We started with our round of basic upgrades to the Cooling system, air intake system, carburetion, electrical system, fuel system, clutch and suspension. Being an early build Super Snake we have spent a lot of time cleaning up details. In our upgrade of the fuel system, we have rerouted the lines and used threaded inserts instead of self tapping screws- fabricated and welded in mounts for bulkheads instead of add on brackets with the same self tapping screws. We stripped and recoated the undercarriage for a uniform appearance since it had been touched up several times with several different color products. We replaced mismatched or rusty hardware with new matching pieces. During our work we were surprised to discover that the Shelby aluminum cylinder heads and intake manifold on this engine had never been ported as they should have been when this engine was originally built. We contacted our Shelby Engine specialists at Gessford Machine for a set of CNC ported Edelbrock FE cylinder heads. These heads will provide a significant increase in flow for this blown FE! See the pictures below for the pictures of the Shelby cylinder head ports versus the CNC'd Edelbrock head ports.
The rear suspension angularity was off enough to wear out every heim joint and roller bearing in the 300 miles of driving it had seen. When the vehicle was lowered to the ground from a hoist the suspension would creak and pop for almost 5 minutes. To correct this, the rear suspension cage was removed from the vehicle and all of the shock and rocker mounts relocated and rewelded so that the leverage was correct and linear. We installed upgraded roller bearings for the rockers as well as upgraded heim joints.
SS016 received our first 3" exhaust system upgrade. The entire system was fabricated from 3" round and oval tubing and is serviceable with flanges. We rebuilt the tunnels through the rockers and fabricated a removable tunnel exhaust pipe and tip. The entire system was ceramic coated after fabrication for durability, heat control, and appearance. The result was improved exhaust flow providing a deeper rumble to the blown FE.
With the airflow greatly improved between our standard Snake upgrade package, the CNC ported cylinder heads, and the 3" exhaust we spent a significant amount of time tuning the carburetion. By the time we were finished the vehicle registered a perfect air/fuel transition between idle, part throttle, and wide open throttle. Due to the increased air flow the undersized Vortech V2 Supercharger could only provide 5lbs of boost but this finely tuned Snake still registered 550hp and 580 ft/lbs of torque at the rear wheels and produced over 500 ft/lbs of torque under 3000 rpms! The 11" rear tires break loose over half throttle in 1st, 2nd, and 3rd gears, and will break loose on a full throttle run in 4th gear. The best part about this vehicle is that it is completely street friendly; it idles at 750-800 rpms, it accelerates and drives like a normal vehicle. There are no puddles of fuel dripping out of the exhaust tips, no overheating, and no boost lag or hesitation when you accelerate- it just drives.
Before:
In Process:
