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Post by s8er01z on Jan 9, 2012 9:10:58 GMT -6
Picked it up in May 2006 after getting rid of my old 1995 LT1 car. Found it at Lujacks with 43K on the clock and grabbed it for 16K. Car came from North Carolina if memory serves and was purchased new at Russell Chevrolet in Sherwood, AR for a whopping 23K (remember when these cars were dirt cheap?). This was taken not long after... (looking for the older pictures)  (Wifes 1996 LT1 A4, Buddies 06 GTO A4, My Car) Car stayed bone stock for a LONG time as I enjoyed not having a modified car for a while. (The old LT1 had a CC306, ported heads, BBK Shorty Headers, 2200 stall, manual valve body, shift kit, 3.42s, CAI and was a headache 99% of the time). Took the car to the track a few times just to get a feel for how it would do. July 29th 2006 14.59 @ 103.89, 2.59 60ft (first pass) 13.59 @ 104.78, 2.1 60ft 13.57 @ 95.52, 2.1 60ft (missed 4th) 13.48 @ 104.74, 2.1 60ft (best for the day)  (DA was pulled from someones weather station at the track that day, drag times put the DA @ 2790...initially I was disappointed until looked at the da results... 13.032 @ 108.423 MPH, not bad for a stock LS1) We got a chance to run again in fall weather during an MFBA rental and jumped on it. 13.2 @ 107mph, 2.1 60ft 13.19 @ 108.59mph, 2.1 60ft (best -347 DA)  Was honestly really happy with this... not my best driving, hit rev limiter on almost every shift and had a bogged launch, 13.2 and 13.1 were even done hot lapped. Again in the spring we hit the MFBA rental... I produced a 13.2 @ 106mph, 2.1 60ft ( DA 500ft) The wife got a 13.17 @ 105.88mph, 1.99 60ft (DA 500ft) After this I decided to do the FRA mod and cut out the bottom of the my air box. Figured I wasn't going to get in to the 12s with my driving abilities so some mods were needed. I put it on the Dyno that summer when I got invited to a group dyno session. (I believe it was posted up on here). Car made 324rwhp/341rwtrq.   More than happy with these numbers I started looking around for other basic mods and found an MTI lid and K&N Filter on here. I believe I picked it up for 50.00 and slapped it on. |
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Post by s8er01z on Jan 9, 2012 9:26:20 GMT -6
Several years had passed already and I daily drive the hell out of the car so mileage was adding up quickly. At 117K the clutch finally decided to show some weakness so I picked up a 27,000 mile clutch on LS1tech out of an 04 Z06, guy literally bought the car and decided to build it so the clutch came out and he put in something better. I ended up with some strange knock sensor issues around this time (P0327, P0332) and spent months fighting with new sensors and yanking the intake off every few days. Ended up being a bad grommet inside the valley cover that was letting oil come up into the sensors. Big thanks to Randy @ YatesEFI finding the grommet for me as this one drove me nuts a long damn time. After I got the knock sensor issue sorted out I decided to figure out why the engine had 'rattle' noises. It's always had piston slap and I was used to this but there was always a strange noise I could never place...with mileage climbing past the 130K mark now I wanted to address any potential issues asap. I believed at the time the lifters were getting bad and I was just hearing noise coming from one that was either failing or just stuck. I jumped on LS1tech again to research and while looking into what I needed to do I found a deal on a Cam, lifters, pushrods, springs from a 28K mile 02 Z06 (was boosted and lost a ring land so he decided to build) ... just under 200.00 shipped. At the time I figured what the hell, a set of lifters was going to cost almost that anyways (was looking at LS7 lifters) and I was feeling lucky. After discovering I'm a jackass and the heads needed to come off to replace the lifters we decided to pull the cam and if anything looked out of the ordinary we would pull the heads, otherwise we would swap the cam, springs and pushrods and see if the noise issues cleared up. A nice long saturday was spent pulling the cam and we used the 97 cent dowel rod trick to hold the lifters. Replaced the Oil o-ring at the same time due to some oil fluctuations I had seen at the track which unfortunately added way more time to the swap than I liked. Got the car back together though and it sounded great... ran pretty well too even on the stock tune but I knew I needed the rev limiter raised to take advantage of the new cam so I started looking at tuning options. Being the cheap bastard I am I found a locked Hypertech online for nothing and sent it away to PCM4Less for an unlock... I ended up spending 130.00 to get the hyper tech working (seemed fair to me I guess) and took the thing to Cordova to see what would happen. I had loaded the Hypertech tune and around this time I noticed the car 'rattling' up top (5000+ rpm)... I figured I was hearing audible pinging and the track results backed it up. Something wasn't right...  |
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Post by s8er01z on Jan 9, 2012 9:34:20 GMT -6
At this point I decided to dig into the engine and see what was going on... I got with Yates and ordered up some parts.. then yanked the heads to replace the lifters. After pulling the heads I discovered crosshatching still present on all the cylinders, pretty clean internals, some high mileage lifters and lifter trays that were sliding around and making noise. Replaced the trays, lifters and cleaned things up a little... then put her all back together. At this point I felt pretty confident that unless a bearing decided to go everything looked just fine and I didn't have much to be concerned with. (138K on it at that time). After playing with the hyper tech and doing some reading I decided to pull the hyper tech tune off and just run the car stock tune with the rev limiter raised to 6600 to see how it would do. I was going to avoid the MFBA rental due to the poor showing I had at Cordova previously but at the last minute a spot opened and I got a chance to run for free. I figured I didn't have anything to lose and took the car out again. After a couple of 13.0 passes @ 108~109mph I ended up lining up with a buddy in his SRT8 Charger. I knew he would be on top of me and I really wanted to win the race.... I left ahead of him but bogged pretty bad.... once the car started to rev again I nailed my shifts near the 6500rpm mark and was surprised at the outcome..  Unfortunately that horrible rattle was present and I figured I needed a real tune as it sounded like it was leaning out really bad up top. Normal daily driving the car sits on cruise control at 60ish mph so the rattle had been forgotten. I was soon going to find out what the problem was though. A week later I started my car to head home from a fire call and it wouldn't stay running... at 140K the stock fuel pump finally decided to quit. I ordered a Racetronix Venturi style pump and cut an access port (no way was I interested in dropping the tank). The install was quick and painless and the high rpm rattle was completely gone. (yeah I know...I'm a jackass). I pulled the hyper tech after realizing there was no way it was capable of handling even a basic cam and sold it off. Car has been running on stock tune/stock limiter since then. |
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Post by s8er01z on Jan 9, 2012 9:39:27 GMT -6
Coming up on the 150K mark now (149,xxx)... going to be ordering a set of Longtube headers and heading to Speed Inc for a dyno tune in the next coming months. Will update more when I get the results from that.  |
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Post by glennster on Jan 9, 2012 19:51:40 GMT -6
Nice. Moar pics of car.
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Post by nomrlz on Jan 24, 2012 6:16:19 GMT -6
nice write up. i love adding parts and goin back to the track to see if there are gains. whatcha hopin the headers and tune get ya, 12.50ish or better?
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Post by s8er01z on Jan 24, 2012 7:12:19 GMT -6
That's the goal... On the extreme end I found cars with 1 7/8 LTs and the LS6 cam on 241 heads making 370-380rwhp over on ls1tech. With tire I could get a low 12 I think. Car really needs a better driver.. Not sure I've ever had a pass I didn't bog off the line.
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Post by s8er01z on Jan 24, 2012 8:36:07 GMT -6
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Post by nomrlz on Jan 24, 2012 16:10:48 GMT -6
low 12 car will own the street 80% of the time
the other 20% you'll just hafta wish you had more money to spend ;D
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Post by s8er01z on Feb 12, 2012 20:16:19 GMT -6
Installed BBK Chrome longtubes today. Got them from WS6store for 355 shipped. Came with everything except header bolts and a rear bracket for the slip fit y pipe to I pipe section.
Install was not painless but I don't think any header install is.
Started early and things came apart pretty quick. Had a little trouble with cat bolts but impact made short work of it. Once the old stuff was off I ended up fighting for way to long to get the dipstick tube out. Once it popped free both sides slid in from the top. (removed coil packs and lifted the passenger side of the engine a little with a jack. Bolted it all in and adjusted... Spent Waay to long fighting the y pipe/I pipe part. The old stuff did not want to slide inside the new stuff.
Total of 7 1/2 hours spent on the install. Ugh sore, tired and hurting. Didn't stop to take any real pictures. Been a long weekend.
couple quick revs
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Post by s8er01z on Feb 22, 2012 14:44:21 GMT -6
I got a set of fuel rail covers from a buddy and finally got around to modifying them today.  Need to fill in the Corvette parts I think.. just trying to figure out how to do it. |
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Post by 7975camaro on Mar 20, 2012 9:35:32 GMT -6
nice
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Post by s8er01z on Aug 21, 2012 9:10:56 GMT -6
Just to keep some kind of historical record....156,000 miles - Pulled running engine due to some noises and old age.
Replaced with...
2004+ style 5.3L Short block (TMS 5.7L)
LS7 Lifters
Hardened 7.425 Pushrods
LS2 Timing Chain
LS2 Lifter Trays
Melling Oil Pump
ARP Head Bolts
ARP Crank Bolt
Heads (cleaned, valve job and new seals)
Pressure Plate
Water pump and thermostat
Polyurethane Motor Mounts
(If I forgot anything I will add later)
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Post by s8er01z on Aug 21, 2012 9:13:05 GMT -6
Have an oil leak from the back...I must have screwed up main seal installation or the seal around the cover is leaking..either way I guess I'm pulling the transmission now.  |
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Post by s8er01z on Jul 19, 2013 7:24:10 GMT -6
I guess it's been awhile since I updated anything... Car has been up and running for 11 months now... recently I started to see blue smoke on startup and when revving. I took a look under the valve covers and discovered the valve seals were not where they should be.   |
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Post by Sukkoi19 on Jul 19, 2013 13:02:15 GMT -6
Well at least the problem has been identified and resolution should be pretty straight forward.
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Post by s8er01z on Jul 19, 2013 13:23:22 GMT -6
Yeah I picked up te 2nd design seals already and ordered a spring compressor so should be fixed soon.
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Post by Sukkoi19 on Jul 19, 2013 23:40:14 GMT -6
Did you put a good tire on it when you had it at the track?
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Post by s8er01z on Jul 20, 2013 8:17:22 GMT -6
I was on all seasons 245/50R16 Kumho ASTs.
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Post by Sukkoi19 on Jul 20, 2013 15:03:11 GMT -6
Ahhh. So never tried with a Nitto or M/T?
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Post by s8er01z on Jul 20, 2013 21:56:22 GMT -6
Once I get things running right I would like too but so far I've only used all seasons. I've 'almost' picked up DRs several times now, just never seems to happen.
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Post by Sukkoi19 on Jul 21, 2013 3:33:47 GMT -6
They do make a world of difference when trying to extract a decent time. I would definitely get at least a set of Nittos before you take it out. I remembered you were saying it was stuck in the mid upper 12s the last few times you were out at the track.
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Post by s8er01z on Jul 21, 2013 7:12:49 GMT -6
Yeah the last time it was out with the cam, lid, FRA and stock tune it went 12.8 @ 110 on a 2.0 60ft... A DR probably could have got me near a 12.5. I'm really interested to see what it does now, I'll have to wait on buying tires until I get the trans rebuilt though, I lost the 3rd gear synchro a few months ago.
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Post by hawaiifiveoh on Jul 21, 2013 12:37:47 GMT -6
Out of curiosity, the wheels that are on it are 16's correct? I do have an "old" new set of Toyo TQ's in my garage that I'm gonna be trying to get rid of. Never been mounted, just sitting in the garage lol, I can do cheap cheap, lmk if you are interested.
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Post by s8er01z on Jul 21, 2013 12:47:06 GMT -6
Yeah I have the stock 5 stars (painted black)... I'm sure I can get a hold of some cheap rims so I don't have swap tires over and over again. I'll shoot you a text.
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Post by hawaiifiveoh on Jul 21, 2013 18:34:21 GMT -6
Sounds good man.
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Post by s8er01z on Mar 26, 2014 12:11:27 GMT -6
Not much of an update but figured I would add it...  Picked up the Gen 3 DM6 Wide band Combo from PLX... should have it interfaced with HPTuners tonight and finally get some kinks worked out in the tune. Should be ready to finally get some new times this year. |
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Post by Sukkoi19 on Mar 26, 2014 13:30:20 GMT -6
Looks nice. I didn't remember my 2002 having three fog light switches.
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Post by s8er01z on Mar 26, 2014 13:44:18 GMT -6
Yeah those are for my blue lights and wigwags (when I finally pick up the wigwag module). The car came with one switch and a block off (no ASR), behind the factory camaro plate was two more spaces so I picked up some extra switches and wired them in.
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Post by s8er01z on Apr 11, 2014 10:04:40 GMT -6
Finally got around to picking up wig wags... damn I need new headlights. Nasty.
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