Everyday is Christmas when you get new car parts...

The AFRs were awaiting my return from VIR last night :naughty:

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Just waiting for the ported Edelbrock intake, pro-systems carb, and ignition system before she goes under the knife this winter. Will be installing fresh shocks, 550/350lb springs, fresh spindles, fresh rotors, and ditching the PI system for some good 'ol analog gages.

SWEET,

We did the PI swap -- much better....much.

Do you have a speedo? I bought a sensor from Gary Jones, but never hooked it up. How do you hook up an analog speedo gage? Where does it pickup the speed?

Do you have a speedo? I bought a sensor from Gary Jones, but never hooked it up. How do you hook up an analog speedo gage? Where does it pickup the speed?

Well, the sensor was/is in the car -- on the tranny tunnel at the rear of the cockpit you will see a sensor with wires - these trace all the way to the PI. Connect those to the Analog and then calibrate it.

Should work, we get signal and counters, just have not figured out the best way to drive EXACTLY the 2 miles needed to calibrate the darn thing.

Well, the sensor was/is in the car -- on the tranny tunnel at the rear of the cockpit you will see a sensor with wires - these trace all the way to the PI. Connect those to the Analog and then calibrate it.

Should work, we get signal and counters, just have not figured out the best way to drive EXACTLY the 2 miles needed to calibrate the darn thing.
Gotcha... mine doesn't have that. My speedo sensor was coiled around my left front upper frame rail and was cracked, but labeled. I got a new sensor and trigger from Gary that uses the LR brake rotor to calculate speed, but have had zero interest/need to use it.

It would be interesting to see entry/exit speeds at certain turns and sections, but not really needed.

Composite valve covers came in today. Also snapped a pic of the cam, rockers, and misc other parts.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/cobra4b/Panoz%20GTRA/DSCF2352.jpg
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So, tell us all, how's the installation going?

Nice Heads man.

What's the full specs on the setup?

You're gonna love the increased hp and rev range. Are you planning on dyno'ing the motor after surgury? I'm curious what it will make. You're shooting for 320 at the rear wheels, right? you should make that with ease.

So, tell us all, how's the installation going?
Well all the parts look very pretty on my kitchen table :) Still waiting on the manifold, carb, ingniton, and fuel system parts to come it. Then I'm hauling it up to Performance Autosport in Richmond (www.performanceautosport.com (http://www.performanceautosport.com)) to do the motor and install our new suspension and brakes. My garage is full of cars and I don't have the time to do the work. I just spent 8 months making my Z06 a targa and repainting the whole car. I did all of the work other than the actual spraying of the paint and I'm pretty drained on doing car projects. I wish my father was closer (he's 4 hrs away) so we could do the Panoz together over the winter, but oh well.
Nice Heads man.

What's the full specs on the setup?
Thanks... AFR165s, custom Ed Curtis 5.0 road race cam (comp cam), comp full roller rockers, hardened pushrods, etc etc. Going with a ported Edlebrock performer PRM manifold from Ed, a pro-systems carb, mallory distributor w/ steel gear, mallory ignition and a revised fuel system for the carb. Going to ditch all the wiring from the oem PCM in there.
You're gonna love the increased hp and rev range. Are you planning on dyno'ing the motor after surgury? I'm curious what it will make. You're shooting for 320 at the rear wheels, right? you should make that with ease.
Should really be a great car w/ the suspension firmed/freshened up and more power. We're going to dyno and weight the car before/after to see the differences.

We wanted around 320 rwhp, but more would be fine. Just don't want a super peaky race motor that needs spring changes after every few events.

Very nice, cant wait to see it out at VIR! all you 5.0 guys up'ing the power make me think hard about doing the LS2 conversion!!!

Very nice, cant wait to see it out at VIR! all you 5.0 guys up'ing the power make me think hard about doing the LS2 conversion!!!
We thought long/hard about a LSX swap, but decided to work with the current platform because if we ever race the car it'll be in NASA ST2 and that's all about power/weight ratios.

If we just wanted a uber-fast track toy I'd have put a 402 or 418 in there (stroked LS2 or stroked LS3 block). You can make 550rwhp w/o really trying.

Plus LSX motors are what I'm familiar with :naughty: some good pics from my cam swap... no I'm not stoned.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v627/cobra4b/Cam%20Install/P1010073.jpg
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I figure for what these 4.6L motors sell for, the high availability of LS1/2/3-6 motors and like you, i know the GM motors much better than the Ford's. The cost to mod thesee 4.6's is absurd. To even get close to 400 CRANK hp, would cost $2000-3000.

I would love @ 380-400whp in a solid reliable motor.

So far I've found most of the pieces I would need. TR3500 bellhousing adapter so I woiuld not initially need a new tranny and custom driveshaft.

A new ECU, gas pedal and wiring harness

and an easy way to modify the motor mounts. All that would be left is placement and exhuast. The LSx motors have got to be much smaller than the 4.6 so that should all be pretty simple

Yeah... motor is tiny compared the the 4.6. I owned a '97 cobra and know all about the absurd cost of modding them. Most everyone slaps a (insert favorite blower here) on them and calls it a day because the 4V heads take wonderfully to boost. Then after a few thousand miles they blow up one of the stock shitty pistons and forge the bottom end, turn up the boost, and make real power.

To get NA power is crazy expensive... last I checked the only real player in that game was Sean Hyland Motorsports, but I haven't been in that world in 5 or 6 years.

As for putting a LSX in there... if you want to make it stupid simple GM sells carb conversions for them. You can even buy GMPP crate motors allready carb'd making a bunch of power.

All the rest should be easy... you could get some LSX shorties and fab up the exhaust, or make custom headers.

Ported Edelbrock RPM airgap manifold came in today... layed out all the parts to snap a picture for my father.

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Pro-systems carb came in today... also got replacement swaybar end blades in steel to replace the aluminum ones, one of which cracked last time out. FYI they're way heavier... not sure if this is a good thing.

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[quote=Cobra4B]Ported Edelbrock RPM airgap manifold came in today... layed out all the parts to snap a picture for my father.

What are you doing clutch wise with the new engine? I have left mine at the moment and will use for testing, but plan to install a Tilton tripple plate on a steel flywheel prior to first endurance race. Will certainly help to get the weight of the current set up off the back of the crank.

[quote=Cobra4B]Pro-systems carb came in today... also got replacement swaybar end blades in steel to replace the aluminum ones, one of which cracked last time out. FYI they're way heavier... not sure if this is a good thing.


Re the steel swaybar ends..............there are no free lunches in this life thats for sure..............!!

Like the look of the carb, very swanky! Looks as though it has annular boosters? If so should build awesome bottom end. What cfm is it?

I'm on the phone w/ my dad right now reading the forums. Yes it does have "annular boosters"... forgive me but I have no clue what those are... where are them what am I looking at? I'm a noob when it comes to carbs and we're going off of the judgement/knowledge of Ed Curtis who's a stateside 5.0 guru. I know it looks cool :D

EDIT: the carb is a Holley 4150 650cfm that Pro-Systems completely re-does. I think the spec sheet showed 667 cfm.

[quote=Cobra4B]
What are you doing clutch wise with the new engine? I have left mine at the moment and will use for testing, but plan to install a Tilton tripple plate on a steel flywheel prior to first endurance race. Will certainly help to get the weight of the current set up off the back of the crank.
For now leaving it alone... I have a Findanza aluminum flywheel on my Corvette and it makes a nice difference in the rev characteristics of the car. I doubt I'll go super fancy like the tilton tripple-disk, but I definately want to get rotational weight out of the car.

[quote=NZGTRA17]
For now leaving it alone... I have a Findanza aluminum flywheel on my Corvette and it makes a nice difference in the rev characteristics of the car. I doubt I'll go super fancy like the tilton tripple-disk, but I definately want to get rotational weight out of the car.

Brian what are you doing with the bottom end of the engine? Are you fitting a main girdle or doing any other major work? Looks like we have changed nearly all the same parts out in our engines looking at the pile of bits that you have purchased. One of the few things that I did not upgrade were the roller lifters. I just replaced mine with a new unmodified set of Ford Racing items. I know that these can be modded for higher rpm work to stop them pumping up (Keith Kraft Racing does this) but didnt bother as we are not running over 6200 anyway.

I did fit a main girdle as I wasnt to trusting of the std block to last 6 hours of beating even at the low revs we plan to use (5800). Fitment of the girdle only required light trimming of the crankscraper in the sump, down the oil pump end as I recall, where the kickout is in the girdle. Good part of gridling is that you get ARP main studs with some of the girdle brands as part of the kit (I used a Probe kit which had ARP studs).

Will be really interesting to see how the 165 Vs 185 runner intake heads compare dyno wise. Happy to send you a copy of the dyno sheets from our last runs if of any use.