My ATS-V windage tray that I ordered in January has officially been lost by USPS. Went from Dallas to Austin, then to Michigan, PA, back to Dallas and then poof, gone a month later. Said screw it and decided to try my hand at a trap door baffle system. Bought the trap doors from Improved Racing and they look like they will work nicely. Seems to be quite a few mixed opinions online as to whether trap doors in the oil pan actually help anything. I made the main chamber around the pickup substantially smaller than the entire open pan and the trap doors do seem like they will retain fluid where it needs to be. I did it out of stainless because why not.

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New JR19 15x10.5 -32 wheels showed up. I'm digging the bronze, it looks great in the light. I can finally get rid of my spacers with these wheels.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...a3b2362911.jpg
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Painted the V8R MGW shifter base flat black to match the tunnel.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...04692bbbd8.jpg


Welded on a riser to the V8R clutch mount plate. The original design had the nut overhanging the clutch master base and it was driving my OCD crazy. Now the nut has a solid place to land.

https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...37ed9424d4.jpg

And currently prepping the engine to put the pan back on. Be sure to use only plastic razorblades, and I'm going to use permatex ultra black sealer this time instead of the gm stuff. I had a leak at the rear of the oil pan on the last motor and I feel like the Ultra Black will prevent that from happening again whatever the cause.

https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...436f97345a.jpg

Posting this as a reminder/reference...

The flywheel and harmonic balancer bolts are single use only.

Harmonic Balancer Bolt
GM Part #11549124
Torque: Spec: 74 ft/lbs + 150 degrees

LFX Manual Trans Flywheel Bolts (x8)
GM Part #11588884
Torque: Spec: 22 ft/lbs + 75 degrees

Edit: Found some really good info online about single-use GM bolts since the LFX platforms seem to use a lot of them.
https://g8nation.com/showthread.php?t=30464


There are two types of single use GM bolts.

1) Bolts that have the thread locker compound (blue stuff) on the bolt threads. For the most part I have seen people saying it is okay to reuse these bolts when they are cleaned and more thread locker is applied.

2) The bolts that are designed to stretch permanently. You can tell which bolts these are by their torque specs showing an angle or degrees after the ft/lbs spec (see both examples above). These bolts are not to be reused.

JR19 15x10.5 wheels are finally on. Very happy to be rid of the massive wheel spacers I had to run for the 6UL's to fit.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...9ba2d5e6f6.jpg
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Got the spec stage 3+ clutch (unsprung) and flywheel getting ready to go on. I have seen multiple conflicting torque recommendations for the flywheel bolts. I reached out to Spec and they came back with a recommendation of 45 ft/lbs for both the flywheel bolts and the pressure plate bolts with a drop of red loctite on each bolt. I'm planning on doing both in stages, 10 ft/lbs - 20 ft/lbs - 30 ft/lbs - 45 ft/lbs.

CORRECTION: The pressure plate bolts are smaller and only 27ft/lbs. They still need to be done in staggered stages with red loctite on them.

https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...962e411e10.jpg
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I didn't realize Spec made an unsprung version. I know Goof is not a fan of Spec, but if memory serves it was the springs that gave him all the issues. Hopefully this resolves that issue & Spec has fixed the problem. I really like the idea of an unsprung setup. How much does this weigh? The stock setup is just ridiculously heavy in the future I'd like to go lighter weight.

BTW...You probably already know this, but the Chevy instructions said to tighten in a triangle pattern too. 1,3,5 & 2,4,6 if you number them going around. Not sure if that is standard practice or not with clutches, but can't hurt to tighten them that way along with the stages.

Monster makes a clutch for the MV5 and I seriously considered it, but the MV5 and MV7 do have slight differences and I didn't want to risk it. I'm using an MV7 from a cadillac and this setup is made for the MV7. Although their MV5 version would be very similar. All of the issues I have seen were around the springs on the spec clutches. Griff recommended getting a clutch without the springs and spec will make them that way on special request. He has been beating the hell out of his for a while now without issues. I just weighed the spec flywheel and clutch and it was 30 pounds exactly. I never weighed my oem clutch and flywheel, but it was at least 50 pounds I think. And thanks for the reminder on the triangle torque pattern.

For some reason, I thought the clutch / flywheel for the MV5 & MV7 were the same. I guess I figured the transmissions were identical except for the gearing inside, but if that was the case, our driveshafts & the mounts would be identical between them, and I knew they were different. 50lbs for stock sounds right to me and 20lbs saved is pretty huge! I'll be watching how this setup works for you, but glad to hear Griff is having good results.

I'm not 100% sure what the differences are, and I used the oem MV5 clutch and flywheel on the last engine and it worked okay. That being said, spec has different part numbers for the MV5 vs MV7 parts.

Cadillac CTS V6 2005-2009 (MV7 Trans)
Spec Flywheel: SC36A-3
Spec Clutch Stage 3+: SC363F-3

Camaro V6 2010-2015 (MV5 Trans)
Spec Flywheel: SC36F-2
Spec Clutch Stage 3+: SC36A-2

Last time I attempted to mate up the engine and trans it was a pain and took over an hour. I just did it in 5 minutes flat and wanted to write down what I did so I can remember it in the future.

1) Get a harbor freight trans jack, that thing made this stupid simple. I used a small impact gun with a 1/2" adapter to make it go up and down quickly.
https://www.harborfreight.com/automo...ack-61232.html

2) Get the engine on the hoist and as level as possible. I put it on a small sturdy wood table and used a big bag of shop towels under the front part of the pan. You want the table holding about 75% of the weight while it is still being held on the hoist. Just enough so it is tough to move.

3) Leave the vertical adjustment bolts on the trans jack loose (you'll see why in a minute). Also, put something like a small wood block under the rear of the trans to get it as close to the same level plane as the engine.

4) Get some long M10x1.5 bolts (or all thread) and cut the heads off. Then make slots in the heads so you can use a screwdriver to get them out if need be. Ideally these are about 4" long and will guide the transmission in once it is on them. Put them on the four corners of the engine block in the trans bolt holes.

5) Get an assistant and make sure the trans is in a drive gear. This was another key to doing this in seconds versus fighting with the two pieces. This person will gently turn the rear trans shaft when you tell them so you can almost instantly line up the splines.

6) Straddle the trans so it is between your legs and you can easily move the engine side up and down as well as apply force to push it into the engine. Get it lined up and pushed in as far as you can using the guide bolts and then have the assistant slightly rotate the tail shaft to line up the splines and it will slide together like butter.

7) From there I used a small C -clamp on the starter area to pull the two surfaces firmly together and then slipped in all the bolts and it is done.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...b030949b63.jpg
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Letting my ocd go crazy and fixing all the small things I ignored with the last engine. There is a small gap on the passenger side of the trans that exposes the flywheel and clutch. Finally got around to making an aluminum block off plate for it.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...31c6815be7.jpg

It was now or never to do the NA RX7 diff housing swap. I've never seen pics of the NB diff housing side by side with the NA RX7 housing (91 non-turbo FC). There is a very noticeable difference between the two, especially looking at the tops. The NB diff has the Kmiata brace plates on it where the notch is. Put a cat's paw on one for all you crazy cat ladies.

Edit: My garage floor looks like the Saw bathroom. Might be time to clean it.

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Using the custom made Differential Mountulator 3000 to get this thing sealed up and bolted together. You can get this 1" thick wood round from Home Depot for $10. Works great for mounting the diff and working on it. Then when you go to mate the housing to it, you don't have gear oil dripping into the seams (as long as the housing is clean). Also got the new Miata Roadster delrin diff mounts in. I don't have a press, but the vice did the job just fine. Very nice kit for the price!

https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...22d16bb670.jpg

I'm gonna have to come over and check your Exocet out once it's all together

For sure. I'm down south near West Gate and Will Cannon.

Mace cams just showed up yesterday too. Need to get a dyno in before to make sure everything is good and then I'll let Griff have at the cam tune.

I'm out near Steiner. Maybe we'll go hit up Lime Creek before it gets scorching.

Got the RX7 diff in and everything went smooth. Sent the downpipes off to Swain Tech for their White Lightning ceramic coating. Was looking at Jet Hot, but most of what I read online said the Jet Hot coating looks the best but the Swain Tech coating performs the best. Also repainted the front tunnel frame because I chipped the powdercoat last time I took the engine and trans out. Engine and trans are ready to go back in next weekend. Finally getting close to getting this thing back on the road.

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That's us here at Shakydog racing

We have had several issues with this combo.

Oil pressure drops/starvation has cost us 3 motors.

Transmission lock into gear because of weak shift forks.

Clutch discs come apart randomly .

And we have only been running them for about a month.

Your going to need more than that. Probably add an anti-climb baffle in the front, place the front baffle as close to the pickup as possible and make the area around the pickup even smaller. We found that initially without any baffles, pressure started dropping about .4-.5 seconds after brake application. We added a baffle in the front of the pan as you did and that extended it to the point of turn in before pressure started dropping. Need to probably baffle around the sides as well.

Have you guys tried oil pressure accumulators?

First off, love your channel! I'm subbed and watch all your LFX videos. You guys do some awesome work and holy hell you can drive!

Try the Spec stage 3+ unsprung clutch (special order, but they do make it) and aluminum flywheel. It was recommended to me by a friend (Griff) who has a 600whp turbo lfx and beats the living hell out of it on track. He hasn't had any issues yet.

On the pan baffles... Because of the way the windage tray with baffles has to slide into the pan and around the pickup, you could only add a wall on one side (passenger). I don't think that would make a huge difference as it might only knock off an additional 1" at best on the side. I'm very curious to see what you guys end up doing and also very hopeful you don't ditch the LFX platform. It is an amazing engine (and cheap!) if we can figure out some of the bugs. I'd love to make a larger pan with additional space but I can't go down and the sides have bolts that go all the way through from the bottom and are in the way.

Do you think an accusump would help? Maybe even a dry sump setup with a custom pan? I bet Keisler could make it.

Are you using a full depth pan?

that is next on the list

thanks, yes we are using the later pan that is shallower. I am thinking a top plate that tries to direct most of the oil into the center area around the pickup and diamond shaped area around the pickup.

has anybody seen or used the twin disc setup that Ram clutch has for the LFX?

accusump is next along with a larger cooler.

how much does the spec stage 3 weigh?

we are going to see if we can fix the tranny to make it reliable. We think we know what is wrong.

I'm not familiar with Ram, but Monster makes one too. They seem like a fairly reputable company, but I haven't seen many reviews on it. I know someone personally who was using the Spec Stage 3+ successfully with a 600whp turbo LFX, so that is good enough for me.
https://monsterclutches.com/gen5-v6-multi-disc-clutch

Spec Stage 3+ and aluminum flywheel was exactly 30 pounds. Pretty sure it is at least 20 pounds lighter than the oem boat anchor.

Please share your secrets on the transmission. Very curious to hear what you find.

A few pics of the carnage. Both motors had the same hole in the block. This time it looks like it was one of the rear rods that let go.


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I just emailed Keisler begging for him to make a dry sump setup for the LFX. I even told him I would prepay for it to help him get started on the R+D. Pretty sure others would pitch in as well.

Do you think a dry sump would have prevented the issues?

Broke down and ordered Tillet B6 Screamer XL carbon seats last night. Everything is backordered right now, but they should be here in May. It was one of my holy grail items I have always wanted for this car and I'm super excited to drop a serious amount of weight with them.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...ad5dd0536d.jpg

Switching to a K&N carbon intake that is larger and lighter. I think my old one was on the verge of being too small and this one will fit perfectly. Also fabbed up some 1/4" steel hoist plates that I think will give me a better angle lowering the engine and trans in from the top.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...4dbe1406b2.jpg
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Every time I check out your build you keep outdoing yourself!

I like the bigger intake & how you are doing the snorkel. That's a latter upgrade for me...I was thinking about trying to get a corvette snorkel and making that work like they do for the LS builds.

BTW Those seats.....Those seats are a work of art. They will look awesome (they already do) but in your Exocet even better! I'm not sure I'd let anyone sit on them.

The engine lift plates are a great idea. Sucks that you have to install the motor / trans from the top. Lifting up the front of the car and rolling the assembly in was one of the easiest engine install ever. Those plates will definitely make it easier!

Thanks man, it is a bit of an obsession at this point. I'm trying to get to 16XX pounds and and over 300whp. I should be damn close with the tubular control arms, spec clutch/flywheel and the tillet seats for the weight, and the Mace cams should easily put me over 300whp on E85. I'm slowly going back and replacing everything with lighter components and carbon fiber where possible.

I love the way the Z06 front intakes look.

I don't have to install the engine and trans from the top, just my preferred method. It takes four people to do it right though and not bang everything up, so if I was just going to do this by myself it would definitely be from the bottom.

What sorcery is this??? Just ordered a few pieces to test out on my radiator to coolant hose connections. I've been looking for a way to get rid of hose clamps for a while and this looks very interesting!

https://www.verociousmotorsports.com...SB-Hose-Clamps

we used a bunch of the powergrip clamps on our lfx build. six years later, they've been great.

Yeap, powergrip clamps are great - couple of caveats to save you some headache -

Summit racing searching for them is terrible. Use calipers to measure the OD of the *hose*, convert to fraction (usually +.25 the ID of the hose). The sizes are listed in decimal format (0.625, etc) very awkwardly, but usually they're in 1/8th sizes. You can lightly sand the logo off (1000 grit) and a quick wipe with acetone will make the printing disappear. If you can't reach a spot with your heat gun, shrink one side of the clamp and twist that side to where you can't hit it directly. Apparently there's a tool to remove them that's basically a bladed hook (I just learned about through finnegans garage). I've had pretty good (not 100%) luck by scoring the clamp with a razor blade and then cutting one edge open along the score to "peel" the clamp off and save the hose. I like to use them on no/low maintenance areas, leave the other side with a traditional worm gear/spring clamp.

Awesome, glad to hear! Definitely going to be using some on this round of the build.

I couldn't even find them on summit. Saw them on Jegs but ended up ordering from Amazon because I wanted to try the largest size on my intake and they were the only ones who had it. Little fuckers are pricey!

Yeah, I saw them on Finnegan's Garage too. Never heard of them before but look very cool and seem like a great replacement for metal hose clamps.

I was planning on using them on the radiator to coolant hose connections, and then use the typical clamps on the other side.

https://www.summitracing.com/search/...k&fr=part-type just for future reference - multiple brands, but pretty sure they're all just gates powergrip.

Nice, thanks!

This is the link I was using to see all of the part numbers and sizing in one place.

https://www.verociousmotorsports.com...SB-Hose-Clamps

Getting super nitpicky here, but the factory starter mounting bolt locations always drove me crazy on this engine. Why are there two lower holes? Why is the lower one used by the factory bypassing the ability to hold the trans when it looks like it shouldn't?

Some of the documentation I have seen shows that the outer lower bolt hole (closest to you when looking at it) is used to mount the starter and the inner hole is unused. I believe that is wrong.

If you use one of the normal transmission to engine mount bolts where it actually looks like there should be one (see pics below), you can still use the inner starter mount hole (closest to the engine block) just fine. I used some spare GM bolts I had laying around for both the starter holes. As you can see in the pic below, each was a M10x1.5 with 40mm of thread. Probably meaningless, but I do like the idea of using another trans to engine support bolt where possible.

Edit: if you use one of the larger 60mm long (below the head) bolts for the trans to engine block, it slightly pokes out of the hole on the starter side and this seems logical why they would have a second hole in the starter. You'll get full engagement on the threads and it assists when mounting the starter. I think this is the way it was designed to be used.

https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...710951a5b1.jpg


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Hmmm... dug it up in the camaro service manual and it does show the way I am doing it above as the correct way. I just saw a parts diagram for the equinox showing it as the other way. Oh well, just for reference the way I show above is the correct way per the camaro manual.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...c8f90886ae.jpg

Engine is back in, only took 30 minutes this time. Should be a week or two now and back on the road. Only thing I am still waiting on is the Swain Tech ceramic coating on my down pipes. Fingers crossed they get here soon. Oh, and no way in hell the oem oil filter mount for the equinox will fit with a filter on it. Keisler billet mount or the oem camaro vertical mount are the only options.


https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...8070757b5f.jpg

Have been talking to Keisler about oil solutions. Just a heads up, he has developed an internal funnel and trap door system that fits his pan that is 0.75" shorter on the bottom and will fit the miata subframe just fine. Pics below and this should be available soon. Griff is also talking with him on a possible dry sump solution as well for the hardcore track guys. But this looks awesome!

From Andrew: "You can see on the bottom of the block there are 3 holes which dump all of the oil from the heads back into the pan. I would assume this is over 50% of the released volume at any given moment. I built sheet metal gateways in the oil pan which will take the oil from all 3 of those locations and supply the center of the baffling located around the oil pickup. You will see there are 4 rectangle cut outs in the baffle. These are where hinged trap doors will locate. I'm confident this design will provide adequate oil to the pick up under the most extreme scenarios. No matter how long the G's are sustained in a sweeper or braking, the 3 oil dumps will be supplying oil inside of the trapped baffle."

Edit: He is looking for people that can log oil pressure on track to test these and give feedback. Reach out to Keisler Automation if you are interested.

https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...26264fc15c.jpg
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Awesome! I REALLY like this solution. (all except needing to pull the oil pan to install it...LOL) The simplicity...basically nothing to break or leak makes this such an elegant solution.

I wish I was further along, I would definitely be contacting Andrew to test. I'm probably 3 months out still.

I will be a buyer. Is he thinking about making a 3/4" shorter pan for us too? That would be the most ideal in my mind, along with an oil cooler, I'm hopeful this would solve all of my track needs. As sexy as a dry sump solution is, I rather not add the complexity.

Luke! Thanks for working with Andrew on this & letting us all know it's in the works!

His pan is 3/4" shorter so it will be an appropriate depth for us and will fit a Miata.

Oh and his pans are cast, not an oem welded pan.

Perfect! Fingers crossed this works as well as I'm hoping!

Not only is Andrew an AMAZING person, he is also a brilliant designer and machinist! The simplicity and cost effectiveness of this solution makes me feel a bit embarrassed for even going down the dry sump path. LOL

Now we just need to convince GM to treat the 3.6 block like the LS and quit changing crap all the time so we can build up a robust aftermarket!

THIS ^^^^^^

Got the new single wire alternator, using the Tuff Stuff that DJ Wade used.
https://www.tuffstuffperformance.com...us-79376g.html

Enlisted the help of a mechanical engineer friend and he is designing brackets for me to be machined. It's a bit complex as the alternator needs to be pushed out 1" for the pulleys to line up. Plenty of room on the driver side and this one is a bit smaller than the oem alternator. I'll share the CAD files once they are done.

https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.mia...342cc0940e.jpg

we are going to give this a shot and see what happens.

Credit to Andrew for the ramp idea.




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NICE! I bet it is going to work pretty damn well honestly.

Holy shit dude, that is beautiful! Nice fab skills!

My version looks like it was done with stone tools by a caveman compared to yours LOL

Making good progress and should be starting up the new motor next week.

Put an extension on the lower radiator pipe so I only need a very short 90 bend of hose versus a long straight and bend.

Made aluminum clamps to hold all the battery cables, wires, brake line and fuel hose tightly in the upper part of the tunnel. Heat wrapped the bundle as well as it nears the exhaust.

Swaintech coated downpipes came back and they are beautiful. That stuff is like 80 grit sandpaper, very weird but looking forward to seeing what it can do with exhaust pipe temps.

And lastly, we are on V2 of the alternator brackets. Couple small adjustments and I'll be sending off the files to have it machined from 6061. Stoked to finally get a decent voltage output from the alternator.


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Impressed, as usual. Dedicated and skilled work my man.

Nice job with that mount! I really like that you printed out the prototype first to test fit. That’s awesome. What’s the top hole on the mount for?

It is another M10x1.5mm bolt hole. On my backup motor part of that bolt hole was broken off in the accident that totaled the camaro it came from, so no bolt on the test fit for that one. It bolts right up on the good motor in the car though.

Thanks!!!

Got it! I thought you needed an extra bolt to keep it from pivoting. Nice Job!

First start... I am getting a weird chirping noise from the back of the engine. It is in both videos as I get closer and I can't figure out what it is. I don't think it is the spec clutch since when I press the pedal in it doesn't go away. Any ideas?

Videos are private, need to be set to unlisted.

Thanks for the heads up! Are they working now?

Luke the Video still set to private.

Should be working now. Please confirm.