Opal's Revenge

[driller]

It has been a long, long, long time coming...



The Opal Opalescent '96 has been with me since 2006. Many times it has subbed for the Blue Flame whenever called upon... at the track or at a car show. It has played second fiddle for so long it was past due to show some love.

And so shall it be.

 

[driller]

The block is a special piece that was somehow sourced from Shelby. Like many of the details of the engine build, it is shrouded in mystery.

The heads are purportedly Navigator heads that were worked on by Fox Lake and finalized by the builder, Kroyer Racing Engines.







Other parts included a Bryant billet crankshaft, CP pistons and Carrillo rods.



The cams were special grinds that I was never able to get much detail on.

 

[driller]

And so it came to be, a project literally years in the making was finally taking form.







After long last, the intake manifold... which I believe to be an MMR piece with billet runners.

 

[driller]

Some finishing touches before the engine dyno...

 

[driller]

The dyno results were pretty spectacular in my opinion...

>>>Click link for Video: [video]https://photos.imageevent.com/driller/cdchanger/20161229_161135_34642423091870.mp4[/video] <<<

 

[driller]

That engine dyno session was over a year ago.

Meanwhile, the Blue Flame had just had a major rebuild, so now the question was what to do with this unicorn of an engine. We decided the engine stand was not the answer. So we packed it all up and took it with the '96 up to Rodeheaver's Hot Rod Shop and dropped it off.

Out with the old...



and in with the new...



That was the easy part.

The basic supporting mods were already in place. Stall converter, driveshaft, gears and trac-lok. The fuel pump needed upgraded and a set of Kooks headers went in with the installation of the new engine. But the real work was the necessary changes required to convert the quasi-OBD2 '96-only computer, harness and tune to the true OBD2 '98 BTC0 powertrain control module.

But it proved to be worth the effort...

[video]https://photos.imageevent.com/driller/cdchanger/IMG_3469.mov[/video]

[video]https://photos.imageevent.com/driller/cdchanger/IMG_3517.mov[/video]



The next few weeks/months should be exciting. I have some tidying up to do under the hood along with some much needed cleaning/detailing. There's a few other details I need to address. I also plan to install a Terminator bumper from Temple Performance and shop for some new wheels.

I'll update the progress on "Opal's Revenge" as we move forward. :wink2-green

 

[mag]

Hmm I was wondering where that cobra intake manifold might be ?

 

[mlschultz]

Holy smokes, JP! Congratulations! :thumbsup:

 

[beerdog]

Sweeeeetttt!

 

[billcu]

Beautiful job!

 

[steve]

Very nice, too bad most of the nice machining and work gets covered up.

 

[chris2523]

that engine had just peaked, need to keep spinning it.
navi heads are good for the rpm, big big runner volume, especially ported.

 

[chris2523]

is this still a 4.6?
very respectable NA numbers through an auto/IRS car.

 

[driller]

It's a 4.6L block sleeved and stroked to 5.3L displacement.

Revs were limited to 7,500 on the chassis dyno to be safe (as I was told there was a 300 rpm lag on this particular dyno). The build sheet specifically called for max revs to be 8,000 rpm, "limited by the wet sump oil system".

 

[chris2523]

i saw the sleeves, and i figured it'd be a stroker.
but i thought i'd check anyway.

 

[redn8]

What an amazing job. Congrats!!

 

[Lvnmarks]

So are any of your cars available for rent for a weekend? Asking for a friend.

 

[budpytko]

Just WOW!

 

[BlackIceLSC]

I wonder....does Max (Hasperde) know what has become of that beautiful Opal Opalescent 96 he once cherished?
The metamorphosis of that gleaming pearl car is truly outstanding.
Very cool of you to share the transplant with us.
Cant wait to see the track numbers. I recall watching it run a 15.40-something in 2005 here in California at sea level in stock(wheels only) trim.

 

[driller]

I haven't heard from Max for a long time.

I recall watching it run a 15.40-something in 2005 here in California at sea level in stock(wheels only) trim.

14.084 @ 97.55 is the best it's run since I've had it.

I suspect it could be a little quicker now.