1994 1LE Camaro

Looking good!!

rico750sxi_2 said:

Looking good!!

Thanks - still a lot of little items to address. I discovered a broken wheel stud that the PO made no mention of.  Thankfully they can be changed without having to remove the axle.  I also had a question about this;

When originally raced there was a section of what I think is dryer hose that fed fresh air directly up into the area below the K&N cone filter on the CAI.  I'm guessing the PO chopped it off when he removed the decals, harness etc.  It's kinda fugly, but is there any benefit to me putting this back in place? 

Everyone went right into the wheels discussion without stopping to say what an awesome car you scored there, so let me say, an awesome car you scored there! 

pinchvalve said:

Everyone went right into the wheels discussion without stopping to say what an awesome car you scored there, so let me say, an awesome car you scored there! 

Thanks!  First AutoX event is 6/15 and I still have a lot to do!

So when I swapped the wheels on, I saw I had a broken stud on the rear.  Got this banged out last night, but I noticed right away that the replacement stud I purchased was shorter than the ones already on the car.  Turns out it has ARP studs so I ordered a set of 5 and they will be here in a couple of days (couldn't find anywhere I could order a single ARP stud).

I've always fitted replacement studs using the old method of 'winding' them in using a lug nut and washers.  A quick Google search returns all sorts of opinions on that method - some say the axle should be pulled so that the stud can be pressed in.  Any thoughts from the GRM collective?

Bueller?  Bueller?

So after some digging I've discovered that the rear is fitted with ARP studs and the fronts have regular studs 

The rear ARP stud that I thought was snapped was actually cut.  Furthermore it looks like all of the rear ARP studs have been cut.  The only reason I can think of that someone would do this is because they wanted to use closed/acorn nuts OR use the stock open nuts with the thread on plastic caps - who knows?!?

Anyway - I've decided I'm going to fit new ARP studs to all 4 x corners and I'm going to have them pressed in.  I'm going to go with new hubs/bearings on the front and remove the axles on the rear - I need to change the oil in the rear anyway.

Stupid drilled and slotted rotors.... 

pontiacstogo said:

Stupid drilled and slotted rotors.... 

Just had the same thing happen at a track day. Also, make sure your lower control arm mounts are torqued properly.  Mine's a 2002 Camaro SS with a few mods.

jamscal said:

Just had the same thing happen at a track day. Also, make sure your lower control arm mounts are torqued properly.  Mine's a 2002 Camaro SS with a few mods.

Thanks - ended up fitting new Timken hubs and new non-drilled, non-slotted rotors and pads and had new ARP studs pressed into the hubs.  I hope to get the rear all squared away this weekend.  The new hubs made a HUGE difference - I had no idea how noisy those bearings were until I got the new ones in.

My car doesn't have sub-frame connectors so I reached out to UMI Performance.  Their factory is only a 30 minute drive from me so I stopped in today and picked up a set of bolt-in connectors.  Ramey was nice enough to give me a quick tour of their workshop where I got to see their 2nd gen Camaro, 4th gen Camaro and a couple of other fun rides.  Neat place and a big shout-out to UMI in general.

1st Autocross today - had a blast.  Wife drove as well so we got a total of 10 runs in.  Car ran great - managed to finally run it with the exhaust cutout open.  Real short video of one my wife's start;

2nd Autocross was on a much tighter course - smaller field meant 6 x runs and my wife and I both competed in the same heat.  We would pretty much pull in, swap drivers and numbers and head back out again.  It was a hot, humid day and by the 2nd to last run, the power steering was done - virtually no assist below 2K.

The pump was a NAPA rebuild unit that I fitted about 6 months ago due to the old one leaking.  After a bit of research, I've ordered a 'TurnOne' pump and Redline PS fluid.  I haven't decided yet if I will install a PS fluid cooler as well - but I may as I can't see any downside to having one.   I'm thinking my wife and I might split heats in future events to give the car more cool down time between runs.

Obligatory video;

Good call on the Turn One pump, it's a nice upgrade for steering feel as well. Definitely add a cooler - it's cheap and easy to do and helps protect that rather spendy new pump. 

Needing a PS cooler on a 4th Gen is pretty typical.

1. Keep an eye on the hubs. Parts store replacement hubs are E36 M3. I would trust a junkyard hub more.

2.  Underdrive pulley would eliminate the need for a Turn One pump for autocross

3. 17" wheels are a waste of time and money if you ever want to run wider than a 255. Should have gotten 18x12s

landstuhltaylor said:

3. 17" wheels are a waste of time and money if you ever want to run wider than a 255. Should have gotten 18x12s

Huh?  I'm already running 275/40/17.

What he means is that all the really good 200TW tires such as the Rival S, RE-71R and the ZIII aren't available in larger than 255 on a 17x9.5 inch wheel. But in 18x12 they are. I've settled on the generations-old tires available for 275-40-17 since I'm not pushing things to the max and want the better ride.

In reply to GCrites80s :

Ah I see - thanks for the explanation!  I don't have a lot to compare them to, but I'm pretty happy with the 615K's that are on the car currently.  I'll probably just replace them with the same thing next season if they're still available.  We are having a blast autocrossing the car as it sits and at this stage our skill level is the road block to quicker times,  not the car. 

We do occasionally street drive it as well so I'm OK with the compromise.

Got the turn one pump fitted, so PS is back to normal.  Competing in an autocross event at Ebensburg airport tomorrow and it's gonna be a warm one.  We're going to split heats and I'm going to take an infared thermometer to check the PS fluid temp between runs.

Neat!  I picked up one of these cars recently as well   and like yours it has a bunch of parts thrown on that I need to learn now.  For the wheel situation, I put 275/17 continental ECS on the stock 9" wheels as street and rain tires.  Then I went and bought 18" C5 Corvette 'wagon wheels' - oem staggered sets seem to sell for around $250. Buy two sets, keep the 18s, sell the 17s.  They are 18x9.5 and weigh less than a pound more than the stock camaro wheels.  Mine now have some castoff 275/18 Bridgestone re71 on them, next event is Sunday.   First event on the conti was balanced ok but definitely hurting for grip.

You can do a similar thing with c5 z06 wheels, the rears are 18x10.5 and the fronts are 17x9.5, however I dont plan on buying wider tires than 275 in the near future so I didnt bother with the extra expense- those seem to sell for more like $500 a set.

Not much to report - but thought I'd post a quick update.

Turn one pump seems to be working fine - have another Autox event coming up this weekend, but it's back at Ebensburg airport and that course doesn't seem too hard on the PS.  Did oil and filter today along with gearbox fluid change. 

I still haven't installed the subframe connectors I got from UMI.  I discovered the front frame rails (that the SFC's bolt to) have had a hard life.  I'm thinking lots of floor jacking over the years have deformed them.   The SFC's may be a project for next year.

Breakfast stop on route to last event;

Autocross went well today - I've fallen into a pattern of pretty much knocking a little time off each run from the first to the last - around 1/2 a second or so each time.  The car is still way better than me or my wife, but we are improving with each event.  I'm not sure what else to do to improve times other than just keep entering events and keep pushing the car more and more.

LT1's cooling down between runs;

Next year (only because all the local ones are done for this year afaik) attend an autocross school, either one put on by a region or by one of the professional groups.  Anytime, get an instructor in the car.  It can be really hard to identify what you can do better until you see someone else do it.

As a side note, I'll be at an autocross in Wilkes Barre on Sunday if you want to have a GRM red camaro meetup.  It's about 3 hours from Ebensburg though.

RedGT said:

Next year (only because all the local ones are done for this year afaik) attend an autocross school, either one put on by a region or by one of the professional groups.  Anytime, get an instructor in the car.  It can be really hard to identify what you can do better until you see someone else do it.

 

As a side note, I'll be at an autocross in Wilkes Barre on Sunday if you want to have a GRM red camaro meetup.  It's about 3 hours from Ebensburg though.

We drive the car to events now - but it's a pretty harsh and noisy ride.  Not sure a 3 hour drive would be much fun .

I had one of the more experienced drivers ride along on my second run on Saturday - he told me I was smooth enough but needed to be more aggressive, particularly through the slaloms.  I did look into schools, but as you say, they all seem to be done for the year.  I will try and get in on something next year.

Driver Mod is what you are after

Good idea to get some of the experienced/fast guys to ride with you.  Also good idea to do PS cooler in the off season

I really like the 615k+ tires, they wear well, stick well enough, kind of noisy, turn up the radio 

Oh yeah, groovy car, dig the red with black wheels.  Looks very cherry for a track car.  Can you give us some interior and under hood photos?

Toebra said:

Oh yeah, groovy car, dig the red with black wheels.  Looks very cherry for a track car.  Can you give us some interior and under hood photos?

Thanks for the link.  Couple of photos;

The interior is mostly stock sans the pedal covers and Competition Engineering 4 point bar.  The headliner was sagging when I bought the car (very common problem with 4th gens) so I replaced it and deleted the sunvisors.  That's pretty much all I've done to the interior. Engine is stock internally - has a CAI of unknown origin and it came with a plug in Hypertech tuner that has been used to adjust for a 160 degree thermostat and the 4:10 gears.

That looks pretty minty fresh for a track car. 

How are the seats, the bolsters look a little weak.  I wonder if you could do a "foamectomy" like is done with Miatae seats to sit lower and enhance lateral support.