$2011 GRM Challenge Car

My newest GRM Challenge Project Car!

Page 2 has the balance sheet....

Quite a departure from my foxbody projects but the big tires, power and torque that come in the lt1 should make for a good competitor... this one was $500!!

here is how i got it home...

Why so cheap?? rod knock and riced interior :( but all was not lost as i traded a 94 (roller cam) 351w out of a Bronco for a very nice 93 LT1.

 Yup, its a 6 speed! it also came with a new set of 4:56 gears and master install kit. A nice alpine head unit, speakers and a cobra radar detector round out the list of included extras. Mmmm, yummy red spray paint....

The guy i swapped motors with was gonna put the LT1 in a 79 T/A and then found out how much the water pump and distributer cost, he was paying a shop to do the work so prices got out of hand at that point. he also had a 60's ford for his wife that needed a motor so the trade was on. How much did i pay for the 351 you ask?? $137 out the door at the local pick-a-part, sold the intake to the local scrap metal yars for $22 so $115 and i have a good LT1 :)

For more info on the Grassroots Motorsports Challenge: http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/events/2009-challenge/

Well, not what i was planning to do next but had a buyer for the 3:42 gears that were in the car so it now has 4:56! we shall see if that turns out to be a good gear for the car...

Well, my new camera is working so here we go :)

Exhaust, here is the $50 headers and y-pipe i bought on the LTXTech forum, after welding up the air injection and egr ports, i glass bead blasted them and had them coated for $75! they look great (the mid pipe is from the car)

Long tubes would be prefered but i dont see me getting a better deal on some headers and a y pipe than $50 shipped....

And the interior, now looking soooo much better....

still some red overspray on some stuff :( i'll deal with it if i come accross some more parts for cheap.

picked up a set of brakes! 13" Baers, a guy in my unit traded his 95 z28 m6 in on a truck... these came with the z when he bought the car from another unit member, it was an M6 car and the dealer gave him $2k for a trade in (how did i miss out on this twice??) these lovely brakes set me back $150 and came with 2 sets of pads! the red paint on them looks ok but i will be doing them over...

i disassembled the calipers last night to see how everything looked and strip/repaint them. lots of corrosion... so i asked my buddy if he had a clue, the guy he got them from had soaked them in something to clean them, while they were assembled! doesnt look like he rinsed them well either, when my buddy saw them he gave me $25 back :) i already had the caliper brackets mostly done when i took the pics.... Will be media blasting the brackets and calipers then maybe polishing part of the calipers and painting the rest silver.

Well, after dropping the front supsension, motor, and tranny i tried a quick test fir of the baers, they didnt fit! i had an LS set-up i got at the pick-a-part and they fit that... so... the baers will go on my 99 SS and the j/y LS set up will end up on the ta. i paid aroud $85 for the LS parts so that will drop the bottom line a few bucks as well.

i also have a 52mm throttle body that was sitting on a clearance table at Shucks, $78 out the door new! anybody have a 58mm they want to trade?? :)

this shifter was bought on ebay, here sitting next to what was in the car.... the threads are wrong so i will be running a die down them to get the no bird knob to work...

i also pulled the nose off, getting rid of the fog lights (weight) and will be making the steel portion of the bumper out of aluminum. also going to get rid of the windshield washer bottle...

I am going to make a video how-to on fender lip rolling as soon as the daytona gets moved, the drivers side is already done, the passengers side looks to have had a tire lose its tread as there is some lip damage. this will be getting fixed along with rolling the lip for tire clearance.

got the calipers finished, they are silver now... pics above. total cost to refurb, 1/3 can of caliper paint $2.23. i re-used the pads that were in the calipers as they appear ok and are already bedded in with the rotors. total time about 3 hours.

well, its been a couple of months... have been working other projects (the Shelby Daytona runs now tho!) but i am back at it.

That fender lip is now rolled and i did video it, will have to do some editing and get it posted. I have also been porting the heads and should be done with them tonight, have some bowl work left still. i also got the rest of the front bumper assembly removed along with the fans and radiator. i also picked up another cam as i have decided to turbo it, from the rear lol!

Well, I finally have a new update! Got the front suspension mostly done, still need some bar bushings and I am gonna make a steering rack bushing from some aluminum stock.... As you can see, i sprung for some used KYB AGX struts and this is the first photo of the LS brake swap. U can see the now clean t56 in the back ground also. I have jsut learned I may deploy to Iraq in September.... that means no GRM for me this year but the car may still go.

Per Per (hah!) my $30 d/s safety loop is a budget item along with the battery box i am building, at least that will only be materilas at about $9....

I ground the valves a few days ago and am doing the seats tonight. i also got a lot stuff off the front of the motor cleaned up and should have the long block together this weekend and in the car, then it will be paint time...

Done!