Haibeck Engine Upgrade
 

Is there anyone on the forum that has bought Marc Haibeck's 500Hp engine package who could talk a little about the before and after results?

Are you satisfied or are you sorry you didn't go for one of his larger displacement packages?

Thanks.

Re: Haibeck Engine Upgrade
 

He just cleaned up my port work / installed long tubes with Corsa's / set the fuel - I went from 12.75 111 to 12.3/12.4's 115 - given diff in weather track etc I still think his labor was worth .25 sec or more/ 3 mph in the 1/4. I had a 475 LPE job with 500hp cams. He extended my port work from the LPE on the injhousing etc while I was getting the refinish. Ballpark I am around 500 ( will dyno in a week or two) flywheel- I would love to have more but it is not cheap to get beyond the 500 mark:)

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Thanks brazilfree. Why didn't you have Marc dyno it?

Do you know if there was anything in your current Lingenfelter build that is not a part of Marc's 500Hp package?

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I would rather have my shop dyno it with me there. The LPE package I have has pistons and rods with the cams - however I think Marc gets same or better performance with his port / fuel tunning etc - IMO

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Just as general info, I believe both Lingenfelter and Callaway did "bottom end" work in the form of connecting rod and piston changes. I believe the goal was lighter rotating mass, and I think Lingenfelter bumps the CR this way as well. And apparently Lingenfelter did some cam changes, or somehow changed the stock cam profiles?

Also generally speaking, and you probably already know this. But I would guess his 500 package makes less difference on a car that already has port work done than on a stock '90-92. Unless you have some kind of freak, or I have some kind of whatever the opposite of freak is, your car is a lot stouter than a stock one. It sure felt stouter than my car with the top end done.

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Well...Demps yellow car is a tribute to Marc's work. He ran 168 in the mile at Nellis AFB last fall with just top end work done on his car. Marc and Ted were both proud of it...and rightly so. It was impressive...he was right up there with a fast 368 and almost with the 415 cars. Very Impressive. Marc's work is tops. Maybe that's why he only works on ZR-1s and he makes a decent living at it. Everyone knows his work. He's also working on FU's oil change...and has been for QUITE SOME TIME!

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I definitely would have had marc dyno/tune that bad boy if it were me

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Marc, has never done any work for me personally, but I have met theman a few times, seems like a great guy BUT MOST IMPORTANT he shows up to most of the registry club events and SUPPORTS his work, that is worth a WHOLE LOT IMO.

Re: Haibeck Engine Upgrade
 

Marc did the work on my yellow car. It is a horse! I'm not the best driver in the world but the car ran an impressive 168 at Vegas. Marc's car ran a 161, if I remember correctly. In comparison, LocoBob's 368 ran a 171 in Vegas and it dyno'd on the top side of 480 rwhp. My car is lowered with coilovers which helps but it also ran a 12.21 (2.1 60' time) at 119.95 at a 2,700' elevation track. Marc does tremendous work.

Most 350 packages nowadays are only top end. LPE in the day did use Oliver rods plus raised the compression to a 12:1. The cars have a tremendous low end pull. The few I've seen dyno'd around 410 rwhp but like I said have a stout low end.

I would not hesitate to have Marc Haibeck work on my car. Not only does he do great work, he is a standup guy with an incredible attention to detail.

Ted

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This is another Ted who highly recommends Marc!
Not only does he do great work, but Marc has spent
much of his time helping me with advice and recommendations
and to answer all my questions. I have my close circle of people
I trust for my Z and Marc is one of them!
Ted Feder

Re: Haibeck Engine Upgrade
 

Having Marc work on my car versus anyone else was never in question. The only other person I considered was Aaron Scott at SGC. Aaron has moved on to other things while Marc’s support of our ZR1’s is unparalleled. I don’t get to all of the ZR1 functions in any given year, not even close. The one’s that I do get to attend seem to have two constants. The first is Mr. “Mom” ZR1 Net Registry is always in attendance and the second is Marc “the ZR1 Specialist” Haibeck is always there to help and share his knowledge. I can’t think of any two ZR1 corvette people I’d rather support.

The question that I continue to struggle with is what work I want Marc to perform. I’ve got a low mileage ZR1 that probably needs no more than the patience required to find a chronic vacuum leak. I’ve run out of patience. It probably would also benefit from a dyno tune performed by someone who specializes in ZR1’s. There is also a selfish side, however, that wants more. Marc has the car now is going to fix the seemingly minor problems and install 4:10 gears. So more specifically, the question is has anyone done Marc’s 500Hp package and been disappointed to the point that they wished they would have just done a stroker to begin with?

Bob, you helped me pull the plenum when we changed the injectors. My plenum passages looked more stock than they looked “modified”. I told you that the prior owner of my car had the top end extrusion honed. Maybe my car does run strong but I’m having a hard time believing it was the extrusion hone. I’ve seen what Marc does with the plenum and injector housings and there is no comparison. The only other ZR1 I’ve driven is my Red/Gray 91 that I sold a few years ago. My 91 ZR1 that Marc currently has (that has headers and a 3” exhaust) does pull reasonably hard but my seat-of-the-pants comparison has always been that is pulls like my stock 91 (red/gray) that had 4:10 gears. The logic for considering Marc’s 500Hp package is that the throttle body, injector housing, plenum and head porting, in addition to 4:10 gears, is going to make a yet to be determine but a presumably “significant” improvement.

I’ve asked similar questions different ways on the corvetteforum. I’m still looking for feedback. I’m interested, enjoy reading, and appreciate all of the thoughts that have been shared. Many thanks!

Re: Haibeck Engine Upgrade
 

PM sent

Re: Haibeck Engine Upgrade
 

You will never have enough power. I also have an SGC 350 with cams. It runs well too. I haven't had them together yet though.

I want more... but you probably don't know me to fully understand that statement. Marc's 350 package is a significant improvement over a stock car. My admiral blue car is stock with headers, B&B with x-pipe, SGC chip. The 4.10s in the yellow car make a neck snaping difference but it pulls a lot harder than the blue car throughout the powerband.

Do I think the 350 package is worth it? Yes
Do I think you will eventually get used to it and want more power? Yes
Is the cost of a stroker worth the gain ($/hp)? If you find the answer please help me out

You will not be disappointed with the 350 package for the $/hp bargain.

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I think Mr. Urbinati will soon have what you want Ted!!!...:mrgreen:

Re: Haibeck Engine Upgrade
 

Could this be the 441ci? we heard talk of last year at West Gathering??

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No question about Marc being a huge contributor to our hobby. If you live in the Southwest, don't forget Corey Henderson of New Braunfels, Texas ( near San Antonio ). Corey is a great ZR1 tuner and has a state of the art shop to accomplish just about any mod you would like to do. He flies a bit under the national radar but is excellent and fair priced.

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I 100 percent agree . i have has work done by corey and he is first rate a very fair in price his work the reason my car runs so hard (had a very modded pantera dinner last night):mrgreen:

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Corey :thumbsup: :thumbsup:

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Right, I agree. They seemed smoother than mine looked before being ported, they didn't have that rough cast look inside. But they hardly seemed opened up. They lined up pretty well with the replacement gaskets.

But that said, your car sure seemed faster than mine. My injectors and IH were ported by Mark. And we both have headers. I suppose your exhaust is freer, B&B with an x-pipe vs my stock pipes, 3" mufflers, and LT4 resonator. So if it's not your extrude hone and cams making the power, what is it? I'm pretty sure my car isn't a slouchy '90, though I could be wrong.

It seems like Mark's 500 cars make power in a pretty tight ballpark. That's what he expressed to me, that he can pretty well predict the power a car will make when he does certain work to it. So it would seem the more power your car makes now, the less gain there will be from his full-on package. That doesn't mean it's not worth it, though.

Just a thought, but have you considered having him port the injector housings and plenum only? See what you gain there. Then if you want to have him port the heads later, the intake parts are already done. Doing it in halves, the total cost seems to be about the same as doing it all at once. The only extra would be disassembling the intake twice, which I suspect Mark is quite quick at doing. And of course two trips up to Chicago.

Like I said, just a thought.

Though maybe I am seeing the dilemma in terms of the decision I would make. If you are asking should you do the 500 package, or just go full bore on a stroker, well then bang for the buck is probably not as much of a factor as total bang. In which case, why not go for it?

Another "just a thought" in that case though, is if you do the full on 350 porting, having Mark do a 368, 385, etc, should be cheaper by the cost of the 500 package, as the port work on the top end will already be done (unless he ports more for bigger displacements?).

All I mean is you don't have to have it all done at once. The cost savings isn't so huge as to make it a waste to piecemeal it.

Re: Haibeck Engine Upgrade
 

PM sent.
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Isn't a 440 a Dodge engine ?

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You know what I'm talkin' 'bout. Maybe it wasn't a 441ci, but it was bigger than we've seen so far. It was pretty hush, hush.

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This will be addressed soon John.

Re: Haibeck Engine Upgrade
 

:eusa_shhh

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I smell a new raising of the bar here .Someone let the cat out of the bag no fair teasing !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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Thanks for all the input and PMs !

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ok ok i 'll be a good boy and wait .shoot

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Not been on here for a while so bit of a late reply.

I picked Haibeck for my engine work. He had a good reputation, I had spoken to him a couple of times at BG and whether talking face to face, over the phone or more usual in my case, email I have always found Marc very helpful. I also like the way he is a regular poster on the ZR1net listserve.

As for going for just the porting work (500hp package) or the 368 (530hp) package or whatever. Thats a tough call. Its a lot more money for another 30 horses and whatever package you go for, it's never enough.

I knew my engine had a problem with No.8 cylinder before hand. It was way lower than the other cylinders when I compression checked it (interestingly the figure still rated as good in the manual) but shot back up if I added a drop of oil in the bore. Oil usage had always been high on my Z but it was getting worse and smoke on high rpm over run was getting bad. The engine was still strong however, only a month before I pulled it I ran 178mph and was still pulling until forced to slow. I also had a misfire on No8 and it was getting worse. Replacing the plug in 8 would fix it until a high speed run and then it would need another.

I talked to Marc at length and described the fault etc. Originally I was going to go for the 500hp package and also expected that I would need a new liner and piston for No8. After a lot of thought, I decided to go the 368 route. The way I looked at it was that I was going to be pulling the engine out myself, crating it up and shipping it to Marc. A lot of time and expense later I was going to get back an engine with 7 old and 1 new cylinder, thats why I went the 368 route with refinishing, stainless bolts etc. I don't intend selling the car and I don't regret anything.

Intrestingly when Marc stripped the block he found No8 had eaten a screw (we think from the throttle body extension (there was always one missing) It was embedded in the crown of the piston and its rings were all laying in the sump (I have the pics Marc took somewhere) - hence the fouled plugs and the smoke (still pulled 178 though:-D )

The engine build took a very long time, I kinda expected it would though. I had a slight tapping noise from the RHS bank, maybe a lifter although more likely a broken No8. Durring reassembly I decided to go with new lifters on that side just incase. Marc tuned the engine on a dyno and it made just over 128hp.

When I opened the crate it was l very pleased - It was like Christmas came early:-D The finish was great, he returned all the old parts, there were NO surprises.

The one snag was the misfire, we both thought it was the condition of N0.8 fouling the plug and the engine ran well when Marc was running it. It ran ok at the first stage of breaking in but as it was driven harder it became clear there was a misfire still. It was something related to heat and was worse after a few min of heat soak. Again Marc was there with advice and help and read through emails of scanner data. It was a bad coil pack in the end and I had 4 on the shelf in the garage as I was going to change them before I decided to pull the engine. When you think about it these must run hotter when the engine is in the car (in the vee up against the bulk head) to when it is out.

The engines been in since December, its done a few thousand miles including through the Swiss Alps and Germany and it is really starting to loosen up now and gives me a big :D :D :D :D everytime

sorry for the long post - my longest I think

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Nothing to be sorry for...thanks for sharing your experience.

There are a few alternatives to Marc when it comes to working deep into an LT5. What Marc, however, has demonstrated is that you can reach him when you need help. To me, his help when I have a problem is priceless. Ever notice how he always seems to find the time to either answer the phone or get a timely email sent off to you?

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Exactly!!!!

Even if he is very busy, I always get a reply along the lines of 'It's late, I'll get back to you tomorrow' - which he always does.

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I will add my thoughts on this.

I have known Marc for about 9 years and can't find one bad thing to say about the man.

Some other tuners might qoute cheaper prices over the phone but once the car is in there shop and apart they have you by the bolls then the BS starts and the milking begins.

Marc is worth every penny.
My thoughts.
Pete