LS1 S14 taking it to the next level

[C3Sierra_S2000]

Well first off let me introduce myself. I have been lurking on the site for almost 2 years. I have been looking for a chassis for some time off and on but just never could find what I was looking for. I wanted to build a LS1 97 or 98 Kouki and I ended up buying Natedawg500's 97 with the LS1 and T56 already installed. To be honest I actually bid on it on Ebay with no idea that I would actually win it so I really wasn't prepared when I was the winner.

Ok so here is what I started with.











So as you can see Nate made the car functional and it runs like a bat outta hell but it isn't exactly show worthy. So I had the car delivered directly to the body shop to start the rebuild of the car.

So far this is what has been done:

Replaced quarter panel, hood, fender.Purchased complete K's aero kitAdded sunroof skin and factory sunroofQ45 rear diff and bigger axles to give better ratio for the LS1 and limited slipNISMO LMGT4 Silver 19 x 8.5 +25 and 19 X 9.5 +30 with 245 35 19 and 275 30 19 tiresBlack leather seats with black suede inserts, black suede headliner, and black suede door panel insertsNew black carpet and floor mats

So this is where I am at right now. The main shell just rolled out of the paint booth and the rest of the parts should be painted and reassembled by the end of the week. Then I just have to re-install the interior and it will be rolling again.







Future plans will include pulling the engine and trans, undercoating the body, body finishing the engine bay and painting it to match, swapping the LS1 for a LQ4 6.0L with new heads, cam and intake for about 475hp. Installing a competition sound system to compete in IASCA SQ competitions.

So before anyone slams me for "weak offsets" let me just describe the purpose of this car.

It will not be a drift car as I don't drift. I enjoy the sport just don't want to compete. It will see a drag strip from time to time just for fun and I am sure the occasional red light drag as well. Primarily I will drive it and enjoy it as well as do some car shows and car audio competitions. Now while I like the look of the low offset rims and the stretched tires with huge negative camber I won't be doing that with this car. I need max traction with the V8 and narrow tires on wide rims with lots of negative camber does not provide that.

So I will be updating this thread with the new build pics as they come. Hope you like my new toy. Oh and by the way I am orchestrating all of this from Iraq. I will be home in a little over a week and plan on attending the show in ATL on the 20th and 21st. Hopefully the car will be together by then.

Tim

[7x13xRPS13]

sweet color...

more pix when its complete XD

[ryan15]

Your car rocks dude, I totally agree I built my car to be a fu*k around weekend car, some autoX and yearly track, and tons of 1/4 track, street car. Screw fanboy drifting crap.... I am loving your car already, keep it updated bro.

Ryan

[C3Sierra_S2000]

sweet color...

more pix when its complete XD

I might get some hate for this but the color is from the Acura NSX. I have always wanted to paint something that color. The pics don't do that color justice. Hopefully I will have more photos later this week once they get it together.

[ryan15]

My friend had that color on his k24 eg, long beach blue pearl, tri-stage?

[C3Sierra_S2000]

My friend had that color on his k24 eg, long beach blue pearl, tri-stage?

That's the color. Blue metallic base, blue pearl coat, then a clear coat. Not cheap to spray since everything essentially has to be painted 3 times.

[Philipio]

Very, very nice. The show aspect isn't my style but it looks like you're doing it right. More power to you.

[jr_ss]

Installing a competition sound system to compete in IASCA SQ competitions.

Firstly, you're doing an amazing job on the car. Very few have the balls to take it down as far as you have. But, although your work is superb, you lost my vote with the above quote . Great project thus far and to each their own.

[brizanden]

quick question did they take the sunroof assemble out of roof when they painted it? just wondering cause im getting mine painted in the summer and am prol gonna strip and prep it myself then have a good shop lay down the nice stuff.

[VirginiaPS13]

Not all sound comps are just about bass! He said SQ and correct me if im wrong but that means Sound Quality? You dont have to have a wall of speakers to enter a sound quality contest.Great work on the car BTW!

[Dittoz7]

*Bid*....."O ****! I Won!****...."

[tramp_drift240]

you realize, just because a low offset wheel is wide or whatever, that doesnt mean you have to stretch tires and run neg camber.

you can run a fat tire and just do the roll/pull or flares to make them fit correctly.

[Broadfield]

you realize, just because a low offset wheel is wide or whatever, that doesnt mean you have to stretch tires and run neg camber.

you can run a fat tire and just do the roll/pull or flares to make them fit correctly.

Amen!

[C3Sierra_S2000]

Firstly, you're doing an amazing job on the car. Very few have the balls to take it down as far as you have. But, although your work is superb, you lost my vote with the above quote . Great project thus far and to each their own.

Thanks and no offense on the audio stuff. I have been in to car audio and even owned a shop for a long time. Just let me clarify it won't be 2 fast 2 furious over the top audio. It will be a very basic clean system for sound quality. I actually plan to hide all the audio equipment. Evreryone has their hobbies, that just happens to be mine.

[C3Sierra_S2000]

quick question did they take the sunroof assemble out of roof when they painted it? just wondering cause im getting mine painted in the summer and am prol gonna strip and prep it myself then have a good shop lay down the nice stuff.

This was actually a non-sunroof car. Since we were replacing the quarter panel and took all the glass out of the car for paint I decided to replace the roof skin with a factory sunroof panel. I bought the whole top of a car from the junkyard with skin, sunroof, headliner, and controls for $200. So mine was painted with the sunroof assembly out of the car. We actually stripped the whole interior. There will be no tape lines on my car at all when it is done.

[C3Sierra_S2000]

*Bid*....."O ****! I Won!****...."

That was pretty much my response.

[IanS]

Wow, thats a pretty badass build, you sure are throwing a lot of money at that thing. I wish I could afford to drop that kind of coin on a car.

[C3Sierra_S2000]

you realize, just because a low offset wheel is wide or whatever, that doesnt mean you have to stretch tires and run neg camber.

you can run a fat tire and just do the roll/pull or flares to make them fit correctly.

To fit the 275 in the back we actually did roll the fenders but no pull. I really wasn't looking for more tire than that. If I went with the optimal offset I could have gone a little wider in the back but I like the Nismo wheels so 275 is good enough for me. I didn't do flares because I didn't want any fiberglass on my car.

[C3Sierra_S2000]

Thanks, yeah it has become my latest money pit. About 20K so far and not finished yet.

[brizanden]

This was actually a non-sunroof car. Since we were replacing the quarter panel and took all the glass out of the car for paint I decided to replace the roof skin with a factory sunroof panel. I bought the whole top of a car from the junkyard with skin, sunroof, headliner, and controls for $200. So mine was painted with the sunroof assembly out of the car. We actually stripped the whole interior. There will be no tape lines on my car at all when it is done.

yeah thats what i want to do as well, but im prolly gonna wait to paint it until i decide to put the roll cage in. ill strip it all out and paint it then reassemble. so it will be a year or two before that.

[EnvyStreet]

Awesome color man, I want a blue color very close to that on my Kouki when I have the time and money to continue the project, damn college.

I'd like to see what your system ends up looking like when it's done, I love good sounding cars that don't go overboard or end up ricey. Sounds like that's what you're trying to achieve, props on the car man.

[gregfarz78]

Looks great so far but personally I think you should skip the sound system, unless its going to be very minimal please don't tell me you're going to fill the trunk with subs and amps adding hundreds of pounds to the car

[C3Sierra_S2000]

Looks great so far but personally I think you should skip the sound system, unless its going to be very minimal please don't tell me you're going to fill the trunk with subs and amps adding hundreds of pounds to the car

It will be a minimal system. Probably 2 10" subs, 1 or 2 amps haven't decided yet and some high end component sets. Weight is really not a huge concern of mine though since I do have a V8 under the hood. If I was trying to save weight on the car it would not have gotten a body kit or sunroof or interior at all for that matter. I don't plan on building a race car just a nice car to drive and enjoy. Gotta have some tunes!

[ca18detgabby]

jw.......why not build the LS1 instead of dropping in another motor? at this point you might as well have bought a zenki shell or w/e and pieced it together yourself.

just an opinion.

looks amazing. def keep up the good work. +100 for not being a drifter fan boy...

Ps if you are pulling the motor might as well sell the swap and make most of your money back.

[MagikDragon]

nice car and nice color heh I painted mine the same, the color really pops! Its awesome!

[C3Sierra_S2000]

jw.......why not build the LS1 instead of dropping in another motor? at this point you might as well have bought a zenki shell or w/e and pieced it together yourself.

just an opinion.

looks amazing. def keep up the good work. +100 for not being a drifter fan boy...

Ps if you are pulling the motor might as well sell the swap and make most of your money back.

The LQ4 is a LS based engine just with larger displacement. It is an iron block which will increas the weight in the front about 100lbs but there are some advantages. Everything swap wise that is there, wiring, mounts, headers, trans will all mount up exactly the same. I will need to tune for the new engine though. The 6.0L has a 4 inch bore so I can use the newer heads from the L92 engine which is in the new Escalade. They flow really well straight out of the box and with a good cam I can make 475 to 500hp easily and cheap. Basically I will pay for the heads and cam with the sale of the LS1. To make the same power with the LS1 I would have to spend much more due to having to buy some expensive aftermarket heads instead of the highflowing GM ones since the the LS1 has a smaller bore. Also I already have the 6.0L so I might as well use it.

[ca18detgabby]

didnt realize you already had a lq4 laying around. that makes it a totally different story.

we have a built 350 at home in the 73 sprint bored 40 over and a little bit of buildling here and there running 9.99 on a 100 shot and 10.46 all motor.

with as light as the 240 is..... should be no probably being close to those numbers. the sprint is a freaking tank. this is assuming you can get the thing to stick......

what are the plans for the exhaust? didnt really see a good *** end shot.

nothing sexier than the sound of a good set of cams.

[C3Sierra_S2000]

I haven't worked the exhaust all the way out yet but I think I am going to try Hinson's stainless headers. then 2.5 stainless Y pipe to 3" and then either a Borla or Magnaflow muffler with dual tips out the back. According to my buddy that owns the body shop it has a 4" pipe out the back right now and I mean a pipe, not exhaust tubing LOL. I am probably still a month or more off from pulling the motor and doing the rest of the car. It really needs major cleanup under the hood. I will not have the hood open to the public at the show in ATL LOL.

[C3Sierra_S2000]

More parts painted. The K's side skirts and rear fender extensions showed up late so they will be painted either today or tomorrow. It should start to be reassembled this weekend.


















Modified by C3Sierra_S2000 at 7:45 AM 9/11/2008

[Greddy323]

yeah you fix that body work hahaha lol sorry i hate body workLooks bad ***