Hello,
My name is Gary Lewis and I am currently working on a project to run at Bonneville hopefully in 2015. I have never done any LSR, but have experience in other form of race cars. Before I get into too many details about my build I will tell you a little more about myself and my background.
I am born and raised in St. Louis Missouri. I am currently in my senior year at the University of Missouri-St Louis and am 22 years old. Although I have never done any LSR I have built and worked on quite a few drag race cars. I have worked at an automotive machine shop for the last 7 years and have had the privilege of working on everything from Jr. Dragsters to nitro funny cars.
Luckily for me I have some good resources that I have access to and know a lot of people in the industry who can help me on the task I am not an expert it (which is a lot). My other “race car” is a 1969 Buick Skylark that I have swapped a 5.3 LS engine into and bracket race the poor thing to death. For the people who are familiar with bracket racing I run foot brake and pro and this season actually had some luck on my side and did fairly well (I consider going any rounds as doing alright!) .
I have built worked on a few engines for LSR applications including Steve M on this forum who set the record in his green rampage. He has already been very helpful and I would like to thank him now because I am sure I have been bugging the crap out of him with what must seem like elementary questions.
On to details about my build, I about an S-10 off a board member that has already raced in the MMP class at Bonneville. It needs a lot of TLC and some updates before it is ready for the salt again, but with some hard work and late nights I hope to have it in working order by then.
I am currently putting together and 6.0 LS engine for it. For those of you who are familiar with the LS engines it won’t be anything crazy, but my plan is to make is 4.005 bore x 3.622 stroke which will be a C engine. I am basically putting good rods and pistons in it, main studs and head studs, a turbo cam, a ported set of 317 heads, and letting it rip. The engine should be able to handle around 1000 RWHP but I don’t know if I will get the brave. As of now I am targeting 800 RWHP
I do plan on running a turbo, I am working out all the details on that right now, but that plan is to run a Borg Warner s480 which would be able to make around 30 PSI if needed. I am shooting for a target of 20 PSI but I would rather have more turbo than not enough since lag should not really be an issue.
I have a T56 transmission that I plan on running, and the truck already has a 9 inch in it. I think I will keep the 9 inch because I plan on running it at the Ohio Mile before I go to Bonneville (assuming all goes well). I have a set of 2.73 gears that have the NASCAR finish on them that I was thinking about running, but I am very open to gear suggestions. I know that I am ignorant in LSR and will need lots of advice along the way.
As far as stuff like the fuel system I have a brand new fuel cell and an Aeromotive A1000 pump, nothing fancy but it will feed enough fuel.
I plan on running an air to water intercooler with the water tank in the bed.
I am currently getting the fuel injection system pinned down, I am currently planning on using a Holley HP system which is basically like the dominator system without the ability to control automatic transmissions which I don’t need.
Sorry for the really stupidly long first post, but I figured I would let you guys know some stuff about me, and let you know what my plans are so you can tell me all the areas where I am thinking wrong. I look very forward to meeting you, and if you read this far, thanks for your time and the advice I am sure you have to offer!