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Ethyl Roars

89K views 554 replies 19 participants last post by  wrp 
#1 · (Edited)
Ethyl is a 2004 GTO I bought her new in November 2004. We put 95,000 miles on her with 80,000 of them being at 450+ rwhp. In May 09 we decided to go completely through it. First off the original LS1 running heads and cam for 85,000 miles only required honing, cam bearings, and rings and is back in another GTO making nearly 500 rwhp with forged internals, heads, and cam. In our build we initially started to put a 91 mm Borg Warner Turbo on but switched to a PD twin Helix Harrop HVT2300 supercharger. After getting it together we decided to go with the 4.0 Liter Whipple to see how far we could take the Texas Speed and Power built 408 LQ9 Engine.



The engine. We started with a LQ9 Iron Block built by Texas Speed. It has Diamond Pistons, Eagle Rods, and an Eagle Forged Crank. The entire rotating assembly is coated and the pistons are a -28cc dish. We put ETP 245 heads on the car and retained the 1 7/8 inch Kooks Headers.



Fabrication. We relocated the ECM to inside the drivers compartment and fabricated a coil pack relocation scheme with some modified GM Performance Valve Covers to clean up the appearance. We fabricated a reservoir with a front mounted heat exchanger. We fabricated the intake for the supercharger and the brace for the snout pulley,





Forced Induction. We started out intending to put a Borg Warner 91 mm Turbo on it but went with a Harrop HVT2300. Our goal was 20 lbs of boost since the engine was built to go to 1500 HP. The Harrop maxed out around 18 lbs so we went with the Whipple Sand Rail 4.0 Liter Supercharger Kit. That Supercharger is a beast. We have seen 19 lbs of boost on the engine on the Serpentine belts with the OEM pulleys. We also replaced the 2004 GTO radiator with a 2005 Radiator to eliminate the large fender mounted catch can.



Cooling Includes an 05 GTO radiator and a Moroso remote mounted electric water pump. We used an aftermarket heat exchanger off a Cobra and a Moroso Heat Exchanger Reservoir which is trunk Mounted. We wired three fans behind the heat exchanger to pull air through them. A Flex-Cool low profile fan completed the setup.



Cog Drive. The Serpentine belts could not hold so we added a custom foabricated cog drive using Procharger and some custom designed and fabricated parts. We had to work through a serise of issues including the snout not holding up to the demands. We designed and fabricated a unique cradle for the snout and top sprocket. Once we were with the cog drive it became apparent the 80 lbs Siemns injectors could not keep up. Also the IAT's were high and the car did not respond well to meth. We installed Bosch/ID 2000 cc injectors and converted the car to E85. We've been able to consistently hold the car at 23 lbs of boost though the Aeromotive A1000 is max'd out. The current setup is a fuill return system using a combination of Aeromotive and custom fabricated parts.



Transmission. We could not get a T56 to stay together so we had RPM transmissions build a T56 Magnum with a GForce 9310 dog cut gear set, micropolished by Liberty Gears. The setup was awesome and scheduled be installed with a Monster Triple Disk clutch. Unfortunately the Transmission took so long to deliver we had already gone to FTI for a Stage 5 TH400 by the time it arrived. Reluctantly we dissassembled the T56 Magnum and sold the parts for scrap. We have the TH400 in now.





Drivetrain. We overpowered the OEM drivetrain so We turned our attention to GForce1320's 9 inch Ford IRS. We are using a Wavetrac 35 spline differential with 200 mm GForce axles. The car has tubs, and a GForce1320 coil over kit, We will be running 14.5 inch slicks on 15 by 10 Holeshot Rims with 15 by 4 inch skinnies on the front. Currently have MT ET DRs, 295 by 55 by 15s on it.



Finishing touches. SNL put a Kook's afterburner 3" exhaust on the car. We added a FireCharger fire suppression system and Prosport AFR/Boost gauges. We've installed an RPM Rollbar and B&M Quicksilver Shifter. We also installed a 100 shot on top of everything as it seems to help IAT's a bit. We have a shop standing by to do the hood when we get everything else finished.

Suspension. Lovell's suspension components from Kollar Racing will replace every component in the suspension with new bushings, and fittings. We are also going to the Lovell's 90/10 struts as the car will work mostly on the strip once completed. We still need to complete the hood, add the Roll Cage, and completely repaint the body to finish the build.

Here she is putting down 969/1110 on the dyno with a failing clutch



A few more pulls with the serpentine belt



Prolly my favorite pulls



Any constraints on activities posted?
 
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#455 ·
I agree with Vall. 400 to 500hp tops On the 2 bolt. My friend Gary told me a while back 2 bolts are fine to build. And he’s built a lot of motors.
 
#456 · (Edited)
I'm guessing it is the overall potential. I could have clearly met those HP goals with a stock bottom end. I had really wanted to get to 600 whp. Now I have a rotating assembly that clearly should be good enough for 1000 + in a block good for 400. Had a similar problem with the GTO. We put together a motor with a 1500 hp crank and had to start dialing the power back because the engine was capable of so much more. Guess the answer is to start shopping for a block. In a way there is a lesson in this. I knew I should have gone for a DART block already clearanced. I just can't break my old habits of forgetting what I want and not paying attention to detail. The silver lining here I guess is the T45RS rated to 300 hp will probably suffice. Thanks guys
 
#457 ·
You must have way deeper pockets than I do! I'd be just fine with living with a lower HP output at this point, vs. the cost in money and labor to start over with a Dart block, or even another 4 bolt main Chevy block. If you're not going racing, is it really a big deal to have a little less output?
 
#458 · (Edited)
Sorry I sounded so ungrateful. God has been good to me to allow me such good fortune and I am not unappreciative. I had hoped to get somewhere into the 600 whp range with a motor that would live when turned to 7000 rpm. I honestly intended to go racing. As it sits, I guess I won't be going racing. I do enjoy you guys input and have really enjoyed watching your cars come together.
 
#459 ·
Bill let’s face the facts. You just built a beautiful driver worthy of a magazine article. Key word is driver. If you want a race car build another car. A car that’s safe and not a sin to reconstruct for the endless mods to get the car to hook and run at the track. I suggest metal instead of fiberglass for your own safety. But that’s my 2 cents for whatever it’s worth. Mho
 
#461 · (Edited)
#462 ·
#463 ·
Bill, I'm somewhat surprised your machinist didn't suggest this upgrade. Back before the introduction of the 4-bolt main 350 this was a very popular procedure for the 283 and 327 motors. The kits came with a jig, drill bit and tap for drilling and tapping the splayed holes. Back then I don't remember Milodon or others being around yet. The kits were marketed by a company called Hortsman Mfg. if I remember correctly. I'm sure Vall probably remembers these kits. I personally did I believe it was like 5 motors for buddies; primarily because I was the only guy with a good quality 1/2" drill motor. I believe in one of my prior posts I mentioned it because it's a single speed (600 rpm) torque monster. It also worked as my drill press with one of those Craftsman drill stands for many years. The drill stand was eventually replaced with a floor standing drill press but I've still that wrist breaking 1/2" drill motor.
https://www.speedwaymotors.com/Gara...M-350-Splayed-22-Degree-Outer-Holes,3220.html
 
#464 ·
Effectively, they gave me what I asked for. Their thinking was it would have been around $800 to put the splay caps on the motor, and that for a street driven show only car that would only make long drives on the back of a trailer, would be unnecessary. When I started I had a pretty solid 4 bolt main block already, still do but it is a pre roller with a two piece rear main seal. I had studied quite closely I thought. Summit has a Blueprint 383 stroker with a 1 piece rear main seal, with 4 bolt mains. Reading the specs, I told them that this was what I wanted. What I am guessing I did not understand is that either this example is a Blueprint purpose cast block or one Blueprint modified with the addition of the 4 bolt main. I had purchased a roller conversion kit already with the intent of just putting it in the original engine with the heads. The machine shop looked at what I had pointed at and concluded, "oh he wants a late model block with a one piece rear main seal and it needs to be a roller cam block." That is exactly what I got and I am sure it is well built. I am pretty much over it and resolved to make the best of it. In the interim I will rebuild the other shortblock with the two piece rear main seal and have it standing buy. In truth, the only thing I will have to change out is the flywheel to swap the other motor back in. It takes a lifetime to develop experience. Appreciate your thoughts though.
 
#465 ·
I am reading a couple things in your post that made the shop decide what they did. First being your statement of, "Their thinking was it would have been around $800 to put the splay caps on the motor, and that for a street driven show only car that would only make long drives on the back of a trailer, would be unnecessary." Which I agree with. If you didn't tell them you planned to drag race it, and turn 7,000 rpm's, then there's no way they could read that into the build.
And of course the second being the part about, " The machine shop looked at what I had pointed at and concluded, "oh he wants a late model block with a one piece rear main seal and it needs to be a roller cam block.""
The splayed 4 bolt mains are the finest, but they also sold 4 bolt main caps that weren't splayed, and were less costly, and easier to install. Those still would easily take a 2 bolt block and allow 7000 rpm shifts without worry. They are billet and sell for under $150 a set of three. You don't change your front and rear caps, as only the center three are 4 bolt anyway. It would be a quick, easy upgrade, and then you'd have the engine up to the task.
But of course it would involve taking it back out of the car, and disassembly again. But I'd rather have the modern roller block with one piece rear main seal converted, than begin over with another block that's a two piece main, and flat tappet block.
 
#466 ·
Thanks Vall, I am over it really. The drama is just wanting to share exactly what you are pointing out to anyone looking at the thngs we do. Decisions like this are no brainers for many old school guys with lots of experience. When you swagger around trying to act like you know what you are doing, like I did, there is always a room for miscommunication. Having said that, the build is first class. They took a lot of trouble to get this engine right. It should be a reliable motor that hopefully won't drip oil all over the garage and at the end of the day, no one else but me will know the difference looking at it and it will look good. What I have decided is to go ahead and save for a really high end block and down the road change them out. the car won't get a lot of mileage and I should have plenty of room to catch my breath on this.

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#467 · (Edited)
Bill

at the end of the day to quote that rock n roll philosopher Rick Nelson, "you can't please everyone so you've got to please yourself". I was impressed to read in your post that the machinist was aware of and gave you the option of the 4 bolt conversion. I'm surprised at how many "old time" hot rodders aren't aware of that particular option.
 
#474 ·
Fired her up today. not too many gremlins. I was impressed by the ease. Holley Sniper is very sensitive to good grounding though. We need to do some breakin and driving to eek out anything else overlooked. I am really stoked at the shop that halped my manage this and who did most of the work, Ready Motorsports in Mannfred OK.

 
#475 ·
In addition to the new engine build I had contacted Don Ross Fabrications about building me a pair of engine side panels with louvers. Don is highly respected in the nostalgia car building circles. He has restored at least one of Garlit's Swamp Rats, the Nichols dragster crashed at Indy in the mid 1960's, and is currently building the Shark Dragster run by Nix and others in the 1960's. It was really great that Don had the time to do this and it will really make the car a treasure.

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#477 ·
About three years ago I had a cam lobe go flat, filled the motor with metal. i pulled it to have a local shop go through and refresh it. They built the long block complete. We got home and while putting it together, two of the bolt holes in the heads for the intake just crumbled. I pulled the heads and went back to the shop. I was pretty pissed they did not catch the deterioration. They went through and fixed the holes. Turns out these were chinese heads and the castings were literally turning back to sand. I put the heads on and could only manage to finger tight several of the intake bolts and lost a couple of threads on the exhaust manifold. Still, like a dumbass, I went ahead and put her together. The shortblock was solid and had good internals. I drove it for two years. Tuning was a nightmare and it would not consistently stay in tune. A close friend gave me a set of 062 casting Vortec heads. Instead of bolting them directly on, I took them to a machine shop to work on the guides and the spring seats thinking to put a bigger cam in with the heads. It took nearly a year to get the work done but a large part of it was the guy at the machine shop showed me how to set up the machines and do it. We set them up for flat tappet cam with a 550 or better lift. The heads came out nicely. I decided to change the heads and Charles Ready at Ready Motorsports offered to help me. We were going to do it in his shop and I was going to go up and help. Meanwhile I decided it I was going that far on the engine I just as well put a roller cam in and bought a Comp Extreme Energy X288 roller cam conversion kit. The motor was a mess, used a lot of oil and fouled the plugs quite a bit. That was when Charles learned he screwed up. He recommended a Holley Sniper EFI. Neither you guys nor Charles knew I was the guy that started with headers on a GTO and wound up with nearly 1500 whp. So we assembled the parts and heads and Charles pulled the old heads. It was ugly, Compression was good but a couple of cylinders had bad scratches. I could look down the intake runners of the old heads and see the wet oil running through. The seals were good, it was the metal around the guides on the head side criumbling that let oil flow directly into the intake runner. I was already pretty heavily into the heads, cam kit, and Sniper so I figured the short block needed to be redone. I was looking for a 010 casting block but we figured with the roller cam and Vortec heads, why not just go to a later model SBC block with a one piece rear main seal. By then we had upgraded the valve springs on the heads and I got thinking, stroker..... So we had Midwest Engines in Tulsa do the longblock. They had done a build for Hot Rod Magazine a few years ago. so that's a pretty common gearhead version of how I went from a free head swap to a acompletely built 383 stroker with roller cam and EFI. Sorry for the rant, it is amazing to look at how I got there though. Essentially, yes the old motor was not well enough to risk using with the new stuff. I should have followed my gut instinct and replaced the heads when I first found the problem. Still, I put a lot of miles on those cheap heads, and had a lot of fun. Can't wait to try out the stroker
 
#478 ·
Okay got her home Thursday Unloading her and I hear a thud on the other side of the trailer. rushed around to see what was up and my wife was face down on the concrete sidewalk. Huge pool of blood. after a minute she was coherent and we got her up and in the house. She refused to go to the hospital which made for a long evening. Got her to the Dr's office Friday, aside from some pretty bad bruising and a broken nose she is okay. After 70, falling is a terrifying thing, probably one of the biggest killers. Completely forgot about the car until today. I had an appointment with Don for the final fitment of the hood panels but had to cancel it. The tune wasn't sport on because I rushed the shop to get the car on Thursday. It is a 4 hour drive. Messed with it a bit Friday night and got it idling pretty good, took it out to log some hours. Brand new motor is tight, probably less than 100 miles on it so I am taking it pretty easy. Took it out today and did some tuning logs. Adjusted the mechanical timing which was off pretty badly and have now started the tuning/relearning process. Have a really good tuner coming over Monday night to tweak it.

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#480 ·
Big problem nowadays is going to a hospital or emergency room. That was the challenging issue. On a brighter note, after a clean bill of health for my wife, I turned to my less than healthy EFI. Car would not start well, didn't idle well, had a bad lag at part throttle operations and seemed sluggish on the top end. Only thing to do was go back to the basics and start from scratch. I reset the Distributor to TDC +10 degrees and set up the efi on a base static timing of 15 degrees. Then went through and reset all the input parameters on the setup wizard. Turns out the distributor had been bumped when I was coming to pick the car up. The car responded well to the 10 degree initial timing so I decided to up everything to 15 degrees which a couple of the Holley YouTube Videos suggest on the Hyperspark. I made a video of the process. When I set the timing up the car responded immediatly, calming down and running much smoother still than it had with the 10 degree static. The idle shot up to 2000 RPM on the way home so I reset that and the car runs absolutely fantastic. Enjoy the video.

 
#481 ·
One thing I had not thought much of was the throttle body propensity to got WOT if a return spring breaks. Had that happen in the GTO once and before I could get the key switched off I was at about 130 mph. when I switched the key off, the steering wheel locked, fortunately straight line. When I switched it back on, WOT again. I finally got it straight enough to shut it off in lockdown mode long enough that when I switched the key to on the motor didn't refire and got it stopped. Someone pointed out only one return spring on my Sniper TB. I added a dual throttle return spring setup today.

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#482 ·
Hey Bill, so sorry about your wife's fall. Glad she is ok now. And Ethyl sounds great. Nice tune job. nice and crisp.
 
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