E39 Build: 6.0 LS. Coils. Burnouts.

[mikey G]

Did you run central heat/ air to your garage? I also love your key holder w/ the emblems, thats a cool touch. If this pulled up to me at a light I wouldnt think twice until I hear you step on it. By then all I'd see is smoke from the radials leaving me in the dust... Looks good man!

[nsogiba]

had a great night in terms of beating winter blues/boredom. for the last week I've been trying to figure out how to remount my Corvette radiator now that I've added the OEM BMW condenser assembly back onto the core support in preparation for A/C. originally, in a beer induced haze (in early 2013) I mounted it using pieces of aluminum cut out of the notch I removed from the GTO oil pan (no joke). looked like crap so I brought home some legit clear-anodized aluminum 2x2 angle from work and set about mounting it. Unfortunately the wrist injury combined with a general lack of motivation led me to multiple nights of head scratching and putting off mounting the stupid thing. Tonight I spent some time fitting it where I wanted it and got it all in place.

_DSC3574 by nogiba, on Flickr

_DSC3575 by nogiba, on Flickr

So in all her glory she started right up and idled great. The cooling system revisions (new hose splice/fill point) didn't leak a drop upon startup and everything got up to temp, and stayed there. Needs a tune!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPCRnwSJu90&feature=youtu.be

Naturally, no front bumper or headlights, no plates, no insurance, no problem. I needed to do a shakedown.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75a7-yd1jBU

[99sil-teg]

Nice man, loving the build so far

[nsogiba]

So in all her glory she started right up and idled great. The cooling system revisions (new hose splice/fill point) didn't leak a drop upon startup and everything got up to temp, and stayed there. Needs a tune!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CPCRnwSJu90&feature=youtu.be

Naturally, no front bumper or headlights, no plates, no insurance, no problem. I needed to do a shakedown.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=75a7-yd1jBU

[MommysLittleMonster]

I really wish you lived closer so I could harass you.

Love the progress, you've got to be itching for spring as bad as the rest of us trapped in this salty hell.

[nsogiba]

come and drink some beers when it gets warm. We generally get a few guys together and cruise around, hoon, do some highway pulls, then get dinner and beers.

[nsogiba]

picked up a very low mileage Millermatic 135 MIG last week for a steal, already set up for stainless. I have been wanting to make some changes to the exhaust since the catless setup both smelled bad and still had some drone even with cutouts closed. Spent some time over the last few days adding in the OEM resonator and M5 cats. I am reusing the 3" cutout I had on my setup to keep the shenanigans going when I want them, but the overall goal is for the exhaust to be silent (near OEM) when the cutout is closed.

[nsogiba]

Put these two together



and you get some of this



still need to do the passenger side cat. Once that's done I can take it down, final weld everything, put it back up, and then make the connections to the rear exits. Getting there!

[Wesside]

This car is amazing Bad ass car and awesome thread I feel like everyone owes you a drink

[MommysLittleMonster]

come and drink some beers when it gets warm. We generally get a few guys together and cruise around, hoon, do some highway pulls, then get dinner and beers.

I'll gladly swing by one night and horse around. What beer do you drink?

picked up a very low mileage Millermatic 135 MIG last week for a steal, already set up for stainless. I have been wanting to make some changes to the exhaust since the catless setup both smelled bad and still had some drone even with cutouts closed. Spent some time over the last few days adding in the OEM resonator and M5 cats. I am reusing the 3" cutout I had on my setup to keep the shenanigans going when I want them, but the overall goal is for the exhaust to be silent (near OEM) when the cutout is closed.

Nice work on the exhaust.

Did you pick that up that welder from Adam?

[nsogiba]

I drink any piss swill put in front of me as long as it's reasonably cold and has an alcoholic content.

Not sure who Adam is, I bought this one from a middle aged guy having an estate sale before moving across the country with his wife. Heard about it through a coworker.

[nsogiba]

[nsogiba]

So, some spring updates. I replaced the overflow bottle as the old one was discolored, replaced the kidney grills with new ones, and raised/adjusted/leveled the coilovers.

Took the car to be tuned at New Era, Mike did a nice job, although it proved difficult to tune.

Drove it to work every day for a week and generally enjoyed it. Went to Rochester to visit a friend:


On the drive back, about 60 miles from home, I got a random miss that turned into a tap, which quickly turned into a light knock 30 seconds later


Got it home, pulled it into the garage, and we get this




Oil Pan Doritos




All caused by this


Spring broke, dropped a valve, valve met piston, broke the rod, and sent it through the pan and block. So, now I'll need a replacement block and heads - the valve made some big gouges on the inside of the combustion chamber - currently on the hunt for a dropout just like I had. The spring was a single beehive, PRC 1518 good to .600 (my cam is .588 on both intake/exhaust). I bought the cam, springs, and pushrods as part of a package deal sold by Texas Speed. Spoke to them and they will be replacing all 16 springs for me with a stronger set, along with other seals, seats, and retainers. Just kind of ironic since I only drove the car maybe 300 miles after putting it on the road...if it had happened just a few hundred miles sooner, it would have been late last year, and I'd have been able to spend all winter fixing it. But, it is what it is, so gotta move forward.

Day after the motor blew - 90 mins in


Another few hours on Tuesday got me here



Had a buddy stop by and help me "put it in storage"





So, it sits for now until I can find a new motor. I only had a chance to pull the one head, and it was trashed. Still need to put the motor on a stand and pull the pan and accessories/front cover to see if the lifters/cam survived.

[loekaaz]

Damn... such a shame. Good luck with finding a new engine!

[nsogiba]

autopsy continues. wife wants to see what happened and helps.







ok, something to keep us busy while I wait for parts to come in. I found a set of flat-top Corvette LS2 pistons and rods, which will give me a nice bump in compression (i was running the factory "truck" dished pistons before)

some pictures I had on my camera before the motor died. Life was so good!

Finished my exhaust sometime in March and threw some VHT flameproof on it.


few items came in from ECS


the old coolant bottle didn't look great


30 seconds later, voila


New kidney grills to replace old slightly cracked parts


I had a few extra minutes so I moved my hose reel in the garage to a more convenient spot. My wife kept banging into it with her car door and would have continued to do so until ALL the paint was removed from the door, so a change was in order.


tidied up the garage, washed the car


his and hers



back to reality, some pictures of the motor pull









After 90 minutes we were here
[url=https://flic.kr/p/rn8WEq]

Day 2 after work




now the autopsy

LH head, #5. Valve put huge gouges in the combustion chamber. Luckily, these heads are readily available (and cheap!) so replacement will be easy.


luckily the timing chain was in one piece, so I was confident no other valvetrain was damaged (sure enough when I pulled the other head off, everything was great)


the windage tray was not so lucky


and for the grand finale...not one broken rod, but 2!


When the first rod broke, a piece of something must have gotten into the path of the rod next door rod, and knocked him out too.

Took a break from the motor work to bring home a new toy


Technician117 finally sees the light and brings over some GM power








Mockup - still need to decide final placement and plan new pads for the posts