69 Camaro at Best of Show

[FETorino]

Originally Posted by Matt.A

Dang, I almost didn't recognize my car because it looks so clean in that picture.

That picture makes your car look like it's worth 2 design points

[fleetus macmullitz]

More press.

@CamaroPerform: #Monday for the #WIN

Get some #Camaro right here: http://t.co/xKlzbBUbyZ http://t.co/NOmZKjGNw6

[pitts12driver]

Great work! Looks amazing and coming along well.

[Matt@BOS]

So, I'm bringing this back from the dead. It's been four years, and I've probably only put 4k miles on it at most. That might not seem weird for a hot rod, but when its working and trouble free, I drive it EVERYWHERE.

The cool thing about this build thread is that it chronicles pretty much everything from the time I new almost nothing except for things I'd learned on the internet, all the way up to the point where I'd learned "a little something."

Now that I'm running things over at Best of Show, I figured it was time to clean the car up, fix all of the things I was unhappy with, and see just how solid of a daily driveable pro touring Camaro we can build!

We started rebuilding the car at the beginning of 2018. In 2017 I dropped in a new LS7 from a well known engine builder, ran a total of two events, pulled the motor to seal up leaks, found out the bearings were shot after 1500 miles, rebuilt it, went to LS Fest West, and then lost a titanium valve spring retainer on my way home. At that point I decided to let it sit in the corner of the shop for a while.

Everyone has issues with hot rods, and I think it takes a couple builds to figure out what works and what doesn't for the type of car you want to build.

I logged about 37k miles on the Camaro, on the street and the track, and everything we're doing is designed to make it better at being a dual purpose car.

I'll outline all of the changes and parts going back on the car with photos, and discuss why we're using them, but for now, here's what we're doing, and its basically everything except for the body and interior (for now)

-New AME subframe with custom control arms, and spindles designed by Lateral Dynamics
-AME IRS
-JRi shocks valved by JJ at Ultimate Performance
-Restomod Air
-New brake system
- 454 LS7 with Dailey dry sump
- centerforce Dyad clutch
-complete rewire with American Autowire
-Racepak IQ3 display
-cooling system updates

[Flash68]

Been waiting for the details on all of this Matt.

What's the bore and stroke on the new 454?

[Air-bender]

Hello,
Are you rebuilding the LS7 or sourcing a new engine?

[Matt@BOS]

Originally Posted by Flash68

Been waiting for the details on all of this Matt.

What's the bore and stroke on the new 454?

It’s 4.185” bore and a 4.125” stroke.

Originally Posted by Air-bender

Hello,
Are you rebuilding the LS7 or sourcing a new engine?

The engine going back in is a rebuild of the old wet sump 454 I had in the car. That engine lasted two years with a lot of miles. It had some oiling issues, along with some other things. I kept waiting for it to blow up and it wouldn’t. I finally pulled it after it fouled a set of plugs in 150 miles. Two of the pistons were missing corners, haha.

It’s always difficult to tell what factor(s) and it can be multiple, were contributing to the failure. Because of this, I always make sure all of the oil lines and cooler are checked and cleaned and also send the injectors out. We also had a bad coil pack, so I replaced the whole set.

[Ns RS]

We started rebuilding the car at the beginning of 2018. In 2017 I dropped in a new LS7 from a well known engine builder, ran a total of two events, pulled the motor to seal up leaks, found out the bearings were shot after 1500 miles, rebuilt it, went to LS Fest West, and then lost a titanium valve spring retainer on my way home. At that point I decided to let it sit in the corner of the shop for a while.”


Hi matt I remember you mentioned this to me at ousci last year did engine builder ever make good on a fix for your motor or did you chalk it up as a loss cause?

[Matt@BOS]

Originally Posted by Ns RS

We started rebuilding the car at the beginning of 2018. In 2017 I dropped in a new LS7 from a well known engine builder, ran a total of two events, pulled the motor to seal up leaks, found out the bearings were shot after 1500 miles, rebuilt it, went to LS Fest West, and then lost a titanium valve spring retainer on my way home. At that point I decided to let it sit in the corner of the shop for a while.”


Hi matt I remember you mentioned this to me at ousci last year did engine builder ever make good on a fix for your motor or did you chalk it up as a loss cause?

I always have a difficult time figuring out what to do when it comes to sending stuff back to get fixed. I have a shop, and I know that sometimes things happen. As much as we try and get things right the first time, every now and then we have to go back and fix something. However, I also try and gauge whether or not its worth my time to send it back. My time is worth something and if I think I'll get stuck in endless troubleshooting/repair hell, I'd rather pay to rebuild or buy a new engine and be able to use the car!

In the instance with the engine in question, I decided to send it out for machining and rebuild it in house, instead of sending it back to the builder, and that's why I haven't mentioned them by name. I also just wanted to send the motor back and get a refund, but they weren't up for that.

Anyway, here's why I chose to rebuild it. The first time I pulled it, I found valves from two different manufactures that had different shaped bowls and a 13 percent difference in weight. If it was a kid putting the the heads together, I could maybe understand, but this wasn't an isolated incident, another one of our builds had the same issue. There were other issues like over half an inch of slop in the timing chain, cam bearings that weren't lined up with the oil passages, etc. When I got it all back together I broke a titanium retainer. The engine only had 3k total miles on it, 3 autocrosses and 20 minutes of road course time.

For those concerned about buying what I did, you are more than welcome to private message me.

[Ns RS]

Originally Posted by Matt@BOS

I always have a difficult time figuring out what to do when it comes to sending stuff back to get fixed. I have a shop, and I know that sometimes things happen. As much as we try and get things right the first time, every now and then we have to go back and fix something. However, I also try and gauge whether or not its worth my time to send it back. My time is worth something and if I think I'll get stuck in endless troubleshooting/repair hell, I'd rather pay to rebuild or buy a new engine and be able to use the car!

In the instance with the engine in question, I decided to send it out for machining and rebuild it in house, instead of sending it back to the builder, and that's why I haven't mentioned them by name. I also just wanted to send the motor back and get a refund, but they weren't up for that.

Anyway, here's why I chose to rebuild it. The first time I pulled it, I found valves from two different manufactures that had different shaped bowls and a 13 percent difference in weight. If it was a kid putting the the heads together, I could maybe understand, but this wasn't an isolated incident, another one of our builds had the same issue. There were other issues like over half an inch of slop in the timing chain, cam bearings that weren't lined up with the oil passages, etc. When I got it all back together I broke a titanium retainer. The engine only had 3k total miles on it, 3 autocrosses and 20 minutes of road course time.

For those concerned about buying what I did, you are more than welcome to private message me.

I followed your build and had wondered what happened as the car was mia for a while so I asked.

I was disappointed to hear of your motor problems - I followed your build (among others) and was vested in it. It was sad to hear anyone from the lat g community experience such troubles but the other inconsistencies you listed above is just plain lazy.

Appreciate you sharing your opinion then and now and making the offer to others to pm you if they have questions. Experience shared publicly or via pm is still sharing.

I wouldn’t hesitate to

1) Officially use the vendor/member feed back section and
2) also unofficially pm anyone here for their thoughts on any vendor or member I’m about to engage in a transaction and
3) use a credit card in the event it turns to dogsht.

I feel I’d get honest opinions either way then be able to proceed in making my own informed decision after.