Lindsay + Katech Motor + Son of Tranzilla = Cadjira

[Tao_Haus]

After months of planning a few ultimately minor headaches & some great work by the Gods on Mount Olympus -- oops I mean Lindsay Cadillac -- Cajira is finished. (As in "Rook [points to Tokyo skyline]! Cadjira!"). Yep, my baby's back with a new lease on life with a C5-R block based 6.7L K.spec engine by Katech, a built RSG trans and (ahem) a new rear differential.

Once again, I can't thank James and his crack tech Donny over at Lindsay enough. They took on the project when others wouldn't dare (really) and waded through more than a few weird details that cropped up getting the C5-R block to mount into my '06 V's engine bay (with a little help from Luke and UUC).

The install includes a set of the redesigned engine & trans mounts from UUC -- which certainly seem to be a radical improvement over the OEM mounts (I was on my second set of the OEM mounts already & didn't think they'd withstand the bigger plant for very long).

From the LS2 set up I'd been running, we reused my TPIS ceramic coated headers (which Donny had to recoat because the a/c condensate was killing them fast), the TPIS hi-flow cats and Zoomer's cat-back. (The ability to re-use this awesome sounding exhaust set up was one reason -- other than the 525 hp/535 tq power rating -- why I went with the Katech plant instead of an LS7 swap.

To strengthen the driveline, I went ahead and added a heavy duty Rockland Standard Gear "Son of Tranzilla" trans rated to handle over 750 hp -- which I might add was very reasonably priced. I already had the UUC shifter so we reused that, but we did put in an LS7 ZO6 clutch & flywheel (consensus was the UUC one I had in there might not be enough and I didn't want to find out the hard way).

Since the car was apart anyway, I had Lindsay add a BMR anti-hop kit, UUC SS brake lines, some unobtainium anodized radio knobs (what the heck why not), replace two hubs, replace some of the racing studs I use to run the STS-V wheels (the shop I had originally do that swap beat up one hub and screwed up some of the studs when they cut them down -- fixing that mess way back in the day is another great example of James Pollack's roll up the sleeves and get things done approach to customer service).

Anyway it sounds & runs great. I was frankly surprised given all the work I begged Lindsay to do to the car at once that everything came out GREAT!

Will post dyno results soon. Heading to Behe to get it dyno tested Monday and check & tweak the ECU (I had a spare so I had Vector Motorsports reflash it for the Katech plant, and it seems like they got it perfect or close but I want to be sure because the C5-R knock sensor location is different than the LS2, but I am running an ECU for the LS2-model CTS-V -- so we had to relocate them to mate to my LS2 ECU).

My thanks to George at Rockland Standard Gear Co. and Jason Harding at Katech, both of whom put up and patiently answered my never ending stream of idiotic questions -- especially Jason. Katech and RSG's customer service is excellent, folks.

If anyone's considering a significant upgrade, I highly recommend Lindsay for the work. Frankly, their know-how on these beasts makes them the only cost-effective option, in my humble opinion.

See you all at V-Day. Mine'll be the stealthy de-badged silver V (well, stealthy when its not running anyway).

P.S. I paid everyone mentioned in here in full for the labor & parts. No discounts were offered, given or expected for this post. Oh, and no animals were hurt in the execution of the engine conversion or the drafting of this post -- but the result might be a hazard to select species of venemous snakes (Cobras & Vipers come to mind he he).

[mpunklil]

sweet jesus

[Oleksakjr]

dayumm

[cobra29svt]

Can't wait to see a vid of it in action! Any plans for the UUC flywheel?

[Katech]

I'm glad that engine found a good home. Enjoy it.

[SoJersey05V]

HIIIII-OOOO! daddy like! whats that engine run for now? ($$$$)

[814V]

hot dayum!!!!!!!!!!!!!

oh me likey

imo you need to fly the badge of honor

[Tao_Haus]

I sold the LS2 and T-56 and I think that buyer's taking the UUC f/w and my old ECU, too. I'll let you know if he goes with the orig f/w (which I still have).

As for the Katech motor, I'm pretty sure it was a left over Kspec motor from a cancelled order and that to have recreate it would be sick expensive (like north of $25k or maybe more -- the parts in it add to more than that on Katech's site). But, I'll defer to the guys at Katech on that one. Maybe they have a secret stash of these laying around.

They do have what looks like a pretty sick 6.5L motor on clearance for like a little over $8k If I remember right (I think its rated at 560 hp & I gave long thought to that one but wanted the C5R block so shelled out for the 6.7L one). I'm not sure how streetable that 6.5L mill is. Ask Jason - he's responsive and up front.

I do know from cruising the Katech site a lot lately that they've recently recognized the street market for these cars & Vette's and put together a range of really tasty LSX motors. I almost went for one of them -- some are pretty inexpensive, including a budget 427 that probably puts out scads of power. Having driven the motor I've bought (which was built for streetability), I've got to say that their attention to detail's pretty amazing -- they even balanced & ported the oil pump on this one (I'm still scratching my head on that one, lol). I don't know yet how powerful it is but it sure runs & sounds awesome and pulls a lot harder than my LS2 did

[Tao_Haus]

Lol re: flying the badge of honor.

I de-badged it 'cause I've worked really hard to stay under the radar (hence the $ and hours to figure out how to do the sts-v rim swap when I wanted to run 275s).

Though even with the badges, 5-0 just doesn't seem to notice them. I didn't buy a vette in part b/c of how LE reacted to my old 928 S4. Vettes are pretty but you can actually push a V w/o drawing attention (that and I don't have to Sophie's Choice it between just one of my kids and their beautiful & talented mother).

[NormV]

Nice work can't wait to see/hear end of next month.

Nice E(?) in the back ground of the first photo.


Norm

[Tao_Haus]

Good eye. It is indeed an E. A 1986 300 E to be precise (if you look hard the 928's in there too -- I'm keeping the E but the money-pit a/k/a Porsche is yours for a buck a pound lol).

Just bought the Benz b/c I'd heard good things about the W124 chasis, needed a beater & knew I'd be sans my car for awhile for the conversion (oh and did I mention my oldest turns 16 next year & no way's he's getting wheel time in my car).

Been pleasantly surprised. Its sturdy & comfy. Has (seriously) 17,500 miles on it (had 16,500 but I've been driving it -- its weird getting 20+ mpg makes me feel guilty driving my V. But not enough to stop.). It was way cheap, too (3200+shipping from FL). Thx ebay.

[LUVMY04V]

That is super badass

[rand49er]

What a sleeper!

[Pete's Auto Clinic]

Really nice job!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

[bneal1022]

And the good lord sayeth, let there be torque. and there was torque. And they he proclaimed let there be hp and there ws hp. And he proclaimed let there be an individual with a skewed sense of reality... and this happened.

were you praying to the right place...?