I'll be resurrecting the Shanoda ZR-1

I will be bringing back the old Shanoda ZR-1 over the next couple of months. If you guys want to watch I will take pictures and post them if you like.

Background: The Shanoda body was designed by Larry Shanoda, the designer of the 1963 split window Corvette. He penned this design for the C4 Corvette in 1994 and there are 5 of them in the LT5 powered car. I will be boring and stroking the engine with a 4" bore and 4" stroke to give 402 cubic inches. I have already done the heads but this time I am putting in stock cams for livability. I am estimating the power to be between 550 and 600. With stock cams I think I can still get 23 mpg with a 3.45 rear end.

http://www.caranddriver.com/buying_guide/chevrolet/corvette/shinoda_lingenfelter_chevrolet_corvette_lt_1_road_test

and a king-of-the-hill quashing ZR-1 (July 1991).


Back in the day, WAY back in the day, Lingenfelter designed a lock up torque convertor for our SS/EA Corvette. His passing a couple of years past was unfortunate, and he is sorely missed.


http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=35984897&albumId=1642167

He had a legendary name in the Corvette world but yet he would talk with anyone. Let me tell you, from my own personnel experience you start out talking with everyone. It's kind of an ego trip where people are looking to you because of your experience. After a while though, the questions and comments and stories you have heard a thousand times and you hate getting out and meeting people. Its always the same old same old. John was never like that. He loved the people and the crowd. Oddly enough, though John was well known as a Chebby man, he did more work for Mercury Marine and their offshore efforts in racing as well as hot rod custom boats. Mercury purchased LPE last year.

There was a whole article written about the Shanoda cars in Corvette Fever. That car I don't know where it is now. There is that one, one in Arizona (Turq), one in Kentucky (Red), one in Georgia that was built for the advertising promos (Yellow), and mine (Turq). I know there are a few LT1 based cars running around also.

My car I built myself obviously. I was experimenting with cams at the time and I used the cam profile of the Jaguar XJ220 with the asymetrical lobes with a fast ramp up and slower down ramp to give a performance increase of higher lift cams. This performance increase was first verified with the Yamaha V10 F1 engine that no one really knows ever existed. The project was shelved but several of the lessons learned were applied to the XJ220 project and the LeMans effort. At LeMans (FYI there were five XJ220 "Lite" cars built for racing) it took first place but the car was later disqualified. So, long story short, I used the profile but made the cams too lumpy with a .51" total lift and a duration of 310 degrees. Now that much lift in a DOHC engine is a lot. It had no low end but was a rocket ship from 4700 RPM to 7700 RPM. However it was unlivable in everyday driving. So I tore the engine back down and got involved in other business ventures so it has sat for several years. Now I have some time so I begin again.

As far as the pictures in the second link I know almost all those cars and have worked on many of them. Seeing them brings back some good memories.

:evilgrin:

http://www.crateenginedepot.com/

for the rebuild. I will have to make some porting changes on the flow bench but that will only take a day. I have a new stroker crank, JE pistons, Oliver rods, LA Sleeve cylinder liners, ARP studs, and all the gaskets needed. Really, the biggest part of the job is finishing out the engine. I powder coat the cam covers, intakes, and various other bits and either polish or put a satin finish on all the aluminum. I've done several like this and they come out show winners.

A picture of a project car I finished two years ago (no fir peeking at the photo title).

Take a guess!!!!!

The A/C mixer box gives it away. It is a nice, clean installation. I bet the extra punch was nice.