Archive for the ‘Tours/Interviews’ Category
November 23rd, 2009 | 
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This is my Livernois Motorsports tour. I’m sure you have read alot about them. They have alot of experience and knowledge. They don’t only work on Ford Mustangs. They also work on GM, Pontiac and Chrysler Muscle Cars. Fortunately for me the shop was filled with the Pony Cars we love.
I want to thank Rick Leblanc for this tour. He was very helpful and informative. He is their marketing man.
I’ll start out with the Main Shop. Livernois Motorsports Techs are very diversified. As I mentioned, Mustangs aren’t the only hot rods they work on. (But hopefully it’s a Mustang you’re thinking of taking to them) As you will see in the photos they have alot of space here. Livernois keeps pretty busy with customer cars. I saw two myself from Ontario, Canada. Their shop car is a Ronaele!! Unfortunately it was out on a cruise so I didn’t get to see it. Maybe next time.
Some of the most common installs done are Magna and Whipple Charger supercharges. These make the new Mustang scream. And are a quick and affordable upgrade. They do just about any bolt-on or add-on parts you would want on your Mustang. (or chevy, chrysler, or pontiac if you haven’t bought your mustang yet)
The shop has two Dynos. One Mustang Dyno and one mobile Dyno Jet. Most favor the Dyno Jet because of the higher numbers they produce. The Mustang Dyno puts more of a load on your car. They use this dyno more for the Turbo-cars they build and tune.
Tuning time is around $120 an hour. But if you are or have upgraded your pony (or other hot rod) you need a proper tune. When I get my car tuned I will be adding that to the site to give you a more in depth look at Dyno tunes.
Some of the things they specialize in:
- Small Block Ford Cylinder Heads
- PI adaptor kits
- In house Valve Covers and misc. parts
- Chevy intake, cam, and head packages
- 2,3,and 4 vavle Modular Motors/cylinder heads
- Dyno Tuning
Livernois also has an in-house engine building shop, and engine dyno.
The area for the cylinder head assembly (for the in-house heads) is a small assembly line. Each person installs a part on the cylinder head to allow faster assemlby time. This area as well as the engine building area is very very clean. So far the cleanest of the Engine Assembly areas I’ve seen.
To help out with the engine building they also have their own machine shop. They have a 5-axis CNC machine for the headwork they do. The can do porting, deck cutting, line boring, custom made brackets, and other misc. things in this fantastic Machine Shop. It consists of many CNC machines for this purpose.
Some of Livernois in-house parts include cylinder heads, pulleys, valve covers, and brackets.
I spoke with Mike Schropp. He is an Engine Builder/Supervisor. He also helps in the development in the 4.6 performance design. He has some prior history in racing. And now has been with Livernois for around 5 years. He takes pride in his work. With the set-up he has, he can put out 4 to 5 engines a month now. He works 6 days a week. And is kept very busy.
Thanks Mike for taking a few minutes out of your time to answer some questions.
Check out some of the photos and how clean this shop is. Put your cursor on a photo for a brief description.
Another cool area at Livernois Motorsports I saw was the Engine Dyno. This is used for new engines they build. Or for testing engine packages they design to find out the results. This helps for all kind of Research and Development.
Ok, here we have the retail department. If you need some performance parts for your hot rod, these guys can help. These guys are known as Detroit Speed Shops. You can pick up just about any parts you need. Valve covers, rocker arms, cylinder heads, ring and pinion gears, transmissions, engines… the list just goes on.
Some of the guys who can help you with your purchase are Bob Palma, Andy Ricketts, and Dave Ameduri. Ask for any of them
and they will gladly help you out.
Livernois Motorsports combined with another company a few years ago that specialized in GM cars. They’ve since then became one company and took over the GM department all together so-to-speak. So if for some unfortunate reason you have a GM and not a FORD Mustang, they can help you very easily also.
Check out the rest of the photos. Again, put your cursor on the photo for a brief description. Hope you enjoy these tours as much as I do.
Livernois Motorsports and Detroit Speedshops
2500 South Gulley
Dearborn Heights,MI 48125
313-561-5500
Check out the Roush Mustang corral
Return to F-M Hype Home page from Livernois Motorsports page
Photos are property of Ford-Mustang-Hype.com All rights reserved.
Roush 427R Engine
The Roush Engine Facility is also located at 12447 Levan Rd. Livonia, MI. 48150. It’s west off of Levan, north of Plymouth Rd.
First I would like to thank CHRIS REGIER of Roush Competition Engines. He is one of Roush’s skilled engine builders. He took me on the tour of
the Roush Engine Facility building. If it can be done, these guys can do it!! ( engine related only, so don’t get any other ideas )
Unfortunately I don’t have any pics of the inside of this facility. These guys had alot of work going on. They take in all kinds of projects for all kinds of people. Here is a list of some interesting facts of this facility and a couple projects they are currently working on.
ENGINE FACILITY
- 90% of parts checked for quality.
- Every engine is dynoed and comes with a stats sheet.
- Work on everything involved with engines.
- You can purchase an engine Dealer Direct Only, this allows you to keep the 2 year 24,000 mile warranty.
- 427 is the most popular engine.
- Complete machining facility and assembly room.
- Restoration Projects- 1942 Ford Flathead for a Ford Snow Go for YANKEE AIR MUSEUM in Ypsilanti, MI. And a 1916 Cole engine for a private customer.
- Aviation Department- specializing in the P51 Mustang Engine restoration from World War II. Was designed by Rolls-Royce, mass produced by Packard. 85,000 built in two years. 1660cc, 1700 hp approx. 14,000 pieces. 1200 man hours to rebuild. Working in consumption with AVIATION REGULATIONS, and now are producing pistons, rods, and other parts for the P51 engine. Roush has around 30 right now in progress for rebuilding, or completed.
- Currently waiting on a new 5 axis CNC machine capable of producing an engine block from a solid piece of aluminum. But no plans of building a block with it as of now.
- Machine shop capable of machining, porting.. anything (engine related ) you can think of.
- Highly skilled employees.
- One person builds the engine from start to finish. And normally that person builds all of that specific engine model.
- Name plaques of builder on the finished engines. Most buyers like to meet their builder to say thanks.
- Crane cams, or Comp cams are available for camshafts choices.
- Engines can be customized.. paint, 3 cam choices, polished accessories, fuel induction ( carb, fuely, 6 pack, 8 barrel).
- Previous customers can bring in their engine for upgrading.
- Own paint booth for painting your engine parts.
- 40 engines a month shipped.
- Public can get work done here ( which in 2002 a friend of mine and I took some P.I. heads here to get some machining done on them when NO ONE else would dare touch them. it was still a new undiscovered territory for the mod. motors).
- The Roush Engine Facility will also take on special projects.
Roush 353IR Engine
Roush 402IR Engine
Roush 451RFE Engine
Roush 511RFE Engine
Roush ZZ4 Engine
Now that you’ve got your shine picked out for under the hood, what shine are you gonna use to roll on? Come check out AndysAutoSport.com and their line of Mustang Cobra Wheels
. And finish off the shine.
Read about my Roush Vehicle Facility tour
Return to FM-Hype home page from Roush Engine Facility
® 2008, ROUSH Performance Products, Inc. ROUSH® is the registered trademark of Roush Performance Products, Inc., or its related entities. photos courtesy and still property of ROUSH Performance Products
Ok, what an AWESOME experience. I toured the Roush Vehicle Facility. Well, two actually. The Vehicle and the Engine Facility.
I’ll tell you what. This is my first of hopefully many tours. My everyday job title is “Robot Programmer”. I’m definitely not a reporter or writer. I was NOT prepared properly for this tour. I had paper but didn’t use it. So immediately after the tours I headed to Kickers in Livonia, MI for some food, beer, and to write down everything I could remember.
I have to say thanks to JOHN CLARK of Roush Performance Products. He is a Communications and Motorsports Manager. John has been my “liason” so to speak, from Roush. He has been very helpful and I believe he is a valuable person to the Roush Industry. John is the one who gave me the tour of the Roush Vehicle Facility building. And let me tell you, this guy is full of knowledge about Roush. I saw some amazing things, and it’s the slow season. But maybe it’s amazing to me because I am a car NUT!! If you have any questions you can call the 800 number. An available tech will be able to help you. 1-800-59-ROUSH
Ok, now on to some interesting information.
The cars start here. They are waiting to be washed before they begin their transformation.
After being washed they are moved into a bay where a Roush Technician works on the vehicle from start to finish. This way quality and care is at its best.
This car here is being transformed into a Stage 3 Roush Mustang. Techs can complete a full transformation in a day if all parts needed are ready and available. Wow, that is amazing. It takes me that long to change my oil!!! (maybe it’s because i drink a beer, then pull the drain plug, drink a beer, put plug back in, drink a beer… see my pattern?)
The suspension
is designed to each specific model. The 427R has fully adjustable suspension. This is for the serious (or weekend warrior) racer.
The pic below is a 427 Trak Pak getting some work done to it. This was their media car. It has seen alot of tracks and drive time. And looking at the underneath I could tell this isn’t a trailer queen.
Alright, as I said, this was the slow time. So I didn’t have much for photos. But here are a few other pics I took at the Roush Vehicle Facility. I hope to return when the ‘09 models are in production and get some more photos of the techs in action. Put your cursor on the photo for a short description.
Here are some more interesting facts of the Roush Facility.
ROUSH VEHICLE FACILITY.. – Plymouth Rd. just west of Inkster- building was Fisher Body before.
- P51 is the first and only car to have the internals pulled.
- 427R most popular vehicle ordered
- building #50 is the vehicle facility and is 1.2 million sq.ft.
- now have around 60+ some buildings but not all in use anymore
- slow season, getting ready to roll into the 09 models.
- basically a rollover for ‘09, no changes
- techs are pretty diversified, can work on a mustang, and then pull a truck in and work on it
- new mechanics start with stage 1 kits, and progress with time and experience
- P51 Roushcharger only available on the P51.
- Roushcharger on P51, up to 700 hp with tinkering from the aftermarket tuners!!
- area for leather interior.. interiors pulled, re-upholstered, then checked for quality before reinstalling
- even though Roush himself inspects a new product, parts and vehicles are still rechecked for quality before shipping.
- plaque with the name of the car builder in the engine compartment
- uniformed construction among all builders
- 40 technician bays
- they have a Propane Vehicle department which builds fleet vehicles
- 100 cars or so waiting, normally several hundred outside waiting
- Trak Pak car has adjustable coil over shocks, fully adjustable suspension set up
? 2008 Photos are property of Ford-Mustang-Hype.com All rights reserved.
This page is for Tours-Interviews of Ford Mustang related interests. In time I will add more Tours and Interviews as my time allows. I plan to bring you the tasty treats that most people don’t get to see as a Mustang fan. Click on the links to go to the TOUR or INTERVIEW page you would like to see.
Roush Vehicle Facility.This facility is very clean. If only my garage was this clean. ( and had all the cars i saw here ). This was a very impressive tour. I hope to return to Tour this facility again when they are back in full-production.
Roush Engine Facility.This was a great experience. I was in awe of all the BEAUTIFUL engines and parts. This is a car guys dream shop. Maybe next time I can get some photos of the techs. building these awesome engines.
Livernois Motorsports and Detroit Speedshops. This was another great tour. Click on the photo or link to read about it.
Facility photos are property of Ford-Mustang-Hype.com, engine photo courtesy and property of Roush Performance Marketing
®2008, ROUSH Performance Products, Inc.
ROUSH® is the registered trademark of Roush Performance Products, Inc., or its related entities.