood that offers more clearance for aftermarket intake manifolds. 


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[MPbdy]

I actually turned some wrenches over the holiday week.  For some reason our drag car with the 415 LS3 tore up a thrust bearing.  My FD is strategically in the way in my dad's garage so we have some motivation to get it done now.  It's only been 2+ years since I broke it...lol.



This thing unfortunately is wasted.  Thank you for the 25k very hard miles.



Dropped the diff out for the 50th time.  Swapping from noisy ass 3.90's to Ford Racing 3.73's.  Also paying someone else to do it this time.  I can't handle another noisy diff without someone to blame lmao.





Radium has earned a customer for life.  These are the nicest aftermarket parts I have ever purchased - quality, aesthetic, fit and finish, and obviously performance. Everything is impeccable.  Biiig fanboy.  It will be very nice to drive this car properly with consistent fuel getting to the engine lol.

I'm putting dual pressure pumps in it, but I'll only activate the 2nd one under high load with high e85 content. I can also have it automatically enable if the fuel pressure drops like my other pump breaks.

I think this engine can run full e85 off one pump, but if I ever put a bigger engine in the car it'll be on edge with a single pump on e85.











Couple shots of the ls7 - all buttoned up.  Valvetrain assembled with custom Manton pushrods, the Johnson short travels lifters, PAC springs and TSP roller tip rockers.

ATI balancer on and timed for TDC.

Test fitting the Holley sniper low pro intake.  It fits under the new hood with turning the throttle body upside down.  I kinda dig the look.  Little different.  I won't have a problem spinning this valvetrain 7500+ if it wants to make power there.

[FC3S Murray]

Nice to see some updates man!


You excited to tune it once it's all back together!?


Thing is gonna rip!!

[Gunnytron]

I have been assembling my Radium fuel hat also. Very nice quality. I don't blame you getting someone else to do the diff. I wouldn't want to do it again. Having said that, mine is leaking from one of the axles already grrrr.

[MPbdy]

I have been assembling my Radium fuel hat also. Very nice quality. I don't blame you getting someone else to do the diff. I wouldn't want to do it again. Having said that, mine is leaking from one of the axles already grrrr.

I have been assembling my Radium fuel hat also. Very nice quality. I don't blame you getting someone else to do the diff. I wouldn't want to do it again. Having said that, mine is leaking from one of the axles already grrrr.

If I'm remembering correctly this is the 5th set of gears going in this car    lol.  I'm an idiot.  Sucks about the leak!  You can get to the seal from the outside, but you do have to pull the axle.  Are you sure you have the correct diameter axle seal for your stubs?  When I went to the explorer diff I had to find an axle seal that fit the larger housing bore, but had the cobra axle diameter.

Nice to see some updates man!


You excited to tune it once it's all back together!?


Thing is gonna rip!!

Yea I'm looking forward to getting it all tuned!  I barely got up to speed with the Holley software and started adding fun stuff like flex fuel and no-lift shift and then it broke.  I'm going to have to re-learn it all again.  I have new gears, clutch and brand new magnum-F going in also so I need to do plenty of break-in miles that can double as street tuning miles.

The Holley is super easy to tune with overall and I don't expect any real challenges with this camshaft. The only thing I'm dreading is the idle tuning I really struggled with the drive by cable throttle tuning last time it never seemed to repeat.  I was also fighting with a TSP cam notorious for terrible tuning characteristics 242/250 on 114 with old lobe design.

I should be able to take it to my buddy's rotary shop to get on his dyno that would be a blast.

I know I'm adding more cubes, but going from 3.90's to 3.73's and also this short runner intake I'm really curious how it feels on the butt dyno.  I think it is going to feel neutered a little haha.  I know for sure it'll be easier to drive with a little less torque.  The powerband should feel awesome in the car too these short runner intakes have a super flat and wide torque curve because you don't get the typical lump of torque around 4500rpm with the long runners.

Bench racing it, if I take the same hp/cube as my 403 the 427 will make 540whp - but stock LS7 heads should be better than stock LS3, this intake should definitely make more hp with a higher peak power rpm, and the cam is bigger than when the old engine made 512whp.  0* overlap 226/242 on 117+5 .60x lift vs 234/247 on 116+2 .660" lift.  All that leads me to think it should make well more than 540whp.

Flip side...I don't see stock headed c6z's making much more than 550whp.

[paul_3rdgen]

Glad to see your back at it!   Getting these cars to where we want is a Challenge.  Good luck, and the one thing I’ve always struggled with is tuning, so I leave it to the pros. 


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[kinger]

He’s baaaaack!  Excited to hear about the new clutch!


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[gnx7]

Good to see it's almost back on the road.  That is a pretty small cam.  I see you changing it out for something bigger in the future

I'm also getting more motivated to get my RX-7's running.  They have been collecting dust with the parts nestled next to them also doing the same.

[MPbdy]

Thanks Mark.  Its definitely nice to start taking parts off shelves that I wasted money on multiple years ago lol.  I tried to keep this one pretty mild.  The 242/250 cam in my 402 was a pain.  I think it should still make power to 7500 which will keep me happy. 

The shop still has the diff 2 weeks later.  Here I thought they'd have it back to me in a day or two...once it has rear wheels again we can drop the engine and trans in and start wrapping everything up.  Looking at August I think it is going to be mostly a wash unfortunately with work and other travel.

[MPbdy]

The rate of my progress could be tracked against the melting icecaps.  However, not as bad as some who might one day be compared against the progression of the heat death of the universe.

That said, my car once again has a diff, axles and suspension, as well as a not-broken engine sitting in it lol.

Fresh 3.73's in the 8.8, and new polyurethane bushings that sir Vomit found.

I remember once when all this stuff was shiny and new haha.  The car is starting to look its age underneath.










Another new addition, Tilton ST-246 twin disk clutch.  I weighed it in at 45 pounds which hurts a little compared to the RPS carbon I tried, but it has a strapped floater and a sprung hub.  I couldn't take the NVH anymore it felt like the whole car was going to shake apart at 1800rpm, and the rollover noise at idle was super loud.  My old monster LT1-S twin had the same vibration and noise so I can't blame the RPS it was honestly a great clutch otherwise.

Dropped it in with no trans attached this time just a bellhousing.  Boy was that easy compared to fighting it with the trans attached.

[spacevomit]

Does that cover just have one big plug? Mine has a second 3/4" MPT plug.

[MPbdy]

No there's a smaller fill port that you set the oil level with.  The big one is to drain.