Once the longblock was complete, time to dress her up with the titanium-cerakoted GT500 5.2L covers:
As part of that the phaser actuators, some gaskets, oil dipstick tube, and spark plugs and coils were installed (I keep the coils numbered in case I ever have to play musical coils should one give up the ghost)
The exhaust manifold studs were removed to we could use the provided stage8 locking bolts with a fresh set of Jet-Hot by Kooks headers:
Full disclosure, while gorgeous, I don't recommend these headers; I got a hell of a deal on them but in the end ended up paying more - I had to replace my X pipe that I had previously welded with a new one due to a spread change, and the Jet-Hot failed completely on the outside and inside of the header after a couple events, cooking a starter along the way. Jet-Hot is taking care of me, but I'll have to pull the headers and send them off to Jet Hot for a month and pay some out of pocket to upgrade the coating to one that will stand up to road race use.
This is a case where the headers I had before were fine, and were wrapped with header wrap, but I gave into the internet complaining about some build decision I made (you'll poke your eye out kid - header wrap edition). I never had an issue with wrap on a good stainless header; but as soon as I try one of the big name ceramic companies, it blew up in my face (and took my wallet with it). I'll resolve this over the summer but very frustrating. I might try to find a used set to limit my downtime depending on what's happening with Jet Hot for turnaround time and where I am in the regional championship this year. Covid makes already-risky supply chain management that much more difficult. Anyways, back to the build:
The electric water pump was mounted up front:
The exedy hyper single clutch was also installed out back and the assembly was mated to the K-member to lift it into place:
Once the transmission was mated up, time to put it in the car (we are fans of rolling it in from the bottom and lifting the K-member with drivetrain into place.
Once it was all bolted up, the front crank damper and remaining assemblies were installed on the front, along with wiring and plumbing.
That takes this collection:
and turned it into this:
Once it was broken in, obviously you have to test this thing, right? Here's some noise as it put down 468rwhp. (hopefully that answers some of the 470HP questions from other threads). As of this writing, its been on track 6 weekends, with 4 class wins under its belt and a 2nd place finish (along with a DNS and single disqualification - pass-under-yellow for good measure); one of those wins was an hour+ long enduro. Maintenance has been oil changes, and I'm just now doing the first round on plug changes and third oil change. (6 hours on plugs, 4ish hours on oil is the schedule).