The car would get warm just sitting at idle. There were a couple things going on. One the fans sucked, and were not actually blowing air through the 3" thick rad. If you put your hand on the back side, barely anything at all was going through.. Its so thick, that its easier for the air to go around. Also the turbo, and exhuast pipes were very close to the radiator, so im sure it was getting heat soaked a little. Ducting air to the radiator would help im sure, but there is not really alot of room to do anything. The intercooler is pretty close to the radiator. Also the alternator was not really keeping up, so the fans and waterpump were not really getting good voltage to everything.

There is now a bigger battery in the car, a bigger alternator, with double the amperage of the old one, and 2 way way way better fans, that are bolted to a shroud as pullers. The shroud has been made, so we are going to give it a try. Also this radiator is 3.5 inches taller then the old one, so it will hold more water, and has more surface area to cool. Thanks for the input, Chris

 

Beautiful build you have going here. Have any more recent updates?

 

Nothing really to update yet. Stay tuned, and we will post updates as they happen.

Thanks, Chris

 

Just a couple of updates to post for Chris.
His Dart LS block should arrive the first week of March. His Callies Dragonslayer 4" crank, and Ultra H beam rods, and Diamond coated pistons & rings are ordered and should be here about the same time as the block.
Also Stefs is in the process of getting pans designed for the LS Next block, I have one on order for Chris as soon as they are released.
I just got off the phone with Bullet, and we decided on his new cam grind. I will release the specs as soon as we get some solid HP #'s from it.

That's about it on the engine front, just waiting on getting a big pile of parts sitting here so I can get it thrown together.

 

This man speaks the truth. We have been working for a little while to try to get our hands on one of the first new Dart ls next blocks, and also stefs on getting one of there new oil pans for the block. I am putting together a whole new bottom end, that is much stronger then my old 370 lq9.

To go along with the new bottom end is also a new Gt55 94mm dual ball bearing Turbo. We will be running low boost on some 0 ringed 4 bolt per cylinder heads for the time being so i can save up some more money and get a new top end.

As always thanks to everyone for following along, and we will be posting pictures as the motor goes together, and goes back into the car.

Chris

 

wanna explain why you chose a dart vs the other brands?

 

1. Dart is bad *** at what they do.
2. Stronger bottom end.
3. Improved oiling, and windage issues.
4. 7 bolt per cylinder dart heads, or any other 4-6 bolt per cylinder heads.
5. Can have more stroke while staying standard deck height.
6. Cost the same or less then lsx block that is orange and ugly as hell.


Im sure there are more reasons, maybe steve will chime in.

Dont worry reject, it will still be faster then you


Chris

 

i hope so, you have had an additional 4 years to redo the setup for now the third time!

was just wondering

 

You had 4 years to save money!

Just kidding man, hows your car coming?

 

haha just getting the Vette ready for SCCA and wanting to buy a EFILive for the DMax. only thing i've done on the camaro is mock my alt bracket to cut the plates out. i'll have to make a thread soon to show my "hot side" your gonna be like "that's fkking sick"

 

woops forgot to toss in the trash talking i'm slipping


how you gonna feel when i drag your 10,000 dollar race car engine with my stock bottom end ls1

 

haha this is getting good. me and my baby ls1 will come out n play!

 

I own a street car, with a a2a. Not really sure what a race car engine is either, it will be a baby ls motor with probably 12-14 psi 1000 whp no big deal.

 

hope to see you at Drag Week then

 

Don't mind me....

 

Im sure you never thought when i drove the car away from your house it would become what it has today.. I Know i sure as hell didn't. I remember i was so excited about what long tubes to get!!!


Chris

 

OK everyone, I am going to bring this back from the dead! Its getting close to racing season around here, and things are starting to come together. No new pictures quite yet, but they are coming soon I promise!

As you have seen we changed the turbo over to Garrett GT 55-33R unit that measures a nice 94mm on the inlet. This is a dual ball bearing, billet wheel unit that should work awesome on the new motor. All of the new and modified pieces of the turbo kit are out at Q.C. Coatings right now getting some fresh ceramic black, with silver ceramic on the inside. They should be back to us next week all ready to go.

As Chris said the new motor is going to be a monster! Steve over at Legend Racing in Schaumburg IL is putting together and extremely stout LS power plant. Its is based on the new (still not even out) Dart LS-Next iron block. Steve and Chris are very excited to be one of the very first LS-Next combos on the track this year. This bottom end is shaping up very nicely I must say Already on order, or waiting to go in, a Callies Dragon Slayer crank, Callies Ultra H-Beam rods, Custom Diamond pistons with all the tricks (extra thick skirt, ceramic coated on the sides and top, extra thick wrist pins, and so on), custom Bullet cam that was spec'ed by Steve at Legend. They settled on a displacement of 427 C.I. which is a good match for this turbo. This bottom end should be able to handle 2000+ HP

There is a handful of other parts that are changing around too, but I will wait to spill all of the secrets All in all this is going to be the best the car has even been from bumper to bumper. Since the last time the car was on the track it is almost entirely new! It defiantly wasn't planned that way, but the car will be much faster, much more reliable, not to mention more "finished" looking so it all worked out for the best.

We are starting to get close to putting everything back together. Once the block comes in from Dart Steve will masterfully assemble the motor, and Chris and I can get it back in the car and get to the track! It's been a massive amount of work since the last time the car made a pass. Last year was a huge let down at the end with all of the little problems that popped up. We are determined to come back better than ever! Look for some good updates coming soon, and some track times shortly after!


Thanks for following along though all of this!
Sean

 

 

LOL Patience! I will drown you in pics as soon as possible I should hopefully have pics of the coated turbo kit next weekend, as well as the last little bit of fab work on the car. Then we are hoping that the parts for the motor start rolling in, and I will get shots of all of that goodness before it gets assembled, while its being assembled, after its assembled, and going back into the car!!!

Also I forgot to mention another key person/company that we are using for 2013, Chuck at Finish Line Transmissions. Not only did he already rebuild the trans, AND fix some issues that he found (and showed Chris while he tore it down in front of him), he wants to put it on the dyno again (was already done when it was rebuilt) just to verify one small thing before the car goes together. No guessing that it was right, or trying to remember back, no BS at all! Just get it back over here, we will strap it to the dyno, and we will KNOW 100% that it is perfect before it goes in the car! THAT is the kind of people that we want helping us with the car HANDS DOWN!

It's gonna be a good year


Sean

 

It's time for another update, this time with pics! We are still waiting on the block, but some of the parts are rolling in. I guess we can go in order, for no particular reason.

First up is the cam. It is a custom ground billet core by Bullet Cams. I have no idea what the specs are, but I know its a BIG improvement over the old off the shelf cam that was in there before.




Next came the pistons, rings (no pics), and wrist pins. The pistons are custom made by Diamond Pistons with a thick deck, thick skirts, and extra material around the pin. They also have gas ports, and are coated on the top and sides. The rings are total seal, but that's all I know about them.







And some shots of the super thick pins, which I believe are going to get sent out to be hardened.






And last up is the Steff's oil pan! This is the second production piece for the Dart LS Next block, and it is work of art. It holds 8 quarts, is baffled all over the place with rubber so that noting can get stopped up. They also added in the drain for the turbo where we asked them too, so its all good to go!

Here it is next to a regular LS pan on the right, you can also see the drain in the front









That is all for now. Sorry for the cell phone pics, I will have good ones once the block comes in. The block should be coming soon,and the Callies crank and Callies rods should be with it. It's starting to get exciting to see some parts showing up, now we just need the big one As always thanks for following along!


Sean