James,

Here are some nice looking blocks.

I vote for a big block LS type build.

http://www.golenengineservice.com/html/ls.html

This is what I think about James B. dancing for singles:

http://www.chevyhiperformance.com/tech/engines_drivetrain/shortblock/0903chp_540_chevy_big_block_engine_build/index.html

daddy_dandy wrote:

You have everything necessary to bang out a few motors. I bet you could build a handful, tune them, then ship them out. You could have a block in no time. Especially if you throw marine intakes on them. Certainly seems people would rather spend more on a complete plug in play package than do it themselves. Hell, I bet people would send you the parts that way you weren't out of pocket any cash.

On another note, I'll donate $50 if you post a 2 minute video of you doing the macarena.

i'll second that $50 donation as long as he uses a different server!

Okay... thread re-opened. It's cleaned up back on-topic to the 540!
(And please guys, the 383 is dead to me, don't want to talk about it... Thanks)

This 540 build will most definitely proceed. I've already got the majority of the big-ticket items:
- Lunati 4.25" Stroke 1-piece forged crank and bearings
- Manley 4.5" -21cc dish forged pistons and rings
- Manley 6.385" H-Beam floating pin rods and bearings
- Brodix Race-Rite CNC-Ported oval port heads
- Cometic MLS head gaskets for 4.6" bore
- ARP head bolts
- Crower Stainless Roller rockers
- Ported L29 intake manifold
- 62# Siemens injectors
- Accell billet distributor
- Moroso extra-capacity oil pan
- 24x reluctor
- Coil packs for distributorless ignition and harness
- 411 PCM and spare
- EFI Live


Additional items to acquire:
- Balancer, neutral weighted and grooved for blower belt (don't read too much into this - first phase of this will be n/a)
- New cam - specs not yet determined... possible solid roller and new solid lifters
- May need new pushrods due to length differences with cam base circle, lifters, etc.
- The infamous Bowtie Block part #19212192

There will be no investment in headers at this point. I am still on the fence between a 3.4L Whipple and a pair of large turbos. Either solution would be water-intercooled. If it ends up that the turbos win I'll have to fabricate a pair of turbo manifold. Rest assured that no plumbing for either will be hacked - I'll be custom making everything myself for myself.

As far as funding - two huge existing obligations end in December and then February for me which will free up enough to move this along at a pace more familiar to everyone when it comes to my projects. Not to worry. Time heals.

Ok........I'm back in track.

One thing tho I just can't get my head around............why the burb ???
I've come up with two possible situations.

1) you are trying to show up Howard.

2) you once said that you liked having so much power in your Tahoe so you could wow
your friends four-at-a-time. Now what six-at-a-time ??

Cool. Check out the boat exhaust manifolds. They weigh a ton but are plumbed for water cooling themselves, seeing as you are looking at water cooled turbos. No idea if cooling the exhaust manifolds ahead of the exhaust hitting the turbos is advisable, but the option is there.

Speeder wrote:

Cool. Check out the boat exhaust manifolds. They weigh a ton but are plumbed for water cooling themselves, seeing as you are looking at water cooled turbos. No idea if cooling the exhaust manifolds ahead of the exhaust hitting the turbos is advisable, but the option is there.

I'm pretty sure that James meant that when he does use forced induction, that he will be using air-water intercooling, although if he does go the turbo route, water cooled turbos do help with getting the turbo temps down before shutdown.
I wouldnt want to pull any exhaust heat out before the turbos as that will reduce exhaust gas volume, therefore rduce turbo speed. By how much I dont know, it might be minimal, might be a lot.

I'm glad this thread is open, I was shocked it was closed.

peace
Hog

Hmm, actually that's kind of interesting, Hog. If heat were reduced at the exhaust header, a smaller pipe could be used to maintain velocity, so you'd get the same force from a cooler stream of air. The same mass would be there in either case. I doubt the need for smaller piping would be an issue under a full size hood, but it would be something to think about. Actually, it might work out kinda like using an STS remote system, without the distance from the exhaust to the turbo, in that the turbo would see cooler temperatures and thus would not coke up with burned oil nor require any sort of after-engine oil pump recirc system. I don't know if anyone's put any serious thought into something like this, or if it would even be worth investigating, but the concept seems sound on the face of it.

http://lansing.craigslist.org/pts/1933816130.html

Maybe this stuff could help somebody

Speeder wrote:

Hmm, actually that's kind of interesting, Hog. If heat were reduced at the exhaust header, a smaller pipe could be used to maintain velocity, so you'd get the same force from a cooler stream of air. The same mass would be there in either case. I doubt the need for smaller piping would be an issue under a full size hood, but it would be something to think about. Actually, it might work out kinda like using an STS remote system, without the distance from the exhaust to the turbo, in that the turbo would see cooler temperatures and thus would not coke up with burned oil nor require any sort of after-engine oil pump recirc system. I don't know if anyone's put any serious thought into something like this, or if it would even be worth investigating, but the concept seems sound on the face of it.

Actually, by cooling the exhaust gas stream before it reaches the turbocharger, energy is removed from the exhaust that would otherwise be available to power the turbo. It can't be recovered by simply changing pipe sizes (first law of thermodynamics).

On a separate note, marine applications have a water jacket around the exhaust manifold and the turbine housing of the turbocharger.

PSWired wrote:

Actually, by cooling the exhaust gas stream before it reaches the turbocharger, energy is removed from the exhaust that would otherwise be available to power the turbo. It can't be recovered by simply changing pipe sizes (first law of thermodynamics).

On a separate note, marine applications have a water jacket around the exhaust manifold and the turbine housing of the turbocharger.

I understand what you are saying, but... would the energy lost from cooling the exhaust stream be more than the energy gained from a cooler turbo or less? If less energy were lost than was gained by a cooler unit, it might could be worth the effort, and MAY be why the boat exhaust has a water jacket. Course, I could see the cooling jacket on the exhaust being a safety issue, to keep the engine bay from getting too hot and possibly causing a fire while in the middle of a lake/ocean.

One large issue with doing this is there is not enough cool - cooling water there to keep the manifolds cool enough.... they have an infinite supply of "sea water" that keeps the manifolds cool enough where you can leave your hand on them....l it would almost be impossible to keep them cool with a closed cooling system I would think.

edit:..... WOW...did I miss something? so this 540 maybe going into the suburban NOT the Green Tahoe? or did i mis-read something
IF this is the case.......WHY?

It would run hotter than the thing would with sea water, but would be a lot cooler than a manifold without water cooling. But like I say, it might not be worth pursuing, unless someone was bored and had a lot of resources to experiment.

If you cooled the exhaust in between the exhaust port and the turbo, I think you would lose more power/response form doing that, than would be gained as a result of less heat transferring over from the hot side to the cold side.
Basicaly in a turbo application or any application really, you want the exhaust gasses to not lose ANY heat if possible from the exhaust port to the turbo. In the cold side, you want to keep that air as cool as possible and you want to keep heat transfer from the hot side to the cold side to a bare minimum.

In a naturally aspirated application, guys sometimes use header wrap to keep heat in the exhaust, this helps keep exhaust velocity up and this higher velocity promotes better scavengining(as well as decreased underhood temps, and allowing engine work in between rounds when racing). In a turbo application, the higher velocity helps to spin the turbo harder than a slower exhaust velocity.
I dont know how much of a differnce we are talking about here, and there may only be a minute difference in a street application where most turbo apps are limited by factors other than the amount of boost the turbo can output, as most modern turbos can boost more than the engine can take(if sized properly)

I'm pretty sure marine manifolds are cooled with water to keep them from burning things around the exhaust, and to quiet the exhaust.

peace
Hog

stroker97k1500 wrote:

One large issue with doing this is there is not enough cool - cooling water there to keep the manifolds cool enough.... they have an infinite supply of "sea water" that keeps the manifolds cool enough where you can leave your hand on them....l it would almost be impossible to keep them cool with a closed cooling system I would think.

edit:..... WOW...did I miss something? so this 540 maybe going into the suburban NOT the Green Tahoe? or did i mis-read something
IF this is the case.......WHY?

yes, which is why I asked this on page #1 now.
"Seriously though, are you planning to steal the 420 Hoes driveline for the 410 Burb, or redo the Burbs driveline with a fresh setup? "

peace
Hog

Pauly I somehow missed the whole convo on page one... wow....I was l looking forward to the green hoe to be a beast I guess....

stroker97k1500 wrote:

Pauly I somehow missed the whole convo on page one... wow....I was l looking forward to the green hoe to be a beast I guess....

I was too, it would have been nice to see it go from NA Vortec 350 all the way to boosted 540BBC.

peace
Hog

The Tahoe's being left to die. I spun it in November drifting a long bend and smacked a wall. It's got some panel damage, bent a-arm and spindle, and broke a rear axle shaft. Two rims got taco'd.
Considering the clearcoat and paint on the thing was so bad the roof was rusting badly, I decided not to fix it. A good paint job similar to what Patrick's just done would have cost me $3k. These trucks quite simply and realistically are not worth much any more. Got the Suburban 2 days later with 112k on it in remarkable condition for only $5900 - already has many of the things I spent thousands upgrading the Tahoe with. Another huge problem with the Tahoe was the suspension. It just could not handle the weight and the power and would have required re-engineering from scratch to reach desired performance.
I still have the Tahoe. I am toying with the idea of making it into an exhibition vehicle or a Derby car. In case anyone's already wondering, sorry no parts are yet available because it's fate is unclear.
So, back to the Suburban... I love it. Such a better vehicle than the Tahoe. It's the little things like the gas tank in the back with the fuel pump easy to change, all the room underneath for huge exhaust, the suspension, the back windows that go all the way down and the rear HVAC with heat and a floor outlet. It's great.
On another more amusing note, it's ridiculous that I now have three L29 engines... haha
Financially it's been a rough year. My business "partner" screwed me so bad with a last-minute W2 I had to out-of-pocket 3k that I wasn't left with time to have saved in deducted claim, another 2.5k out of pocket for the other engine, another $4k out of pocket for the Suburban, and I lost a ton of time doing stupid things I could have spent actually making money. All these things would have been individually not so bad. Compounded it hasn't left much room for recreation.

That's about it.

The 540 is real, it's happening.

That's about it... anything other questions? LOL

Pics of the carnage?