Ah figured he had gone ARP but I must have not looked hard enough

 

Mains, rod and head bolts.

 

What was in this ARP box then? Not head bolts?

 

Sorry for the delay. Busy working, working, kids, and finally getting the truck done!

Yes, ARP head bolts, and header bolts. We used the same torque wrench, but not on the degree setting for head bolts.

I'll update more photos etc later, but we finished the truck 3 weeks ago this Saturday, but 1 week I was out of town and didn't drive it. I'll say it is better than expected so far, and I haven't tuned past 3psi yet.

 

Finally getting around to posting an update and pictures. We ran into several snags during assembly. Minor snags, but when you are borrowing shop access, and coordinating schedules around 2 jobs and as many families, finding the uninterrupted blocks of time required is challenging. The minor snags were things like a motor mount that was bad we didn't catch, and some transmission cooler lines I'd ordered from Rock auto back in February or March that were the wrong parts for direct fit with HD cooling, so we modified it to make it work. I also somehow ordered plugs for a Gen 1 SBC, so had to run to Orieleys to grab a set of TR6 too. My excuse is I was ordering Camaro and GMC parts, so they probably got thrown in the wrong box.

Assembly and install was fairly straightforward. The speed engineering headers went in and cleared everything perfectly. There were several adapters for a variety of catback systems, but none for the 6.2L 3.5" system. We lucked out that the end of the MBRP 3.5" exhaust system is double walled where it connects to the cat. We were able to cut the cat connection off the MBRP, and pull the inner tube connection out of the system. Then we were able to use one of the supplied tubes with the Speed Engineering ORY to directly insert into the MBRP system. We could have gotten away with a clamp but couldn't find a 3.5" clamp, so we welded it.

I'm VERY happy with the cam choice, as well as the headers. From prior experience with a 5.3 with a cam (bigger than this one) that was driven with manifolds and then switched over to headers, I was afraid of losing bottom end. Not the case with this combo. I don't know if it's because I went small on the cam, or the 6.2 is just that big. Either way, it feels better off idle and through all acceleration. I did retain VVT, and left the 'egr' parts of the table alone other than anything above 18* was backed down to 18*. I'm also very happy with the CTSV converter. It's just a little more stall than stock, not too loose, not too tight.

Tuning is still ongoing, but it did start and had no issues other than a hot restart and dieing at stops initially. I think I have BRAF and idle timing dialed in for 91 clear (best we have in my neck of the woods). Still dialing in NBO2 location to regain some mpg- I should be able to have 18mpg and 700+hp lol. Under boost is smooth. I've only tuned up to 5.5#s at this point- my AEM took a crap 2 Fridays ago, and the new one did the same thing last friday. Completely rewired it, sent the new one back, and the new new AEM should be here the 15th. The controller is the gauge itself, and they just start randomly blipping lean while cruising, and then die so they'll only read 20.90 or ----- during all conditions, and randomly trying to read. I did add 10% to the MAF hz 9500+ to make it pig rich and 'safe' until I can get 6# and up tuned. I'm hitting 5.5# around 42-4500 I think.

Next I plan to install a Mighty Mouse catch can, and Walbro intank to run E85.

All in all, it's louder at idle outside the cab than I wanted, but it covers up the blower whine. Not a total sleeper, but I can always throw the factory muffler back on. I can't say enough how happy I am with the build.

Anyway, here's some pictures.


The seal is held in with a c clip. That was frustrating until we discovered it.

CTSV converter.

 

More photos. Found the photo limit for posts.





Corvette crossover

4 corner cooling





Still missing some pulleys

Pulleys!

Dirty

First wash



The decal adds more hp than the D1SC lol