Need more info on 91' ZR1 black motor

[vandornjim]

Originally Posted by witdog2020

How, Where, can I get more info on the black motor car built before Doug Rippie started? Is there still a number around for Kim Baker Racing? Doug says this car isn't his, It's a previous black motor build, built before Doug was hooked up with Jay grundyke. Was Kim Baker the actual founder of the black motor? How many black motors were built before Rippie and Dieline hooked up? I don't see any references to black motor cars before Rippie's.

If you have the publication the heart of the beast, you will see in the pictures a black motor car with white lettering like the car we have.

Anybody with any info?

Well boys, how've you been!??
Yep, a little birdy whispered i my ear there was someone needing a bit of Black info. OK< let 'er rip!
Yes, I have contact with Kim Baker and he remembers one of those cars.
Kim Baker and Morrison both raced the LT5 during it's introduction but weren't very sucessful. All of their engines were sent to Mercruiser for porting work on the heads and then painted with a black powder coat. Some of you may have seen one of these engines at the Thunder at Stillwater event.
IN Rippie's case, after he secured the blessing of Merc, Lotus and Chevy, he did an engine enhancement package which included sending the heads to the LT5 Gang for porting and powder coating. Rippie then did some special calibration and other tricks while he reassembled the engines. Only 8 of these were built. They got their "Black Widow" name after I saw mine done and noticed the color simularity of the Black Widow Spider. Tony Young came along, called me and the name stuck. There were only 8 Black Widows ever done. No spares, no extras, no one else.

We've done a dozen or so black colored engines but the color doesn't make the heritage.

Now let me offer another little tidbit. It seems when the program was shut down, I became the clearing house for LT5 related stuff. In fact, I have the original cylinder head ID's for all the Baker, Morrison and Rippie cylinder heads. Are yours real?

My Black Widow, the last one, is still up for sale. The guy who was interested must be on the space station because I never heard another word from him when he was coming with the money. It's on our website.

Hope this helps!
p.s. When I was at Mercruiser for the Thunder event, somoene handed me a small box of black powder coat. He smiled and said I might need it someday for "touch up". I used it on Doug Johnson's Beast, now Bill Strowbridges. We did that engine exactly like one of our Widows...

[witdog2020]

Hey Jim, Thanks, I shall get the numbers from the heads if I can. by the way is that a Bluetick Coonhound?
Mr. Baker never returned my email requesting information other than he wanted pictures. Thanks for the info.