The revival of LSJUAN -- Making Zilvia builds great again

[Farzam]

PART 1


Many of you may be familiar with this car, it was previously built by Stephen Knoop (aka 95KA-Turbo/@sjknoop). It was one of the first actually cool LS swaps performed on the forum, and the vehicle made it into a few publications. Cool shit. Probably one of the only cars to be listed on here for $30k+ and not get laughed out the door, lol.

Anyhoo, he sold it to a gentleman in Pasadena, CA. In March of 2017, Stephen posted an ig pic at 2am saying his old car is for sale, and for a pretty decent number. I had just moved back from Socal back to NC at the time, but that didn't deter me. I DM'd him, and the (at the time) current owner and basically called dibs. Fast forward 10 days later and I went to get the car. It was pretty haggard. Missing aero, engine had a knock, yada yada. Could tell the owner wasn't used to owning a car that demands a lot of upkeep. I talked him down a little more and drove the car to Three-piece.us where I met the car carrier and had the car shipped back to NC.






I get the car back to NC and go back and forth with my mechanic (Matt @ Insomnia Motorsports), and we decide the best course of action is to get a new engine and sell this one to a friend for cheap. There were some scored cylinder walls, oiling issues, etc. Fuck it. Bad wheel bearing, tie rods are shot, coilover bushing is shot, needed to rewire a few things, some other odds and ends.



I traded the LS1 bottom end for another LS1 bottom end, but then decided to do bearings. Then rod bolts. Then rods. Then I figured I can get pistons too. Long story short I ended up having an engine built from top to bottom. Got some 243 heads and a 228r cam. Some road race guys run that cam and after doing research it seemed like the way to go, even though it's a little underwhelming for the build overall. Fuck it, sounds reliable to me. Got a trunion kit and MRW steam port kit, some other goodies. It was fun. Still need a better catch can setup but we will get there.











Got an S13 hatch to drive and beat on until the s14 is done. Came with SR20DET, Apex'i PFC, overs, "full suspension", and some other goodies for $2500. Wouldn't run cause get this. The IGNITOR WASN'T GROUNDED. Like. Wow. I will be the first to say I'm a complete morons when it comes to cars, but even I fixed this lol. Sold the car for $5500.






Headers were looking ugly, and Jet-Hot happens to be 45min away from me. My buddy was running their social media and got me sponsored, so they coated my headers. Sick. Looks much better than the previous header wrap, and seems a little cooler under the hood I guess.




Engine build kinda took a while, but started up first try and has been running well. Feels like a rocket now. Apparently the trans was envious of the special treatment, and locked up on me while I was taking backroads from Raleigh -> Greensboro, NC (1.5hr drive). and I got stuck outside of an elementary school on a Sunday. Whatever, pay to play I guess. I promptly pull the t56 and take it to Tick Performance in Mt. Airy, NC which happens to be a very reputable T56 builder. I do a stage 2 build and then a few things get serviced for longevity, and I was good to go. I could have gone T56 mag, not really fucking sure why I didn't. I also decided to get a new clutch to replace the Spec unit in the vehicle. Monster clutch hooked me up with a big ceramic, single, and he said it should last a while with my driving traits. So far it has been spectacular, it loves getting clutch kicked and driven aggressively. At this point my engine/trans are rated for 700-800 ft/lb of torque, if I decide to go forced induction in the future I should probably be okay.







My buddy runs Heritage Wheel, and I really like their wheels (and sell them, among other brands ahem). I decided to rock some Ebisu's, and he had some faces cut for a customer who flaked. I had to get more aggressive rear specs than desired, but I got a price I could not refuse. They were supposed to be stepped 18/19's but we did reverse lips and made em 17/18. I had -5 camber all around. Was kinda broke at the time so ran some freebie balloon tires but I was just happy to have the car back on the road.








Bought a turd ass R32 sedan off eBay from Montu 2 hours after my girlfriend and I broke up. It was a good excuse to go to Florida for a day I guess.



Remember that white ls400 I posted next to my gray s13 hatch? It had 237k miles, clear tails, billet grille, bags, wheels, and redid the chrome/painted the bottom half of the car white to make it 1 tone. Yeah. I traded that for an FRS with 40k and wide body. lol. It was auto but I sold it for $13k so I wasn't too concerned.




Got to hang out with Ryan Litteral a 2nd time at Hyper-Fest, met him at SEMA 2016. Parked next to him and got penis envy. I was a booth car for Mahle pistons even though I have Wiseco's, but Mahle is definitely a really really interesting company and if I did it all again I would use their products 110%

[s1421]

In to see whats next for this car!

[shaggyjake]

check out Mighty Mouse Solutions for catch cans. it's what i'm running on mine and it works

build looks pretty sick. keep up the good work.

[eagleeyes221]

true focus fabrication just came out with a catch can setup that sits in the area behind the strut tower between the wiper motor. Ive been eyeing that setup for my LS swap since it will clean up my engine bay nicely

[afishysilvia]

V8’s...SChassis...finally a thread that makes sense. I’ve debated switching to a catch can set up since I’m boosting now. With that being said though I ran the oem pcv lines and no can and have been fine.

[mrmephistopheles]

Nice to see old heads still loving the chassis.

[EFITTZY]

This should be good. MZGA!

[Farzam]

Thanks for all the responses, the car is a lot farther along than shown but I want to take my time and write parts as I feel motivated. I'll add more details/pics, and stories as I go along. I will try to write part 2 this week! And try to add more meat to part 1, explain some of the ideology behind my decisions/more details on parts used.

Originally Posted by shaggyjake

check out Mighty Mouse Solutions for catch cans. it's what i'm running on mine and it works

build looks pretty sick. keep up the good work.

I have heard mixed reviews but that's next up. Current setup seems off to me. I will try to go into detail on this on my next post. I have one more trick up my sleeve.

Originally Posted by eagleeyes221

true focus fabrication just came out with a catch can setup that sits in the area behind the strut tower between the wiper motor. Ive been eyeing that setup for my LS swap since it will clean up my engine bay nicely

I will look into this, thanks!

Originally Posted by afishysilvia

V8’s...SChassis...finally a thread that makes sense. I’ve debated switching to a catch can set up since I’m boosting now. With that being said though I ran the oem pcv lines and no can and have been fine.

I almost 2j'd this fucker. Figured I would stick with the heritage of the car.

Originally Posted by mrmephistopheles

Nice to see old heads still loving the chassis.

Every time I get something nicer I realize I can't drive it like a 240 and I sell it. It's a vicious cycle.

Would love to see more old heads getting back in them! Better now than in 5 years when they're all gone.

Originally Posted by EFITTZY

This should be good. MZGA!

I was about to ask what MZGA meant but I got it. Lol. Do I get a cookie for my critical thinking skills?

[EFITTZY]

Originally Posted by Farzam

I was about to ask what MZGA meant but I got it. Lol. Do I get a cookie for my critical thinking skills?

Two gold stars for sure