PDA

View Full Version : Back after long break..Project Novacane!



Novacane
08-23-2004, 04:48 PM
Glad to see the old forum format gone and updated to this new style! Since this change I have changed my user name from GEN3 Nova to Novacane which has become the name of my PT Nova project.

I last left off with the receiving of my Art Morrision 2" x 4" custom frame that we spent weeks laying out to fit our requirements. This frame utilizies the C5's awesome front end geometry by using the upper and lower control arms off a 01 Corvette. I am a huge late model Corvette freak and have quite a bit of experience with road racing so I can really appreciate how they work! The rear is AME's Triangulated 4-bar setup with a Ford HD 9" rear. The housing is stuffed with a locker and 35 spline axles from Strange. This car will see trips to the drag strip and I didn't want any BS....I'll learn to deal with the locker on the street for piece of mind!

The body, which just got a complete reskinning, has finally met the frame after 4 months. The frame height and width was fabricated to facilitate a set of 245/35/18's up front and 295/35/18's in the rear. Ride heights is approx. 6" to the rockers in the front and about 7" in the rear. It looks sick with the temporary 2K C5 wheels underneath!

The power plant is also picking up speed. It is a 427 ci GEN3 LS1 motor that will be forced fed by twin custom T-61 turbos. As an owner of a late model performance shop in NY I am around the LS1 motor everyday. Hands down the best power plant for these types of projects! The block is expected to me by next week as Darton is completing the installation of there MID sleeves. For those who don't know what that is; Darton CNC's the block to remove all four cylinders per side of the aluminum block. New cast iron liners are installed that interlock together creating a block that is 50% stronger then stock and allows the bore to be pushed to up to 4.150" from the stock 3.890". For the 427 it will be 4.125". The crank is a SCAT billet piece that has a 4.00" stroke. Connecting rods are Carrillo 6.125" H-beams and the pistons are being built by JE. Finally compression ratio should be 8.6:1. Hopefully by the time the short block is together AFR will have there new 225 head ready to go....horsepower is estimated at around 1000-1200 at the flywheel with 18 psi of boost!

To top this monster off is a custom aluminum sheet metal aluminum intake manifold...talk about eye candy :jump: To control this powerplant we just got a BIG STUFF 3 DFI unit. After months of trying to decide between ACCEL GEN7 and the FAST unit the BS3 unit is the most state of the art system out there.
With any luck the car should have a pulse by late November. There is quite a bit of plumbing to be done with the intercoolers and the 3" exhaust that dumps out of the turbos not to mention the custom exhaust manifolds I am designing and fabricating out of 321 stainless.
Finally the tranny is a T56 that will be hardened up by G-Force. They are moving the shifter forward, since the back two cylinders are underneath the firewall :seizure: and I need all the room I can! The clutch is a Exedy twin disk that I hope holds up as there are not many more options to pick from. My 99' C5 has one and with the 538 RWHP and sticky slicks, hasn't let me down during 5500 rpm holeshots and high 10 sec. runs!

We'll enough with this. A friend is currently helping me with a website to host the pictures and updates of the project. I am looking forward to sharing them with all ,as I have received tons of help from people on this forum. Maybe someone can see something that will help there project out.

Talk to you soon!

Howard

1970cuda
08-23-2004, 06:23 PM
need pic don't like words, need pics

parsonsj
08-23-2004, 07:13 PM
Howard,
Welcome back! Can't wait to see the pics ...

jp

TonyL
08-23-2004, 07:20 PM
:postpics:

/obligitory

TRILOGYZ28
08-24-2004, 12:10 AM
pics pics pics.... :attn: ....man i gotta see some pics ! lol!

Novacane
08-24-2004, 07:07 AM
Sit tight!! I am in Vegas on vacation and will be back home tomorrow! I will post some shots in the next couple of days. Thanks for the excitement!!

HT

Brad
08-24-2004, 10:04 AM
I can't wait to see the pics. The simple fact that you went into this verbal detail w/o pics to post with it, is just cruel and unusal punishment!

Salt Racer
08-26-2004, 06:18 AM
Howard,
Good to see you're still around here. Kev showed me a bunch of pics you sent him a couple months ago. Looking real good.

I think you can drop down the car another inch all way around and still have good turning diameter, especially if you cut off those 1.5-inch wide wheel opening lips. JP did a really neat mod on his fenders using 3/16" brake line, and his turning diameter is only a couple of feet over a stock C5 now.

Keep us updated!

K

Novacane
08-26-2004, 02:02 PM
Yeah John told me about that trick. I already had bought some 3/16" steel rod prior but I am going to try the brake line instead.

I already set the ride height up to deal with the current arc. At full lock it moves the fender about 1/2". I think the fender lip on the 62' is less then he 66' and up. When you look at the car from the side the top of the rim is inside the fender by a 1/4"-1/2". Looks pretty slammed!

The rear comes down about 2-3 inches below the quarter panel lip.

What pictures did Kevin show you? I think I just figured out (thanks to JP) how to post pictures under my posts. Will try to get a few up tonight. I hope my website will be up in the next week or so!

Howard

Salt Racer
08-26-2004, 02:24 PM
The pics I saw were taken before you trimmed off the 60" crossmember. Sounds like you dropped down the body a couple more inches since.

You may be right that 66-67 body is slightly wider. But they're probably almost as bad with squared off wheel openings. JP had hell of a time trying to get as much steering angle as possible. Without the fender mod and rail notching, he would have had the turning diameter of a crew-cab dually truck.

Looking forward to see the latest pics!

K

Novacane
08-26-2004, 08:13 PM
See if these pictures work.

My other shots are on my hard drive at work!

Salt Racer
08-27-2004, 10:38 AM
Looks good Howard.

I'd still say drop the arse end by 1~1.5" (if you don't mind taking coil overs off just to change tires). But that's just me :)

Novacane
08-27-2004, 01:00 PM
The rear is actually lower now then those shots illustrate. This weekend I am rolling the car out of the shop so I can get a better perspective of the look. I'll get some picts and post them afterwards.

As far as taking the coil overs off to change tires.....so worth it for that slammed look! :seizure:

Here is an early shot of the AME chassis!

Ralph LoGrasso
08-27-2004, 01:26 PM
Welcome back, Howard! Car is looking really good!

Who is making your sheetmetal intake? Email me if you want, I'd like to talk to you about that. Email addy is in profile due to it being hoarded by robots for viruses.

Novacane
08-28-2004, 09:28 AM
Finally rolled the car out of the shop! :jump:

It has been hard to get the right perspective of things inside. This way I was able to stand back 30 feet and see how it is all coming about. I think the stance is good and it's stayin'. Much lower and it will create too many other problems.

The rear tires on the back are only 275's and they are my low profile road racing tires/rims off my C5. Not enough side wall but good enough to roll the car on.

Kind of pumped me up today now that I can see it becoming a car.

elcamino80
08-28-2004, 04:55 PM
Wont it be too low when you put the engine in it?

Otherwise it looks *****in

edit: ok, it censured that but it looks real good :)

Novacane
08-28-2004, 05:06 PM
I fabricated a piece of chromoly tubing with adjustable hym joint ends and installed it where the coilovers would be. This way the car is at correct ride height factoring the weight of the motor and completed front end. The rear also has the same. This was the only way I was able to determine the correct height to set the body!