I drove the car for the first time at Willow Springs Walt James Stadium, which is a 1/4 mile paved oval with no walls. The engine was perfect, it was 100 degrees the whole day and the engine coolant temperature stayed between 190-210. Oil pressure around 50psi. Also, nothing broke!
The engine is a Chevrolet LS3 480hp 475torques with an aggressive cam. Bolted to a 4 speed dogbox. Clutch is a Quarter Master 3 disk clutch. OC Drivelines driveshaft and Driveshaft Shop axles. The R200 differential has been more than enough to handle the power so far.
All fabrication, welding, wiring, assembly, and design done by Alex Grimm.
If you like the car and want to see what I'm up to follow me on Instagram @DriftTheZ
This was the most difficult engine swap I have ever done, the space around the bottom end of the engine is extremely limited. The engine mount bolting points are bellow the top of the frame rails and way behind the front subframe, so the engine mounts had to be substantial. The exhaust is all around the oil pan and has to be extremely close to it.
The wiring was simple, just plug and play ECU and Harness from Chevrolet. However for some INEXPLICABLE reason Chevrolet pretty much took a harness and all these parts from some random car they make, so the fuse box, ECU, pedal assembly, and all the gauge sensors on the engine are car specific making this "Universal Harness" more difficult to install. Nonetheless it works extremely well, after completely changing the pedal mount, installing all new gauge sensors, mounting a hilarious fuse box, and adding some wiring to make the tachometer work.
I decided to cut out the original front end and replace it with something a little more efficient.
I was getting frustrated trying to understand all of the strange LS serpentine belt configurations and all of the different alternator choices so I JUST MADE MY OWN! Works perfectly.
Driver Side Engine Mount
Passenger Side Engine Mount
The exhaust was very difficult as well, the X Pipe complicated everything. Every bend in the exhaust has been done with 15 degree pie cuts and fully TiG welded. The tubing is 2.5in Stainless Steel.
The engine is also MUCH lower than the rotary was, the bottom of the oil
pan is 1-2 inches lower. This was fine since I had to make a new skid
plate and also had to raise the car up 1inch so that the rear wheels
wouldn't hit the fender flares when it squats.
dude this is such a freaking awesome build!!! Could you post more picks please!!
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