My 2000 Z28 Camaro Progress Thread...

[92StangMan]

Now that I am back into the sports car scene, I will make a thread in here and post all the mods and track times for my new ride.

http://i49.photobucket.com/albums/f278/joehutzman1995/IMG_2120.jpg

The car looks a lot better in person than in the picture and once it's nice outside, I will take more and replace this. For some reason the car looks ricey but it's really not.

Current mods:

Loudmouth II catback
Whisper lid with smooth bellow
K&N air filter

Mods waiting to be installed:

Kook's 1-7/8" long tube race headers
Kook's 3" off road Y-pipe (you can tell I am emission friendly!)

Mods to come shortly:

LS6 intake
Under drive pulleys

Originally I was going to buy a set of Hooker headers and off road Y-pipe but since I am selling a boatload of Mustang parts, I decided to spend the extra $600 for a set of Kooks which are top notch. I got a really good deal on the Kook headers and off road Y-pipe, and they should arrive tomorrow. I am hoping to have the LS6 intake and under drive pulleys in the next two weeks since I want to install everything at the same time. After these are installed, I am going to take a few months off of buying parts because it's winter and to save up some money. Come May I will pick up a set of 3.73 gears (wanted 4.10s but with an A4, that puts me at ~2,700 RPMs at only 65mph; no thanks) and look for a shop to dyno tune the car. Once the air/fuel ratio is where it needs to be with the new mods, I will take it to my local 1/8th mile drag strip and start dialing it in.

My main goal is to have an 11-second daily driven Z28. This year I just want a mid 12-second car, and I think these mods will be more than enough, provided I have traction. Next year I will begin looking into a stall, some suspension, a beefier rear-end and adjust accordingly to reach my 11.99 or better.

I have close to $2,500 worth of Mustang parts lying around so when one sells, I immediatly buy a part for the Z28. It's more like I am trading one part for another instead of it coming out of my pocket since it's all through Paypal (at least that's how I justify spending $1,075 on the headers and Y-pipe!).

[Mustard]

looks like a clean car man. not a camero fan to say the least but it should be a good runner

[Foxxx5oh]

have fun on the header install...lol...camaro looks good! you should get some prostars for it ;)

[boostanggt]

Very clean car. Can't say I'm a camaro guy but it looks good. And 11 sec. DD are the shit! :bigthumb

[92StangMan]

Thanks! I should have the headers on sometime the week after next or maybe this weekend if I am lucky. When I do, I'll be sure to upload a video.

[92StangMan]

Update:

Cliff notes/short version: Exhaust is on. It’s loud.

Long version:

Sean (the guy who will probably do the majority of my installs) and I got together today to put my exhaust on. If you knew me personally, and I'm sure some of you have figured this out by now, you would know that I am a tight-wad when it comes to my money, but when I do spend, I spend big. When I began looking for an exhaust set up I started looking at Hooker headers which are a decent brand. After reading various LS1 message boards, the consensus was to buy right the first time. So, I did. American Racing Headers and Kooks are the two big companies who make F-body headers and are both priced equally with ARH coming out a bit cheaper (~$75 cheaper). I had my sights set on Kooks from the get-go and Kooks is what I bought.

The headers I did end up buying are fairly big at 1-7/8", and some might argue they're a bit too big. Since they were so damn expensive, I bought with the future in mind. If I decide to add a set of heads and a big cam, the bigger headers will be fine. Another reason why I bought the 1-7/8" headers is because they were the same price as the 1-3/4" headers, which are the ones better suited for a bolt-on LS1... but who wants to stay a bolt-on only? Not I!

Sean says he can usually do headers and ORY pipe in under 3 hours. He and I meet up around noon, drop the car off at the garage and get a bite to eat so it can cool down. We head back over to the garage and start when a good friend of his and an old friend of mine, Joe, shows up to shoot the poop for a few hours. Joe had an '02 LS1 that ran a best of 11.10 with a 100-shot of juice at a track with shitty prep. Had it have been better and his 60' would have been 1.5'ish, 10-second ETs were definitely there. But what can you do?

Fast forward to 7:00pm, or 6 hours, a lot of bullshitting and three trips to Advanced Auto Parts later, the car is done! Sean started her up and let the car idled to burn off all the crap (debris, oil, whatever) that was left on the inside of the exhaust from the manufacturer. At idle it doesn't sound much louder than with the original exhaust. Speaking of the original exhaust, I didn't realize how restrictive they were. The Y-pipe is far from mandrel bent and in some areas it was mashed down for fitment.

Anyhooter we drive it around the parking lot and something doesn't feel right but he knew exactly what it was. When you bolt on race headers and ORY-pipes, you do not need all the EGR crap and he typically takes it out but where we're meeting up on Thursday to install my LS6 intake, ported throttle body and under drive pulley, he left it on so that he could take it all off then since it would save time and be easier. He had partially taken off one of the hoses and forgot that he didn't put a bolt back into the mounting bracket and it was bouncing between the firewall and engine. He bolted the bracket back into its place and that was taken care of. Now I am experience what many 3"+ exhaust guys complain most about - my Y-pipe hitting the floorboard anytime the engine is under a load, typically at 2k RPMs or less. Right now it sounds a little like crap and we're going to adjust the Y-pipe and see if it helps. I am hoping it does.

Finally I head home and once I hit route 60, I opened her up some and the exhaust damn near scared me, LOL! This car is freaking loud. It's very loud from the interior and I imagine it's fairly loud on the outside. People were looking at me as I was driving by, LMAO! I am going to give this exhaust set up about a month to get used to and if that doesn't work, I will try a different catback. My '87 Mustang GT was loud but it was more of a deep loud, not so much a raspy V8 loud. One pro to having a loud exhaust is that hopefully the deer can hear me coming and stay out of my way! Our deer population is getting out of hand and people are hitting them left and right on our roads, so I am hoping they stay the hell away from me and my car!

I might snap a few pics of the car this Thursday and a video of it running with all the new mods. If I don't, I will definitely get a video of me dyno tuning it the week before New Years. Sean is hooking me up with an awesome deal on getting it dyno tuned and also deleting all the codes popping up on my computer with the off road set up. I will also scan and post my dyno graph. With this set up I am going to shoot for something in the range of 340rwhp and that should be achievable.

[1992MustangDW]

are you going to put one of those "camaro" tunes that everyone has.

[INSANEBA]

I gotta say, if it werent for f-bodies, I wouldve never gotten into a fox body. I do love them, and if it's a manual car then it's even better in my book...

[nskaats]

Glad to see you've started working on it. Keep us updated with the progress.

A lot of people think header installs are bad on an F-body, but they're pretty much cake. It only takes a couple hours to do an LT or LS car.

[Lt. Dangle]

ditch the RS bodykit, and lowerit on some black Z06's or Black ZR1's and it would look dope.

[92StangMan]

ditch the RS bodykit, and lowerit on some black Z06's or Black ZR1's and it would look dope.

No thanks.


are you going to put one of those "camaro" tunes that everyone has.

What kind of "Camaro tunes"?


Glad to see you've started working on it. Keep us updated with the progress.

A lot of people think header installs are bad on an F-body, but they're pretty much cake. It only takes a couple hours to do an LT or LS car.

Thanks! I will keep you updated and should have the intake, ported TB and under drive pulley on Thursday or maybe even as soon as this Wednesday.

[92StangMan]

By the way, if anyone is wondering why I'm writing out these long and drawn out explanations on this progress is thread is because I am doing the same on another message board that isn't car related. Most people on there don't know what half the shit is so I go into more detail.

[DeckerEnt]

The more info the better. Nice build so far. More pics would be nice..LOL
Keith

[1992MustangDW]

I dont know lol, he took it over to lt1 daves shop and they tuned the car, and flashed the computer and the car was a totally diffrent car. http://www.davetotalperformance.com/
thisis were it was at. it is right off of rt.50 going towards milford.

[92StangMan]

I will take more on Thursday.

[92StangMan]

I failed at taking more pics today but we did get the LS6 intake and ported throttle body bolted on and removed the rest of all the EGR crap. The car has a much better throttle response and can tell a difference.

One of the vendors whom I've bought a lot of things off of invited me to come out and meet the guy who will hopefully be tuning the car and sometime soon. Everyone I have talked to has said this guy is the guru of LS1 tuning, so I look forward to seeing what he can do. They start just before noon tomorrow and I'm going to text him around 3pm - an hour before I get off work - and see if they're still tuning. If so, I will head out after work and check everything out.

[92StangMan]

Looks like it'll be a few more weeks till my car is dyno tuned and I am content with that since it's running fine right now.

I've heard a few horror stories about people installing new stall converters in their stock trannies and the tranny giving out within a few months. It's not too common but common enough that I'm going to save up and buy a built transmission and include the stall converter. I'm in the process of e-mailing one company in particular about a group purchase of a level 2 transmission (good for 700 rear-wheel horsepower) and a stall converter, and to see which brand of stall they use. From what I've read, Circle D and FTI (no affilation to Ed Curtis' FTI company) are top of the line stalls in regards to what people run in LS1s.

Here is the link to the transmission - http://performabuilt.com/GMCars022008.html
Circle D stalls - http://www.circledspecialties.com/
FTI stalls - http://www.fticonverters.com/

[92StangMan]

Finally took some more pics today! I planned on taking some of the engine and headers but completely forgot until it was too dark. I will take those in the next week... or month considering how lazy I can be.

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e234/92StangMan/Camaro/DSC00477.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e234/92StangMan/Camaro/DSC00478.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e234/92StangMan/Camaro/DSC00479.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e234/92StangMan/Camaro/DSC00480.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e234/92StangMan/Camaro/DSC00481.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e234/92StangMan/Camaro/DSC00482.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e234/92StangMan/Camaro/DSC00485.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e234/92StangMan/Camaro/DSC00484.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e234/92StangMan/Camaro/DSC00483.jpg

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e234/92StangMan/Camaro/DSC00486.jpg

[Stangman]

You got a little something on your tires... :lol:

Nice looking car though!

[DeckerEnt]

Yeah, what kind of dog jerks off on 3 of the 4 tires? LOL..
Keith

[dsmawd350]

eh never been a fan of the ground effects package on camaros but to each his own does need to be lowered? who is tuning the car?

[92StangMan]

Phil (Blue Cat Tuning) will be tuning the car. He's more of a local guy around here.

[92StangMan]

Yeah, what kind of dog jerks off on 3 of the 4 tires? LOL..
Keith

I ran out of love juice. Sorry.

[dsmawd350]

Phil (Blue Cat Tuning) will be tuning the car. He's more of a local guy around here.

he tuned my last z28

[92StangMan]

I've heard nothing but good things about him.

[dsmawd350]

yeah hes fuggin awesome

[A05C]

looks good man, i worked on a friend of mine before he got rid of it. his was a 1LE hard top car, A4 with loudmouth exhaust on it ORypipe and headers.

the headers were fun to do but we only had 2-3 hours init. we put headers and an x pipe on his brothers vette and i think that it was easier to do them on vettes, which is hard to believe

[Sharad]

nice car. Your goals seem very reasonable. We've got a local guy down here that daily drives his LS1 A4 car which runs 11.60s on the factory 17" wheels. H/C/I and other basic bolt ons.

[bestracing]

Nice car and you go a good year to work with too.


Phil (Blue Cat Tuning) will be tuning the car. He's more of a local guy around here. Good tuner. Unlike some other guy I know of that charged for a custom tune and just put a stock LS6 tune into the ECM.

[92StangMan]

Someone on LS1tech was talking about a similiar situation that happened with his car.

[dsmawd350]

i also read that thread

[bestracing]

Can you post a link to the thread?

I don't get on there very often since I don't own the greatest motor on earth....The LS1 :D

[dsmawd350]

nothing local, i believe it was vengeance

orig thread was deleted.. ls1tech and prostockjohn run their shit like that, always out to save a paying sponser even if they did wrong to keep his money coming in

http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/pcm-diagnostics-tuning/1040938-trouble-vengeance-tuning-thread-gone.html

[1badFn5.0]

take that bitch to tracy scott he knows what hes doing , lt1dave does not have a clue compared to scott performance

[dsmawd350]

OP is in WV. much closer to bluecat

If i had the option i would have people tune my car in this order

bluecat or tracey id love to see a back to back comparison tuning the same car both great tuners
speed inc.
a 8 yr old
a monkey
a donkey
LT1DAVE

[92StangMan]

LMAO! I've received PMs stating not to go to LT1DAVE. Other than the negative feedback, I have never heard anything about the guy. Is he really that bad?

Phil (Bluecat) will be tuning the car this Thursday at 5pm. I will get a few dyno runs on camera and post up!

[92StangMan]

Today was the day I was finally able to get my car dyno tuned!

Sean hooked me up with a good friend of his Phil, who is known to be a hell of an LS1 tuner, and we went to his shop today. Phil spent a few hours with the car and dialing everything in before running it on the dyno. Before the first pull, he passed around a white board with everyone's name and their estimate on how much horsepower and torque the car will make. Everyone had something between 320-335 horsepower and 325-338 torque at the rear wheels. Except I. I put down 340 hp and 330 tq (meant to write 340 tq but apparently I'm dyslexic). The first pull netted 337 rwhp and 342 tq. After four pulls and adjusting the air/fuel ratio and timing, the car put down 341 rwhp and 347 ft lbs of torque, and his dyno reads low!

Want to know the even cooler thing? My car put down more torque than any other bolt on LS1 that he has tuned! Phil has tuned a damn near 100 LS1s, if not more, and to hear that made me feel good. I believe I lost the horsepower by 2 or 3 hp, but oh well. What was also cool, being that my car is an auto, it swallows up more power than a 6-speed would.

Here is the video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6d8ILwVasDg

And this is the dyno chart:

http://i40.photobucket.com/albums/e234/92StangMan/Camaro/Dyno.jpg

[poncho2001]

Very nice for what you have done so far. :coo1:

[92coupe]

Good numbers!

[92StangMan]

Thanks!

It's funny how I have a similiar thread going on at another Mustang board and I continuly get blasted for owning an LS1, LOL. At least there is some respect shown in here even if it's not a Ford.

[dsmawd350]

why does his dynojet read low?

[92StangMan]

One of the sponsers on LS1Tech who has had his Vette dynoed there said it might be because it's older. Other than that, I have no clue, but even he said it reads a little lower than others.