Jessrayo ZL1 build.

[jessrayo]

Originally Posted by mlee

SUPER nice, Is the HX pump in the trunk as well?

Yes, the pump is right in front of the battery, apparently a lot more volume than stock.

Originally Posted by LuckyZL-1

Oh man that thing is a gonna fly at the mile!!! Can't wait to see it and meet up with you guys. Nice setup! Andy is certainly the man!!

With the new ZR1 transmission gears (rear gearing is higher in ZR1) my top speed at redline in 6th will be about 190 on the road racing tires (shorter) and about 206 on the stock Goodyears. It should have very good pull all the way to redline if I can keep traction... If I'm hitting the limiter before the end of the mile I may have to swap the automatic rearend before next year...lol. As Andy says, it is only money....lol.

[jessrayo]

Originally Posted by silver surfer ZL1

eagles canyon track day is coming up september 7th via five star ford. alot of mustangs will be there aswell as mine and a couple other zl1's if you get a chance to register before all the spots fill up:

http://eaglescanyon.com/httpdocs/2008/payments.php

I tried to sign up there, but it didn't work... I'll just call Maggie. I'll be there. Thanks, stop and say hello!

[silver surfer ZL1]

Awesome will do. You have 3 options novice with an instructor. Intermediate or advance.
Looking forward to seeing the car.
Pmed

[jessrayo]

If I get the chance to get more driving instruction without paying extra for it I like to take advantage of it but sometime the instructors want you to go really slow until they are confident you can handle the car. That can be a little tedious for me. I'll probably just run in the intermediate class and get some more wheel time. I have the most room for improvement in rolling into the throttle sooner in the corner and going a little deeper in to some corners before turning in, especially in turns 1, 5, and 8. When I watch my own video it seems a lot easier to see the room for improvement than when the tires are squealing and you are feeling the g's in the car.

[jessrayo]

Time for an update on my car. I have had it home for about a week and have over 400 miles on it since the new blower, clutch, throttle body, transmission gear change and trunk mounted supercharger water reservoir.

First, the car is fast.... it was fast before but it feels crazy now, no matter what speed, no matter what gear, if you hit it....it goes. It is strange because the dyno only showed about 40 hp gain with the changes but now the power is everywhere! Oh, and I have only driven it on pump gas so far. I have another 50 hp to discover when I finally put race gas in it.

On the first drive home I found the the throttle body was throwing some codes at speeds above 150. Andy has fixed that and it is running awesome now. I only have highway miles on it so far but have not had the slightest issue with heat at all. The trunk fluid system is awesome and the supercharger is running smaller pulleys to hit the same boost. Between the increased airflow in the new blower and the cooler temps it is making 40 more hp on the same boost.

The biggest differences are in the top 2 gears that were swapped. I have the 1LE transmission in the car and the stock gear ratios for 5 & 6 were .74 and .50 respectively. The 1LE 6th gear was useless for acceleration. I now have the ZR1 gears with ratios .81 and .67. Andy tested it on the dyno and it will hit 200mph at 6400 rpm in top gear with these ratios. Basically the goal is to use every bit of transmission to try to hit 200 mph in the texas mile. I'll see what happens in Oct.

On Friday I will run it at the local drag strip. This is a slight point of frustration because I ordered Weld rims a few weeks ago and they still have not shipped. I have drag radials sitting in my garage but no rims to mount them on. I'm going to run it anyway on road racing tires.

On Saturday I will run it on the road racing course and really see how the cooling systems are working. I'll try to post video of my results.

Here is a pic of the speed data log, I took it for a burst over lunch today.

And Dan the site says you cannot receive private messages...check your settings or how full your box is.

[Sugar's ZL1]

Best of luck, Jess.
I've called Maggie to see if spectators can come out. If it's like a country club, I'd have to be a guest of someone. Should have taken that CBS press card that my former boss offered me.

[jessrayo]

Originally Posted by Sugar's ZL1

Best of luck, Jess.
I've called Maggie to see if spectators can come out. If it's like a country club, I'd have to be a guest of someone. Should have taken that CBS press card that my former boss offered me.

Let me send an e-mail to Jerry. He is the guy from 5 star Ford that is running the event. I always enjoy walking around looking at all the amazing cars running at these events. Other than what is happening on the racetrack, everything is usually pretty informal in the pit area and club house.

[islander033]

Great build and good luck!

[jessrayo]

My automotive weekend has come to a close. Some high points and some low points. Last night went drag racing. 11 passes, all were 125+mph. New personal top ET of 11.430 @ 131.12mph. Here is a video of an 11.7 pass at 130mph. Second gear starts to try to curb the uncontrolled wheel spin.



Next went to Eagles Canyon and with a long interstate highway trip in the early morning and logged my top speed again.



The day did not end well at Eagles Canyon, first session had hard rain and second session ended in being towed off the track. My car is back at ADM awaiting diagnostics... I guess I'll keep you all posted as it comes together.

[jessrayo]

For those of you tracking my build and that may have seen my engine let go on silver surfer's video here is an update. It is fairly certain that the head gasket let go and the engine coolant from the radiator went into the block. How all of the water got from the supercharger system into the block is not certain but this is what I suspect, My supercharger coolant system has a pressure cap with a T between the radiator and radiator overflow reservoir. It seems when the radiator got low and tried to pull fluid from the overflow it pulled all of the supercharger fluid through the T in the system and that is why the block got so full of water it locked up.

So the head gasket let go. Problem: GM aluminum blocks with over 750 boosted horsepower and the stock 4 bolt heads have been known on occasion to blow head gaskets (now people are telling me this). The GM LSX block for high horsepower boosted applications has a 6 bolt head but the block is made of cast iron and weighs 80 lbs more. That is 80 lbs I do not want.
My Solution: sending my LSA block to ERL performance to get it upgraded to a 6 bolt head set-up with half inch studs. Also going with ductile iron sleeves in 427 ci and bronze lifter bushings. The bronze lifter bushings are supposed to be smoother and lubricate better. ERL says the new block and head gasket should be trouble free to 1500 hp. I guess we will see. I'm thinking I may need to reroute supercharger cooling overflow or look at a different pressure cap. Then again if the radiator stays contained I won't have a problem again.

Damn it was running great before it let go. I actually felt sick looking at the video. I think it is going to make the Texas mile but barely. I'll keep you all posted.

[LuckyZL-1]

Good luck Jess I'm sure you'll be back burning up the track before too long.

[Sugar's ZL1]

Best of luck to getting the good stuff before the Texas Mile.

[ZL1-V]

Saw the video, car sounds wicked. You'll be back on the track soon.

[Soiledflame]

"I got a service tire pressure warning". Then I hear

WAHHHHHUNNNNNNNHAAAAAAAAAN

Thanks for posting! I would consider this the standard for any autox video wanting feedback, collaboration, or just entertainment.

I'm not sure, but who was driving, you or a track guide/friend? I only noticed a couple mistakes, most are probably due to the track paving or low tires, but the apex's were hit and it was cone to cone from what I could see.

Only driving in 4th gear? Can you explain more on that please?

I wanted to write a internet meme when you passed the Mustang, with your approval, what would you say?