Well I have sold off my 540 bbc to fund this project. 8 grand. The plan is build up the LQ4 6.0 I have. I'm running a stock bottom end. I've gapped the rings, turbo stage 3 summit cam, new pushrods, trunion upgrade on 317 heads, new ls7 lifters, head studs, elec water pump, etc.

Will be a E85 flex fuel system with a gm flex fuel sensor. Twin areomotive 340lph pumps in tank.

Tuning will be from holley efi, terminator x. It will have dual Mac valves and co2 on the gate.

Wastegate and bov are summit racing brand, look just like VS racing. 50mms.

Turbo is a VS racing s480 with a 1.25 AR T4, billet compressor wheel.

I'll be using some ebay headers and will custom make all the cold piping and hot piping.

This engine will be coupled to my TSI bolt together converter. Tsi wants me to run it as is before we make a stator change. The rest of the car is already a drag car still able to drive on the street. More then capable of handling 800-900 crank hp.

I look forward to learning more about gen 3 sbcs and holley efi. So far I'm impressed by both!









The goal is just to run at least as fast as the 540 BBC did. Which was a best of 6.17@109mph. I don't think we'll have any problems. We want to try more no prep racing which this turbo set up will be much easier to control power on the hit.

 

That's an awesome build your planning. I'm thinking about possibly going turbo when I'm ready to build the engine. I don't plan to go quite as wild as what you're doing, hoping to go for 550-600 whip in a car that is 99.9% street driven.

 

​​​thats a good goal. Im hoping that i can make my set up streatable again. Here's the progress so far. Still have to finish the new fuel lines, downpiping, mount and wire the coils and then fire it up.

 

Looking good so far! I'm building an iron block 6.0 as well, but I'll just be running pump gas. I plan on either an S475 or 480 if I go turbo, but I may possibly go with a procharger if I find one for a decent price. I'm looking forward to seeing how your build turns out.

 

Thanks, is your 6.0 a gen 3 or 4?

I got a gen 3 only because it was cheep, easy to find, and quite honestly it's good enough for now as I just want to have enough hp to run 5.90s in the 8th mile. That requires about 700-800 crank hp at most on my drag set up. I'm hoping that my high tq converter stall, boost tables, e85, and cam can keep the motor alive since it won't make nearly as much peak tq as a "more streatable" setup. I'm hoping to be quite mellow in the 4500-5500 rpm area so the rods don't bend so easily.

Previously this cars best was a 6.17@109mph with the 540 bbc that put out about 700 crank hp. Race weight was about 3550.

I'm going to start on pump gas but it has a flex fuel sensor and once I get the tune dialed in, I'll dump e85 in. What is cool about the holley efi is I have fuel and ignition tables set up already to compensate for changes in ethanol content. So if I want to street drive it or I'm out and can't find e85, it won't stop me from driving and having fun.

I've always went the turbo route with power adders. Overall they are less cost but can be more complex compared to a procharger.

 

Mine is a Gen 3 block, but I picked up a brand new forged K-1 crank from a guy that decided to change his build. He was building a LSA supercharged 5.3 and got tired of chasing parts during Covid, so he bought a crate LS3 instead. As a result, he started selling off parts for the 5.3. I originally picked up the crank and LSA, but I ended up selling the LSA . It was just the blower w/ no lid or accesory drive when I bought it and I got tired of trying to put together a complete kit to probably only get 500-600 whp. I know you can get more out of the LSA, but it usually requires porting and a pulley change which seems to make IATs an issue. Basically, it seemed like a lot of money for a modest amount of power.

Anyway, I will be using the K-1 crank and a set of forged I-beams when I build the motor later this year. I know it's overkill for my goals, but since I already have the crank I'm obviuosly going to use it. I will be mocking up a possitble turbo set up to see what route I want to go in the long run. I plan on keeping A/C as this will be a street cruiser, so I will have to see what I think the engine bay will look like when I'm done. I've seen guys run A/C and both single or twins, so I know it can be done, but I will really need to see if it will work for me. I don't want to dread the thought of lifting the hood to work on it.

 

So far the tuning has went well. Still finishing up some finishing touches. The hood exit stuff, made some teardrops, etc.

I also upgraded to a th400 fti trans. Its a stage 4 transbrake sfi bell version. The ATI th350 I had just wasn't ment for so much transbrake time. I'm very happy with the fti so far. I just hope my tsi bolt together converter does well and isn't too tight or loose. If not then a stator change will be needed $$$

I modified the umi crossmember I already had, got a 1 inch longer 32 spline slip yoke (sonnex) and the trans bolted up very nice.

 

Went to the track for the 1st time the other day. 1st pass sucked, but the 2nd pass I managed to launch off the transbrake at 5psig and run the 1/8 mile 95% before lifting. Keep in mind this is a "from scratch" tune. So I was a bit nervous to get the fueling, timing, and boost contol in check. But it did go well. The entire run was at 5psig. It ran a 6.73@99mph (lifted about.5 sec from the end of the 1/8 mile so mph should have been a few higher if full completion) 60 foot time was an even 1.40
This sunday we are going to give it a try again. My goal is to get a solid pass at 8-9psig on pump 93 before switching over to flex fueling.

I'm using the advanced tables to modify flow for the flex fuel sensor percentage. So I need the gas scale to be dialed in 1st.I was quite surprised at the et for 5psig on a 6.0 Ls. I don't see why lower 6s in the 1/8 mile can't be made at 10psig or so.

 

Well we have gotten a few more trips racing and it's been going well.

I've added co2 wastegate control via the term x, dual mac valves, and a dome sensor.

I also noticed that when I started to turn up the boost I was getting very high back pressure. For example 14psig of boost was 30psig of back pressure. Over 2:1.

So I talked with a few of my friends that have successful turbo ls builds and it was obvious i had too small of a turbine and a/r for a all out max effort drag race build. I also used some of the calculators for borg and garrett. They clearly pushed me to a bigger turbo. I know my hot side isn't perfect but if I can keep a 1.5:1 ratio or lower, I feel it'll be more efficient and help that SBE live longer.

I went from a s480 with a 83/74 1.10A/R to a s485 T6 96/88mm turbine on a 1.32 A/R and then the magic happen.

Spool up was pretty fast. not as fadt at the t4 but still within reason.

My prior best in the 8th mile was a 6.37@106.8mph on 14psig of boost. (30psig of co2 on a 2psig spring) 1.31 60 foot and 30psig of back pressure. Launch was 9psig on the t brake.

 

We made it to the 5s!

15psig of boost. 5psig on the line ramped into 15psig at 1.5 seconds. Also hit the scramble at the last second which upped it to 17psig.

Very happy with this. The 60 foot has for improvement but overall, it went well!! 1.30 60 foot

 

Good to see you still at it! Congrats on the 5s that is moving out

 

Thanks!

We raced last night at a track that had no glue, only was drug one time hrs before we raced. I had to adjust alot but finally nailed down a 1/4 mile pass and only had to peddle because the car pulled me out of the grove pretty bad. I never thought this car would ever run mid 9s so easily.

We launched at 2.5psig at 3600rpm, ramped in the boost to 15.5psig by 2 seconds. Had a somewhat slow 1.37 60 foot.

At least now we know what it takes to run a no prep front side track suspention and power managment wise. I really need da struts/coil overs in the front. I cant control it at all with the lakewood 90/10s i have.

Here is the run I'm car 191

 

Update. The car has been running well!

Best 1/8 mile to date is a 5.79@118.72mph on 16psig of boost with a 1.27 60 foot. I weighted the car at the track. Its heavy at 3420lbs race weight, me in it.

I've had issues with wheelies as I've tried to run faster 60 foots. I tried travel limiting, etc with not much success. So due to a new sponcer for the car, I finally bought some double adjustable qa1 struts and a parachute kit.

The struts are on but the choot may have to wait till next year as racing season is almost over. I really think these da struts will help us on sticky tracks and no prep

Im planning to hit the track next week and see if i can hit some new best times. My ultimate goal this year is 5.50 in the 1/8 mile or a 1.25 60 foot, without blowing the poor sbe lq4 up.

Wheelie video below.

 

HOLY SMOKES! Thats a Power-wheelie right there. Yea, front end limiters. It would suck to have to stack bulk weight on the nose, but you could also try that. Are you blowing apart the upper shock towers when the car touches back down to the track, or can you manage to guide it down?
side question, what rear sway bar setup do you use.

 

So these lakewood 90/10s are designed to toss the front end up and be stiff on the fall or to keep the front up. That's not what we want at all! Thankfully the front compression is so stiff that when it comes down, it doesn't hurt anything. I had to peddle it one and get right back in it so that it didn't completely crash down.

I now have qa1 alum star front double adjustable struts. I would bet that this alown will calm the wheelies down dramatically. I have hesitated to buy them before because of the price. 1100 bucks, and that's as struts only, the coil over stuff is seperate which we can do later. I'm generally a low buck guy. I paid as much for those struts as I did for my holley term x! Crazy

The strut tower looks good to me, solid as a rock still.

For the rear, i run a umi anti roll bar (drag bar) i got this years back because the wheelies, which were small then, were very violent and the chassis flex was pretty bad even with frame connector. That anti roll bar helped this cars launch more then anything else I've ever done. A massive difference!!

Hopefully I'll have some good runs next week at the track with the new struts! Ill be sure to update.

 

Woah, I see now. Glad you aren't suffering from any hammering down the front end and that the new 2-way adjustable struts will be a game-changer. I am going to have to follow along intently, I currently use the Lakewood 90/10s with good success but not nearly as quick as your getting out of the hole. Nice. That is a steep price for the struts alone, but can be dramatically worth it.

I've been thinking that the UMI rear drag-bar is the big improvement I am adding to the car this winter season. You saying what you just said about the drag bar is helpful, mostly because I don't think I will be seeing a drastic improvement in going from the current 19mm bar to the UMI 22mm bar that they offer. The only other option is that drag bar. The car is a street car before a drag car, so thats where I am curious about how "touchy" the bar is on the street, even in moderate road curves. My chassis does twist and thats with a 6 point roll bar, drag-bags, Koni yellow rears, and the oem 19 mm swaybar. The car has gone as quick as 1.384 in the sixty foot on a 150 shot, but I want to see how far I can take it after ditching the oem rear sway bar.

I'll be keeping an eye on your progress.
But, hell... those photos/videos of the wheelie are SICK !!!

 

Thanks iroc! Last weekend the races rained out. I did manage to do some test and tune on a no prep track. I need to figure out my power managment better. But I did manage to pull off a 9.29@147mph after blowing the tires off on the launch. 60 foot was 2 tenths of what it normally does. I also added a parachute. I built the kit myself, only real money i was out was the parachute itself and the cable kit. This weekend the weather looks perfect. Going Sunday to some bracket racing on a sticky track. 1/8 mile and once i make a smooth launch and pass, the boost is getting jacked up. Im treating it like it's the last chance I'll have this year. I'm so close to 120mph in the 1/8 mile! Currently had it at about 17.5 psig of boost. The no prep pass is below. The 1st time we packed the choot, it deployed correctly! Was a cool feeling at 147mph!

 

New best time. 5.77@121.3mph on 18psig of boost with a crappy 1.31 60 foot. We are all done for the year. I'm very happy with this ls!

 

A little update. So far I've swapped to ls7 btr head gaskets. Inspected the rods etc, all look well. Installed a tbss/nbss intake that I got for 25 bucks. Looks much better then the old gen 3 truck intake I did have. Also fitted a 92mm TB. I installed 2 new fuel pumps for next year. A TI 525lph and a areomotive 340lph pump. Previously I had a 450 and 340 pumps intank which worked well most of the season. I flowed them and they are worn out badly. The areomotive was 8 years old. The 525 was a knock off but did flow ok, it'll be a spare from now on. The last passes we made the pumps were starting to become worse each pass. The inject dc was getting up there and the fuel pressure was dropping. It still managed to make 5.70s in the 1/8 mile but the afrs were off, 11.7-11.9 which is not what I'm commanding at 18psig. CL compensation was climbing.

Also i am installing a holley can io module for some extra inputs and outputs. Plan to run a coolent pressure sensor, back pressure sensor, trans temp sensor, front and rear shock travel sensors, and a drive shaft speed sensor.

Last projects I need to do by March are new 28x10.5 hoosier stiff wall c07 slicks, new front runners, and possibly swap my rear gear from 4.10 to 3.73 or 3.55. Even though I like 1/8 mile, it would be nice to make some 1/4 mile passes without worrying about reving the poor sbe to 7800-8000 at 150-160mph.

 

holy smokes, thats an awesome update and a good list of upgrades to spend time working on. The 525 pump sounds ideal.

 

Never heard of coolant pressure sensor. Is this something used with forced induction? Warns you of head gasket failure?

 

Yes forced induction guys use them as a way to tell if they are pressurizing the cooling system, lifting the heads etc. I've been meaning to put one in my car and a back pressure sensor

 

1st pass of the year a month back. Ran well
9.23@147mph on the 1st try. 2nd pass ran the 1/8 at 5.88 with a 1.26 60 foot. Haven't made it back as my wife just had our 2nd baby. But plan to go back very soon!

 

Congratulations on all counts!

 

Last pass of the year. 5.52@126mph on the slip and 8.67@153mph. 1.25 60 foot. 5psig on the launch 25psi after that. The good ole stock bottom end gen 3 ls survived 87 passes so far with not one mechanical issue!

Im car number 191





Updates to follow!