I talked to the GM service manager today, and I'm taking the ZL1 in on Friday.... they have a data recorder that can plug into the OBDII port, but they don't know if it will work on a Gen6 Camaro. We're going to try it out, and if it works, they're going to let me borrow it for our next track day....
Keeping my fingers crossed that this level of service continues to fruition! 
ZL1, Miatas, Bronco, and a Dodge truck. This thread delivers!
Georges1991 said:ZL1, Miatas, Bronco, and a Dodge truck. This thread delivers!
Don't forget the Mustang! 
Oh! And I was just thinking what a nice color it is too. My apologies! Lol
Bad news is the GM datalogger from years past won't work on the ZL1.
Good news is they assigned a better tech this time, and I was able to speak to him directly. He thinks the intercooler circuit has not been properly bled.
On the ZL1, CTS-V and ZO6, an air/water intercooler is used. If there's any air in the system, it will cause the pump to cavitate, and when that happens it shuts down for 3 minutes. No codes, no warning lights... just a turned off pump and no water circulating, so IATs go sky high and the ECU starts pulling timing.
This is a known problem, but I originally discounted it because of the surging... it didn't make sense that the ECU would pull power in such a ragged way, but the tech says that's exactly what some ZO6 owners he worked with experienced.
So, I'm setting up an appointment next week for them to bleed the system.
Alternatively, the tech suggested an HP Tuners MPVI2 datalogger to pull data and see what's going on. I'm not quite ready to drop $300 to help them do their job, but I'm close. Combined with the Track Addict app, the MPVI2 would be a pretty powerful tool to have.
On the Miata front, the NA got a new wideview mirror... the stocker was no longer cutting it when we started using HNRs.
We have one remaing event for the year, so the NA will get a once over while it's in the garage to ensure everything is in readiness.
I have some plans for the NA over the holidays...
ZL1 goes in tomorrow to have the intercooler system bled. I've got my fingers crossed that the tech finds a huge air bubble...
In the meantime, the NA is ready for the next track weekend, so I've been screwing around with our helmets and some paint.
Still working on mine, but I finished my wife's yesterday...
Yes, we're Star Wars fans... 
Finished my helmet today...
This was a fun little project to geek out on... and now we'll be able tell our helmets apart at the track!
Bonus points if you can ID the characters that inspired the helmets... 
Good and bad on the ZL1 front today...
Good news: the tech found a significant amount of air in the system, so that is likely the source of our on-track issues.
The bad news is they didn't listen to me when I told them (a week ago, when I made the appointment) that the ZL1 required a unique service fitting to bleed the system. They told me they had the correct fitting, which, of course, they didn't. They had to cobble things together to bleed it, and as a result left it with a partially pinched hose. They ordered the correct fitting, so they can do it right, but it will take "a week or so" to get it...
Unbelievable... 
I did some research and figured out exactly what they did...
Here is the ZL1 Camaro bleed port (not my car)... circled in red:
You can see that it has a 90* bend that connects to the coolant hose coming up from the heat exchanger.
Since the dealer didn't have the correct bleed fitting for the Camaro, but they did have one for the ZO6 'Vette, they installed a ZO6 bleed fitting, so they could bleed the system. The ZO6 fitting doesn't have the 90* bend. Pic of my car, today...
The hose is not pinched off, but it's obviously not ideal.
Why the berkeley GM would use two different bleed fittings for the same engine in two different chassis is beyond me.
The ZL1 saga continues....
Mid-week, I stopped by the dealer to find out if they'd received the tool necessary to properly bleed the intercooler circuit so they could put the original fitting back on the car and get it finished. Nope. GM is out of stock, and none to be had. Anywhere.
With a track event next weekend, I was up against it. I ordered an aftermarket surge tank kit, which should make all of this irrelevant going forward.
Yesterday, I installed the kit, which simply puts a small reservoir tank in series in the intercooler circuit, at a high point. You can see the tank next to the shock tower brace in this pic:
Having a reservoir tank at a high point in the system allows it to self purge any air as the coolant passes through, and allows checking/filling the system without special tools. Should have been this way from the factory.
Getting my last minute ducks in a row for our last track outing of the year this weekend... running with PCA at Inde Motorsports park in southern AZ. This will be our first trip there.
While I was in the garage, a package showed up from England for the NA...
I have been watching eBay, CL and FB for a while for a good deal on a 6 speed trans for the NA. I know it will be necessary for reliability if the car ever gets boosted, but in the meantime the better gear ratios should help on the track. At one of our local tracks in particular, several turns put the RPMs in the basement in 3rd with the current 5sp, but a shift to 2nd is worse. Looking at my data, I think the 6sp may be worth .5-1 second on the 2 mile course.
Last week, I just missed a local 6sp at a smokin' deal, and later that same day a vendor on MT.net put up 3 6sp transmissions for sale. It's an outfit in England that breaks cars for parts and ships world wide. With shipping to my door, this trans was significantly cheaper than anything I'd seen on eBay recently, and I haven't seen any on CL for a long time, so I pulled the trigger. Even came with a 6 month warranty, though I'm not sure how that could work with the vendor in England.
Getting the 6sp trans in the NA will be my first project for the 'winter break', which for us is really just Dec-Jan. I also have something else in the works.
Great track weekend!
This trip we traveled to the Inde Motorsports Ranch in Willcox, AZ. The event was hosted by the Porsche Club of America (PCA) Southern AZ Region. We have been wanting to drive this track for a while, but had to cancel plans to do so in May of this year after the ZL1 got hit in a parking lot and was in the shop.
We loaded up the camper, put the Miata in the trailer, and my wife followed me in the ZL1 for the 300 mile trip to the track. It wouldn't be too bad a drive, but requires traveling through Phoenix and Tucson. The stretch of I10 between Phoenix and Tucson is one of my least favorite drives... very busy, and horrible drivers.
Inde Motorsports Ranch is a private facility, on the new 'racing club' model... expensive memberships with garages and other amenities on site for members. The front straight doubles as a runway for members to fly in, and somebody showed up in a helicopter while we were there Sunday. Fortunately, they rent the facility out so us peasants can enjoy it as well...
We were running the track in two different configurations over the weekend. On Saturday, we ran 'configuration 5', and Sunday, 'configuration 4', running clockwise both days.
The track has some significant elevation changes, and several blind corners. It was definitely a challenge to learn, especially running two different configurations over the weekend. I was also driving with a fire suit and HNRS for the first time, which took a little getting used to.
Arriving Friday afternoon got us a good spot in the paddock, and we were able to pre-tech as well.
Saturday morning, it was perfect track weather... slightly cloudy with temps in the 60s, and no wind. They didn't have enough instructors, as a large number of the participants had never driven the track, so they did lead/follow for the first session each day. I lucked out and got behind an instructor in a 944S2 race car that drove the perfect pace for me to pick up the track. Lead/follow can be a real E36 M3 show if they go too fast or too slow, and it's hard to get right. It worked great for me, but not for my wife, who got a guy in a GT4 who ran off going too fast for lead/follow.
One of the PCA rules I didn't really care for was that they won't let a passenger ride along unless they're a PCA instructor, so I couldn't ride with my wife. If they had enough instructors to cover the groups, it wouldn't have been as much a problem, but it definitely slowed her progress.
So first, the ZL1...
It appears that the addition of the aftermarket IC circuit reservoir, and the associated absence of air in the circuit solved our power issues from the last outing.
My wife spent the most time on track in the ZL1 and had a great time.
I went out in a session later in morning...
On about my third lap, I ran over something on track, and backed way off to check guages and listen/feel for any issues. Seemed OK, so I brought it back up to speed, but after another lap or so, I could feel something wasn't right in the rear so I brough it in. While checking the car over, we heard a hissing sound at the left rear...
I still don't know what I hit, but it did in the stock Goodyear on the left rear. We were driving the stock GYs trying to wear them out... they're not a good DD tire, but they're not quite a track worthy tire, either. Fortunately, I had the track set along with R888Rs, so those got swapped on for the remainder of the weekend.
And the car did great for the remainder of the weekend (except for using a large amout of fuel!!)...
Got some video to upload, and more to come...
And the NA... well, it was the NA. It just ran, and ran and ran. No issues. Gotta love reliability.
It's fun getting point-bys from GT3s... in a Miata!
My wife took the NA out in a later session on Sunday. She loves the grip, but wasn't all that happy that I de-powered the steering. She's also using a HNRS for the first time, so that took some adjustment.
All in all, a great weekend, and a lot of fun learning a new track. I've got a lot of data to sort through, but I'll post some more details about the two cars' performance in a bit...
Video is up... I only drove a few sessions in the ZL1 through the weekend, and this was the fast lap from the only session I drove it on Sunday. Lots of time left on the table... not enough seat time to get really dialed in.
We really enjoyed this track, but one weekend wasn't enough to really get the track down. It's long and pretty technical, which is lots of fun, but it takes time to get fast and consistent.
I was happy the ZL1 performed flawlessly (other than the flat tire)... no sign of the previous issues. I think it could use a better brake pad, but I don't think we're going to track it often enough and hard enough to bother. Also, it felt really dialed in on the factory GYs (no surprise), but the suspension is a little soft for true R compounds. It didn't feel as composed on the R888Rs, even though they weren't generating as much grip as I expected.
It was absurdly fast, and I found myself laughing out loud a number of times on track.
There were a lot of cool P cars there, of course, and a few other interesting cars...
Gen 5 Z28, with a Lingenfelter engine, on Hoosiers...
Owner was a club member, not there for the event, but went out in one of our sessions. His son was driving and spun it off on the first lap.
This (LFA, not Caymen) showed up late Saturday... first one I've seen in person.
Sounded really good going around the track... guy was getting after it pretty good.
As to the ZL1 vs Z06. Remember the cooling issues the Z06 had when it first came out?
Possibly the "kink" in the Z06 hose was pointed to as a culprit so the Zl1 got the 90* elbow so that the hose did not kink.
In reply to Mad_Ratel :
The hose on the ZO6 has a 90* bend, and different routing than the ZL1.
The ZO6 had two issues that cause the problems on track: air in the intercooler circuit because of improper bleeding at the factory (same problem I had), and a lack of frontal area for heat exchangers. Take a look at the front end of a C7 ZR1 compared to a ZO6 and you'll see how much they changed it to get enough airflow.
Rodan said:In reply to Mad_Ratel :
The hose on the ZO6 has a 90* bend, and different routing than the ZL1.
The ZO6 had two issues that cause the problems on track: air in the intercooler circuit because of improper bleeding at the factory (same problem I had), and a lack of frontal area for heat exchangers. Take a look at the front end of a C7 ZR1 compared to a ZO6 and you'll see how much they changed it to get enough airflow.
was just supposition, your images in your post show the 90* elbow as teh Zl1 and the hose bending as teh Z06.
Since I had knee surgery yesterday, I finally had some time to sit down and look at data from our track weekend.
The first thing that's very obvious is that I still don't really have the track down. I had some wide variances in speed at several locations on the track, both in the NA and ZL1. Changing the track configuration for the second day didn't help, and in the ZL1 in particular, I was much slower through one section that didn't change than I was the first day... don't know what's up with that... The speeds below are representative best speeds over several laps for both cars to try to get a decent comparison.
The ZL1 was on R888s for most of the data, and the NA on Toyo RRs. It's interesting to see that the cars were very close in outright grip on good sections of track without bumps or being off camber. When it got bumpy or funky, the NA showed a clear advantage in corner speed. IMHO, the ZL1s suspension was perfect for the stock Goodyear Supercar 3s (220TW), but was a little overwhelmed with the grip provided by the R888Rs (100TW). This translated into a little instablilty in quick direction changes while on the throttle at higher speeds.
In the areas where the track wasn't the greatest was where the Miata's suspension really shined. Folks bitch about the cost of Supermiata's Xida suspension, but it sure does work.
Also, going from the NA to the ZL1 required a huge adjustment due to the incredible acceleration of the ZL1. Almost 35mph faster on the main straight, and 10-15mph faster on the other fast sections. It really comes off the corners well, and there were areas where I carried full throttle on the NA that became braking zones in the ZL1!
Brakes is one area that I feel the ZL1 could use some improvement. The stock pads are capable, and never faded, but don't have a lot of initial bite. Also the pedal is fairly soft, and has a lot of travel. I've already replaced the fluid with Castrol SRF and bled the system, but it just doesn't have the greatest feel.
I may just be spoiled because of the NA... with the big Willwoods it has the best brake feel and power of any car I've ever driven. And this track was a good opportunity to work on my pedal skills. Learning a new track with bumps, blind crests, and some inexperienced Porsche drivers provided me with a variety of braking experiences allowing me to work on my modulation. I'm pretty sure I flat spotted my front Rivals when one guy in a GT3 checked up suddenly in a 90mph section where nobody was braking. I'm just glad I had been far enough back to avoid him.
The removal of the power steering made the NA much more physical to drive, especially on this track which is pretty busy. My wife wasn't all that excited about that particular change. I may be looking in to one of the new electric booster setups down the road, but that's a few projects in the future.
Anyway, learned a lot about a new track, and the Camaro last weekend, now that I finally got to run it at full chat. Also gained some good practice on the brakes in the NA.
Next project for the NA is getting the 6 speed trans installed. Fortunately, it's a literal 'bolt' in... uses the same clutch hydraulics, release bearing, pilot bearing and driveshaft.
I've already started ordering some of the ancillary items for the install (fluids, shifter bushings and boots, etc.) so it will all be ready to go.
I'm debating ordering new clutch release and pilot bearings. The ones in the car only have about 3k miles on them (installed with the engine swap), but almost all of that was on track. I figure it would be a good idea to have them on hand. If I don't need them, they can go in the spares box.
If my knee recovery goes well, I hope to do the swap within a couple of weeks.
So recovery from knee surgery has been up and down, so I've put off a few things I was going to try to get started on.
I did manage to get one very minor project done... one of the PCA instructors had noted my brake lights were pretty dim on the track, so I ordered up some LEDs to replace them. Definite improvement... the incandescent bulbs in there have never been replaced in my ownership, so they're at least 8 years old... and look it!
And of course, I forgot a $2 gasket for the shifter tower when I made my OEM gasket order, so now I have to try to get that locally if I don't want to pay $12 shipping on a $2 gasket.
Hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving!
Over the last couple of days, I've been prepping to swap transmissions in the NA. It's been a little more tedious, because I'm being very careful not to put any undue stress on my knee.
First, I got the 6 speed transmission cleaned up and ready for install...
I went ahead and rebuilt the shifter, with a new boot and new bushings... might as well have it 100% when it goes in.
I spent today getting everything ready to pull the engine/ trans. IMHO it's much easier just to pull the engine and swap the trans out of the car than it is to wrestle around with the transmission on my back under a car on stands. Every time I've modified something on the car, and especially when I did the engine swap, I tried to set things up to make pulling the engine as simple as possible. Going very slowly, it took about 3 hours, including a lunch break, to have everything ready to pull. If I was physically 100%, and in a hurry, it could be done in half that.
Ready to come out in the morning:
Out with the old...
Engine back in with the 6 speed...
Everything went pretty easy, except for getting the motor mounts lined up and into position. Dicked around with the thing for about 45 minutes and it just wouldn't line up. Took a quick mental health break, came back after 10 minutes and it dropped right in...
A quick test drive shows everything works, and the trans shifts up and down the gears properly. Tomorrow, I'll top up the coolant if necessary, and take a longer drive.
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