I wanted to put this this up for you guys, as I don’t show many builds that I do. This is a well thought out combination that flat out performs. Vehicle is a 2011 GrandSport C6 Corvette that was brought to me on a trailer. Engine was hurt, and had transmission issues. The car gets drove…it’s not a garage queen by any stretch of the imagination with close to 100k on the odometer. It’s owner is a friend of mine out of Florida who had a vision for performance and gave me the green light to make this car fast.
First order of business was to get the car up on the lift and drop the drivetrain out the bottom. The owner of the car had already talked with Jeremy at RPM and set up a complete top-tier every option trans and diff rebuild with a 3.90 gear set. So after I got the drivetrain down, I palleted and shipped the trans and diff assembly off to Indiana.
With that out of the way, I quickly tore the engine down to get an idea of what I had to work with. After several conversations with the owner, a parts list was made and the ordering endeavor began.
It’s no secret that I’m great friends with Tony Mamo, so after consulting Tony about the desired direction and potential power level wanted, a game plan was made, and the ball was quickly rolling. Tonys customer service is absolutely top shelf…none better anywhere in this industry…so both the customer here and myself were eager to get this build underway. Here’s a breakdown of what this build consists of..

The Oem LS3 block was precision honed to 4.070
Semi-custom Wiseco pistons .043 rings with 2mm oil pack
Custom Molnar 3.9 crank with dry sump snout
Molnar 6.125 rods
Assembly was balanced
MMS 26X LS3 heads
12:1 compression…pump 93 gas
YT 10mm rockers
241/255 hydraulic camshaft
Johnson ST2126 LSR link bar lifters
billet timing set
MMS ported LS9 oil pump
MMS ATI custom LS7 underdrive damper
MMS ported Performance Design XS LS3 intake manifold
ARH 1 7/8 headers and X pipe
Halltech Carbon Fiber cold air intake
112mm throttle body
OEM LS3 injectors
Clevite bearings

 

Upon tear down, there was 2 spun rod bearings, and 2 spun main bearings…it was a mess. So oil tank assembly had to be disassembled and completely cleaned. Those of you that know me at all, realize that I’m a stickler for cleanliness so obviously it was coming apart anyway. Oil lines from tank to pan were cleaned several times. I elected to replace the oil cooler lines and the oil cooler…with consent from the owner of course…with an Improved Racing oil thermostat and their oil cooler lines. I located a new oil cooler, which are getting hard to find, and the entire oiling system was now up to par. Anybody like pics?

 

Nice well thought out build Scott. Im sure the owner will enjoy.

 

Oooof that's some carnage. Lucky it didn't window the block! Were the mains reusable? The last bearing we spun we needed to replace the main cap.

Excited to see what this puts down! I suspect it will be quite the performer. Always been intrigued by those 3.9" stroke cranks. This will be a fantastic datapoint for that new intake manifold as well.

 

Mains were fine. We were doing a line hone for ARP studs anyway, so it all cleaned up nicely. Amen on not windowing that block! Lots more coming here…

 

This is what the oil tank…which I pictured above full of bearing debris….looks like after I disassembled it and cleaned it…

 

Here’s a bunch of pics randomized inner engine pics. You guys like pics, right?

 

I’m posting this pic by itself to illustrate why it’s important to line hone your mains after ARP main stud installation. The shadowing illustrates where the hone didn’t touch. I’ve posted this pic recently in another thread to show my point. This is the front main of this build after line honing.

 

Crank in block for the final time and mains final torqued…

 

Finding true TDC here for camshaft degreeing…

 

I like that dual gauge for checking piston rock.

 

A good set of heads will make a combination work well together. A GREAT set of heads will take a combination to the next level. I’ve seen many people talk about Oem LS3 heads…which I am a fan of…being hard to beat by aftermarket LS3 offerings. That may be true for most aftermarket LS3 castings, but I must say that the MMS 26X LS3 head offered by Tony Mamo has exceeded my expectations by a lot…and that’s not easy to do. The head is a hybrid design that uses the LS3 port flange, but with a very fast moving port. It’s a 12 degree valve angle, a very efficient chamber design, and a beautiful exhaust port design. I’m sure Tony will jump in later and give you guys all the juicy details. I will say this to add here…the intake port flows 390ish cfm, which is almost as much air as my MMS 265 LS7 heads on my 434…with a smaller port. Air speed is very, very high, which makes this a super efficient head. 2.170 intake valve and a 1.600 exhaust valve is utilized. We stepped up to the NexTek springs which are polished, for ultimate valve control at RPM…

 

I write notes as I go on my assembly table with a sharpie. Cleans up with one swipe of a rag and some brake parts cleaner…or similar…when I’m done. I’ll spend a week with mock-up and measuring stuff, so this list takes a minute to establish. I snap photos of this as I go in case it magically gets erased along the way. Here’s a pic of this list pretty much complete in case you guys want to see dimensions, weights, etc…

 

Clean work! Really nicely done.

 

Here’s a couple pics of me measuring pushrod pushrod length with my MS Racing Components tool. Buy one and you’ll throw your adjustable pushrod measuring tool in the trash can…it’s soooo easy to use and 100% accurate. I’m also checking wipe pattern here in second pic…

 

Drivetrain jewelry…the transmission and diff back from RPM, the carbon fiber prop shaft…I assembled the torque tube for RPM…and Tonys MMS Mantic lightweight twin disc ceramic clutch bolted to the engine…

 

Having a car occupying a lift for months isn’t practical so I built a body cart to bolt to the body and rolled it out of the shop when I needed the lift for other stuff. Anybody out there need a body cart for a C6 Vette? Cheap!!!!!

 

A couple shots of the drivetrain back together. Getting ready to drop the body back down and put this monstrosity back together…

 

That’s gonna be a rocket ship . I wish I had done a gear in my C7Z

 

A couple pics of the engine bay with this Performance Design XS intake installed. It’s super clean looking and works very well…