• 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

Heck, no telling.... Tuning is taking far longer than he had hoped it would. Here's a video of some progress being made when I went out there on Monday.



Aaron thinks the new dual disk Fidanza clutch I have in there may be slipping when boost kicks in. He sent the car off to have the alignment done and hopes to know more when he can actually take it out on the road to test drive it. At this time, I haven't heard anything further about it.
 
THAT IS SICK AS ALL GET OUT!!!! I love it when the turbo's let loose at the end. Wow, just WOW! I'd love to hear that beast go flat out down the front stretch at Sebring Raceway!
 
Rich,

Do you know who he is going to take the car to to get the alignment? If I can recommend someone, Ron Goodson, if he is still in business, is BY FAR the best alignment guy in Thomasville. He has aligned all my vehicles that will fit on his rack.

What power is that new clutch rated for?
 
benjamin said:
Rich,

Do you know who he is going to take the car to to get the alignment? If I can recommend someone, Ron Goodson, if he is still in business, is BY FAR the best alignment guy in Thomasville. He has aligned all my vehicles that will fit on his rack.
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Aaron told me, but it wasn't anything I felt I needed to remember. So I didn't.

benjamin said:
What power is that new clutch rated for?
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Chris said it was rated at 1,300 hp. The part number on the invoice I got from Chris indicating the 6.5 inch twin disk Fidanza unit he bought is rated at only 625 ft/lbs torque.

Obviously a discrepancy.......
 
Here's another video I took the same day so I could watch one of the tires to see if it was slipping on the roller for the dyno.

 
I talked with Aaron at SGC today (actually Thursday) and he said my car is still over at the shop doing the alignment. The guy there is finding all sorts of stuff that is just loose and apparently never tightened down. To make matters worse, he had found some bolts that were cross threaded and took some real work to get out. Apparently one of the ball joints got ruined as well. Par for the course, I guess.

On a semi-brighter note, Chris did straighten me out about one thing. Apparently what I was seeing in the IDs for the Fidanza twin disk clutches is NOT the diameter in inches. It's sort of like a version number. So whereas I was thinking the 625 ft. lbs. clutch was 6.5 inches and the 900 ft. lbs one was 7.6 inches, it's actually a VERSION number. The higher the version number, apparently the higher the torque rating. So Chris put in version #6.5m that was supposed to be version 7.6, but the ad copy in the Ebay auction he bought it from was misleading. I saw it too, and would have to agree that a mistake could easily have been made. That being said, Chris still should have researched it more thoroughly to make certain the clutch he got was what would be sufficient for my car.

Anyway, Chris believes that by simply replacing the v6.5 carbon organic disks with the v7.6 ceramic disks, that will bring the clutch's power rating up to snuff.

Regardless, the drivetrain is going to have to be taken out of my car yet again from the clutch back. Obviously this doesn't thrill me in the least and will even further delay getting my car done. If I can get Chris to shake a leg in getting that refund check to me for the transmission and differential that I never got, I am thinking seriously about getting a C6 Z06 geared transmission put in there. After driving the C6 Z06, I like the ratio selection in that transmission a hell of a whole lot better than that of the C5 Z06. If the drivetrain wasn't going to be removed, I wouldn't buy a new transmission nor differential just because I didn't want to pull them out and delay getting my car back, but heck, since it has to happen anyway, I can toy with this idea. But my car allowance is pretty much depleted and it hinges on Chris getting that refund to me in a timely fashion.

But heck, I just don't know. I get a little twinge of excitement back seeing the car on the dyno, but then get knocked back two steps finding out about the crap that was not done, or else wasn't done correctly. Learning about that wrong clutch being in there and having to pull out the drivetrain was definitely a pretty low blip on the fun-o-meter....
 
If/when I replace the transmission in mine, I want to go all the way to ZR1 gears. You might think about that s another option.
 
Gannet said:
If/when I replace the transmission in mine, I want to go all the way to ZR1 gears. You might think about that s another option.
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Without having driven one, I would have no idea whether or not I actually would like the gear ratio used. Since this has to happen real soon, if at all, finding someone locally to let me drive their ZR-1 in the next couple of days doesn't seem very likely.

Is your engine getting close to being done?
 
I haven't personally driven a ZR1, but the "main" difference is that the ZR1 doesn't have an overdrive, it's all pull, all the time. 1-4th are very similar, but 5 & 6 still keep pulling strong. Would probably suit your car really nice. I think it's a crap ton more expensive than a ZO6 unit though. You'd probably be better off just getting the sequential gear box from LG motorsports over the ZR1. Now THAT'S a transmission. :thumbsup:

Good luck, at least you KNOW your car is in good hands now.
 
shakedown067 said:
I haven't personally driven a ZR1, but the "main" difference is that the ZR1 doesn't have an overdrive, it's all pull, all the time. 1-4th are very similar, but 5 & 6 still keep pulling strong. Would probably suit your car really nice. I think it's a crap ton more expensive than a ZO6 unit though. You'd probably be better off just getting the sequential gear box from LG motorsports over the ZR1. Now THAT'S a transmission. :thumbsup:

Good luck, at least you KNOW your car is in good hands now.
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Yeah, for $27,595 it damned site BETTER be a good transmission. But definitely FAR, FAR out of my league.

As for the ZR-1 transmission, I prefer one with overdrive gears for the long trips, so that doesn't sound like what I would be interested in. Heck, with the C6 Z06, it pulls nicely in 5th and 6th enough for me. The LS7 has a good bit of torque to it, even stock.
 
LMAO. Yeah, she's pricey, and really meant for all out racing. The ZR1 trans is under $4000, I thought it was in the neighborhood of something stupid like 18K. By what you are planning to use it for, the C6Z trans should be right up your alley...if you are able to go that route. The ZR1 trans would be better suited if you planned on hitting any road racing tracks regularly.
 
shakedown067 said:
I haven't personally driven a ZR1, but the "main" difference is that the ZR1 doesn't have an overdrive, it's all pull, all the time.
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Actually, the biggest difference with the ZR1 box for an FI car is that it has a very tall first gear: 2.29 vs. 2.66 in the standard MN6 (vs 2.97 in the MN12). The idea is to help it hook up. The ODs are lower as well, so no, for you Rich, I guess this one wouldn't be a good choice.

Ratio comparison:
MN12 (C5Z/Z51)
2.97 2.07 1.43 1:00 0.84 0.56

MN6 (std 6spd)
2.66 1.78 1.3 1:00 0.74 0.5

ZR1
2.29 1.61 1.21 1:00 0.81 0.67

Looking at it another way, here are the percent drops between gears:
MN12
30.3% 30.9% 30.1% 16.0% 33.3%

MN6
33.1% 27.0% 23.1% 26.0% 32.4%

ZR1
29.7% 24.8% 17.4% 19.0% 17.3%

You can see that the "point" of the MN12 was not to give "more gear", as commonly supposed, but to give almost exactly even drops between gears for those doing autox/HPDE. That makes downshifting on-course much easier for non-expert drivers.

The MN6 has a "standard" spread from 1-4, making it the best for drag racing (given a proper rear gear ratio).

The ZR1 gearset looks like it's basically a "Nurburgring" set. It has tall lower gears to keep wheelspin down, and then upper gears pretty evenly spaced for when you're going really, really fast. The ZR1 gearset is clearly for a high-powered car; it "throws away" torque multiplication in 1-3, assuming you'll have enough. 5-6 are now "running" gears, not gas-mileage overdrives. I like both ideas, so that's the one for me (when I can).

As to my car, the engine has been done for a long time, but there's quite a bit of detail work to be done to the car. The old saying is that the last 10% takes half the time, and that seems to have applied in my case. The good news is, we're probably at 95%, so we're gettin' there.
 
Well put Gannet. I guess the ZR1 would be considered more of a close-ratio gear box, correct? Certainly makes since for the taller first gear when trying to put down that kind of power. Great info.
 
Well, it appears there is a clicking noise coming from the differential when Aaron took the car for a test drive. I decided to just go ahead and have both the transmission and differential shipped up to RPM Transmissions and be done with it. Just go ahead and get what I had originally intended (and paid Chris for). Only difference is that I want the C6 Z06 gear ratio in that transmission.

Aaron said the car had good power during the test drive but was definitely slipping in the higher gears. I figure it is a likely combination of the clutch disks not being broken in yet (Fidanza states the carbon organic ones take 500 miles) and possibly the power level under boost (Aaron said he was showing around 5.5 lbs) is exceeding the rating of those clutch disks. In any event, Chris told me that the new higher rated disks should be shipping out today.

In any event, everything from the clutch back is going to have to be pulled out again. And there will be the delay of getting the trans and diff shipped to and from RPM. So of course, tuning is done for the duration, since the WOT stage can't be done anyway with the clutch slippage.

Aaron said the rocker arms were hitting the valve covers on the passenger side as well, and the cover was leaking. It appears to be another oil leak coming from one of the standoffs for the coil packs, but he needs to look at that closer.

Oh yeah, he said it appears that the engine is burning a bit of oil, but I'm hoping that's just normal ring break-in.

Well, the GOOD news is that I haven't died from a heart attack or brain embolism yet.... :rolleyes:
 
I'm sorry Rich, but it appears that Murphy has been kicking your a$$ for the longest time. Do you have any hair left on your head? Don't start drinking! :shrug01:
 
85vette said:
I'm sorry Rich, but it appears that Murphy has been kicking your a$$ for the longest time. Do you have any hair left on your head? Don't start drinking! :shrug01:
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Actually, I'm thinking drinking might be a hobby I need to take up now.

One good thing about this time of year, however, is that the squirrels are much more active and I can take out my frustrations on them by putting crosshairs on them. Of course, Connie isn't too keen on my putting some rounds through the bird feeder..... :ack2: But the birds are actually cheering me on, so all is not lost...
 
Rich Z said:
Actually, I'm thinking drinking might be a hobby I need to take up now.

One good thing about this time of year, however, is that the squirrels are much more active and I can take out my frustrations on them by putting crosshairs on them. Of course, Connie isn't too keen on my putting some rounds through the bird feeder..... :ack2: But the birds are actually cheering me on, so all is not lost...
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Fall is the best time for moms Old Fashioned Squirrel and Dumpling recipe!:thumbsup::thumbsup:

:D
 
Rich Z said:
Actually, I'm thinking drinking might be a hobby I need to take up now.

One good thing about this time of year, however, is that the squirrels are much more active and I can take out my frustrations on them by putting crosshairs on them. Of course, Connie isn't too keen on my putting some rounds through the bird feeder..... :ack2: But the birds are actually cheering me on, so all is not lost...
Click to expand...

:lmao:Thats funny, Ive culled mine to the point most of them are genius , s now.
 
The latest words from Aaron yesterday are that he thinks he has the oil leak from the valve cover licked. Pulled out the carbon fiber driveshaft and noted that there is 30 thousandths play in the input shaft that he doesn't like and believes the shaft itself is bent.

He also noted that the clutch disks are not making full contact on the pressure plates, but is not sure what is going on with that.

He also recommended that I have him remove the solid motor mounts and put stock ones back in, otherwise the vibration from the engine will make the car uncomfortable to drive.

The transmission and differential are pulled out and ready to be shipped to RPM Transmission in Indiana.

Oh yeah, he found bolts missing holding the bell housing in place.... :rolleyes:
 
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