427 engine (part 2) - RHS block
 

Figured it was time to make a new thread, since the other one was becoming a saga, and with the new RHS block, well, it's now going to be a new and HOPEFULLY much better story.

The latest is that Bryan at LME received the block Monday afternoon and inspected it early on Tuesday. He said it looks GREAT. The game plan is to have the block shipped out by the end of next week to Chris at XtremeMotorsports. I'm guess that means the block will probably show up in Blountstown by the end of the week of the 26th. Which means Chris will probably (again HOPEFULLY) be putting it all together starting on the first week of May.

:dancer01::dancer01::dancer01::thumbsup:

Got an email from Bryan saying that everything is looking good on the build and he expects to finish up on Friday. It might not get packed up to ship out till the following Monday, however. Well that gives me a couple of more extra days to finish up the polishing on the cradles, I guess...

Rich, take the few extra days to oil the hinges and rollers on the garage doors, sweep all of the dust out of the garage, seal the concrete again, clean the windows, get rid of the cobwebs, and convince all of the reptile "squatters" in there that should move elsewhere. :rofl1::rofl1:
It'll all get there in good time, then you'll be sorry for all the horsepower. More HP = new tires, more gas, speeding tickets, more oil changes, and more mods...............and the list goes on.:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:
BUT.........it will probably sound like a bear, and go like a cruise missle on steroids :yesnod::yesnod:
Andy :wavey:

Whoa, actual progression. Good to hear. :thumbsup:

Last week Connie and I were getting ready to take a drive down to south Florida and I was removing some keys from the keyring that I didn't want to carry with me on the trip. So I'm staring at this key that I didn't recognize till it finally dawned on me that it was to the C5Z........... Sheesh........ I'm probably going to have to relearn how to drive a stick shift all over again...

Just got some pics from Bryan at LME of the RHS 427 block.

First thing that jumped out at me is that I believe the specs call for a DOUBLE ROLLER timing chain, and I only see one here.... :shrug01:

http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/rhs_001.jpg

http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/rhs_002.jpg

http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/rhs_003.jpg

They are supposed to finish up Friday and then ship out on Monday.

Thats a double roller chain,You just cant see the other half!! It's hiding in the recess of the block!!:thumbsup::thumbsup::thumbsup:

Yeah, I just got an email from Bryan and that's what he says as well. Man, I looked CLOSE at both photos but darn if I could see two rows. I guess I'm going to be jumping at shadows until this is all done.....

Good luck Rich. This has been a long journey.
Can't wait to hear about all the power when you drive it down the road.

As you can likely tell from the pistons, I requested that the compression be raised a bit over what we had in the Warhack block. I think we went with 10:1 instead of 9.5:1 if I remember correctly.

Well, I got an email from Bryan saying that he is waiting on the correct length push rods to be delivered on Monday. So my guess is that the block won't actually be shipped until Tuesday.

I'm going to be taking the cradles back to Chris early on Monday so he can start putting that stuff back together in preparation for the engine to show up perhaps later in the week. They turned out OK looking, but to get them perfect would likely take another YEAR of work. Man, getting them all shiny was a LOT of work! My wrists are killing me from handling the angle grinder and Dremel tool....

How about a picture to see how they turned out?

Yeah, I guess I do need to do that before I take them over to Chris's place, don't I......

OK, here's the pics of the front and read cradles after I finished up polishing them. I probably could have spent another couple of weeks (or more) but I guess this will do for parts that no one will ever see when they are put back in the car.... :rolleyes:

REAR CRADLE:
http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/rear_001.jpg

http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/rear_002.jpg

http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/rear_003.jpg

http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/rear_004.jpg

FRONT CRADLE:
http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/front_001.jpg

http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/front_002.jpg

http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/front_003.jpg

http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/front_004.jpg

Now THAT'S a bunch of work! Looks good though :thumbsup:, Rich, and what the hey.......I'll get down in the dirt and look at them when I see you with the C5Z the next time!:yesnod:
Andy :wavey:

They look great Rich. No one will be able to see them but you will know how good they look.

Rich the next guy you run over will be very impressed:thumbsup:

They look very nice and that was a ton of work you put into those.

Wow that is one beautiful motor. Enjoy

Ken

Does this help? You can just make out the second chain.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/804008/timingchain.jpg

Oh damn. Didn't even see the second page. Those cradles came out nice!

Connie and I just got back from a trip we took to the Maryland/DC area yesterday and Chris tells me the new engine from LME showed up on Friday. He says the heads are an order of magnitude better than the Warhawk heads and the RHS block looks much nicer as well. I'll be going out there on Monday to take a bunch of pics of the engine. Chris says he is going to be getting everything set up and lined up, and get my car back on the lift that day, so I can get a load of pics and yet be out of his way. He is going to send me an itinerary so I have a game plan and have an idea of what to expect is going to be done each day. Of course, these plans are certainly going to be fluid, since I know Murphy's Law is watching over our shoulders.

But at least next week things will be rolling again. After 6 months, you can BET I'm ready to have my car back...... :yesnod:

You plan on going up there any other days other than Monday next week? If he doesn't return my stuff by Wednesday I'm going to be up there.

Actually, unless there is a day that I know specifically nothing will be going on, I plan on being there every day till my car is finished. I've got the calender completely open for the duration. This is PRIORITY ONE on my list and hopefully it is PRIORITY ONE on Chris's list as well

Well hope it gets done and everything to your liking ASAP.

I have confidance in the outcome of Rich's build.....the car is going to be an unreal build when finished.:thumbsup:

Went over to Chris's shop today and took a bunch of pics of the new engine. Looks pretty damned nice to me.... :thumbsup:

http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/rhs_lxr_01.jpg

http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/rhs_lxr_02.jpg

http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/rhs_lxr_03.jpg

http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/rhs_lxr_04.jpg

http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/rhs_lxr_05.jpg

http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/rhs_lxr_06.jpg

Second group of pics....


http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/rhs_lxr_07.jpg

http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/rhs_lxr_08.jpg

http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/rhs_lxr_09.jpg

http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/rhs_lxr_10.jpg

http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/rhs_lxr_11.jpg

http://www.corvetteflorida.com/pics/rhs_lxr_12.jpg

Wow! That is sweet!!:thumbsup: My offer to break it in for you still stands Rich!:hehehe: No, No, it's OK, you don't have to thank me....

OK, the HECK with the Road House.....THIS is the sex I want to see up close!!!! Dang that is a work of art. I see no flaws to be concerned with. I'm drooling......:crazy03:

Wow, that IS pure sexy...

Heck, I can't even LOOK at anything aluminum any longer without feeling a compulsion to polish it........ :ack2:

Been looking over the photos REAL CLOSE looking for flaws and can't find ANY. Hopefully this sucker will all come together now and I'll have my car back on the road REAL SOON.

I was hoping that Chris would get my car onto the lift on Monday, but that didn't happen. Apparently Justin is sick, so Chris sent him home. I sure hope Chris doesn't come down with the bug as well. Or for that matter, hope I didn't pick up a bug while I was there.

Well, Chris said he will have the car on the lift Tuesday afternoon and doing some rewiring for some sensors that are located differently on this engine then they were on my LS6.

I guess maybe when the car is all put together and I hear the new engine crank up for the first time I may not feel quite like a cat on a hot tin roof.......

Well, I didn't get out to Xtreme today. Weather was pretty crappy, and Chris told me he was just going to be doing some preliminary (meaning, not video worthy) stuff anyway.

But he said he expects to have the car put together and the engine ready to fire up for the first time by Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. Barring any brick walls, of course.

I'll be running out there tomorrow and hopefully some major progress will be made putting things back together again.

I was under the impression he was going to be prosecuted and that LEO was going to recover your parts.

Those were for the first parts he stole lol, these are new revelations.

But let's not dirty up Rich's thread ;)

Log - 05/05/2010
 

Chris mounted the motor mount brackets, alternator/power steering bracket, and A/C bracket onto the engine. Some grinding had to be done for fitment purposes. Also had to shorten a couple of polished stainless bolts I got as a kit that were not the correct length for the alternator bracket.

Unfortunately the nuts to hold the windage tray in the oil pan were not provided with the engine so Chris has to find them somewhere.

Apparently some sensors are in different locations on this engine (knock sensors and another I can't remember right now) so Chris had to break out the manuals to see about relocating them and making sure they would be wired correctly. He also found a few burned wires that got too close to the headers and one that looked like it had been chewed by rodents.

He took the cradles over to a paint shop to have them clear coated. He thought that would be a good idea for them and I agreed.

I'll be going back over there today.....

Log - 05/06/2010
 

I didn't get out to the shop till close to 1 pm. Chris had a bunch of parts he had to get earlier in the day.

I only stayed for a couple of hours. In that time Justin and Chris were wrestling with the windage tray and the oil pan. Again with fitment issues. Obviously this block wasn't made as a bolt on replacement for a LS6 engine. There has to be some substantial grinding done on the oil pan to make it fit. Honestly, if I were doing this all myself, I would already be completely insane. This is why I gave up doing auto mechanics crap YEARS ago.

I'm STILL waiting for the fatal brick wall problem to crop up yet..... I'm hoping it doesn't but I doubt anyone seriously thinks I would be surprised by it at this point. Chris is working his tail off to make this all work, so I hope he can do it...

When do you think it will be done Rich?

Chris is shooting for the end of next week. I think once he gets all the parts fit onto the engine that need to go there, things will go a LOT faster. This grinding parts to fit are really slowing things down.

Log - Friday, 05/07/2010
 

I talked to Chris this morning, and he said he took the oil pan to a machinist to have the metal removed to solve the fitment issues. He felt it would be better this way rather than just using a grinder at the shop.

The cradles should be done, so if the fitment issues can be resolved on the engine, then the drivetrain should be able to be put together onto the cradles, and hopefully soon mated with the body and frame.

Chris said he was just going to work on some wiring stuff today, so I didn't see any sense of running out there.

There seems to be some issue with getting the throttle body in for the engine that I'm trying to get resolved. Not sure what is going on with that, but probably it won't be in when the engine is ready for it. I believe we have another one we can use, but I sure do wish ALL the parts were at hand to put this darn thing back together. Also replacing the 1 3/4 headers with a set with 1 7/8 inch primaries. But that isn't in yet either, from what I understand.

Oh well, it's the weekend, so everything is on hold till Monday anyway...