Project GTFD (SVO V6)

CMac89

Registered User
Soooo, where to even start?

As many know now, after I turned my '89 SC into a Firebird, I went ahead and evaluated what I really wanted to do. Did I just want to get another SC and do what I had all over again, or get another car? Fact is that the production V6 has limitations as far as how much air it can flow and all of the motor's casting's thresholds are unknown. The only way to make something faster that has limitations is by having a lighter car and going to a Mustang is really the only feasible alternative to that. It's either the same motor and a lighter car or a higher output motor and the same car. I basically chose option two.

Earlier this year I sold my turbo setup and complete motor to a person who owns 'Project Sissy Paint.' With this newly required funding, I decided to shop around for SVO V6 deals. I started to price parts out starting with heads, cams, cranks, valvetrain, and so on, but they were adding up quickly. Out of a hunch I called a supposed lead on a guy that had a stash of SVO parts; possibly some motors. This guy actually did have quite a stash. He had two complete motors, from intake to oil pan, and a big stash of parts. Most of these parts I didn't even know were included, whenever I received them. Spare parts were a Bryant billet crank, NOS SVO block in the original box, a set of stepped race headers, 12 Carillo Rods, 16 extra pistons (that I can't use :rolleyes:, alternator mounting brackets, ATI Super Damper, MSD crank trigger setup, Peterson single stage external oil pump, Moroso vacuum pump, alternator, an original Ford Racing SVO water pump, and so on. I quickly bit on it and got a lot more than what I bargained for. I'm overly optimistic; some would even say crazy, but I knew that if something ended up bad in any of the motors, I would at least have a spare block to fix it.

I sold one of the motors and recouped some funds so I could have enough funds to purchase more of what I needed to fix the motor I had. The motor had some problems. Everything looked pretty good except I found that the cam had been galled. Whenever I removed the oil pan I found that there were broken pieces of a lifter inside of it. Apparently, somebody was at a race, collapsed a lifter, and needed to finish the race so they just slapped a lifter in there and threw it back together. I took the motor up to BES Racing to have everything checked out. They found that the lifter bores were out of spec, which I should have checked before I took it down there. They called me back recently to tell me that the lifter bores need to be bored out and lifter bushing installed to fix the tolerances. The lifters are about .867" and the lifter bores were out to .880", via my measurement. It's definitely too loose. I am undecided on if I want to mill the top of the lifter bores back and just run cheaper BBC .904" lifters or if I want to run the lifter bore bushings with the Isky $550 lifters that are made for SVO's. I didn't need to have that finished yet, since I have a lot of mock-up and fabrication to do first, so I took it all home.

There are two casting designs for the inline-valve, SVO heads: one with small combustion chambers and one with larger combustion chambers. Unfortunately, I had the small combustion chambers (31cc's to be exact.) Here's a list of parts and specs of the motor:

Specs that existed whenever I bought it:

4.130" Bore
3.400" Stroke
Roller Cam Bearings
Lifter Webbing Brace
GRP Aluminum Rods with ARP2000 Bolts
Jesel Shaft Mount Rockers (1.65 Int/1.60 Exh)
Titanium Valves (2.10"Int/1.60"Exh)
Custom Steel Pan with a Kickout
Flat top, zero-deck pistons (14:1 CR)

Things that I did were o-ring the block, 10:1 CR pistons, reground one of the cams, and had them order copper head gaskets. It sucks that there aren't any MLS gaskets available, but it isn't a big deal. The copper ones should do just fine. I'm disappointed that I didn't think about going to Titan SCE for the gaskets, though. I really like the coolant port sealing technology they use. I may have to try to sell mine and get a couple sets from them. I don't feel good about spreading RTV all over head gaskets just to get them to seal.

I'm getting bored of typing, so on with the build. I ended up trading another special person a tubular k-member for the set of custom SVO headers. I didn't get any lower control arms with it, but that isn't a big deal because I would still like to bolt the shocks in the factory locations. I'm going to get some 1.250"OD x 11/32" thick 4130 chromoly tubing and make some lower control arms out of that. I went into geek mode and calculated that the maximum, static deflection would be about .005", so it would take a lot to pass the yield stress of that tubing. I think that's gonna be the biggest pain out of everything is getting the front suspension to work out.

Looking at the intake manifold that was shipped on the motor, I decided it's too small and inefficient for my goals, so I'm going to build a sheet metal intake. I have the design figured up and drew up some intake flanges. I also drew up some exhaust flanges for the headers.

My goal for the car is to have a safe, reliable motor that can make 1k rwhp all day long until I can afford to finish the solid rear and a good transmission. I'll have front suspension and cobra brakes so the car will be safe this go-around. Definitely a cage as well. I don't think 1400rwhp will be out of reach. The limit will be the flow capabilities of the turbos I am using.
 
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Pictures!

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Dayum, Who is your DADDY now!


Good stuff Casey. You are untouchable when it comes to SC related stuff. Its got to be a good feeling, and motivational. All of this has been done on mustangs and Fbodies. The word UNIQUE comes to mind.

DO WORK!
 
I was suppose to be the first! *shakes fist*.

"Out of a hunch I called a supposed lead on a guy that had a stash of SVO parts; possibly some motors." You are welcome. :p

You'll be doing a MS3 I suppose?
Even or odd fire crank?
Wet or dry sump?
 
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I was suppose to be the first! *shakes fist*.

"Out of a hunch I called a supposed lead on a guy that had a stash of SVO parts; possibly some motors." You are welcome. :p

You'll be doing a MS3 I suppose?
Even or odd fire crank?
Wet or dry sump?

I forgot to put the "(Thanks, Tom)" after that!

You'll still be first as you're ahead of me and don't have to have a custom everything!

I'll more than likely do the MS3. That's all I'll be able to afford, plus I'll have some experience with it. It'll be easier to setup distributor type ignition over DIS. I can use the distributor VR sensor as a cam synchronizer, too, for sequential injection.

It's an even fire crank and wet sump. I'll worry about buying a $1400 dry sump pump and finding room to put a tank some other time. It's basically setup for a dry sump pump, though.

Too bad I couldn't get the 3.7xx" stroke crank. Could have had a 302!
 
Keep it simple. Wet sump will work. You can get NOS Oil pans from a mid 80's 3.8 for $40. Alternatively once my pan is done you can just piggy back on the order?

Good call on the even fire crankshaft.

I'm mucho looking forward to this project. Let me know if there is anything further I can do to help.
 
Nice. Some say a single 6262 has 130mph in it, 6266 133mph. I'm gunning for 9's with a single 6262. Would like to upgrade to a 6768 in the near future. Just have to recoupe my funds after the motor/trans/converter build.
 
:eek::D!!!

Going for world's fastest v6 turdbird?! I like it. :cool:

It's either the same motor and a lighter car or a higher output motor and the same car. I basically chose option two.

Good choice. :cool:

Project: Good'ole Tank's Faster Daddy
 
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