Killer II - It begins again - again
McSpeed
I really think I must need to get some therapy, or at least some medication to help cure the illness of dragging home old Corvettes. I swear....they keep finding me. After selling Killer (the one and only original) I realized that life just isn't complete without a project Corvette out in the garage. I spent countless hours looking over used car advertisements, ebay, craigslist...and no matter what I looked at or considered...my heart kept coming back to Killer. After posting on Digitalcorvettes that I was looking for another project and asked if anybody knew anybody that had something....I found myself looking at pictures of what you see below...and thinking to myself...YES....we can do this again....again...and again. We struck a deal then started the long process of hurry up and wait to get this old bucket of bolts moved from California to my new home in Central Illinois.
Getting packed and ready for the long trip across the country!
The next time we see this...it will be unloading in Illinois......
Ahhh...Safe and sound in Illinois...home of the high taxes and corrupt politicians....and you know exatly which ones I'm talking about!
We started out by lifting the body off the frame, then test fit the 496 cube 8.1 monster torque motor...
Now that we know the huge on large displacement has a placement...I temporarily turned my attention to the fenders. There are a couple of issues here. First, the left rear quarter was already sectioned off the car prior to purchase leaving me to regroup on where things were when it first came off. Second - and most importantly, the Ecklers fender flares (ZL1) have the "mud flaps" on the bottom that would integrate into a newer Shark...taking away the bold undercut of the body on the 68 and 69 models. Ecklers does not make a 68/69 flare that is an entire outer quarter skin. Because my left fender was already hacked, I'm having to work with these instead of doing the eyebrow style L88 flares that were specific to the 68/69 body. With that said...follow along as we modify the left rear quarter and get it glued on. The rear section of the car is very weak right now due to the lack of fender...and needs to be bonded back together to keep it from fracturing the body anymore than it already has.
We located the high crown of the fender at 10.5 inch from the bottom and marked it off. The flares had already been blacked out with spray paint to get an idea how they might be re-shaped to capture the correct bottom profile.
With the help of a whiz wheel, the bottom of the flare was easy to cut off. A quick trip to the store for some poster board and high adhesive tape, and I was then able to form fit and contour the appropriate shape.
After test fitting the new shape....we pulled the flare off the car and glassed it in from the rear and repeated the process on the front.
Okay...now that the fenders are roughed on...we take the body back off the frame and start doing some important frame mods. We notched the front cross member for the larger further forward lower pulley, and converted the trans cross member to make it removable.
With the frame ready...we moved onto the fuel system. The 8.1 Vortec runs like an LS1 and requires a constant fuel pressure. We opted for a TRE 343 in-tank pump and a 2004 Corvette filter/reg combo unit. With the help of a L bracket, and a bit of clever thinking...we have the TRE 343 (255 gal per hour) pump in place and ready to go!
To pull this off - we had to add a tank-through connection for the power/ground. We opted to use a -8 AN fitting and come through the top of the tank to reduce the chance of creating a leak. The optimal way would have been a connector through the sending unit lid on the bottom, but the chance for a leak is too great. We used the -8 fitting to bushing the wires, then packed it with gas tank repair epoxy. After it had set, we followed by applying a ridiculous amount of epoxy over the outside of it and made a patch to hold the wires to the tank to avoid them pulling away. When servicing the pump, the connector has to be pulled loose from the top, then the pump dropped from the bottom. The new filter sock and pump pick up are actually lower in the tank than the original pick up sock.
The second blue -8 fitting on the left pictured above is to be used as a tank vent to charcoal canister line. We are using the stock return line on the passenger side of the tank for the EFI return. The feed line comes out of the bottom of the tank just like stock.
Armed with a fuel filter for a 1999-2004 Corvette (which is also a regulator in one), a pair of Napa quick disconnect female fittings (3/8" and 5/16"), a Dorman 12" male quick disconnect double headed tube...some MPI hose and clamps...hooking of the external part of the fuel system is a snap. The combo fuel filter/reg keeps the pressure around 55 PSI, and makes it easier to just run a feed line to the engine bay. We have something very special planned for the feed line from what you see here to the fuel rail.
Test fitting the accessories.
We had to get tricky to insert a 40 tooth GM reluctor wheel in the Richmond six speed so the computer would read a true correct VSS signal. Call it overkill, but we want to have full control on the computer as well as DBW cruise control.
Click HERE to see the trans mods.
The oil pan is back from Dolly Welding/Fabrication. He took 2.5" off the pan and the pick up tube.
Not only is this a killer 4 bolt block roller block, but it also has sweet oil cooler lines built in with 1/2" NPT thread. This will run to an external oil cooler to keep the oil on the low down.
The bottom end is all sealed up now. Waiting on a few more parts before we slam the flywheel on...and drop this beast back between the frame rails.
Okay boys...this is slick as snot. From the fuel filter/reg to the engine, we are running OEM style nylon fuel line from Napa/Dorman. This trick tool presses the OEM style quick disconnect fittings on the nylon line. We'll be plumbing all 11'4" of the nylon line with fittings once the motor is back in the car.
The engine is rather impressive once assembled and ready to dunk into the frame. Below you will note the amazing DUAL motor mount design. This block will drop into a LS chassis or a standard pre-LS design with either motor mount.
The 8.1 also comes with pre-set oil cooler lines. They plumb in with 1/2 NPT male fittings. We have adpated to AN -8 and will route to an extneral oil cooler. Below you will see the only difference to an old-school big block to connect to the trans. The stock 8.1 full roller pilot bearing is larger around than your typical old style bushing/bearing.
We opted for a multi-pattern 168 tooth flywheel. This is an internally balanced unit. Metric stock 8.1 flywheel bolts are required to connect to the crank.
Scoggin Dickie Performance to the resuce to connect our Z-bar clutch bell crank to the clutch assembly. The 8.1 does not have the spot on the block to run the ball stud. With this handy device, we are back to stock geometry as if it were a 1969 427 sitting between the rails.
Painless Wiring to the rescue! This is their drive by wire kit with 4' longer extension to the PCM. It starts out looking like a jumbled mess but soon turns into the nervous system that makes it all go. They also have a killer new wire wrap that take the mess you see on the lower right and turns it into a factory perfect look.
With the radiator in place, we fill it up with some water, hang the wires in place (including the drive by wire gas pedal) and we are ready to test fire. We are currently waiting on the headers, so we hung the truck manifolds on place to get it lit off.
Houston...we have a problem! While test running the car I noticed there was too much pressure building up in the radiator. Then...she puked water on the ground out of the manifolds.... UGH! The joys of buying used on EBAY! This is what we saw when I drained the pan...and what was inside....
And...the goop is in the engine - everywhere! We pulled the heads off and found #1 and #6 head gaskets blown. Now - can somebody explain how you blow a gasket on both sides of the motor...? Hello - EBAY motors????? Buyer beware - back to the drawing board......
While we are waiting on the heads to come back from the machine shop - we punched forward on the drive by wire throttle mount and cold air intake.
Nothing better than making lemonade out of your lemons. In our case, this was the perfect opportunity to upgrade the engine with a HR270 cam from Comp as well as a set of matching springs, 10 degree keepers, Magnum roller tip rockers (so we can keep our valve covers) and custom fit push-rods. The heads use torque to yield bolts. After setting all the head bolts to a specific low torque, each bolt is followed with a DEGREE of turn instead of torque. New bolts are required as well as new gaskets each time they are serviced.
Using an old distributor housing, we were able to build oil pressure and flush the block. The heads were shaved ten thousands.
We test mounted our Vintage Air - Sure Fit system to find the sweet spot to punch the wire harness hole. We also added a pair of Painless fan relays and circuit breakers. Space starts coming at a premium, as the original engineers didn't consider the future desire to add computers and all hosts of modern electronic goodies.Our computer and computer relay/fuse center is located in the passenger side rear cubby. Here we can also tuck away the TAC module for the drive by wire throttle. Rodney at Spare ECM took care of the goods on the digital end. We are pre-programmed for the 8.1, manual shift, and comp cam profile.
Progress is what progress does...and today it did something wonderful! We made some temporary connections, bled the brakes....and we took it for the first ride. Check out the following video for the goods. This is running with open manifolds...The headers are on the way.
