Some cool pics of Mark Stielow's latest build 'red devil'. Every car he builds is awesome in terms of build quality and performance (all his cars get driven hard), and he takes function over form to an art form. When we saw the yellow LS9 powered 69 (nicknamed jackass, a lol-nod at 'the mule') last year we were blown away at the build quality and the way it all looked so simple, OE and unassuming.
Thomson Automotive built 427 CID LS9 based engine
D&D Performace T-56 six speed
Currie Ford 9" with 3.25 gears
Full Detroit Speed front sub-frame and quadra link rear suspension
Brembo brakes from a Z06 application
C-6 Corvette ABS system
18X10 Forgeline wheels with BFG 275/30R18 KDW tires
18X12.5 Forgeline whhels with BFG 335/35R18 KDW tires
VW Salsa Red.
Early Performance #
0-60 mph 3.29 seconds
0-100 mph 7.26 seconds
1/4 mile 11.19 sec. @ 129.84 mph all corrected values
(should go in the 10s next time out)
Braking
best 60-0 107.4' & 2.5 sec
0-60-0 with 1 ft rollout best 6.84 with overshoot to 61mph
40 foot slalom
Slalom best 48.34 mph
Skid pad 1.03 G.
ABS is very impressive and to date not something the DIY guy can do. Being a GM engineer sure helps him get this accomplished. But it is build like this that help get the ball rolling for the rest of us. True retrofit ABS is probably going to appear in the next few years. But this tells you a bit of the difficulties involved. Not mentioned is the reprogramming that you & me can't do.
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The ABS unit is a 2006 Corvette Z06 unit. I used the Z06 unit because it has the right calibration to match the Brembo calipers I'm runninG. Same piston volume as the PBR calibers.
The hardest things I had to were:
Getting passive rear wheel speed sensors in the Ford 9" with the correct number of teeth to get the pulses per rev correct. I ended up using 2004 Mustang wheel speed sensor and 2006 Mustang tone rings. I have a ton of time in making the backing plates to get the wheel speed sensor, park brake and the caliper to all fit up robustly. The front wheel speed sensors are production C-6 Corvette on the DSE front clip.
Building all the brake hardlines. I have about 40 feet of S/S brake line in my car. I purchased a hydraulic flaring tool to get all the flares right. For the inverted flares and the metric flares.
Building the wiring harness so it is not susceptible to EMF or noise. Routing it in the car to keep it away from heat and is durable.
Of the things that I did on the car ABS brakes was the hardest because it was the first time I tried it. I still have a prop valve in the system so if it faults out I will not have too much rear bias.
I got the system to work by tricking it to think it was installed in 2006 Corvette. Due to the fact I have a stock C-6 ECM in the car I hooked the CAN data stream up between the two. The other sensors were faked or installed.
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Good lord
Flat torque curve anyone?
Dashed line is the LS9 car from last year.
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After some tweeking RD made 594 ft*lbs at 4200 torque and 569 HP at 6300 to the rear tire. Compared to Jackass last year 460 ft*lbs at 4400 RPM and 498 HP at 6400. All dyno pulls were done with the coolant temperature at 220 F to simulate track usage
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On the engine dyno before good tuning it made 800+ ft*lbs of torque through stock LS9 headers
Like that little touch? LOL
I love looking at cool builds like this. Although I could never afford or honestly even know how to do some of this stuff, there are so many cool little details you can pick up for your own car. Or learn how to do something in a way you hadn't thought of. that was one of the best parts of SEMA last year, seeing all these cars up close & personal. Besides if looking at cars like this doesn't interest you then you need to question your 'car guy' credentials.
