Camaro SS, track trips, build pics etc.

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These events happen over about a 2-3 year period, all condensed down for easy viewing.

Trip 1: Had a small meet up right before the track:

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Track was pretty full and we started late, so i only got 2 runs. First run:

Far lane: 98 Z28, built M6, 4.10s, VR reverse split cam, stock heads, full exhaust, bolt ons, 315 Nitto 555Rs on the back.

Near lane: Very close to the same except 3.73s, Cam Motion cam, and ET Streets on factory wheels.

SS whoops Z28 - YouTube

Time slip:

Left........Right
.468.......105 Reaction
1.94.......1.65 60ft
7.98.......7.54 8th E.T.
90.4.......90.2 8th MPH
12.26.....11.85 1/4 E.T.
115.9.....114.1 1/4 MPH

Here's some pics from this race:

2nd race:

Far Lane: Z28, 6.0 LQ4, built M6, 12 bolt with 4.56, Pat G cam, TFS 215 heads, bolt ons, Mufflex exhaust, 28 inch ET Streets

Near lane: Same as near lane above

SS VS. Z28 - YouTube

Time slip:
Left.......Right
.569.......117
2.15.......1.71
8.37.......7.63
89.5.......90.0
12.63....11.95
117.5....113.8

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More pics:

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Couple more videos:

As a sidenote, I got my shifting issues worked out. Turns out my mph on my trans tables was off by about 5 mph and it was causing all hell to break loose at WOT. Its fixed now so next time the car should see some honest mid 11s cam only. Waiting for the heat to die down some.

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Fast Forward: Went back to the track this past friday. Finally got the car off the limiter. Best run was still about 11.8x. Couldn't get it to go any faster. I had a new best 60ft of around 1.58 and a new best trap of 115. DA was about 1650 at the time of the runs. Couldn't seem to get the ETs down though. My only 2 vids from that night are ****** but I will link one from someone else:

Car was filthy: Right lane

Left lane:

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Fast Forward Again: Well we headed back out. Car ran a new best, but still had more in it. Couldn't get it to leave good. Here are the slips in order:

60ft...........1/8....................1/4
1.65......7.58/89.5...........11.94/112.7
1.65......7.55/90.6...........11.87/113.5
1.73......7.62/90.8...........11.93/113.9 Spun some out of the hole.
1.62......7.51/90.2...........11.84/113.6
1.62......7.47/91.0...........11.77/113.6
1.62......7.47/91.1...........11.77/114.9


Pics and vids:

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4th Trip out: Track altitude: about 250 ft, DA for the night: about 2250. Yeah it was muggy with about 80-90% humidity. But we ran anyway for fun. Car ran good for the weather I thought, and pulled the driver tire 6-8 inches every run. Felt awesome :drive:

Here's how the slips stacked up:
Time...7:14.....7:18.....9:08.....9:34.....9:40.......9:49
60'.....1.591....1.602...1.581....1.590...1.596.....1.608
1/8.....7.350....7.342...7.316....7.344...7.321.....7.327
1/8.....92.48....92.66...92.76....92.47...92.91.....93.06
1/4....11.573..11.539..11.525..11.568..11.526...11.517
1/4....116.82..117.13..117.14..116.55..117.08...117.59

And a couple of vids:
VID 20130531 222530 757 - YouTube

VID 20130531 220957 349 - YouTube

Since the last run it has a Fast92, AI 243s, PA Racing K member, Midwest bumper supports F+R, Strange 12 bolt. I was running about 3/4 tank of gas and an ice chest in the back. I know the 12 bolt is slowing me down some (over the previous runs) but I drove home so it's worth it Car is also tuned by a rookie tuner (me) and is set to conservatively shift around 6400. It ran exactly how you would find it any day on the street. Nothing added or subtracted.

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Have run recently about 10 more passes. Changes are: Lightweight battery, Midwest chassis drag bar, speed inc carpet, sjm abs delete, firecore50 wires.....ET streets are bald and it was acting funky coming out of the hole but I did get a new personal best, 1.56 60ft, 7.20@95. Track wasn't running 1/4 at the time but I'm predicting it was a legitimate 11.30 pass. New changes are removing inner fender supports, removing front sway bar, aluminum radiator, and a full 17"Racestar setup. Inching closer to 10s NA I hope.

Here's some eye candy:

Stock carpet ready to be pulled:

Pulled the gauges to delete the idiot lights:

Letting the new carpet breathe, it does still have some padding under it, but it is a little louder then stock:

Found under the stock carpet.....winning!!!

Lightweight battery getting its first charge:

Simple aluminum flat bar hold down:

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Midwest drag bar:

Firecore50 wires:

Full 17" Racestar setup. Hoosier ProStreet 26x7.5x17 fronts, new ET Radials in the rear:

Peek-a-boo:

For the bushes:

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$135 shipped:

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Truth be told, the radiator swap and inner fender cutting was a kill two birds with one stone kind of deal. The last outing to the track I ripped a huge gash in the bumper. I installed a bracket to move my car ramps closer for when I load my ATVs on my car hauler....and I new it was close but had loaded successfully several times before. This time I wasn't so lucky.......

Ouch:

Did a quick patch and we raced anyway:

But I needed a fix...so I found a place called OnlinePartsBin (or something of the nature) and they did a VIN matched paint and then shipped the bumper for $250. So I took it apart while I waited....lead time was about 2 weeks.

I've always hated the China halo lights so I found a set of OEMs to go back on:

The busted bumper and china lights got hung for decoration:

And, 3 weeks later Fedex drops this beauty off:

Thanks EmblemPros:

Two more random tire pics:

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Time....7:56......8:05.....8.35.....8.39
60'.......1.59......1.55.....1.67.....1.55
1/8.......7.24......7.19.....7.35.....7.18
MPH......94.18....94.37...93.97...94.24
1/4.......11.40....11.34...11.52...11.32
MPH......118.4....118.7...118.2...118.8

Wheel spin on the 3rd pass, 64/6500 shifts for 1 and 2, then 6700 for 3 and 4. Looks like I gained next to nothing by putting the shifts higher.

Time.....12:17.....12:35......12:46.......12:59
60ft........1.52......1.53.........1.53.........1.54
1/8th......7.14......7.14..........7.13........7.16
MPH........94.2......94.4.........94.5.........94.3
1/4........11.30....11.293....11.27......11.32

No changes.

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Most recent, Go-Pro

LSX Monsters Track Day - YouTube

At 0:25 in this one

RUN WUTCHA BRUNG at LSX SHOOTOUT TEST N TUNE! - YouTube

At 1:00 in this one:

LSX MONSTERS & BLUE THUNDER 2 RACING! - YouTube

Midwest Chassis rear bumper support but it isnt new.....

A full 10lbs of metal removed, about 1 pound went back in.

Losing the catback and 4" cutout, going to a single 4" bullet. Total weight lost will be a minimum of 35 lbs.

 

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I love stock appearance......

To come.....

I also have a 5 gallon bucket of misc brackets, bolts, back of the radio etc thats up to 30lbs and Im not near done yet. I also found a full gallon of coolant in the spare tire well so figure that was an extra 8 pounds I was dragging around for nothing :bang:

Got a chance to tinker some more.

Decided to run the 4" pipe all the way out the back for the fumes, and the drone. I realized I had to delete the upper panhard support brace to make room for the pipe. I don't trust running without one so I fabbed up some supports of my own.

 

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Running vertically supporting the bracket

This is what I started with, to go after the Y merge.

It snaked over the rear end quite nicely, with a little gap on top and bottom. Its ******* loud.....

After some inspecting I realized WOT blasts make for super hot exhaust pipes. Was too close to the gas tank for comfort and melted a tiny bit of the bumper. So I wrapped the rear section and repositioned the tailpipe slightly.

The cutout i removed.

Got to tinker some today. Switched from a Chrs1313 AC ram air to a SSRA Megamouth (non-AC) ram air

Cut out the lower radiator support. It was worth 5lbs. The edges of the bracket are still strong enough for an adult male to hang from. I'm gonna run some aluminum flat bar across to give the air dam something to mount to.

 

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Before my 11.2 run I had done the following weight reduction:

ABS Delete: 10
Bumper supports F+R: 40
9.5" converter: 15
Cruise delete: 5
Power seat delete: 10
Lightweight battery: 20
Spare tire delete: 20
Monsoon delete: 20
K Member: 30
Front swaybar delete: 15
Midwest rear bar: 5
Front fender cut: 5
Lightweight carpet: 20
Driver airbag delete: 5
Total: 220 lost

Since I've done:
AC Compressor/bracket: 20
Sway bar brackets: 5
AC fan delete: 5
Lower radiator support cut: 5
Catback delete: 30
Misc bucket of brackets: 35
Spool: 20
Condensor and evap: 5
Coilovers: 10
Spare tire well delete: 10
Upper panhard delete: 5
Total so far: 150

Total 370 lbs.

I was concerned with the air going around the radiator since the condenser was gone. So I fabbed up a couple pieces out of ABS, pictured here plus the hole I was facing.

Life gets in the way at times, but I'm still working on it.

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UPS delivers happiness in a box.

3120, stock brakes, no driver, 1/8th tank of gas.

Found this guy wondering around the shop. I taught him the way home.

Center of lower radiator support cut out

Airbag computer with bracket:

Compressor with one hard line still attached:

Ebrake handle

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Ebrake cables

Passenger airbag

AC side cooling fan

2 door speakers



I originally got this kit, with Strange aluminum hubs. After looking I was sure it would not fit behind a stock wheel due to the design and the large dust cap. After searching around I found most drag wheels allow for the dust cap to come through the center. Since switching wheels was not an option I contact Midwest Chassis and they revised the kit to work with a stock hub and therefore stock wheels.

The kit for drag wheels:

Here's the modified kit and brackets:

So once I had all the correct parts, I fit it all to the car. You will need either brake line adapters, or a brake line kit. I got the kit from Midwest and it work well. The old hard lines are a pain to break free from the stock adapters so go easy on them. You can see the new line and adapter in place in this picture.

Here they are behind the wheel:

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And the weight. I assembled all the strange stuff on the scale and got 25lbs total. I assembled one side of the stock stuff and got about 31lbs. So 62 vs 25. So a 37 pound weight drop:

For driving impressions, the first few stops felt about like stock. After say a half dozen stops the pedal got more reactive and sensitive and the brakes had a very nice initial bite. Very confidence inspiring. I did not do any hard panic type stops but for normal driving you wouldnt know they were there other then the fact that the car seems to stop very well.

So we know what the new stuff looks like:

 

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Yanked the old stuff off and promptly put it for sale: Its a BMR setup, which has worked good for me.



2 concerns, weight by needing to add the stock transmission crossmember back and ride quality. So lets look at the weight....The BMR torque arm was 25lbs. Then their crossmember was 10 pounds. Making the old setup 35 lbs.

Here's the stock trans crossmember: Its fully boxed and heavy. It should be as the torque arm is mounted to the trans when stock:

The stock trans crossmember:

We are gonna un-box it by cutting the stock welds.

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Now this little piece removed might not weigh much:

I mighta hole sawed it too......

TA crossmember cleared my Flowmaster 3 into 4 merge very comfortably.

The Midwest torque arm: about 17lbs.

And this is their crossmember with DS loop:

The conclusion, the BMR setup was 35. The Midwest is 17, I was able to get the TA crossmember down to 5 by eliminating the DS loop, so we are at 22. I was able to get the stock transmission crossmember down to 4 so that's 26. We lost 9 pounds.

Driving impressions: Nice. Quiet, not harsh, I'm really impressed. Traction is about the same on the street. Pinion angle is -2.5.

 

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Special delivery:

Here's the stock stuff:

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Teardown:

Stock weighs 28 per side:

The carnage, new bearings and wedding rings needed:

Going together:

Done!

12 per side for Strange.

So stock was 28+28=56, Strange was 24, so 56-24=32lbs in savings.

 

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So I finally decided to collect the fruits of my labor. Track time, TNT, we been planning it for over a month. Well the weather turned out really nice and DA was in the 750-1000 range. So, everyone and their momma came out.

Long story short I made three passes. I adjusted the coilovers in between each pass looking for traction. The second two passes I wheel hopped bad. Due to the crowd I decided that was enough for me for one night. I did noticed with the new brakes I can brake stall really high now. With the stock brakes it would push through pretty quick. I notice a bad vibration on the way home, and Im thinking its driveshaft related, broken ujoint or something. I made it halfway home and had to call the old lady to come bring the car hauler.

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This, doesn't look right.

Decided to not chance it and just make the repair on the trailer:

Wheel holes are wallered out, brake rotor holes are too, and the centering register on the axle is F-u-c-ked. So I will be replacing all of them. Caliper took a little rubbing from the rotor but looks mostly cosmetic.

Strange was so kind to drill both 12mm and 1/2" stud holes. I will be going back with 1/2" this go round to see if I can stop this crap from happening again.

Here's the passenger side wheel studs.....whoops.

So I waited about a week for new 1/2 studs and a brake rotor from Strange. I didn't get in a hurry to get it fixed due to I'm still waiting on a wheel. I went ahead and patched it together yesterday and put the stock wheels back on the rear to get it off the trailer.

This is the damage to the caliper where the rotor rubbed the inside of it. Looks like i stopped in time and didnt do major damage to the caliper.

Here's the new 1/2 studs after installation.

Here's the complete assembly with the new center register and rotor. You can see from this picture the rotor is stud-centric meaning it depends on the studs to center itself. Common sense tells you if it fits with 1/2 studs and 12mm are smaller, then there was some slack with the 12mm. Enough to cause an issue? Well I cant say for sure but I do believe these were designed to work best with 1/2 because the fit is much tighter. Strange should mention this detail in their product literature I think.

I'm making a lug nut swap also. I'm including this picture for those who may not be familiar. Stock wheels use a hex nut conical seat on the top left. Drag wheels use something like the mag type hex nut with a washer. That type goes through the wheel to grip the stud all the way at the base making it stronger. Even with stock wheels you can use the hex nut ET (extended thread) and it gives a similar effect of the mag type where it actually passes through the wheel and engages more thread and in to a further point.

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