Thanks for all who have answered many questions - AZDANZ06 on cforum, Unreal on cfurum, the guys at ECS, coSPEED, Cajun@BER, Joe@Powertech Performance and the devil in my left ear saying "do it"...

I sold my old Z in my signature...bought a Supra (which I never should have sold ) and played with a FBO 135i for a while - lots of fun beating ls2/ls3 corvettes with that car, but had the itch to get back into a v8, and a c6z....look forward to beating up on the new c7z's once she is built!

Car gets dropped off Wednesday. Joe @ Powertech Performance in St. Petersburg, Florida will be putting the car together, and tuning it as well. He has been great at answering questions, and making me a comfortable camper.

Car is a 2008 3lz z06 with black and black/linen interior. It has 1,385 miles on it at the moment, it is bone stock with the exception of a Corsa exhaust. It will be my second Z (first Z: http://www.corvetteforum.com/forums/...orida-car.html), and will be a weekend highway warrior. My daily is a soon to arrive M3.

Pulling The Pieces Together - What She Is Made Of:

First order of business - pulling the Heads:
Ferrea 2042P Exhaust Valves
Ferrea Bronze Guides
Tumble Polished OEM Intake Valves by DW
PSI 1511ML Springs and Katech Titanium Retainers
ARP Studs
New Gaskets, Seals, Hot Tanked, Resurfaced, etc.
Comp Cams Rocker Arm Trunion Upgrade

AR Headers 1 7/8 off road pipes / X Pipe. Cerakote Ceramic Coated Graphite Black
Corsa Exhaust
ECS Supercharger Kit with Alky Control Injection - Custom Intake for S/C
160* thermo
NGK TR6
MSD Ignition Wires with Thermal Socks
Mighty Mouse Catch Can
ATI Balancer
Dewitt's Shorty with SPAL fans

LG GT2 Coilovers
Hotchkis Sway Bars

AEM Failsafe
AEM FP Gauge

After I get the car back, I will be adding some exterior add-ons as well. The end of Post 1, and Post 2 will feature THE BUILD, as it takes shape. Post 3 will be a "finished" post with commentary and some pictures.

Look forward to some comments. I can still change some of the head components, but after much research, I think that is a good setup.

THE BUILD BEGINS: THE PROCESS -

I had to drive across the state, and wanted to protect the paint from debris (i mean she only has 1,5xx miles, 17xx when I got there!!!)

All prepped, ready for the dance (painters tape, and a piece of white 3m vinyl wrap leftover from my last car):



Arrived at Powertech at around 2 pm. Joe and his team were working on some pretty nasty builds. He gave me a shop tour, and introduced me to the team of techs. Great group. We chatted for a bit - he answered several detailed questions. We ordered some more parts, and finalized the paperwork. They got right to work - before I left, they already had the heads pulled, and the exhaust off the car!

I told him it'd be fun to do a wiggle test on the heads with only 1,700 miles - would be pretty shocked if one was out of spec. That said, we didn't even bother bc I am replacing those ill-designed parts with ones that give us all more confidence. No sense in spending this kind of money on a build if you arent going to address the weakest link.





The catch can, and meth should keep the motor cleaner than it looks now!

Boost a Pump getting installed - Note - ECS does not run a Kenne Bell anymore - seems like a private label ECS made by Vortech....



Stud Kit and Balancer.



This was found in my head while cleaning - needle bearing. 1,7xx miles on the car. Joe's going to see if there are more in the oil tank. Glad the rocker arm trunions are being replaced!



Some more pics/updates:

Cleaning and upgrading rocker arm trunions:



Pressing the new Trunions into place:



Front fender removed, meth kit plumbed, and wired. Power wire was de-pinned from fuse box, new wire soldered in and heat shrunk. CLEAN!!!





Update 3/27 - Joe and his team definitely put the project into high gear. He has been great about sending me updates with pictures. Funny enough I find myself waiting each day hoping for mooooaaarr:

Heads back from machine shop, assembly completed - they look sooo good:




Suspension getting put together....Those LG's look nice in there:



Gauges wires ran, extremely clean install. Pod installed with AFR/Boost and Fuel Pressure Gauges. Thinking the silver ring / black face combo the gauges come with may look better and be easier to read on the fly than the black ring / white face.......they are easily swapped, so I'll have to play with that.




Updates 3/31 - Heads are reinstalled!

 

THE BUILD CONTINUES....

Updates 4/1: ECS Sent me the wrong thermostat, and brackets - great....I waited an extra 2 weeks longer than ECS said it would take for the Kit to begin with.....and as such ECS already has delayed my build my 2 weeks, now this. But, if that is the only curve ball, I'll be happy.

Dewitt's arrived with the SPAL fans - beautiful piece...




Pinning the crank, sealing up keyway and installing the ATI Balancer:







LFZ - a pic for you with the leaf out :thumbs:



Removing/Cleaning the oil pan, and rails. New Gaskets.











4/2 Update - More ECS parts missing from my kit....not cool ECS. I hope they make this right. Intercooler and Dewitts - installed.



Nice clean exhaust ports. Those studs.....are studs!



4/7 Updates: We decided to replace the oil cooler lines. They were very tightly configured, and one had a kink. We wanted to route the lines cleanly, and ensure no problems with keeping this motor cool. We are still searching for the best solution for the PS Cooler...(we may ditch the longer Z cooler, and replace it with one that has better dimensions given how tight the bay is)

Kink:










New lines -8 braided lines with AN fittings, cleanly ran, with AN fittings welded to OEM hard lines....why? because, racecar.







Aluminium Heat Tape followed up with some fire shield and SS ties:





MOOOOAAARRR 4/7:

Joe @ Powertech Performance and I agreed that we did NOT like or feel comfortable with the hose which attaches to the blower outlet as is supplied with ECS's kit. The hose has a 3" diameter, while the outlet is 2.75". As seen here:





Joe put together a new reducer coupler and a 3" polished aluminum connection pipe with bead rolled ends they made in house. Add in a few t-bolt clamps and everything fits nice and tight now. Kind of like the A&A kit ...I hope ECS follows suit, even though they claim no failures.





4/10 - We are nearly there. Joe and his team almost finished the build this week. A couple more little things - checking fittings, filling up fluids, etc...and then he will be tuning the car on the street and dyno. Obviously, the tune will be the KEY to this build. I am NOT shooting for a BIG number, in fact I will probably be shifting below red line, and have Joe keep the timing conservative.

A nice shot of the Corsa, Hotchkis, and a peak at the coated ARH Headers and LG Coilovers


Engine Bay - check out that Novi 1500, the pc'd black Piping, Taylor Ignition Wires and Mighty Mouse Can...should look real nice with the valve covers on.


I hope I don't turn into a meth addict


Shot of the Autometer pod with AEM Fuel Pressure and AEM Boost and Air/Fuel Failsafe. Little light for the meth too -


Decisions Decisions - which wheel/tire setup do I go with? Both HRE's. 540s (polished lips/brushed centers) with MPSS or c21's (matte black with polished hardware; lighter that 540s) with Nt05r..... I may be wrapping the car matte white

 

4/23 - Update:

Sorry I have been busy!

Well, we blew out the clutch on the dyno (I know, you guys told me so!), needed to swap out the pulley (had the ls3 for some reason), restrictor plate (was 2.75" instead of 2.5"), and relocate the IAT sensor. I hope we will be tuning soon enough...

 

Very nice build. Awesome you found such a low mileage z06.

 

Nice car and super looking build. Smart addressing the heads. Too many failures taking the whole engines with them.
The only thing I would have added is a racetronix harness for the fuel pump and BAP. Best value of any mod on a vette for 50 or 60 bucks.

Looking forward to seeing the results here.

 

Thanks guys.

Joe did install a dedicated 10 gauge wire and added in a relay for the boost a pump.

 

Looks like a nice build coming along. Only thing I would advise against is the use of TR6 plugs. Step up to the non projected tip br7ef or the iridium tr7ix. Tr6's ads fine for n/a but not boost or nitrous.

 

thanks, another guy said that to me also....I used the 8ix in my supra.

Do you still recommend the tr7ix even at only 4-5 lbs of boost? With some research, I read a few places the tr6 was good in this range. That said, those posts are from 2011/2012...

The tr6's is what ECS supplies with their kit...I wonder why they do that if the tr6 is not boost friendly?

 

The 7's wi be fine at that boost level. I'm running the 8's on my car and they've worked great.

 

ok, thanks. I still find it odd that ECS would supply their kits with TR-6's. I know alot of people running lower boost use the tr-6, but seems like there are better/safer options out there.

j

 

Im sure the 6s will be fine. I run 8s. My logic behind it is why not? I rans the 6s for a couple years, the 7s for a year. Then went up to 20psi and went with the 8s. Driveability is the same so why not have that extra safety? Can some one list a reason running 8s would hurt?

 

Some people say they idle weird or throw codes if running the br8ers but the ix's have no reported issues. Plugs are cheap so I'll gladly run colder plugs to avoid detonation. I daily'd on 9s before with no issues.

 

spoke to my tuner - we are going to be using the 7ix for the build.

 

good looking build man

 

Nice build you got going on so far!

Loved the Supra vid you posted in my thread you should have kept it lol j/k

When i think about it now if i didn't pick up the Supra for a crazy build i think i would have gone with a C5/C6 and throw in a DSS IRS 9" set-up out back and a Glide like what Dasorcha runs

 

Beautiful car man! Can't wait to see how it turns out!

 

thank you! the anticipation is killing me...

 

wow that head is a work of art, love the project

 

Btw sorry if i missed it and please don't take offense but why the Alky kit?

Is it something that comes with the SC kit (i'm not familiar)?

Do you have access to E85?

 

thanks! GM did a great job with the LS7 heads - except for those damn exhaust valves / guides.

Its an add on, and a safety net....meth will help with detonation by decarbonizing the pistons and valves, bring down the temperature of the intake air and keep the motor nice and clean.

I do have access to e85 (the supra ran on it almost 100% of the time, as did my 135i) but from what I know (someone correct me if I am wrong) with the stock z06 fuel system + BAP overclocking the pump....with the additional flow required for e85, I dont think I can keep up with my current fuel system. That may be a future upgrade.