• Got the Contributing Memberships stuff finally worked out and made up a thread as a sort of "How-To" to help people figure out how to participate. So if you need help figuring it out, here's the thread you need to take a look at -> http://www.corvetteflorida.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3581 Thank you, everyone! Rich Z.

427 engine (part 2) - RHS block

Hey Rich what's the status of your car? Will you have it by Christmas or New Years?

What car?

Oh, that one.....

Well, beats the heck out of me. I was told by Granatelli that Aaron should have the new valve covers next week, but I don't know what Aaron's schedule is looking like.

I should contact Granatelli, but the way my luck has running, I fully expect them to tell me that the valve covers are on backorder till the Spring.
 
I sure hope not ,but I should talk on the time it's taking to get new cam bearings installed in mine.If you're goning to be home tomorrow I'll give you a call.
 
I sure hope not ,but I should talk on the time it's taking to get new cam bearings installed in mine.If you're goning to be home tomorrow I'll give you a call.

Probably not till the evening hours. Got some errands to run in town.
 
:banghead:

Well, I talked to a guy at Granatelli today and yeah, I was prescient about the situation. According the the guy I talked to (Alex), they have a backlog of orders on the valve covers. Looks like Aaron might get my set delivered the week AFTER Christmas. He told me that if I happened to have LS2 style coils, he could send me LS7 style valve covers immediately. But I recently bought a brand new set of LS1 style MSD coils, and am not about to buy another set and piss away even more money.

So yeah, looks like this is definitely going to be dragging on into the year 2011.... And here I was thinking just a couple of weeks ago that this might get wrapped up before Christmas. :sillyme: No telling what other BS I'm going to run up against before the fat lady sings. I'm sure there is going to be something related to the new valve covers that's going to mean something else needs to be modified to fit. I know Aaron is going to have a fitting put on for the oil return from the turbos instead of having it going into the oil fill cap like Chris did it. When Greg from AntiVenom installed the turbo system, he put the return into one of the valve covers and that just seemed like a cleaner way to do it.
 
One of harwoods improvements?

Actually, no, that is the way they show it in the manual from STS. But I'm not sure how he got much from the manual I loaned him, as when I found it after pulling my car out of his shop, it had apparently been soaked in oil and ruined.
 
Actually, no, that is the way they show it in the manual from STS. But I'm not sure how he got much from the manual I loaned him, as when I found it after pulling my car out of his shop, it had apparently been soaked in oil and ruined.

Just more proof that he has no respect for anyone or their belongings. C'mon sheriff, get the lead out.
 
Well, I called Granatelli yesterday (12/27) and obviously Aaron isn't going to be getting the valve covers this week. The story now is that they will arrive at Granatelli's place tomorrow (Wednesday), and be shipped out to South Georgia Corvette then. So the guy I talked to (Alex) said that Aaron should be receiving the valve covers early next week. I let the guy know in no uncertain terms that I wasn't very pleased about being jerked around with this order. I told him I went directly to Granatelli even though I could have bought the same exact things cheaper from someone else, figuring I would get it QUICKER going directly to them. Well come to find out that they apparently order them in batches because the valve covers are made in Australia. Jeesus, isn't ANYTHING made in America any longer? Anyway, I guess there is a minimum order they need to make shipping worthwhile, and that has been the holdup. Of course, I wasn't TOLD that when I ordered them from the guy named Jasper. He told me he would expedite the order and I would have them no later than the 21rst. Yeah, right.... Tell you what, I'm just getting damned tired of being LIED to from every direction I turn. Is that really the status quo for all businesses and private individuals these days?

In any event, Alex offered to knock off $75 from the price I paid on the valve covers. Not that it makes me feel much better, all things considered.....
 
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Just got a call from Alex at Granatelli to tell me the valve covers came in today and will be shipped out to Aaron. I guess I should be happy about this, but if the past is any guide to the future, all I have to look forward to is the next problem to crop up.... :banghead: Obviously I've long lost any feeling of optimism I've had about this build.
 
Yeah, I'm running out of optimistic stuff to say to try to keep your spirits up.

But I just thought of this...

You should look for a set of worn rear tires (cheapos under 25% tread left) you can put on the car when you finally get her, that way you can do the biggest burn out of your life and get all that anger out....then put on the DD tires and live happily-ever-after...

Well, after you clean up the rear quarter panels of rubber. :D
 
Yeah, I'm running out of optimistic stuff to say to try to keep your spirits up.

But I just thought of this...

You should look for a set of worn rear tires (cheapos under 25% tread left) you can put on the car when you finally get her, that way you can do the biggest burn out of your life and get all that anger out....then put on the DD tires and live happily-ever-after...

Well, after you clean up the rear quarter panels of rubber. :D

Hell, I'm going to be on pins and needles probably FOREVER driving that car. I guess I'm getting to feeling that God just doesn't want me to have that car back for some reason. Maybe these are all just omens. :shrug01:
 
Yeah, I'm running out of optimistic stuff to say to try to keep your spirits up.

But I just thought of this...

You should look for a set of worn rear tires (cheapos under 25% tread left) you can put on the car when you finally get her, that way you can do the biggest burn out of your life and get all that anger out....then put on the DD tires and live happily-ever-after...

Well, after you clean up the rear quarter panels of rubber. :D

And when your done with that the clutch ,diff ,trans and motor will all be broke in real good:lmao::lmao:
 
You've had more than your share of "fun and games" with this build Rich, but I wouldn't start worrying about the C5Z now. The time to be worried would have been when Chris gave it back to you! Sounds like you've got some quality people working on it right now and I'm sure that they will find and fix the issues created and/or left by Chris. Look at it this way....... they had to UNDO all of the things that Chris did wrong (or didn't do at all) and start all over. With the amount of work that's required to do that on the C5Z, it ain't gonna be done quickly! So give Aaron a legitimate amount of time to make it right, AND HE WILL! Once he's made it right, and it has a few hundred miles on it, it should be good to GOOOOOOOOOOoooooooo >> for a long time. Heck, even if you would have taken it to Aaron in the first place I'm sure that there would have been a glitch or two pop up in the first 500 miles. Take your time, break in the clutch per the manufacturer's recommendation, take care of any glitches that pop up, and enjoy it for what it is...........A BEAST! It should be AWESOME after it's broken in!!!!! :thumbsup:
Andy :wavey:
 
Wow, Rich.

For me, you've become the example of that old Bill Cosby story about there always being somebody worse off than you. I thought for sure yours would be done before mine, but we fired mine yesterday, after 1 year and 11 days. It sounded good, but of course there was a little problem, this time with the blower drive. It should be resolved in a few days and then hopefully it's just tuning after that.

Hang in there. I had really lost interest in mine...until it started up. Now I'm all excited again. :D Your day is coming! :thumbsup:
 
Dave,

Yeah, I hear you. I got a little bit excited when my car was on the dyno over at South Georgia Corvette, thinking it was almost done. And that was three MONTHS ago. That's when we found out that Chris Harwood had put the wrong clutch in and he admitted that I did not get the transmission and differential I paid for, so everything got put on hold awaiting for those issues to get resolved. Then one little thing after another bringing us to the crappy valve covers Chris put on my car. No telling what other surprises are yet to be uncovered.

So yeah, my only interest right now is just having that vague feeling of being pissed off about something and having to stop and think about exactly what it is that has me pissed off. The "out of sight, out of mind" thing is at work, but the aggravation is still there.

Maybe Mike Elmore, yourself, and I can get a job with GM as poster children promoting the idea of NOT modding cars, telling our stories all over the country. Heck, I think it would make a great documentary film even if it only runs on the Speed Channel.....

Hope you get the bugs ironed out of your car quickly and get it back on the street.
 
C'mon Rich, lets start having some positive thoughts. After a year, what's another week to make sure it's right and safe. On a positive note, I'm looking forward to meeting you on the 15th and taking a few pictures of you and the car. I also notice things are picking up on the board. See, it's getting better already.

Happy New Year!
 
C'mon Rich, lets start having some positive thoughts. After a year, what's another week to make sure it's right and safe. On a positive note, I'm looking forward to meeting you on the 15th and taking a few pictures of you and the car. I also notice things are picking up on the board. See, it's getting better already.

Happy New Year!

Bob,

When you have the time, go back through this thread, and even the original one about the 427 Warhawk motor, and make note of every time I said something along the lines of "my car should be done in just another week or two", then tell me why I should now have a more positive attitude about this.... Yeah, Aaron is not the cause of the problems, but he is still playing cleanup, and no one really know how deep the mess is that Harwood created. Bear in mind that my car was towed to Aaron's shop on September 17th, which is now pushing close to being 4 MONTHS ago. At that time it was thought that only a few minor things would need to be done, mechanically, then the engine tuned, and this would be over and done with.

At this point the only thing I am really glad about is that I did not sell that car when I really should have, because I would now be paying for the stuff that Harwood was supposed to have done to my car and did not. So I would be left holding the bag paying for it all for someone else's car because MY reputation would now be at stake.

I'm not trying to be a pessimist. I think I am being a realist by not being optimistic at all about anything.
 
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