SWAGON

New wheels. Apex ARC-8's. Shaved 10-15 lbs per corner. Also raised the car up 1/4" and lastly, installed some Thayer Motorsports custom adjustable rear control arms. Bigger brakes and a supercharger should be next. Although no clue when...

DoctorV8

Now we're talking! Fantastic aesthetic improvements, and I'm sure it rides more like an E39 should, too.

SWAGON

Amazed you were on here to catch my update lol. I just emailed you the photos since the subscribed updates haven't been working.

Thanks!! I couldn't agree more.

audacious nick

Did you ever do any sound deadening to the car? I saw you inquiring about it on another forum when I was doing all my research.
Also, your next mod should definitely be brakes.

SWAGON

Yeah, I used dyanamat on the roof and the entire cargo area.


And yes, bigger brakes are definitely in the cards in the not too distant future.

BudRacing

iTrader: (3)

Those wheels look great and the weight savings is huge. I'll bet it feels entirely different now. It does dwarf the stock brakes though. Hopefully the upgrade won't counter too much of the weight saved. What brakes were you thinking about going with? Brembos?

audacious nick

Now you need MLV decoupled with foam. That'll block a lot of your tire noise and mid-low frequencies.

SWAGON

Sad to report that the motor has an issue. Again. But this time it was lifter failure.

I was coming home from work the other day when the motor started making noise and then missing. I coasted to the bottom of the hill and into a parking lot to have it towed home. Pulled the valve covers and the 3rd rocker from the back of the motor on the driver side bank was really loose. Pulled the rocker and pushrod which are both perfect. Then last night, I drained the oil and found a chunk of the side of the lifter. 90 degrees opposite the pin. Seems the same thing happened to me as this guy. My chunk is almost identical to the size and shape of the one missing on his.

https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...re-w-pics.html

Not sure whether the roller failed from debris getting caught in it or if it was because the motor still had stock LS7 lifters paired with my Comp cam and stiffer valve springs.

I found no other metal in the pan so far and none in the oil until I cut the filter open. The inside was full of magnetic particles. Hoping I got lucky and just took out the cam lobe. I have LS7 lifter trays so I hope the lifter didn't spin in the bore and damage it. I will start pulling more of the motor apart soon to see the extent of the damage.

DavidBoren

I'm sorry to hear about that. You have done such an immaculate job on this car, it's truly awesome. I hope you can get it back on the road soon, as a beautiful beast like that deserves to be driven.

If the lifter bore is damaged by the failed lifter, I'm sure you could have them all enlarged and buy the correct size of Johnson pin oiling lifters... since you obviously need to upgrade from the oem stuff.

Or you could take this opportunity to get the ERL sleeved aluminum block and sell the bad luck iron block to offset some of the expenses.

DavidBoren

Or sell the whole engine and put in a 750rwhp, all aluminum, turbo 5.3L denmah special style.

Project GatTagO

iTrader: (7)

Sorry to hear about all this. People think that running aggressive cams have no consequences, but stock valve train parts sometimes can't keep up. This is one reason why I prefer factory grind cams, which tend to have gentler lobes and are thus easier on parts. Sure I give up some power, but then again I'm not having to pull a motor and worry about what else might be wiped out.

For fun you should try a LS9 cam. It's inexpensive and too small, and...and...and...you might love it.

Andrew

DavidBoren

Agreed on factory grind cams, or at least mild lobes in general. And unless you plan on boosting the motor, get the ls7 cam over the ls9 cam. Same intake and exhaust durations and lifts, but the ls7 has a tighter lobe separation angle. Thusly, the ls7 cam has 27% more overlap, and is better suited for naturally aspirated applications.

Project GatTagO

iTrader: (7)

I run a LS7 cam in my GTO and love it. Idles great, super drivability, pulls strong, and revs as high as I want to rev it...

Andrew

SWAGON

I would ideally like to go back to the same cam as before honestly. I loved the idle and I definitely don't want to give that up. It sounds just as good to me at the light as it does at WOT. I would just assume go back with that cam after having the valve springs checked for tension. My engine builder tested them before and said I wouldn't have any issues paired with a more aggressive cam. That was only about 1-2k miles ago. I would most likely upgrade to Morel lifters for it as well. I was also told this cam was actually rather mild for the 7 liter btw.

Project GatTagO

iTrader: (7)

It's not so much the actual cam specs as it is about the actual lobe profile. Aftermarket cams tend to have higher lifter acceleration rates, which is why they make more power, but there are tradeoffs.

Andrew

DavidBoren

New lifters and proper springs will probably be all you need to run that cam.

You can keep those specs on more gentle lobe profiles, as well.

It's not a big cam for a 427, but it was obviously big enough wreck some ****. Taking the extra steps to make things easier for your valvetrain usually pays off.

gnx7

iTrader: (28)

Maybe its time to try a solid roller low lash setup from Cammotion?

Sorry to hear about all these issues. That sucks.

SWAGON

I finally got the motor out this past weekend. And the head off last night. The lifter wouldn't come out the top without force so I left it. Must be mushroomed where it broke. Will have to remove it from the bottom. It doesn't appear that the lifter rotated and the trays are still intact. No signs of damage in the cylinders that I can see so far. I am hoping I got really lucky. There is some visual scoring on the cylinder walls. Only on top and bottom (intake and exhaust sides). But my fingernails couldn't catch it so it seems they are ok. I was told that this is fairly normal and just wanted to confirm with you all as well. If the pistons come out, I will have it honed again of course.

I did talk with Matt at Tick and will be going with Morel link bar lifters and one of their cams.

The other motor in the picture is a 50k mile BMW M5 S62 which I was going to swap into my E38 7 series. I kind of felt overwhelmed by both projects and have listed it for sale but no takers so far so it may end up in the 7. Or a Datsun 240z

SWAGON

Got it apart and everything looks good. I found all the pieces of the lifter that broke in the bottom of the pan. Roller is still in place. Cam doesn't even look that bad. Found some light scoring on some of the bearings but the crank looks great. Will have it polished anyway. Seems I got really lucky. I cut it off as soon as I heard the noise and coasted to a parking lot so that probably helped a lot. I will get all new bearings and probably have the block honed from some super light scoring that I can but not feel.

You can see the broken lifter in this cell pic. And the pieces of the cam and lifter I found in the pan.

SWAGON

And there it is folks. The little lifter that couldn't. Everything else looks pretty good. I will drop the block off with my machinist on Friday.