Morris
Malone is a Washington-based hot rodder who oversees an erosion control
company. That sounds about as exciting as watching paint dry, but in
rainy Washington state, it keeps him moving pretty fast.
But
Morris is used to that—whether he’s working or driving. This lifelong
car enthusiast has built everything from a 700-whp, twin-turbo 350Z to a
Camaro ZL1. But when he decided to buy something that was already
competitive from the factory, he turned to the fastest Corvette in
history. "The 2009 ZR1 was the answer: it had the motor, drivetrain,
suspension, brakes and aero right out of the box.” And so began his
reign of terror on the local streets, his long nights "Mexico” racing
and his quick expulsions from drag strips for being way too fast for the
cage requirements.
And
then, because the ZR1’s 9.1:1 compression ratio was "just begging to be
sprayed,” he turned to Phoenix-based Cordes Performance Racing. The
ZR1’s supercharged V-8 has a forged rotating assembly that deals with
638 horses stock. But Morris and Joe at Cordes hatched a plan to really
tax this Vette’s stock short block. High boost or juice can be
destructive forces by themselves—but Morris and Cordes had the skills to
safely turn the 376-cube V-8’s wick up by adding both, and you’re not
going to believe how much power it made.
Of
course, an engine that makes huge power has to flow mad air. And even
though the LS9 aftermarket wasn’t exactly booming, Morris and Cordes
formulated a plan, and then started modding the 6.2-liter mill. A 102 mm
throttle body and intake send O2 to the ported factory blower. It wears
a port-matched LPE aftermarket snout, and an overdrive crank pulley and
smaller blower pulley combine to bump up the boost to 20 psi.
And
then a Nitrous Outlet spacer was installed between the blower lid and
the cylinder head runners. Its spray bars supply the CNC-ported Advanced
Inductions heads with 200 horses’ worth of sweet, sweet juice. To keep
this nuclear horsepower reactor swallowing cool air, a D3PE heat
exchanger and an Alkycontrol methanol system combine to keep the
compressed intake air at reasonable temps.
The
ZR1’s factory two-pump fuel system is stout—but adding the 127-pound
FIC injectors with E85-compatible stainless internals have it barely
keeping up with the LS9’s mods. Additionally, the nitrous system fuel is
fed via a trunk-mounted fuel cell. And there’s a flex fuel sensor that
works with the factory ECU so he can run E85. That all adds up to a
pretty complicated fuel map, but Nic Desjardins’ tuning skills keep the
engine fed, while keeping it safe even at extreme power levels. "Nic is a
fantastic tuner who had the car dialed in very quickly with no
hiccups,” Morris raves. "I was very impressed.”
With
metric crap-tons of air and fuel in each hole, this thing’s fiery power
stroke must be epic. Russian-dashcam, meteor-explosion epic. And like
your dad at Thanksgiving, it produces a ton of waste gas—so Kooks’
2-inch long-tube headers were bolted up, which send exhaust to a
cat-less X-pipe and out through high-end Akrapovič mufflers.
Remember
when we mentioned the LS9 engine’s strength? Well, it carries over to
the drivetrain too—aside from an RPS triple-disc clutch and flywheel,
the stock trans, driveshaft and rear end all deal with the LS9’s abuse
admirably. And traction gets a big boost in the form of massive Mickey
Thompson ET Street IIs, bolted to 18x13 CCWs in the rear. Up front,
low-drag Continentals ride on 18x8.5s.
With
the interior upgraded with a 6-point RSD cage, gauges and nitrous
controls, the ZR1’s tune was zeroed in on the dyno. It took a few
sessions, but his latest one put down a whopping 1,050 horses and 1,030
pound-feet at the wheels at 20 psi boost—despite a slipping clutch. With
a healthy clutch, that’s around 1,200 at the flywheel, or basically
double what a stock ZR1 puts out!
Since Morris’ ZR1 got CPR, he’s moved past scaring the crap out of grown men on the street, and has moved on to Shift-S3ctor’s half-mile mayhem.
Even though he showed up at this year’s event with a hurt clutch, his
supercharged Corvette did him proud. "I was battling a few issues out
there,” he explains. "My clutch was fairly glazed before we came to SS3,
and it was slipping in the high-load, upper rpm range.
"But
despite that and a fuel system issue, as soon as you roll on the
throttle, it’s like someone lit a rocket behind you! It makes 600 wheel
pound-feet at 2100 rpm on just supercharger, and 1,000 when the 200-shot
ramps in by 3450 rpm. The magnetic shocks transfer weight awesome, and
the ET Street IIs just hook. It’s definitely one of the more violently
fun cars I’ve owned!”
The
SS3 radar gun agrees, as the bad blue ZR1 clocked an impressive 184.7
half-mile run. And he was also able to take down a couple cars trapping
much higher, including a 911 Turbo that ran just under 190. All this
from a comfy Corvette that’s logged 12,000 street miles with nary a
hiccup.
With
Morris in love with Shift-S3ctor’s fun, family feel, he’ll be back next
year. But since the big boys play at 190+ mph, he hopes to keep pace
with a few changes this winter. "I may give ARH’s new 2 1/8-inch race
headers with 3.5-inch collectors and 3.5-inch H-pipe a try, as well as
some 255 Mast Black Label heads, Crower shaft-mounted rockers, Comp
short travel lifters and a larger duration cam. We hope to get up to
1,200 whp with the winter mods, and we’ll see what she does then!”
We can’t wait Morris.
BUILD AT A GLANCE
2009 Corvette ZR1
Built by Cordes Performance Racing
ENGINE PERFORMANCE
Stock pistons
Stock rods
Stock crank
LS9 casting heads and stock valves, with Advanced Inductions CNC port
LS9 factory head gaskets
Katech LS9 head studs
LS9 2.3L 4-lobe supercharger with Lingenfelter Performance Engineering snout (Hand ported and polished by CPR)
Lunati custom ground, CPR spec’d camshaft, 231º/247º duration at .050, .628/.638 lift, 117 LSA
Lunati dual valve springs
Nitrous Outlet 200-shot using LS9 supercharger lid spacer w/nitrous and fuel spray bars
Kooks 2-inch primary long tube headers, 3-inch cat-less X pipe, 3-inch Akrapovič mufflers
LS9 radiator with custom SPAL fans
D3PE heat exchanger system
Synergy 4.5-inch intake
TPIS 102 mm throttle body
TRANSMISSION PERFORMANCE
RPS triple-disc clutch and flywheel
Stock ZR1 transmission, differential and axles
INTERIOR
RSD 6-point roll cage with door bars
Autometer gauge pod on driver-side pillar
Aeroforce gauges
Nitrous Outlet switch in cubby below head unit
Nitrous Outlet billet dual bottle bracket and bottle heater
Nitrous Outlet 2-gallon fuel cell in trunk
EXTERIOR
Stock carbon fiber front splitter
Stock carbon fiber side skirts
APR carbon fiber diffuser
Custom fender guards overlaid in carbon fiber
C7 carbon extended carbon fiber spoiler
ACS Composite hood insert (deletes factory clear window above supercharger with a functional vent)
WHEELS/TIRES/BRAKES/SUSPENSION
18x8.5 front/18x13 rear CCW C2K wheels
245/45/18 Continentals front, 345/35/18 Mickey Thompson ET Street II rear
Stock carbon ceramic 6-piston brakes, 394 mm front rotor, 380 mm rear rotor
Stock front and rear sway bars
Stock front and rear magnetic ride control shocks
No comments:
Post a Comment