Ethyl Roars

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?