2012 SS N/A Build

[acutron42]

Great pics! You will love the Mishimoto radiator. In the peak of summer here in the low 90's I was only seeing 190 cruising & 200 briefly @ idle.

[morepowerjoe]

Originally Posted by acutron42

Great pics! You will love the Mishimoto radiator. In the peak of summer here in the low 90's I was only seeing 190 cruising & 200 briefly @ idle.

Thanks!

[morepowerjoe]

Hey guys. I developed a lifter tick. The engine with all the new parts has just around 10k miles on it with CHE trunnions, gm performance racing lifters, BTR .660 springs, and GPI pushrods. So, I decided to get rid of the and go with the Johnson 2116 https://gwatneyperformance.com/produ...ers-st2116lsr/ lifters. Don't get me wrong I know they are pricey, but I don't want to continue on this path of failure with those gm lifters because if you remember correctly this isn't my first-time having issues with these lifters. So, I'm changing out the btr springs with TSP Pac polished .660 springs this time around (mainly because I already had a set of them lying around) and am going to use btr pushrods because that is the fastest route from Summitt. I'm going to reuse the CHE trunnions because they still seem nice and tight, but I do have an extra set of those to if need be. Here's a few pictures of the process.

[morepowerjoe]

So, I bite the bullet and pulled the trigger on some TSP PRC 260 6 bolt cnc ported heads. I've got them installed but have a hiccup. One of the lifters refuses to pump up 10% of the time and when it won't it sounds like a sewing machine. After having some doubts about the Johnson and pushrod length miss calculations, I decided to give the gm racing lifters another try. So, now I have the enjoyment of pulling the heads again in the near future and putting the Johnson lifters in that I got from GPI. Anyhow, me and my tuner Greg are in the process of tuning the engine with the new heads. No dyno tune just yet, but I will get it re-dynoed in the future, soon. Let me just say so far, we've added 1 1/2* of timing, and she wants more. These heads are no joke it runs like a beast now.

[morepowerjoe]

I'm going to post my old heads in the for-sale forum soon.

[morepowerjoe]

So far we're up 3* of timing in the tune so I know we're picking up power and on the engine torque on the hp tuners scanner it shows an increase of 27 ft lbs of torque which brings it to 557 ft lbs but I'm anticipating a little more.

[morepowerjoe]

Looks like we maxed out the timing at 28*. So pretty much what everyone else said about 2* more then where I started from. As far as the butt dyno it feels faster. lol 😂

[acammer]

Originally Posted by morepowerjoe

Looks like we maxed out the timing at 28*. So pretty much what everyone else said about 2* more then where I started from. As far as the butt dyno it feels faster. lol 😂

Sweet! I'm sure it's picked up some with the cumulative changes to the heads, lil more compression, and tuning. That timing number sounds pretty "normal" - it's like we said before they don't all like exactly the same thing, so it's not as if there is a standard on what it should be. Butt dyno's are notoriously inaccurate (at least mine is), but the main thing is it's up and running, and so your logging some good smiles per gallon. That's what these things are for!

[morepowerjoe]

Originally Posted by acammer

Sweet! I'm sure it's picked up some with the cumulative changes to the heads, lil more compression, and tuning. That timing number sounds pretty "normal" - it's like we said before they don't all like exactly the same thing, so it's not as if there is a standard on what it should be. Butt dyno's are notoriously inaccurate (at least mine is), but the main thing is it's up and running, and so your logging some good smiles per gallon. That's what these things are for!

I'm going to get it re-dynoed soon. Probably after I change the lifters hopefully one more time. I guess that's my Christmas present this year. Just glad my wife's still around. lol

[morepowerjoe]

Update on new heads.

Well, it didn't take long for things to go to shi*. After a couple days of tuning with the new heads, there was coolant leaking into like four of the cylinders. The way I first came to this conclusion was the coolant was low after driving it for those couple of days So, I thought I had a blown head gasket and since I needed to change those darn lifters anyways, I figured no big deal. And since I would have the heads off I figured I would have them milled .030 for more compression and to make sure the decks were nice and straight. I have been using the cometic .040 head gaskets and since I thought the gasket was the culprit, I decided to use a ls9 gasket this time around. After all that I started it up and it was pouring white smoke out the tail pipes so, I took it down the highway for a few miles and I thought it cleared up, but I couldn't be that lucky because at idle it still had a little white smoke. So, at this point I wanted to go back to my factory heads but didn't want to go back with the factory porting so I took them to TSP and am having their cnc porting service done. They said it will take about three weeks for them to complete. And in the meantime, I spoke to a rep at TSP and they said to bring the PRC in for a inspection so, tomorrow morning I will be taking the PRC heads back to them, and hopefully they will just swap them out for me fingers crossed. So, depending on what happens tomorrow I'll know which set of heads I'll be running. So wish me luck because I need some.

[Ashen 6.2]

Originally Posted by morepowerjoe

Update on new heads.

Well, it didn't take long for things to go to shi*. After a couple days of tuning with the new heads, there was coolant leaking into like four of the cylinders. The way I first came to this conclusion was the coolant was low after driving it for those couple of days So, I thought I had a blown head gasket and since I needed to change those darn lifters anyways, I figured no big deal. And since I would have the heads off I figured I would have them milled .030 for more compression and to make sure the decks were nice and straight. I have been using the cometic .040 head gaskets and since I thought the gasket was the culprit, I decided to use a ls9 gasket this time around. After all that I started it up and it was pouring white smoke out the tail pipes so, I took it down the highway for a few miles and I thought it cleared up, but I couldn't be that lucky because at idle it still had a little white smoke. So, at this point I wanted to go back to my factory heads but didn't want to go back with the factory porting so I took them to TSP and am having their cnc porting service done. They said it will take about three weeks for them to complete. And in the meantime, I spoke to a rep at TSP and they said to bring the PRC in for a inspection so, tomorrow morning I will be taking the PRC heads back to them, and hopefully they will just swap them out for me fingers crossed. So, depending on what happens tomorrow I'll know which set of heads I'll be running. So wish me luck because I need some.

Oh man, you've had a rash of bad luck lately with parts etc! I know that can be frustrating and hope you get some good news here soon!

[morepowerjoe]

Thanks Ashen,
Yeah I have had a bunch of bad luck. I've been pondering on selling the darn thing after I get it fixed but have no clue what it's worth. I'm just tired of working on it all the time and dumping money into it. It has 132k on the clock with about 10k on the engine. But I've spent so much money on it it's crazy and I know I won't get anything near what I have into it so it's probably best I keep it for a while anyways.

[Ashen 6.2]

Originally Posted by morepowerjoe

Thanks Ashen,
Yeah I have had a bunch of bad luck. I've been pondering on selling the darn thing after I get it fixed but have no clue what it's worth. I'm just tired of working on it all the time and dumping money into it. It has 132k on the clock with about 10k on the engine. But I've spent so much money on it it's crazy and I know I won't get anything near what I have into it so it's probably best I keep it for a while anyways.

I have been in that spot twice and tried to sell it once. A potential buyer got close but his offer was $500 below what I really wanted. Been very happy I didnt budge, lol. Sometimes you just have to take a break from it for a while.

[morepowerjoe]

Originally Posted by Ashen 6.2

I have been in that spot twice and tried to sell it once. A potential buyer got close but his offer was $500 below what I really wanted. Been very happy I didnt budge, lol. Sometimes you just have to take a break from it for a while.

And it seems like 5th gen prices are kind of down at the moment for some reason, at least stock one's. But one thing is if I was going to sell I think February would be a good time with everyone getting their tax returns and such. Also I think your right, sometimes you just need a break from things and I think this head problem may have been just what I needed to make me take a break because it's been almost two weeks now since I've driven it so, I'm starting to miss her a little now.