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I started with a GM crate motor LS376/480 that had been running in the car for 2 years with the FM headers and exhaust, and a Corvette LS7 flywheel.
I changed to the GMPP ASA cam, so now the engine is equivalent to the GM LS376/525. I upgraded the headers to the V8 Roadsters / Kooks long tubes, and I upgraded the clutch to a lighter, smaller diameter twin disc setup from Mantic in Australia.
Lots of people say the ASA cam is non-optimal. But it has only .525" lift, so it will have very low maintenance requirements. I like what I hear about it's character.
How did I miss this thread!?! Your attention to detail looks good. 6 piston front calipers, early NA dash, big cam, what’s not to love? More pics please. I know you’re looking forward to getting it back on the road.
I warmed it up in the driveway today. Had a coolant leak out of one of the heater hoses, easily fixed. That's the wet spot under the driver's door. Need to figure out why the clutch isn't disengaging, and then it can go to the exhaust shop.
I'm breaking in the clutch before I take it to the tuner towards the end of the month. So it's back in it's primary role as a daily driver. The hardtop was bought for the track, but I also use it if the weather is going to be iffy for a few days. Not sunny enough here yet to leave it off all the time.
Went to the dyno in Vancouver, WA yesterday (Wong's Performance). On a Mustang dyno, it made 462 rwhp and 425 foot pounds of torque. I'm very happy with the results. He worked on the idle and low speed stuff, and it drives much nicer at the low loads and throttle openings I use on the street.
nice. sounds like a healthy motor. How much did you pick up with the cam and headers, or any other mods?
Going back to some earlier posts you made where you dropped the engine out of the bottom. I may have to try that myself by getting the chassis up higher. It's a pain to have to remove the trans and crane the engine out. I'd like to move to some long tube headers in the future and if that was all I was doing, dropping it out the bottom, bolting them on and then putting it back in would be ideal. Was it as easy as that? I see the steering shaft was removed - did you have to do that to drop it out? Any other fitment issues with the long tubes in general or just getting it back in the car?
Well, the cam makes it mechanically equivalent to the GM LS376/525 crate motor, so GM thinks the cam is 45 hp (I started with the LS376/480 crate engine, and the cam is the only difference between those two engines). The long tubes are supposedly worth ~30 hp, as long as you're not asking anybody from Flyin' Miata. But I didn't do a before/after, so I couldn't provide definitive proof.
The headers and the twin disc clutch are the only "mods" beyond the standard LS376/525 motor.
The long tubes have the steering shaft going through the header tubes, so you *have* to pull the steering shaft to drop the motor. The long tubes are a clearance headache everywhere. I had to make a clearance bend on the lip of the passenger side frame rail to clear the tube for #2. It is very difficult to plug/unplug the knock sensor on the driver side, and it has to be oriented *just* so in order to clear the tube. It's super tight. I covered it all in reflective tape. Clearances to the starter are also extremely tight. I'm not sure a starter could be changed without dropping the motor. If I ever had to find out, I might pull the transmission and leave the bellhousing on the car. That might allow pulling the starter, if I could get enough wiggle room on the passenger side header. But it's very possible the starter can't be changed without dropping the engine and trans. I insulated the starter like crazy to try and help it live as long as possible. To get around the plug/unplug issue for engine install, I made the connection at the sensor semi-permanent and instead plug/unplug at a new connector I installed on the firewall. I moved all of the difficult-to-reach-with-the-headers connectors up there. So to install the engine and trans assembly, you lift it up and bolt it in, then connect the new connector on the firewall and all the stuff on the top of the motor. No crawling under the car to hook up the engine electricals.
Sounds almost as nasty to change the starter as it is with my E46 M3 SMG, Had to pull the intake tubes and air box in front of the throttle bodies to change the starter. Found out that a slight mod to my MIG pliers was required to reinstall the intake snap rings, for the smiles per mile and HOT ROD status, its worth it, LOL.
Starter Woes
