What a journey with that LQ4, big shame it didn’t work out.  Fast forward to 2023, I’m settled in Nashville and garage-less.  After a bit of Googling, I found the website neighbor.com (not sponsored), where people can list their available garages for rent!  I got a space and the project continues.

All this LS talk in the previous post… and I do feel like an imposter.  While the LS coded engines reach far and wide, at the top of the mountain is the real GOAT. 

Yup, I splurged and purchased an aluminum C5 corvette LS1! The reputation of the Al block is well-founded.  5.7L of fury spread across 8 cylinders in a compact light-weight package..lets go!!!! I risked it and bought an eBay block that came with accessories, harness, and PCM.  Upon arrival, the block was kind of disappointing because the engine was just covered in dirt and mud ☹ but it was nothing a wire brush and power tools can’t handle.

I have no intention of rebuilding the block (yet) but I did tear down the bottom end just to make sure there was no funny business going on down there. I’m happy to report that the bearings, journals, and crankshaft did not show any signs of scoring, nor was there any of that devilish glitter sitting at the bottom of the oil pan! 

I did swap out the Corvette “bat” style oil pan for a f-body oil pan.  Along with that, I threw in an Improved Racing oil pan baffle to make sure that pickup tube is picking up oil at all times.  Oil starvation is the last thing we want when sliding around the track.  Keeping up with the oil supply theme, I upgraded to a Melling oil pump for better flow.  Gotta keep things nice n lubed.

Besides the oil system upgrades, the rest of the engine is stock.  I have no intention of making massive power, I’m content with a nice 350-400hp/torques which should be very achievable with bolt-on upgrades. 

You might be asking yourself, “turbo andy cool engine but how are you gonna deliver that huge pow pow?”.  Welp, the delivery is still underway but half of the equation is already confirmed.  We went big.  T-56 Magnum F baby.  Mark from Norcal Motorsport (huge shout-out) hooked it up with a brand new T-56 transmission, RST twin clutch, lightweight flywheel and tons of other goodies.  This tranny shifts so damn crispy out of the box, its insane.  Mating it to the engine was a hassle but I convinced the boiz to help out (with some liquid motivation).

Next up, the wiring harness.  I have a lot to say about that mess of spaghetti, so stay tuned to see how I served it.