• 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.

C5 427 forged motor?

The block I got is the standard deck height, as this is all that is necessary to give me 427 cubes. I talked to Chris tonight and he indicated that World Products offers a carbureted ready intake manifold that may be for these particular heads. I'm not sure, and he sounded real tired, so I didn't want to ask him to elaborate. Regardless, since LME bought the block and heads from World Products, no matter what the solution (quite likely new heads), the entire long block is going to have to go back to LME. Since they are providing the warranty on the block and heads, I'm certain they will want to take care of the fix.

Yeah, they COULD mill out the holes on that FAST intake to fit these heads, but if I ever decide to go with something like a roots style supercharger, then I would just be screwed with this bastard of an engine that would need a customized intake. Nope. I just don't think that would be smart to do.

So I suggested to Chris that he just crate up the motor and send it back to LME. And I sure as hell hope that they are going to eat the shipping on this. They knew the application for the block and heads, so there is just no way this should have been shipped out like this.

Yeah, Chris might as well just put my name on that lift. I'm definitely going to be having my car on it long enough to invoke squatters rights ownership....

Yeah, I know, gallows humor.............
 
I would think (hope) that if the answer was simply swapping the heads and intake that they'd let Chris take care of that. Hope it is that simple!
 
Well, I did some research and found this:

http://www.gmhightechperformance.com/tech/0603htp_world_products_ls7x_block_head_review/index.html

The LS7X 12-degree cylinder heads will bolt to any big-bore Gen III/IV, but they're the perfect match to the LS7X block. Prices range from $799.99 per head for bare castings up to $1134.99 for fully assembled versions with big 1.550-inch dual valve springs.

A 255cc intake port is found in the LS7X head and the opening of the port is identical in dimensions to the GM LS7 head; therefore the stock LS7 intake manifold will match right up. These heads are made from 355-T6 aluminum and are advertised as an "improved replacement for LS7 and C5R applications."

That review is stating pretty plainly that the block and heads SHOULD be a direct swap for a stock LS7. So the stock intake manifold SHOULD work on those LS7X heads, and those heads SHOULD work fine on the LS7X block.

But obviously they don't.....
 
gsdave said:
I would think (hope) that if the answer was simply swapping the heads and intake that they'd let Chris take care of that. Hope it is that simple!
Click to expand...

My concern would be that they are responsible for the entire package. I don't want to give LME (http://www.latemodelengines.com) any wiggle room if a problem crops up later putting the blame on Chris. I purchased a MATCHED set of heads and block that were prepped and machined to fit together, and that's what I want to get.

Quite honestly, if they fiddle-faddle around with getting this resolved, I would just as soon ship that big 'ol pretty doorstop back to them for a refund and get a motor from someone else. Or maybe just put my LS6 back in and call it a day. This has pretty much curbed my enthusiasm for this whole thing. The omens for this entire project are pretty damned scary.
 
Yo, Rich! Don't you be goin' all postal on anyone YET! Give 'em a chance to fix this snag, and I'm sure that they will make it right. When it's done, IT WILL BE WORTH IT! I can see it now.........you'll be looking for free runflats so you can smoke the life out of them. :lmao::lmao:
Andy :wavey:
 
No man. Not going postal. Quite the opposite, really.

I'm sitting here thinking about this and I just felt the excitement and enthusiasm drain out of me like pulling the stopper on a tub filled with water.
 
I know that feeling. My 383 supercharged LT4 project has stretched 3 YEARS. Partially from things coming up, both my parents getting sick and passing away, moving, getting my business up and going, and building the house. Hang in there, in the grand scheme of things, its not that long at all!
 
I was without my car for a year and a half. Then got it up and running to turn around and have to remove the transmission two times. Very frustrating, especially since I did my own work. Peaks and valleys. But, I'm glad I stayed the course. Having friends to vent to and offer support and encouragement kept me going.

Trust me, once its all done and you fire her up and drive her down the road that first time in the new set-up, all that enthusiasm and excitement will come rushing back to you in a heart beat.

To be honest, IMO, its good to lose the enthusiasm a bit to keep your sanity and stay objective about the project. Its a marathon unfortunately, and there may yet be a few more obstacles to overcome. Just like I feel today, (as I drive my 383 to work everyday) I'm sure when it is all said and done you will look back and say it was worth it too. You're in good hands with Chris as you know. All will be fine.

Have a great Thanksgiving. :thumbsup:
 
Chris is going to send the motor back to LME and they can figure out what is wrong and fix it. I also asked that they check EVERY possible mounting hole and alignment to make certain that it will hook up to my drivetrain and work in my C5 Z06 without any issues whatsoever. That is the application this motor was specified for, and this is the criteria it needs to meet. Otherwise LME can keep it, refund the money, and I'll ask Chris to look for another motor from someone else that can do this. Sending out a motor that a standard intake manifold won't work on just blows my mind. Yeah, maybe it is really World Products at fault here, but I would think that LME should have caught a problem like this.

As for having my car tied up in the shop a year or more, no, not going to happen. That's not why I bought this car. I bought it to DRIVE........ Matter of fact, had I known that by this date we would be where we are right now, I would have declined doing this install. That's why I paid for everything up front, had it all ordered and delivered at the shop so the MINIMUM amount of time possible would be involved in having my car out of commission.

All I can say is that I'm glad I have Chris on my side with this. If this had been some homebrew project I attempted myself and I would have to be dealing with it all myself, I'd be fit to be tied right now. Yeah, then I might just go postal...
 
Well, the 27th of this month made it exactly a month that I have been without my Z. :( :(

And with my the LME Warhawk motor going to be on it's way back to Texas, I'm not hopeful that this will change anytime real soon....... :nonod:
 
gsdave said:
Silly question, I guess, but....Why didn't you just get Xtreme to build your 427?
Click to expand...

Actually I went to Chris with a list of what I wanted, and he farmed the engine work out to LME. Apparently, LME bought the Warhawk block and heads, as well as all of the components, then did the machine work to blueprint and balance everything, and put it all together.

I sure would like to know why that intake manifold wouldn't line up. Something is sure screwed up and I want to know what it is.
 
You know I was looking at some old Goodguys magazines the other day when they advertised under Bill Mitchell Hardcore. The ad showed the package with the warhawk short block but listed the heads as LS1??? I am wondering if they still do that and that the packeage that you have is the correct LS7 intake but ordered incorrectly for that package and should have been an LS1 intake?

Something to look into and could have been easily overlooked if everyone assumed that it was all LS7. Below are four different part numbers from Bill Mitchell I would ask to see if you recieved the right package.

103151A WARHAWK 427 LS1 Stage 2, aluminum heads,
103152A WARHAWK 427 LS7 Stage 2, aluminum heads,
103161A WARHAWK 454 LS1 Stage 2, aluminum heads,
103172A WARHAWK 481 LS7 Stage 2, aluminum heads,
 
mickeystoysz16 said:
You know I was looking at some old Goodguys magazines the other day when they advertised under Bill Mitchell Hardcore. The ad showed the package with the warhawk short block but listed the heads as LS1??? I am wondering if they still do that and that the packeage that you have is the correct LS7 intake but ordered incorrectly for that package and should have been an LS1 intake?

Something to look into and could have been easily overlooked if everyone assumed that it was all LS7. Below are four different part numbers from Bill Mitchell I would ask to see if you recieved the right package.

103151A WARHAWK 427 LS1 Stage 2, aluminum heads,
103152A WARHAWK 427 LS7 Stage 2, aluminum heads,
103161A WARHAWK 454 LS1 Stage 2, aluminum heads,
103172A WARHAWK 481 LS7 Stage 2, aluminum heads,
Click to expand...

Beats me. Anything is possible. But according to the below that I quoted in a previous post, the LS7X heads with the LS7X block should have a stock LS7 intake manifold bolt right up...

Rich Z said:
http://www.gmhightechperformance.com/tech/0603htp_world_products_ls7x_block_head_review/index.html

The LS7X 12-degree cylinder heads will bolt to any big-bore Gen III/IV, but they're the perfect match to the LS7X block. Prices range from $799.99 per head for bare castings up to $1134.99 for fully assembled versions with big 1.550-inch dual valve springs.

A 255cc intake port is found in the LS7X head and the opening of the port is identical in dimensions to the GM LS7 head; therefore the stock LS7 intake manifold will match right up. These heads are made from 355-T6 aluminum and are advertised as an "improved replacement for LS7 and C5R applications."
Click to expand...

Now, there is no law saying that World Products couldn't have screwed up and stamped LS1 heads as LS7X heads. But I thought Chris told me that the heads are definitely LS7X heads just based on the shape of the intake ports on them. Hmm, if Chris hasn't send off that motor to LME yet, I wonder if it would be a good idea to have him send that FAST intake to them as well and make CERTAIN it matches up. Maybe even port match it to the heads....
 
Any updates Rich?

Also, if its LS1/2/6/3/7 I'm pretty sure all the heads are interchangeable since the bolt patterns are the same (I believe) you just have to change the Intake Mani. So what mickey was saying wouldn't really matter.

After looking at the pictures it looks like the holes were drilled improperly. That's easy enough to check, just call World or LME and have them measure the distance from the edge of the block to the hole on a block they have there, and compare.
 
I sent an email to Chris late last night so I should get a reply today about whether or not the motor is on it's way back to LME. I talked to him a couple of days ago and he said he was just waiting on LME, since they were going to pay for the shipping costs involved.

Even if it is a simple mistake of those manifold holes being drilled incorrectly, it's still LME's dime to fix the problem, which most likely means replacing those heads. Honestly, I don't feel real comfortable about the fact that they didn't notice something like that. And I can't help but wonder what other measurements might have been overlooked.....
 
Rich Z said:
I sent an email to Chris late last night so I should get a reply today about whether or not the motor is on it's way back to LME. I talked to him a couple of days ago and he said he was just waiting on LME, since they were going to pay for the shipping costs involved.

Even if it is a simple mistake of those manifold holes being drilled incorrectly, it's still LME's dime to fix the problem, which most likely means replacing those heads. Honestly, I don't feel real comfortable about the fact that they didn't notice something like that. And I can't help but wonder what other measurements might have been overlooked.....
Click to expand...

I've never heard a bad thing about LME, if I had to choose any big name companies to get a motor from it would be LME or HKE, with the nod going to Erik.

If they messed up, I'm sure they'll take care of it, and remember that when someone messes something up they usually pay a little more attention to detail the next time because, they felt it in their pockets.

I would imagine the heads come predrilled from World no? They are Worlds heads right? LME probably wouldn't even have noticed because they didn't bolt a manifold on.
 
Fatbum said:
I've never heard a bad thing about LME, if I had to choose any big name companies to get a motor from it would be LME or HKE, with the nod going to Erik.

If they messed up, I'm sure they'll take care of it, and remember that when someone messes something up they usually pay a little more attention to detail the next time because, they felt it in their pockets.

I would imagine the heads come predrilled from World no? They are Worlds heads right? LME probably wouldn't even have noticed because they didn't bolt a manifold on.
Click to expand...

Heck, I'm not sure what happened. I assume that this was a mistake by World Products, since they did the actual heads and base machining. But I would have thought this was all done by CNC work. Not to say that one of the heads couldn't have been set up incorrectly by an operator.

The damn shame of it all is that the engine and the FAST manifold were sitting over at Chris's place for weeks while we were getting sick and the other issues we both had were delaying things. We never thought to actually see if the manifold would line up, because who would ever have thought that this would be a problem?

Just one of those things..... I know this is as much of a pisser to Chris as it is to me because I've got his lift shanghaied while this is all going on. I'm sure he has better things to do with it other than having the shell of my car hanging on it like some sort of Christmas tree ornament.

I'll probably run over there next week sometime. I left some camera equipment over there thinking I was going to be back the next day, and also need to pick up my laptop that he was going to use for the tuning. I'm not expecting that motor to come back from LME until probably around Christmas. I would hope LME would give this some sort of priority, but no telling what other things they might have going on that have their own priorities needed.
 
My car was supposed to be done this week and I haven't heard anything.

Chris told me your car being on the lift wasn't going to affect mine getting done, but I don't know. I didn't get a call on Tuesday like he said he would and he never got back to me after I called and txtd.

As long as I get it before the 10th I'll be happy. It's been since Sept that I've truly had my car and Oct 6th since the motor blew. A motor can get put into a car in less then a day easy.


If you head over there let me know if you see my car and if it's near completetion.
 
Just curious, what kind of horsepower does this Warhawk engine make? And how much does the complete engine cost?
 
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