In reply to BradyD:
CL can be frustrating. I feel your pain. Just make sure it's the right spline count. Yours should be 28, which works with anything from a 3rd or 4th gen Camaro, and even S-10s I think. B-bodies and trucks will be 30 spline. Your 28 is much more common than my 30.
89-down and 90+ should be the cutoff but it might be 90 down and 91+ for the 26 to 28 spline count change. that's just the axles though so the gears should all be the same. according to looking up gears at summit racing the gear/install kits are listed as fitting 82-98.
the only 91+ b bodies to get the 7.5 were 91-93 305 caprice sedans i believe and those were all in the 2.56/2.73 range, the rest all got 8.5's as did all fullsize trucks.
Engine and trans are ready to go in tomorrow!
Those Pace Setter headers came with our Camaro, but weren't installed. The previous owner snapped off a manifold bolt and then decided to abandon the job. I spent about an hour drilling and Heli-Coiling the broken bolt, then the headers bolted up in about 10 minutes.
We got the headers with the collector flange cut off... so our cheap solution was a set of $22 Summit Racing 3'' slip on glass pack 'mufflers'. We'll weld up our own exhaust, and shoot it out in front of the rear wheels.
Here's the car hoisted up ready for the powertrain to go in!
Powertrain under the car:
Motor back in:
Taking the powertrain out from underneath a 4th gen F body is the way to go. The only thing that fought us was re-connecting the steering shaft. Everything else slid right into place.
We got most of the vacuum lines and wiring harness installed too. The long tube headers hit the oil pressure sending unit when it was mounted to the oil filter housing, so we moved it to the top of the block where there was a plugged threaded hole. We also had to make extensions for the O2 sensor plugs, since the long tube headers moved the sensors back much farther than the stock manifolds.
We've got a few questions:
1) Where do the vacuum lines for the 1996+ vented Opti-spark hook up? Our car had the non vented Opti, but we updated it with the vented version, but we don't see any 'extra' vacuum ports for the two lines coming off of it.
2) What's your preferred method for flushing a gas tank? Ours is basically empty, but it smells funky and we know it sat for a while. The next job is to drop the tank and flush it out...
3) Can we eliminate the Evap canister purge solenoid valve, and just vent the Evap canister directly to the atmosphere? We'd of course plug the manifold vacuum and throttle body vacuum connections, if the solenoid was removed. (our purge solenoid is cracked, and this car doesn't need to be emissions legal)
jmk015 wrote: 1) Where do the vacuum lines for the 1996+ vented Opti-spark hook up? Our car had the non vented Opti, but we updated it with the vented version, but we don't see any 'extra' vacuum ports for the two lines coming off of it.
Mine goes into the intake manifold. Just pick an existing vacuum line, put a plastic T in it, and hook it up with some extra hose. This article has some good pictures. http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/16758/
Thanks for the link, that was helpful. We swapped out our old style timing cover and non-vacuum-vented Opti for the newer style ones, we just weren't sure where to run the two lines. One to manifold vacuum and one to intake tube. Thanks.
AngryCorvair wrote: I would put those C4 wheels in my generic parts stash, then self-trade them for the Z28 wheels.
Is this legal?
Cool! Looks like you have a decent build coming together. We did our first grm last year and I'm pretty sure lost the novice trophy to that sweet polyphony camaro. Clearly not a bad platform. Will be following your build. As for the wheels, I would probably 'sell' them for 80% market value and use that number. I really want to do this for a couple parts of my build, and I'm not sure it's the nobelist move but we are in friendly competition. I think it's ok.
If you ever have a FMV question, just post a thread in the GRM section with a picture. We'll tell ya what it's worth, then you can put that value in your budget.
maschinenbau wrote: If you ever have a FMV question, just post a thread in the GRM section with a picture. We'll tell ya what it's worth, then you can put that value in your budget.
This might be a stupid question, but where is this thread? I'd like to get FMV estimates on our stock Z-28 wheels and a few of our extra LT1 parts that I'd like to keep for use in future project(s), so I can subtract them out of our Challenge budget.
It's just here:
https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/
Thanks for the info.
I started a new thread to determine the fair market value of our Z-28 wheels and some of our 'extra' motor parts that we'd like to keep: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/fair-market-value-assesment-for-chalenge-car-parts-camaro-and-lt1-stuff/111369/page1/
We made some progress on the car this weekend, but I don't have any photos to share.
We sold the old heads off of the Camaro for $150!!
We took out the gas tank and flushed it, finished the wiring and vacuum lines, installed the radiator, and cranked the car for the first time!!
We didn't fire it up, because we still need to hook up the coolant lines and flush out the fuel lines. Next time we work on the car, it should be running!!
Question on rules and/or safety:
Do Challenge cars have to run with side and rear windows installed, or can we remove the glass and install nets?
In reply to jmk015:
Just stick with NHRA rules for the drag racing. I ran without Windows or nets last year but my car was slow.
Also for finding FMV try eBay advanced search select sold items and find a similar condition item and print the page for FMV.
jmk015 wrote: Thanks for the info. I started a new thread to determine the fair market value of our Z-28 wheels and some of our 'extra' motor parts that we'd like to keep: https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/fair-market-value-assesment-for-chalenge-car-parts-camaro-and-lt1-stuff/111369/page1/
And there's a special place reserved in hell for whoever designed the F body gas tank! We had to drop the rear end down to get it out because of that stupid solid filler neck......and the tank was spotless inside. Go figure. I don't wanna be that guy who says Ford does it better, but Ford does gas tanks better with the rubber grommet and removable filler neck. Either way, hopefully we'll hear it run in a week!
She runs, and sounds sick!
https://youtu.be/r3EqDK6qByw
Oh man, that sounds goooood. I really need to get my engine back together. Thanks for the motivation.
maschinenbau wrote: Oh man, that sounds goooood. I really need to get my engine back together. Thanks for the motivation.
Look forward to hearing a sound clip from you! If you click my youtube channel there are a few more videos of it.
We originally had issues keeping the car running...turns out having the gas cap on the tank is pretty important, lol. We were in the process of burping the coolant system until the crazy neighbor came over and threatened to call the police because we were "shaking his house." The engine itself runs very quietly (i.e., mechanical noise is very low). It ticked at first but I think some lifters just needed to be pumped up. No knocks! Just hope that 3x over spec crank end play won't be the end of us.
Side note, do any of you guys know the names of a moderator or two? Would like to get the name of this thread changed to have the type of car we're building in it.
BradyD wrote: Side note, do any of you guys know the names of a moderator or two? Would like to get the name of this thread changed to have the type of car we're building in it.
I think EastCoastMojo can get it done for you.
The car fired up on the second or third crank after we primed the fuel system. We're really happy with it.
Wasn't our crank end play 0.012''? I think the book calls for .002-007'' end play on a new motor.
While this is technically 3x out of spec, I feel pretty OK about it. Some people on the Camaro forums report running them in the .015'' range without issues. I guess we'll see...
We still have to install the driveshaft, finish fabricating an exhaust, finish bolting up the rear end, and install the wheels before our test drive. I can't wait to take this car for a drive and take it to the local track for some testing!
We also picked up a set of 18'' wheels (that were spray painted ugly satin black) off of a 5th generation Camaro. We didn't like the limited 16'' tire choices, so we're no longer going to use our 16'' C4 saw blade wheels.
I know a lot of you guys on the forums like these 9.5'' wide saw blade wheels, so if anyone wants them they are for sale. We paid $150 for the set of 4 (8.5'' front and 9.5'' rear), so we'd be happy to pass them along for the same price.
Been a while, but we got it on the ground! Unfortunately, it looks like it's jacked up in the rear. I think I know what the problem is, though. The sway bar is touching the pumpkin in the back, so I think the end links need to be tighter and it should solve our issues.
Also, we ran into a pulley alignment issue. The alternator we put on the car was off an Impala...apparently the alternators are the same but the pulleys are differnet. Luckily we had a spare with a pulley that sits 0.125" further forward. Haven't put it on but it should (hopefully) solve our belt shredding issues.
It's outside and running!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HozbQ94nE0M
Unfortunately, we're having shifter issues. It goes into sort of drive and neutral. We adjusted the shifter and it didn't help. The shifter lever on the trans itself feels great and notchy, but the shifter inside the car feels like crap. Very hard to get into any gear. We're getting close to taking it for the first drive!
Looking good, and sounds GREAT! Could it be a pinched or binding trans cable?
IndyJoe wrote: Looking good, and sounds GREAT! Could it be a pinched or binding trans cable?
Potentially. Our third builder (who isn't registered on the forum) went to a local junkyard in Baltimore and grabbed the entire shifter mechanism and cable off a '93 V6 Camaro. It apparently uses a 4L60E and the same shifter & cable.
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