I've sent two to three emails to Blainefab over the last year or so and I don't think I've gotten any responses back to any of them. Is he still in business?

SDPC is nearly giving me an LS3 shortblock so I think it may be time for his accusump setup just in case.

This post has been edited by landstuhltaylor: Oct 21 2020, 01:17 PM

I've tried to email and never got anything back. I saw that user logged in a few weeks ago and sent a private message asking how things were going and got no response.

How'd you get a deal on a shortblock and which one?

I actually talked to Jason at Unbalanced last night and he said Blaine is in the process of trying to retire which is what I suspected.

Dane from here works at SDPC now and they had already been talking about blowing out combos of cranks, rods, and/or pistons with a purchase of a block. I don't have all the details yet but they are throwing together the Manley set of 4" super lightweight crank, H beams, and 11.5:1 pistons. I don't have any details other than that yet, but the rough estimate was ~$800 less than the cheapest forged setup I could piece together anywhere else and will come in much, much lighter than those options. I told them to add the bearings to my tab, prep the block, and balance the whole thing. No idea what the final tab will come out to but seemed to be a no-brainer. For now I'll probably top it with stock LS3 heads and intake, throw a Cam Motion low lash solid roller at it with shimmed stock rockers, and feed it corn when on the Hoosiers and pump 93 on street tires. Hoping to find as many used market parts as possible to keep the cost down but also not cutting corners that should not be cut.

It was either that or do a stock rebuild on the LS1 bottom end with some TFS heads for around $3500. I was just really having a hard time spending that much money on the 3.9" bore when I could sell it and all my associated parts for ~2000-2500 and build something with a bit more head room should I choose to use it.

And because I like scope creep almost as much as I hate financial responsibility, I've basically decided to dry sump it. Hadn't been able to get a hold of Blaine for a long time now and my best guess at adding an accusump was ~$700. The basic quote from Aviaid for a 3 stage system including everything except lines was ~$3200 and 4 stage at ~$3500. Since I already have the ATI damper that will pull the cost down a bit. Unfortunately I just haven't found evidence to make me comfortable running the LS3 on big Hoosiers and I would really hate to blow up a brand new motor. Once I set that up, the oiling system for the car is done forever and I never have to worry about it ever again. It's the X-Trackers of oiling systems!

This post has been edited by landstuhltaylor: Oct 24 2020, 01:19 AM

I don't know much about the stock 'Vette dry sump system. Is it undesireable for this use? The aftermarket ones are quite expensive but may be necessary.

I get it. As I've been looking at ideas for an engine for mine, I've found that the new Dart blocks have SBC style main caps that help eliminate the bottom end breathing issues that hinder oil return to the pan. I'm wondering if that's truly enough of a solution to consider the issue "solved". Otherwise, I've been eyeballing dry sump systems and wondering how insane it might be to try to hide a tank in a true street car (thinking I might run some events and maybe an occasional track day in it....once I weld in a 4 point).

I was also trying to decide what at 22k mile crate LS1 (factory installed at the dealer) is worth once I pull it out of my car. It does have some cold piston slap, but it runs fine. It was put in at like 42k miles. The car has 64k on it now. (or, so I stuff that one in a Miata?)



The stock GM dry sump is worthless. GM neglected the important part of a dry sump system, the scavenging from the heads and various points around the engine. The oil can still get trapped in the heads with the stock system. It's more of an external tank wet sump system. It's a hybrid with all of the worst characteristics of both. The oil is stored in a cool tank that may make it difficult to keep oil temps up in cold weather (less likely than being in the crank case), remote storage, additional lines and hoses, no oil scavenging from the heads, an internal "wet sump" style oil pump, etc. As far as I can tell, the factory "fix" wasn't a fix at all.

So it's just more oil. Come to think of it I think I heard about that a while back. Considering how you're able to get your truck to oil starve around low speed corners it's clearly important to do something about it for AX/RR use in a car.

If I was only planning on street tires I probably would have tried the Accusump solution along with the baffled pan and crank scraper I already have. But the Hoosiers really tipped the decision for me personally.

On my teal 3rd gen, even on actual street tires I could turn on the low oil pressure light (I had an Autometer pro light with a 15 psi sender) on street tires with a 3 quart accusump and a TPIS oil pan (not a road race baffled pan, but better than a stock SBC oil pan. It came on "often" during runs. I thought an Accusump would do a much better job than it actually did.

i've wondered more recently the effectiveness of the Accusump. It's a lot of upkeep, at least for me, to make sure it's working properly. I like it for cold starts after sitting for weeks or a month. But for AX, I dunno. The electric valve they use I don't like. I understand how it works but its not perfect. And now I have some bottom end ticks on my engine (not really rod/main knocks, I hope) and something needs rebuilt/fixed for sure, so I read the price on the blocks above and that sounds nice. Sadly I don't have a great way to remove my engine (small ish garage).

HUMMMMM ! .. I have been basing part of my "next car" decision on the fact that the manual 2012-2013 GrandSports use the factory dry sump, and the automatic cars don't (conventional wet sump oil pan) ... sounds like I don't need to care ?!? Just decide between 3 pedals (my bias), and paddle shifters (I think I'm getting old)

~DaVe

I've never used one but I am not sold on them at all based on what I've seen on here and elsewhere.

There are also kits out there to fix what is wrong with the factory dry sump cars.

Might as well keep this to document the new engine.

6000 mile LS3 heads on the way and got the bill for the rotating assembly, bearings, and block all machined and balanced. In it for $5600 so far

What size will the engine be?

416
4" Manley Super Lightweight 24x crank
Manley 6.125 H beams w/ARP2000 bolts
Manley 4.068" 11.5:1 pistons

I'll probably have the heads taken down .030 to put the combo around 12.2:1 and feed it E85

Be sure to get your E85 at home -- sure it's everywhere in Columbus but a lot of other places don't have it. You can barely get it Cleveland for example. Pennsylvania only has 7 stations selling non-race E85. Of course you might be considering race E85.

I always fill the tank at home anyway so no change there.

Got specced a cam from Cam Motion. With a target of 12.0-12.2 compression they gave me a 242/254 .629/.612 112+3. That's pretty similar to the Brazilian stock car motors and based on the curves from those engines, I think it should work quite well.

https://www.hotrod.com/articles/looking-int...xtel-cup-motor/

Is this going to be a race car you occasionally drive on the street or a street car your occasionally race? The differences may seem subtle now, but the reality of street driving a combo like that certainly has its share of draw backs. PM me or call me and we can talk about street driven race cars. The one in my driveway has taught me a few lessons...

It's seen about 100 street miles since 2018 and the clutch never gets slipped below 3k. No radio, no HVAC, wipers are broken, no bumper beams. I have an E46 M3, RX8, and motorcycle for fun street driving.

I made a street car OR race car rule years ago as certain things I did to my cars in the past made them suck on the street. Especially since race cars are 1000X better to work on.