Where has CaysE's SVT been? Build thread time!

[CaysE]

It's been a while since I've given a good update on the SVT, so here we go. Only two months left until Carlisle, and I'm on an aggressive mission to get two things done: swap on a ported head, and install a JRSC. In two months. OK, so a lot of you probably can do this in your sleep, but this is my first time really diving into serious engine work, so I'm taking my time to do things right.

Step one: get a daily driver. First problem was that I had an old thirdgen Camaro parts car in the garage. So I spent a couple weeks parting it out and getting the space all cleared out, then I bought Disrupter911's '02 SVT replica, and put the SVT in the garage for the winter:



In the meantime, I had picked up a used JRSC for a real nice price locally. It had about 40k miles on it (if I remember correctly) and the front drive was leaking fluid, so that needed to be addressed.



It came with the BBK pulley as you can see, as well as the 42lb injectors, updated MAF, most of the JRSC parts and a CFM tensioner pulley. I was pretty excited. I mean, it's not a turbo and I'm not going to have 350hp or anything, but until I got into an SVTf, all I've ever driven are shit cars with no boost. So I'm still pretty excited.

Anyway, first order of business was to get the SC into trustworthy condition. I poked around the forums and internet and came across Stiegemeier.com, one of Eaton's authorized rebuilders. They had good references so I gave them a call, they were friendly and helpful, and that was good enough for me. I shipped the whole unit out to them for a complete rebuild and blueprinting, and clean/flow-match the injectors.

Not content to just get back a regular old JRSC, I opted for a porting job as well. Excitement builds. Dreams of actually winning something at Carlisle struck me, and I pushed it one step further. Going all-in, I ordered an exterior show polish. Oh my... what have I got myself into.

The blower returns home a few weeks later. Everything was cleaned, the manifold runners were ported, the supercharger port was port-matched and horned, the plenum was ported, and the TB adapter was port-matched to the CFM 67mm TB. The rotors were stripped and cleaned, blueprinted to the case, and the front drive was rebuilt.









And if this show-polish doesn't grab people's attention at Carlisle, I don't know what will. I must be insane...



In all, I've spent just about the same amount of money that the JRSC would have cost new, so that keeps the buyer's remorse at bay.

I didn't stop here though... while I was planning the build, I gave the boys at CFM a call to talk about their ported head options. There has been talk for literally years about them offering a ported SVT head when nobody else would, but apparently the only thing that has held them back was getting somebody to plunk down the cash. So, the deposit went in and I gave them the green light.

What I got back was what looked to me to be a work of art. The head was cleaned, intake and exhaust were ported, cam caps were decked and re-honed, and the stock valves had a 3-angle valve job. I finished it off with a good thread cleaning for all the manifold studs.







Intake:


Exhaust:


At the moment, I'm sizing the tappets to be fitted into the head. All of the tappets I had from another spare head turned out to be too big, so a friend on FJ sent out a box of spares for me to try. What a guy. I'll be checking clearance on them today after work, and hopefully I don't run into problems. If I do, I have a feeling that the cam caps being decked and re-honed might be to blame, which would require some machining of either the tappets or the valve stems. I'll find out soon enough.

For those of you who know how I like to tie things together aesthetically, I couldn't just be throwing a polished supercharger into the engine bay without something to complement it. I enlisted the help of the fine boys at HTPerformance to come up with a polished valve cover solution. Unfortunately, trial and error deemed a straight polish out of the question, as the material would oxidize too easily. As many of you know, Brian and Jason don't cut corners, and they wanted to find a polished look that would last. We eventually decided on a chrome-like powdercoat, and I'm pretty happy with the result:



Here's a shot of the reflectivity of the finish. It's pretty close to chrome, just not as smooth.


And finally, how on earth could I live having a shiny supercharger and a shiny valve cover taken down by the horrific-looking heat shield on the header? Jet-Hot to the rescue...



I'll have plenty of updating to put up here as I go along. I'm still not sure where I'm going to get tuned, but I have a couple ideas. If anyone wants to come BS and help out on a nice weekend day, I can always use help with disassembly, assembly, cracking jokes, and eating/drinking me out of house and home.

[Sponsor]

[Bigfonsz]

everything looks good.

[Junk]

Oh my, subscribed!

[BigRed03]

looks good, can't wait to see the final product. How much are you hoping for with all the work done to the blower and head?

[ChuckDee]

my god thats a lot of shiny parts. you're a shoe in for first place.

[CaysE]

I'm trying not to get too optimistic, and thinking 220hp. If I end up with more, great... but I don't know if those numbers are there. In the future, the head can be used with a turbo setup and cams, so I'm not too concerned if it doesn't do much now.

[matt_chromefocus]

very nice set up will be wicked

matt

[Slow03]

Wow Casey. I was not aware that you did all that work done to the blower. I am usually not a big fan of polished stuff but that blower looks awesome. I am really exxcited to see some numbers on her when you get it all installed.

What kind of tune you getting?

[killer ZETEC]

cool. now put it on the car...
and i figured out what your avatar is.
a rabbit with knives tied to it by a string.

[Peregrine]

Great looking parts you got revived there!