S2's Build Thread

[Scott]

I was leaning towards Performance White on the headers, but I decided to go with Performance Graphite. It matches my color scheme better and it will be less likely to show wear.

Zirocotec ThermoHold Performance Graphite

The catalytic converter assemblies will generate a lot of heat so I had Zircotec cover them with ZircoFlex SHIELD. The assemblies were; (1) plasma-sprayed with ThermoHold Performance White, (2) wrapped in fiber insulation and (3) enclosed in a hand-formed and welded 0.1 mm thick shield. This is the same process that they use on F1 cars and the workmanship, particularly on such a thin material, is outstanding. Unlike other dimpled materials that I’ve tried, you can easily handle the assemblies without denting the covering. All of this comes in at a price. Covering the small catalytic convertor assemblies cost more than double the cost to coat he headers and merge collectors.

The welds are craftsmanship are spot on

ThermoHold Performance Graphite on the headers and merge collectors; ThermoHold Performance White, fiber blanket and ZircoFlex SHIELD on the catalytic converter assemblies; and ThermoHold Performance Yellow Gold on the heatshield

Given that the engine is out, the next step is to fabricate a heat shield between the cross-under tubes and the dry sump.

 

[Randy V]

Good choice Scott! It’s looking really good!
I like the white too, but one little problem / oil spill and they look like heck…

 

[Scott]

When I made the initial decision to run E85 I was aware that everything in the fuel system needed to be E85 compatible and that I needed to add an ethanol content sensor. I subsequentially learned that E85 contains 40% less BTUs than gas which means that the system must flow more. Since E85 is 85% ethanol and 15% gas that equates to (0.85*1.40) + (0.15*1.00) = 1.34 or 34% more volume. E85 also increases power, so the Wide-Open-Throttle (WOT) demand is even higher. Based on this information, I upgraded the low-pressure pump and chose an appropriate high-pressure pump. Problem solved, right? Nope.

What I failed to intuit is that what goes in must come out through the fuel injectors so I need to upgrade them. Everyone that I spoke with recommended the Injector Dynamics ID1700x for my application. The tuners love them because they supply accurate detailed data which simplifies their job and results in excellent tunes. Apparently one supplier stole their data, fudged it and presented it as their own (thread here).

While other suppliers modify stock Bosch injectors, Injector Dynamics is the only aftermarket supplier to have earned Bosch’s Authorized Technical Partner status under which Bosch Motorsport manufactures Injector Dynamics’ proprietary design. Injector Dynamics then breaks them in for a few hours and groups them into matched sets.

They’re very trick, but at $300+ a pop a set costs almost a quarter of a fully-dressed LS3 crate engine. That said, the upgrade was simple. I just removed the fuel rails, lubricated the O-rings with WD40 and popped them in.

OEM fuel injector (left) and Injector Dynamics ID1700x (right)

I’m not crazy about the purple aluminum bodies, but unless you shine a light on them they aren’t all that noticeable

 

[Jeff W]

Nice job blazing the trail. It’s not what you don’t know, it’s what you don’t know you don’t know that makes jobs difficult.

I think the little bit of color is cool, FWIW.

 

[Scott]

When I made the initial decision to run E85 I was aware that everything in the fuel system needed to be E85 compatible and that I needed to add an ethanol content sensor. I subsequentially learned that E85 contains 40% less BTUs than gas which means that the system must flow more. Since E85 is 85% ethanol and 15% gas that equates to (0.85*1.40) + (0.15*1.00) = 1.34 or 34% more volume. E85 also increases power, so the Wide-Open-Throttle (WOT) demand is even higher. Based on this information, I upgraded the low-pressure pump and chose an appropriate high-pressure pump. Problem solved, right? Nope.

What I failed to intuit is that what goes in must come out through the fuel injectors so I need to upgrade them. Everyone that I spoke with recommended the Injector Dynamics ID1700x for my application. The tuners love them because they supply accurate detailed data which simplifies their job and results in excellent tunes. Apparently one supplier stole their data, fudged it and presented it as their own (thread here).

While other suppliers modify stock Bosch injectors, Injector Dynamics is the only aftermarket supplier to have earned Bosch’s Authorized Technical Partner status under which Bosch Motorsport manufactures Injector Dynamics’ proprietary design. Injector Dynamics then breaks them in for a few hours and groups them into matched sets.

They’re very trick, but at $300+ a pop a set costs almost a quarter of a fully-dressed LS3 crate engine. That said, the upgrade was simple. I just removed the fuel rails, lubricated the O-rings with WD40 and popped them in.

View attachment 134475
OEM fuel injector (left) and Injector Dynamics ID1700x (right)

View attachment 134476
I’m not crazy about the purple aluminum bodies, but unless you shine a light on them they aren’t all that noticeable

that aluminum sleeve is removable on other ID injectors. Maybe you can swap out the sleeves for different ones or remove the anodizing from the sleeve for a bare aluminum look.

 

[Scott]

Never mind, I was looking at the wrong end.

 

[Ken Roberts]

You can remove the anodizing with Easy Off oven cleaner. I would carefully mask off the other sections of the injector with aluminum tape first.

 

[Russ Tuss]

Thanks for doing such a detailed writeup, Scott.

I'm really appreciating the depth you've been going to with all the writeups you've been doing for this project, it's been an enlightening weekend read.

Seeing references to other builds and how everyone is chiming in with how they did things, is really awesome. It's an amazing level of collaboration.

The depth of your 'Well, the SLC could be 20% more awesome.' mods is inspiring. Also seeing how your home shop has grown with the tools needed for the project along the way, instead of 'I already had this. Might as well use it.' Esp your dabbling into the 3d printed carbon reinforced realm.

 

[Scott]

Ken, Thanks for the suggestion. They're installed, the splash of color is growing on me and I've decided that I need to find more parts that I don't change so I'm going to keep them as is

Rus, I'm glad you're enjoying the writeups. They help me remember what I've done and hopefully provide some value to community that has taught me so much. BTW, some things get redone multiple times and I can't go back and edit old posts. For example, I'm currently working on new uprights. I had what came with the kit, I upgraded when RCR offered their new version (which I machined) and I'm now planning on CNC'ing different ones. Hopefully the third time is the charm!

 

[Scott]

I loved my headers in raw stainless steel so before they were coated I had them photographed. The photos just arrived. He did a several 360-degree shots using a rotary table. I'm going to convert them to video, but here are few. Note that the joints that aren't as pretty are where the tube steps from 1-7/8" to 2" so there is bulge on the OD.

 

[Randy V]

They truly are a work of art!

 

[Brian Kissel]

Just like fine jewelry !!!!!!

 

[Rich Kruger]

I think there is a rule against PORNOGRAPHY on this site!!!!

 

[Jeff W]

Love to hear how those sound.

 

[Scott]

Just like fine jewelry

My wife doesn't think so!

I think there is a rule against PORNOGRAPHY on this site

I'm working on a plugin for my website so that you can interactively spin them 360 degrees.

Love to hear how those sound.

Me too! It will happen in 2024.

Over four and a half years ago I modified the fuel filler neck to clear the throttle body and the induction tube. The mod isn’t difficult, but you need someone with good welding skills because the neck is made from thin spun aluminum.

tock (left) and modified (right)

The modification avoids the throttle body, but it guides things into a tight space between the 2”x 2” chassis rail and the oil reservoir. I used a flexible tube to connect the filler neck to the fuel tank. That worked, but it looked like ass and it rubbed both the chassis and the top of oil reservoir.

I recently pulled the engine and wanted to see if I could come up with a better solution. I started playing around with some 2” OD aluminum mandrel bends to determine if hard tube would work. After making a couple of cuts for mocking purposes it occurred to me that I had a whole set of 2” icengineworks blocks that I had used to design the headers. DUH! Fortunately I figured this out before wasting any material.

While designing the headers I found it difficult to conceptualize the shape when adding one block at a time. However, I found it intuitive to pre-construct J-bends and U-bends, hold them in place and then snap them apart in the desired location and, if needed, add or remove additional blocks. I was able to get a perfect fit with three mandrel bends clocked at different angles.

Perfect match to the prototype. Everything welded and hose beads rolled into each end.

At first I was concerned that the angle of the fill neck might make refueling difficult. However, with the stock setup the nozzle is typically pointed directly into a 90-degree bend whereas with the modified angle the nozzle is pointed straight down with no impediments.

It’s really tight, but even with body deflection nothing is going to rub. The horizontal hardlines are for the heater and the coolant bypass. I still need to add a cover plate to seal the firewall around the tube. The two bolt heads visible in that opening are for the rollover flapper valve.

I like where the fuel tank is located. However, it’s clear in this picture that fuel filler neck and fuel door are mounted to the fiberglass body and if the car rolled the fuel door could be easily torn off resulting in a 2” opening pouring vapor and gas into the engine compartment in close proximity to the headers. People worry about putting a rollover valve on the 6AN vent line, but ignore the fill tube which is 28 times larger. I replaced the stock fuel tank with a FIA-compliant fuel cell which, amongst other safety features, has a rollover flapper valve. It would be straightforward to retrofit the stock fuel tank with one.

 

[Howard Jones]

Ya, I did that, very easy to do. I used a flapper valve from ATL on the inside of the tank. ATL part # TF564

 

[Neil]

The heat shields that protect the chassis from the headers are finished. They were complex because the stock 2”x 2” chassis rails aren’t parallel nor co-planar and, complicating matters, I scalloped four of the chassis tubes to accommodate the headers. In addition, there were several hoses in the way. Fortunately, the guys at Back Bay Customs are excellent fabricators. The left side is a single piece and the right side is two pieces to accommodate the dry sump filter and lines. Everything is removeable with the engine and headers in place.

View attachment 133101
The chassis tubes were scalloped in previous post to accommodate the headers.

View attachment 133102
Paper and tape were used to make templates

View attachment 133103

View attachment 133104

View attachment 133105
The heat shield conforms to the scalloped 2” x 2” chassis tube. 1/8” shims were welded to the back side of the heat shield to provide an air gap between it and the chassis tubes. There is a small heat shield mounted to the engine block to protect the back of the alternator.

View attachment 133106

View attachment 133107

Nice work. Heat shields are frequently overlooked or unappreciated. Radiant heat can damage fiberglass bodywork. Here is how Manta Cars did theirs back in 1976: