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

[Cobra4B]

The AFRs were awaiting my return from VIR last night




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.

[Panoz26]

SWEET,

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

[Cobra4B]

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?

[Panoz26]

Originally Posted by Cobra4B

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.

[Cobra4B]

Originally Posted by Panoz26

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.

[Cobra4B]

Composite valve covers came in today. Also snapped a pic of the cam, rockers, and misc other parts.

[Panoz26]

So, tell us all, how's the installation going?

[mentel]

Nice Heads man.

What's the full specs on the setup?

[Blue Streak 21]

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.

[Cobra4B]

Originally Posted by Panoz26

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) 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.

Originally Posted by mentel

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.

Originally Posted by Blue Streak 21

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.

[eric1h]

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!!!

[Cobra4B]

Originally Posted by eric1h

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 some good pics from my cam swap... no I'm not stoned.

[eric1h]

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

[Cobra4B]

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.

[Cobra4B]

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