Engine Installation - Challenge #1

DP designed the D2 to use GM LS series engines. The prototype used an emissions compliant LS-3 E-Rod engine which fit very tightly in the frame designed to mate with. It never occured to me that my LS-7 would have an engine oil cooler on the block's left side.  This is a feature GM added after I looked at GM Crate engines at the IMIS show last December.

The LS7 uses a dry sump oil system that pumps oil out of the block to an external dry sump tank, then returns the deaerated oil back to the engine to be pressurized and pumped into its bearings. The hoses to and from the dry sump tank attach to the engine on its right side.

Oops. Those LS7 add ons interfere with the frame tubes. This will be solved by detaching the cooler from the engine block and feeding it remotely via a  remote oil cooler manifold available from GM. This manifold comes with hoses that will be routed to the cooler.  Similarly I can fabricate an angled hose connection block for the right side drysump hoses.

Let the work begin.

Chassis Ships

We had originally hoped to have the chassis ship by the end of January 2013.  Due to numerous delays it did not ship until April 18.  The carrier was Stewart Transport.

Several days later I was able to meet the truck at Grundy County Speedway in Morris IL and transfer it to my trailer. This saved a day because Stewart's driver had run out of hours to legally drive and could not have delivered to my home until the next day.

It is finally "home" and I can begin to work.

The roller chassis weighs only 775 lbs as shown.  This includes tires, wheels, brakes, radiators, full bladder style fuel cell, electric fuel pump etc.
Obviously no engine, trans or body.

 

LS7 Engine

The engine was purchased from Gandrud Chevrolet in Green Bay Wisconsin. They were super to deal with and even delivered it to my home at no charge!

The engine was dyno tested at my friend and former Indy Car engine building partner Mickey Nichos' NAC Machine Shop on a Super Flow engine dyno. After some very conservative tweeking of the computer map it made 574 HP and torque was at or above 450 Ft. Lbs. from 3100 to 6500 RPM.

Decision Time

After returning from the London Olympics and a side trip to Paris France a serious search for a new project began about Labor Day of 2012.

We looked at many many different cars. Some made in Europe, most in the US. We even considered building a dragster!  Everything we looked at had some disadvantage.  Obsolete or poor design, to large, to heavy, not yet built, not unique enough or whatever.

Two different friends that I greatly respect suggested that I check out the Palatov cars at www.dpcars.net

This led to a visit to see and drive Dennis Palatov's prototype D2 in Portland Oregon last November. I was impressed with the car and with "DP".  This led to an order being placed for chassis #004.

The next decisions were what engine and transaxle to use. Without going into details a GM LS7 engine and modified Porsche transaxle were selected. The LS7 promised a reliable, tractable 500+ HP with a very wide power band.  With the gear ratios selected for the transaxle, first gear should get me to 60 MPH (about what my Stalker would do in a normal start in 2nd gear) and fifth gear should get me to just over 205 MPH at the 7000 RPM red line.

Stalker Development

My wife Denise and I greatly enjoyed driving the Stalker around town, the people involved with the Stalker community and the relatively low key racing I did with it.

I also greatly enjoyed designing and implementing numerous engine, chassis, shock, spring rate, aerodynamic etc. improvements to the car. It won numerous events and was pictured in several enthusiast magazines. At Virginia International Raceway it achieved speeds of over 170 MPH on the back straightaway. It was also drag raced a couple of times and achieved a best 1/4 mile ET of 9.944 at 141.5 MPH. Not bad for a street car on pump gas!

Eventually I ran out of things to improve and wanted a new challenge. Consequently the car was sold in August of 2012.

The Beginning

Most of you know me as a Midget Race Car driver

or the builder driver of a Stalker sports car

I built the Stalker begining in 2005 after retiring from racing midgets.

Originally it was powered by a Super Charged GM 3800 V6 engine that made about 300 HP. Over the years that engine was replaced by another 3800 with modifications that brought the power up to almost 400. Eventually that engine "expired" and was replaced by a GM Crate LS376/480 engine. This was the first V8 to be installed in a Stalker.