R6cowboy

iTrader: (3)

After a decent amount of homework and tossing ideas back and forth, I finally have my project underway on my '00 Vette (M6 trans). As I've worked on a number of engines before, this is the 1st time working on an LS and I'm a little excited about it. Now, I'm not doing anything unheard of, new or exciting nor building a "blowout-your-brains" power wagon, but just a basic heads/cam swap along with a few extra goodies. I decided to keep the car, what I consider a cruising friendly, well mannered, mild street car.

So to cut to the chase and share what's included in the build: Flycut pistons, PRC cnc'd stage 2.5 5.3L heads w/62cc chamber, 2.02/1.57 valves & PRC .675 dual springs, TSP Torquer v.3 cam (231/234 .643/.598 112LSA), LS2 timing chain, ported LS6 oil pump, LS7 lifters, hardened pushrods, Comp cams rocker arm trunion kit, '04+ LS6 valley cover (pcv conversion), LS6 intake, '05 85mm MAF, CAI, LS7 clutch kit w/ LS6 hyraulics, TSP full length headers & 3" X-pipe (keeping stock axleback), NGK TR55 plugs, MSD 8.5 wires, '09 ZR1 style wheels, dyno tune by Speed Inc. Car has the M6 and 3.42 gears. Might swap to 3.90 gears in the future.

firefighter813x

iTrader: (6)

Sounds like a nice build. GL!

V-seriesTech

iTrader: (5)

Sounds like fun man,..enjoy build process.

pittman

iTrader: (1)

Sounds good. I would stick with the 342 gear if your not gonna drag race all the time. That 342 gear is still fun at the track too.

R6cowboy

iTrader: (3)

Thanks fellas.

The 3.90 gears will eventually go in. On the plus side, it'll slighty help with drivability, but mostly the car is a weekend toy and the 3.90s will add a little more excitement to the mix.

Quick Sh0t xMLx

That'll definitely be a fun car, wish I could afford a cam right now

Silver408z

iTrader: (1)

If its a weekend driver/toy dont do gears. Without tires you will be making more than enough power to just spin like crazy and gears are not going to help that.

jay_rich

iTrader: (8)

awesome! I cant wait to start getting some parts for mine, I just parted my turbo 370 LS Iroc and now and starting from scratch with a FRC haha

Be prepaired to clear the **** outta the front cover if your putting a double roller in with the spacers. And if you dont use the spacers u need to clear about 0.060 off the back of the pump. I had to do this for 2 of my buddies cars.

Mine I just cleared the timing cover with a 4.5inch angle grinder. Took a long time bc I wanted to keep as much meat on it as possible.

Good luck and snap some pics of the build!

Jay

R6cowboy

iTrader: (3)

I understand that's where the Nitto drag radials come into play.

jay_rich

iTrader: (8)

If you havnt bought a timing chain I would say toss on a stock LS2 they are alot bigger then the stock LS1 and only 42 bucks from texas speed!


Also Mickey Thompson drag radial or bust If your gonna track it alot. Nittos seem to do well on the street tho, and last alot longer. My buddy used the New Hooziers and on a 17inch rim he could dead hook on the street with the trans brake making around 460WHP

Jay

R6cowboy

iTrader: (3)

You know what Jay, I was just looking at the LS2 timing chain. Noticed how much beefier it is then the LS1 and also the price is great. Looks like the LS2 chain may be the direction to go.

I'll be getting the Nitto radials due to my car mostly will only see the street and I don't care to much about racing anymore these days. I'll eventually hit up the drag strip but just for leisure, not competitively.

demarco313

Nice setup. Almost sounds exactly like my old head & cam setup except i used torquer v3 instead of v2! I used the same exact heads from SMS racing that i bought from a member on this forum that were selling alot of sets brand new. Did you buy them off a member on this forum also?

Anyway my old setup - same exact heads & patriot springs/ Torquer v3 cam/ ls2 chain/ ls7 lifters/ ls6 intake/ LG headers/ 3in X-pipe/ 85mm z06 MAF etc...Not to mention my car is a 00 also like yours

As you say suggestions are welcome so ill throw one out there... Honestly the v3 is much better than the v2 all around. The whole powerband is much better than the v2 especially in the lower to mid range and even the top end power is better also. The v2 is known for being lazy down low but of course gears will cure that. Of course they improved everything with the v3 since its the newer version of the v2.


Have you considered selling your torquer v2 and getting a v3. I dont know if you bought the v2 new but the v3 is only $20 more. If you didnt buy it new you could sell it for $1xx - $2xx and with about $100-$150 more you can buy a v3. If it is new, you could sell it right back and with only $20 get a v3. I noticed you say you dont care about being the fastest and all that but thats a very cheap swap especially if you havent installed the v2 yet so I figured I would just bring this to your attention..


Either way, you will enjoy either cam especially since you dont care about being the fastest guy. You just want something fun. The v2 and v3 are both good cams. Just thought i would throw my opinion in there since its only a $20 upgrade over the v2 brand new. Either way, nice build though and you will definitely have fun rather you decide to keep the v2 or go the v3 route.

R6cowboy

iTrader: (3)

demarco313,
Thanks for your input. Yes, "we todd did" is the member I'm getting the heads from. At the moment I'm waiting for him to finish the heads. I'm suppose to get a pm from him as soon as the heads are ready to be sent out. Which should be about another week.

As far as the cam goes, I have a stock shortblock and the v3 with its .643/.598 lift is a little much for the stock shortblock without flycutting the pistons I believe. Someone correct me if I'm wrong. The piston to vlave clearance will be more on the safe side with the .595/.598 lift of the v2.

TheHitman

iTrader: (2)

Thats sounds like a nice setup. Put some spray on there and you'll fly!

WADDISME

iTrader: (4)

Why not just put sc on and be done? Great street manners, stupid power when you need it, better gas mileage, plus you take it off and sell it when you are done with car. H/C/I only gets you about 1/4 on resell. Just saying as I drive around in H/C/I !

R6cowboy

iTrader: (3)

Going the s/c route did cross my mind and it was concidered. But I realized I really don't care for my car to be that fast/that powerful. "Without" putting the money factor into the equation, I realized I'll be just as happy with my car going the heads/cam route.
A good friend of mine (also a member here on the forums) has a '07 C6 402ci LS2 stroker putting out in the neighborhood of 600 flywheel hp. I've driven his car quite a ways and I really don't care for my car to have that kind of power. It is just unnecessary for me personally.

R6cowboy

iTrader: (3)

After a good days worth of work I got the motor striped down the the block. And a thanks to my brother for offering a helping hand. I gotta say, thus far, this car is easy as pie to work on. After the heads came off we noticed the damage of over-revving the engine via accidentally shifting into 2nd gear instead of 4th at too high of a mph. There's bent pushrods (one of them resembles a rainbow lol), bent valves (some valves are stuck open) and knicks in the pistons where the valves came in contact with them. No valve spring or rocker arm damage though. I'm sending high resolution pics of the pistons off the Speed Inc to get their input on them. I'll take pics of the unit and post as soon as possible for your viewing pleasure.

I also decided to go with different heads (which are pretty much the same just getting them from a different company), cam and using a LS2 timing chain. Which all have been edited in the original post.

R6cowboy

iTrader: (3)

Finally got all my parts in a couple weeks ago. The LS7 clutch is now installed, rearend bolted back up and rear wheels back on. As intimidating as it seemed taking the whole rearend out of the car before I started to swap the clutch, it was actually much easier then expected. And that LS7 clutch feels real nice. Soft pedal feel just like the old stock LS1 clutch.

R6cowboy

iTrader: (3)

Finally almost done. All that needs to be done this evening is install the valve covers, coil packs, TB, MAF and CAI. Then oil change, top off power steering fluid and fill coolant. Got the dyno tune scheduled at Speed Inc on August 5th. I can't wait to fire that sucker up.

A.R. Shale Targa

iTrader: (2)

Very cool sir...bet you're excited ? Mine will be @Speed Inc on the 29th of
this month...I've already put 1100 miles on her just to and from work