GC's 380 "A Brotherhood Build" - ZR-1 Net Registry Forums

GOLDCYLON · 10-09-2012

As I pencil these notes together I am still working with Dominic (Xfirez51) on the fine tuning. For those who want to venture forward here is my story on my 380. I’ve learned a lot along the way as well as had a lot of hands on with my own car. I enjoy working on my own car but I could have gone nowhere fast without the registry. The car is strong running.

It all started in my quest for parts (Shocker right?). Kevin (Polo-1) was having a fire sale in Jan 2011 and it all started with a simple question, “How much do you want for that crank?” Kevin was planning on keeping it for a short block build and that’s how it happened. A lot of the registry members became involved from that day on.
Having put 60K miles on my car since purchasing it I figured it was time to start discussing the enviable motor exchange, hell I was fast approaching 118K miles. My car was using a lot of oil and filming out the back side via the exhaust. I knew from experience that either the Rings were going or the valve stem seals and hell perhaps both. All I know was the old girl and my daily driver was spending a lot of time at Bill Boudreau’s garage (ZR51 Performance).

Polo-1 and I agreed on a price, options. My target was 450 HP to the rear. We both agreed that would be an easy target to hit since I had already had the top end ported by (Jeff) PNWZR-1 and was running Jeal longtubes and a few other mods. The build would start as I bought his bare block and crank from the fire sale and Kevin was kind enough to allow me to pay about $500 or so every other week. I just wanted to be in C5/C6 territory so the ole C4 would have some respect. Kevin and I agreed a 379 was the best bang for the buck budget stroker motor that Hib has recently been talking about. 368 was been there and done that.. 379 was the way to go and as BIG as you could go without getting into serious cash.

Halfway through settling up for the price of the build. My first roadblock struck!!!!

My daily driver went down hard in MAY of 2011. I rapidly paid Kevin to finish the build while ZR51 Performance figured out had gone wrong. I figured well now was the time. Bill agreed to do the install the plans were set for a Sept 2011 Install. The problem was the butterfly’s screws and attached rods for the secondary system went into the #1 and #3 piston area and wedged a couple of valves open. As incredible as this sounds the same thing happened 6 months ago on the other side. A decision was made to pull the secondary’s immediately. A lot of members have already done this. I had to have heads to work on plus more cams. Cliff (Dynomite) hooked me up there by agreeing to sell me back the original heads and cams that came of my current motor from Polo-1s original fire sale. You can see all that damage here and where the screw hit the top and gnarled the piston and the broken secondary butterfly rod piece.

Communication is key!!!!

Bill was supposed to work on the Heads but he ran into time crunches so my son had just did some LS1 motor and head work done with his LS1 Camaro. He had a couple of friends at a local machine shop so the decision was made to move the heads to that shop. Unknown to me Bill instructed the shop to port the heads to match the Injector housings (All that was supposed to happen was a rebuild and welding over of the secondary system holes). The heads had already started to be ported before I knew it and I went down to see the work and all I could see was aluminum shavings. The shop was wow these are some really big damn heads and this is a lot of work it’s going to take a lot longer. I immediately offered to pay twice the amount I offered. The only thing it really cost me was TIME. In the end I’m doing this again to my own set of heads that are currently on the garage floor. However what was planed for Sept 2011 turned into April 2012

David calls me (ZZZZZR1) and asks me what I am doing about the cams? The plan was nothing until he explained hey about four of us lol well now five have gone with Petes intake cams. So the decision was made to get Petes intake cams only. Pete’s exchange cams were returned for his next shelf customer. All we had to do was wait for the engine to show up and now the heads to be finished.

Greek Tragedy!!!!

ZR51 Performance starts the install in April 2012 and after 15 mins of strong running a thunk is heard and the oil pressure immediately drops. After trouble shooting the oil pump, the oil filter housing, the oil pressure gauge the oil pan is dropped to reveal the horror. My crank had dropped an expansion plug and caused some minor damage to the underside of my new JE Pistons on the back end underside. On the tear down another plug was also partly starting to unseat. Polo-1 asks for the Block back to get the repair done and get all the expansion plugs welded in position like he had done in his last 402 build. Jerry (A26B) sells me his last 91 Oil pump to make sure I have no future problems.

It’s decided to drive the car up to Washington State. ZR51 Performance mated my all new top end to my old bottom end to make the journey. It took me two days to get there with a night stay in Elko Nevada and the night I arrived after dinner we had the engine out in less than 3.5 hrs. We took the time to do a few wire repairs, Add a few mods and started the engine install process a few days later. Everything was back together. Dominic recommended using an Ostrich II Prom emulator until we could get the tuning close. The install was done by Jeff, Kevin, Sam, Peter and his son and I.

Success !!!!

What did I learn along the way? A few hard lessons but more importantly how important the friendships I have built along the way in this club are simply priceless. GC

LT5 Porn!!!!

Kevin (Polo-1) with his build 380ci LT5 11.75:1 add another .4 due to Marc Haibecks Cometic Head Gaskets so 12:15:1 ish? I have a theory that maybe that much compression had a play in the crank plug the first time around??? Whos knows lessons learned weld everything in the crank area !!!

-=Jeff=- · 10-09-2012

Cool Story.. great example of the brotherhood working together

Pete · 10-09-2012

You did not mention the aftermath.

Permagrin or no permagrin?

Pete

GOLDCYLON · 10-09-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pete

You did not mention the aftermath.

Permagrin or no permagrin?

Pete

So much Grin that Ive started the process again. Have another set of Intakes ready to go Pete?

-=Jeff=- · 10-09-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by GOLDCYLON

So much Grin that Ive started the process again. Have another set of Intakes ready to go Pete?

Is the next one for your Scratch Built ZR-1?

Building it "One Piece at a Time"

LOL

GOLDCYLON · 10-09-2012

Quote:

Originally Posted by -=Jeff=-

Is the next one for your Scratch Built ZR-1?

Building it "One Piece at a Time"

LOL

Ya never know

tomtom72 · 10-09-2012

Now that's a happy ending!

a toast to a million miles of permagrin, Daryl!

ZZZZZR1 · 10-09-2012

VERY COOL!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks for posting up the details and I can't wait to get started on "my 380!"

David

DaveK · 10-09-2012

Great write up GC. Sounds like a job well done! Thanks too for the HID write up.

Dave

A1990 · 10-09-2012

Can we somehow get these two write ups into the HOTB? They need to be in there.

10-09-2012	#2
-=Jeff=- Join Date: Jul 2007 Location: Bartlett, IL Posts: 7,156	Re: GC's 380 "A Brotherhood Build" Cool Story.. great example of the brotherhood working together __________________ 1990 Corvette ZR-1 #1051 Watson Headers (2" Primary) - Flowmaster Cats - Borla Catback Late Model IH - Plenum Coilovers - 4.10s Shelby Series 1 - Wilwood Brakes Custom Interior NCM Lifetime Member #978

10-09-2012	#7
tomtom72 Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: Jacksonville, FL USA Posts: 4,609	Re: GC's 380 "A Brotherhood Build" Now that's a happy ending! a toast to a million miles of permagrin, Daryl! __________________ 1990 ZR-1, Black/grey, #2233, stock. ZR-1 Net Reg Founding Member #316 & NCM member

10-09-2012	#8
ZZZZZR1 Banned BANNED Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: MD Posts: 3,674	Re: GC's 380 "A Brotherhood Build" VERY COOL!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for posting up the details and I can't wait to get started on "my 380!" David

10-09-2012	#9
DaveK Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: Sudbury, Ontario. Canada Posts: 1,533	Re: GC's 380 "A Brotherhood Build" Great write up GC. Sounds like a job well done! Thanks too for the HID write up. Dave __________________ 1991 #1516 Black/Black davidmkelly.com Author of fast-paced, sci-fi thrillers.

10-09-2012	#10
A1990 Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Grand Island NE Posts: 1,512	Re: GC's 380 "A Brotherhood Build" Can we somehow get these two write ups into the HOTB? They need to be in there. __________________ Dennis Fierstein 90 ZR-1 #2562 Atomic-Z ZR-1 Net Registry Chairman of the Board ZR-1 Net Registry Treasurer

10-09-2012	#1
GOLDCYLON Join Date: May 2007 Location: Peoria, AZ Posts: 9,120	GC's 380 "A Brotherhood Build" As I pencil these notes together I am still working with Dominic (Xfirez51) on the fine tuning. For those who want to venture forward here is my story on my 380. I’ve learned a lot along the way as well as had a lot of hands on with my own car. I enjoy working on my own car but I could have gone nowhere fast without the registry. The car is strong running. It all started in my quest for parts (Shocker right?). Kevin (Polo-1) was having a fire sale in Jan 2011 and it all started with a simple question, “How much do you want for that crank?” Kevin was planning on keeping it for a short block build and that’s how it happened. A lot of the registry members became involved from that day on. Having put 60K miles on my car since purchasing it I figured it was time to start discussing the enviable motor exchange, hell I was fast approaching 118K miles. My car was using a lot of oil and filming out the back side via the exhaust. I knew from experience that either the Rings were going or the valve stem seals and hell perhaps both. All I know was the old girl and my daily driver was spending a lot of time at Bill Boudreau’s garage (ZR51 Performance). Polo-1 and I agreed on a price, options. My target was 450 HP to the rear. We both agreed that would be an easy target to hit since I had already had the top end ported by (Jeff) PNWZR-1 and was running Jeal longtubes and a few other mods. The build would start as I bought his bare block and crank from the fire sale and Kevin was kind enough to allow me to pay about $500 or so every other week. I just wanted to be in C5/C6 territory so the ole C4 would have some respect. Kevin and I agreed a 379 was the best bang for the buck budget stroker motor that Hib has recently been talking about. 368 was been there and done that.. 379 was the way to go and as BIG as you could go without getting into serious cash. Halfway through settling up for the price of the build. My first roadblock struck!!!! My daily driver went down hard in MAY of 2011. I rapidly paid Kevin to finish the build while ZR51 Performance figured out had gone wrong. I figured well now was the time. Bill agreed to do the install the plans were set for a Sept 2011 Install. The problem was the butterfly’s screws and attached rods for the secondary system went into the #1 and #3 piston area and wedged a couple of valves open. As incredible as this sounds the same thing happened 6 months ago on the other side. A decision was made to pull the secondary’s immediately. A lot of members have already done this. I had to have heads to work on plus more cams. Cliff (Dynomite) hooked me up there by agreeing to sell me back the original heads and cams that came of my current motor from Polo-1s original fire sale. You can see all that damage here and where the screw hit the top and gnarled the piston and the broken secondary butterfly rod piece. Communication is key!!!! Bill was supposed to work on the Heads but he ran into time crunches so my son had just did some LS1 motor and head work done with his LS1 Camaro. He had a couple of friends at a local machine shop so the decision was made to move the heads to that shop. Unknown to me Bill instructed the shop to port the heads to match the Injector housings (All that was supposed to happen was a rebuild and welding over of the secondary system holes). The heads had already started to be ported before I knew it and I went down to see the work and all I could see was aluminum shavings. The shop was wow these are some really big damn heads and this is a lot of work it’s going to take a lot longer. I immediately offered to pay twice the amount I offered. The only thing it really cost me was TIME. In the end I’m doing this again to my own set of heads that are currently on the garage floor. However what was planed for Sept 2011 turned into April 2012 David calls me (ZZZZZR1) and asks me what I am doing about the cams? The plan was nothing until he explained hey about four of us lol well now five have gone with Petes intake cams. So the decision was made to get Petes intake cams only. Pete’s exchange cams were returned for his next shelf customer. All we had to do was wait for the engine to show up and now the heads to be finished. Greek Tragedy!!!! ZR51 Performance starts the install in April 2012 and after 15 mins of strong running a thunk is heard and the oil pressure immediately drops. After trouble shooting the oil pump, the oil filter housing, the oil pressure gauge the oil pan is dropped to reveal the horror. My crank had dropped an expansion plug and caused some minor damage to the underside of my new JE Pistons on the back end underside. On the tear down another plug was also partly starting to unseat. Polo-1 asks for the Block back to get the repair done and get all the expansion plugs welded in position like he had done in his last 402 build. Jerry (A26B) sells me his last 91 Oil pump to make sure I have no future problems. It’s decided to drive the car up to Washington State. ZR51 Performance mated my all new top end to my old bottom end to make the journey. It took me two days to get there with a night stay in Elko Nevada and the night I arrived after dinner we had the engine out in less than 3.5 hrs. We took the time to do a few wire repairs, Add a few mods and started the engine install process a few days later. Everything was back together. Dominic recommended using an Ostrich II Prom emulator until we could get the tuning close. The install was done by Jeff, Kevin, Sam, Peter and his son and I. Success !!!! What did I learn along the way? A few hard lessons but more importantly how important the friendships I have built along the way in this club are simply priceless. GC LT5 Porn!!!! Kevin (Polo-1) with his build 380ci LT5 11.75:1 add another .4 due to Marc Haibecks Cometic Head Gaskets so 12:15:1 ish? I have a theory that maybe that much compression had a play in the crank plug the first time around??? Whos knows lessons learned weld everything in the crank area !!! __________________ GOLDCYLON - 91 ZR-1 #2014 GOLDCYLON - 90 ZR-1 #2794, 4L60e (Formerly Schrade's) GOLDCYLON - 11 CTS-V Arizona State Director 91 WHITE/BLACK #2014. 380 P&P&PCed,Ported Heads, Jeal Long tubes, Corsa Exhaust/FIKSE FM-5s /LED TLs, LED Headlights, Front Wilwood 6 piston narrowlite calipers and rear Wilwood caliper street shop mod,CNCed Coolant Pipes,TPI Cvr,Filter cover,Stainless Bolts, DRM/DOM PROM /ZFDOC mod build #102,DRLs,BMAD with stainless Debris Screen,Coplan Air Blaster, Pioneer APP Radio 4,Brey-Krause HB,Sub Bar,Fire extinguisher seat mount,DRM Coilovers,LEDs everywhere,Compass mirror (orange),V1 DIC hidden display, Homelink sun visor, Carbon Fiber top x3 and APSIS Carbon Fiber interior, APSIS CF Steering Wheel/NAPA Leather, Banski trailing arms, Guldstrand front suspension,urethane bushings from Prothane (total suspension) ZFDoc drive shaft safety loop, raptor shift light (orange),AO engineering louver front plate, Console seat cushion, 96CE seats with black custom Sheepskins, ss billet catch can,Viper remote entry/alarm,Cragar Rear Louvers,LED side louver lights, Dewitts Radiator with SPAL fans and a Woods 160 T-Stat 90 RED/BLACK #2794. 4L60e Automatic Stage V by RPM Transmission, TCI Dedicated TCM, OBX Stainless Headers, Corsa Exhaust, SAN Secondaries and Haibeck PROM, Exotic Muscle Coil overs, LED Interior Lights, LED Tail Lights, LED Headlights, 94 Sport seats with black custom Sheepskins , Cragar rear louvers, GS Front calipers, Banski Trailing arms, APSIS Carbon Fiber steering wheel, Front and Rear Baer Eradispeeds, DRLs, Guldstrand front suspension,urethane bushings from Prothane (total suspension), Dewitt's Raditor with Dual SPAL fans and a Haibeck 170 T-Stat 11 RED/GREY CTS-V Last edited by GOLDCYLON; 10-15-2012 at 11:54 AM.

10-09-2012	#3
Pete Join Date: Dec 2003 Location: Chicagoland,IL Posts: 2,667	Re: GC's 380 "A Brotherhood Build" You did not mention the aftermath. Permagrin or no permagrin? Pete __________________ '91 #1635 PoloGreen 350 LT5 11.09 @ 129.27 11.04 @ 128.86 474RWHP 400RWTQ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFNFOhGGlR4 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZlRIOMwaDYY https://sites.google.com/site/peteszr1garage