Nice progress .... car looks great and hopefully the mechanical gremlins will be small ones!!!

Questions on your seats ... which ones are those? Who's brackets did you use?

Keep on keeping on ....

Michael

Thanks Chief, I used the Corbeau CR1 “skinny” version and I only got the sliders. Local shop was a dealer and they had several different versions to sit in and try them out. I like it although the skinny version is tight but comfortable at the moment but any extra lbs I wouldn’t fit. It also fits well with the Gen V console, I don’t think the wide version would fit.
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...7.jpg~original

http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...ps3zhrgdri.jpg

I made my own bracket trying to keep the lowest profile as possible so to get as much head room as possible.

appreciate the comments...

Tony, the car is looking great. I have a GM connect and cruise harness I would like to shorten and use a connector like you used, but all those new pin conections make me nervous. My hands don't work like they use to infact my brother called me shaky Jake when he would see me doing intricate work.
Very Nice work!

Do you have any pictures of the brackets you used to install the console?

Wayne, the circular plugs (especially the larger gauge) are easier than the delphi style plugs as long as you have the right crimper and tools. I do recommend buying the "metal" insertion/extraction tools instead of relying on the plastic ones that accompany the order.

I mounted the E-brake first and then mounted my "Infinity box" electronics below my cluster gauges. The E-brake and metal housing for the electronics are my hard mounts for the console. I'll try to get some pics to better explain.

thanks for the kind words....

hey Wayne only have one pic...i'm going to have to take the console out to get you some pics but not until i get it back from the exhaust shop....thought i had some but couldn't find any.

circled the one screw in red, its mounted to the E-Brake frame
http://i280.photobucket.com/albums/k...psoq7ixtqq.jpg

Thanks Tony, I appreciate the help. Don't pull the console just for me, I don't want you back stepping because of me. I have the hand brake and original shifter I'm going to use. I'd like to figure a way not to have to cut the big hole like the 6 spd has sinse the auto shifter only has the arm that goes throught the floor. I'll be watching to see what you do next.

Thanks!

Finally on the road
 

here's an update, although I had to give up using my computer. It was blocking the Lat-g site so I'm using my wife...shhhh she's still sleeping.

lots has happened since the last post, I prep'd and primer'd all external panels and finally purchased wheels and tires. Extremely happy with the fit and look, although the front is really right at the max, running a 18x10 275 and i get a small rub but i believe the coil overs need to be tightened a bit which would give me some more room.

Here's a couple laps around the block with the boys, they had a blast finally getting a ride.


I've been driving it now for awhile just working things out, lots of noises and things to get use to....oh and its really frock's fast 3rd gear roll-on just smokes em. I'm thinking of just putting my old grill on instead of using the new stuff. I plan on racing it as is to work out the bugs and paint it next year.

Tony, long time huh ... hey I couldn't get the links to open, may be me!

Glad to see you got her on the road and boys are enjoying the rides!

not sure if i screwed it up or what but i'm attaching just like i do with pics....

http://i.imgur.com/GvyVZPo.jpg


Don't mind the hood, i've been driving without it until i get some help to put it on....looking at the first race Jan 14-15 at the Wild Horse Pass west track...

Ok back on after an extended hiatus from Lateral-G site. My work laptop firewall started blocking access to Lateral-g therefore I had to decide if I spend money on a lap top or keep spending on the Camaro to get it on the street. Here’s a quick video my 12 year old took……first time out.




Also I noticed that Photobucket lost all of my +1000 pictures….here’s what I got back from Photobucket:
“We thank you for your patience while we investigated the matter. Our engineering team has been working tirelessly to identify and recover your images. They identified a technical issue that had 1 out of a billion odds of occurring. Unfortunately, your account was one of the handful that were affected. They have spent countless hours to recover your images, but yielded no results. They have added additional safeguards in place to make sure this never happens again.”
The amount of work to go back and update all the links is almost insurmountable; any suggestions on alternative storage links for photos? I’m trying “IMGUR” at the moment…..

Now that I have a new lap top we can update our progress… be honest there’s a bunch here, apologize for the long-winded post. Lots of updates and experiences in the past several months.

http://i.imgur.com/5kV2Fqm.jpg

http://i.imgur.com/1a11Sjc.jpg

Here’s a quick summary; got my wheels and tires (big thx to Jason Rushforth for being patient and helpful) using NITTO INVOs, engine & Tranny had to get yanked again for a leaky hose end on the clutch line, brake fluid leak (because the M/C is inside the dash it wasn’t pretty) but had to re-plumb the reservoir, got the car on scales to set up the suspension, results were: 50/50 cross corners and 46% Back and 54% Front, total weight of 3411 Lbs, camber and caster set per DSE specs, primer’d the doors and inside of the hood, installed headlights (LED Truklites), door handles and trunk latch. Did all this prior to entering my first track event on 1/15/17. Also with that said experienced some early failures and set-backs, aftermarket shifter gasket sucks…..the design of the shifter and gasket is poor (IMO) days before the event we replaced it twice and almost gave up with only 12 hrs before the race but my nephew hung in there and helped by “frankensteining” our own version and just by chance it did work. Really need a good gasket because the top gear sits directly under the shifter gasket and at high RPMs its really slinging the fluid. Phase 2 will replace the shifter and I’m considering an access panel for the tunnel, the experience left me wondering if I should be thinking about better access without having to remove the engine tranny. Night before the race I’m out leak checking the shifter gasket and I noticed my volt gauge is at 13V, now previous to today its always been at 14.1v. Checked the Alt and the stator came apart in pieces….can’t get a single wire 2002 camaro style alt at 9pm. So decided to just charge the battery in between sessions with some friend’s vehicles in the pits. Just didn’t know if the Battery could hold out for a 20 min session and the EFI be ok with minimal voltage. BTW the puller was undersized if I did the math it was spinning at 28,000RPMs at WOT. I should’ve done the math prior but I ordered it thinking the supplier knew what they were doing, not the fact. But they did replace it FOC including shipping; great customer support.

1st Track Day
 

Track Day
http://i.imgur.com/8yh03J0.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/bIv0NHU.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/ThADg7x.jpg

First session on the track I came in early (after 10 min) thinking I was dropping PS fluid all over the track. Because it started getting difficult to turn, small turns no problem but coming into a big turn with speed it became to feel like a manual system. Got into the pit and opened the hood to measure the temp of P/S fluid in the reservoir, I think it got too hot. I measured 260 degrees and it was the cheap prestone off the shelf. Last session of the day, I was taking a friend of mine out and about 10 min into we heard some racket within the car somewhere, pulled to the side, all temps good/Oil pressure good but rear view mirror showed a huge cloud of smoke and steam LOTS. You know the instant your heart falls out of your chest well anyway kept it idling to get to a better pull off spot but watching all the gauges which all read normal ????
Opened the hood thinking the worst but come to find out it was a rib from the serpentine belt and it had started coming apart and cutting the water line from the head and oil vent line from the engine valley, big sigh of relief it wasn’t anything serious. Actually, started it back up and drove it into the pits. Upon further review it also cut my dry sump outlet hose so I was dumping oil out just didn’t drain the tank to the point of impacting oil pressure. Here’s some pics of the carnage…..
http://i.imgur.com/wtNYcBj.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/aMuLEHh.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/CWDoC1f.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/1a11Sjc.jpg

All in all I considered it a good day, had a blast but now I have a mess to clean up. I’m glad it wasn’t painted yet. Car ran exceptionally well, it exceeds driver capabilities. I did have an off-track excursion on the back straight-a-way, I stabbed it to pass a Porsche and I call it “too much aggression or stupidity” but while in 3rd on the back straight away the back end came out and next thing I know I was turned around in the dirt. The Porsche driver did come up to me afterwards to see what HP I was putting down, next session I got behind him again but he quickly waived me by, I’m assuming he was scared of the newbie behind him…..Next purchase will have to be a go-pro so I can tape it.

Things I decided I need to change; new shifter, radiator with P/S cooler & Oil cooler, need a new P/S pump (pump has never been the same since track day). Realigned my idler pulley for the serpentine belt. Here’s my theory on why the belt came apart in the first place. Soon after getting the car on the road and driving it some I recognized that the belt had walked off by one rib where it was now sitting on the raised shoulder of the idler pulley. I think I may have stressed the outer part of the belt and it started coming apart. Since then I’ve used a laser and straight edge to assure I have better alignment on all the pulleys.

Next Event
Scheduled to run the Goodguys event on March 10th in Scottsdale so there’s several things that must get done. Not sure if I’m going to catch any slack for not having a painted/finished car in the autocross but I really wanted to vet some things out mechanically and what better way than to use the goodguys event. Plus I get to watch how some of the pros do it.

reminds me of many of the same problems I have had. Glad it wasn't serious. At first that's a big relief, but then later I still get upset about why I couldn't prevent the initial problem.

Its good to do a lot of shakedown on the street, but the track will reveal all sorts of new problems.

Congrats on sort of surviving the track day! It's good to have posts like this, as people don't realize the kind of stress doing a track day can put on car. Even with all-new parts, you will still break things at a track day--something got stressed out or broken every time I tracked (the last version of) my Falcon. There's just such a huge difference between occasionally goosing the throttle (burnout, bro!) or stabbing the brake and constantly flooring while just barely avoiding crashing for extended periods of time. Autocrosses are far easier to live through . . .

Here's to the next one!

Yes big thanks for posting the post-track day experience, however, the solution is more important here ... keep us posted with progress reports!

Michael

Pulley alignment can be tricky. Especially if you've made your own system and pulley mounts. But a thrown belt can really ruin a track day or auto-x.

Thanks guys, thought I had it licked with alignment. I was using the laser and a straight edge and added some spacers to tensioner puller a bit but after a quick lap around the neighborhood I noticed it was trying to walk off again.
Here's some observations:
Belt was extremely tight (hard to get it off and on) fully maxed out the tensioner.
It also seemed that the tensioner pulley wasn't in the same plane angle....let me explain the angle of the balancer was a bit different than the tensioner so added .180" extra to the bottom bolt which better aligned the two pulleys. I also purchased a new belt that 1/2" longer. Now I've taken it out twice and no walking. I only have 4 days until Goodguys so whenever I get a chance i'll take it out and check it.

First just to recap from the results of my road coarse excursions….P/S fluid temp got real hot and I suspected that my pump was junk after only 15 minutes of track time. Well I replaced the pump and the steering is now back to what is was before but without a cooler I’m afraid I’ll just go through another pump if I do another road course. I did upgrade the fluid but still not confident it will handle another event. So I called around for an auxiliary fluid to fluid heat exchangers. Shocked set in when I started looking at prices and then the job of locating the unit somewhere……
Then an interesting thing happened, two weeks later out of the blue one of those shops, Ron Davis Radiators, calls me back and asks if I was still looking and would I consider a radiator with an integrated Oil & P/S cooler. I said absolutely interested but getting my head around ditching my perfectly good dual fan radiator that (BTW has worked beautifully up until now), seemed a bit wasteful. Luck has it they were local so I decided to spend an afternoon at the shop bench racing and letting Ron explain the benefits of using his radiator. We worked out a deal and now I’m looking at a new radiator……I’ll take some detail pics and steps regarding the swap, the piece is beautiful and I want make sure I document it all. Ron is also interested and waiting for some feedback because he specially designed this for 1st Gen’s.
http://i.imgur.com/f9pk1ie.jpg

autocross fun
 

So more track results: entered and ran the Good-Guys event in Scottsdale, lots of fun and the people were great. Being a newbie didn’t know what to expect but everyone was very helpful. I did realize tires make a difference….i mean a big difference. My Invo’s Nitto’s were not up to the task but my lack of experience was probably the bigger issue. I only ran Friday morning and got more runs than I ever expected, I had 8 passes by lunch. This year it was a single lap run so I was trying to figure out entry and exit one turn at a time. I was consistently 4 secs off the pro’s and it was pretty awesome how smooth they ran the track. I could include a couple video’s but they’ll bore you to death…
http://i.imgur.com/fOoSTi5.jpg


I’m also trying to re-link all of my photos from previous posts using IMGUR after my photobucket loss….

That radiator setup looks great!
I would be interested in the cost of that unit

Thanks, Jeff

Ron Davis Radiator Info
 

Hey Jeff the part number is 11-16CA6969 price is $1995.00....

Ron indicated he'd like me to fit it first and make sure everything fits and works as advertised. When I get new fittings and hoses i'll document the installation.

Tony, that looks like a sweet setup. It looks like it will definitely do the job.

Tony
Thanks alot for reply and info
But I cant justify $2000 ( Plus shipping, I would imagine)
For a raditator , coolers, fan setup

We dont anywhere near that amount even in our off road sand rails, that see a more servere duty than these PT cars ever do

Hope that the unit works out for you though

Thanks again for your time, I appreciate it!
Jeff

Radiator Update
 

New Radiator installed and plumbed...need to get out there on the road to see how everything works. Ron's work is second to none

Although need to finish installing the shifter...the good thing we'll definitely be hot enough here in phx for a good cooling system stress test.

some pics
http://i.imgur.com/1tITLwb.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/DxPjvTi.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/TLbkSSz.jpg

Tight fit at the bottom with remote oil filter and the radiator fittings but finally figured it out.
http://i.imgur.com/PT54c3J.jpg

It's like putting 20lbs of crap in a 5lb sack! I'm doing it right now on mine. Nice job fitting it all in there.

spot on Wayne......not having it painted right away is a big relief. I've had so many "redos" and mods .....like i was starting over. Fall race season is coming up so need to tie some loose ends up.

hi,what size rears are you running?regards

Tire Size
 

I'm 325/19 on the back.....with a significant amount of clearance. Might try 335's next..

Further MODs
 

another item I noticed when I was at the road course...I was comparing my method of crankcase breather....just assuming I was using a dry sump that it wasn't really going to be an issue. Couple guys using the same relative engine and dry sump looked at mine and advised I should consider something bigger. So while it was down I drilled and tapped both valve covers and plumbed -10 line into the dry sump tank. I was only using the 3/8" vent coming out of the valley cover. not sure if it makes a difference or not but probably couldn't hurt.
http://i.imgur.com/ezvn61b.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/SmhrqHJ.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/RSNWKxo.jpg

Next task would be to finish the shifter and access plate.....then git-r-on the road for a good cooling system check...its only going to be 120 degrees next week.

.its only going to be 120 degrees next week.

I'm glad it's not going to be hot !

What coil relocation setup is that?

That's my own design.....just used some 1" x 1/4" bar stock, bent it at the angles that worked with my injector mount and welded on two round sleeves on each. Honestly it came off first run and I always considered it "temporary"..... all my friends are "old school" guys, they're bugging me to relocate them off the top of the engine.....if your injectors mount the same as mine I can take some more details pics....

Track Test #2
 

Ok, finally got all the fixes and up grades installed and spent the day at the track yesterday. recap what I did: New shifter (back to the Tremec stock) new Ron Davis radiator with oil cooler and power-steering cooler, vented the valve covers. The shifter now doesn't leak although the feel isn't the best, especially speed shifting but i'll take that over leaks.
The radiator change was significant; it was 92 degrees ambient and during the (4) 20 minute sessions it never climbed over 200 degrees. I'm running a 187 thermostat, so just idiling in the garage it reads on the ECU at 196, kinda hard to relate that to a gauge in the car but i think its right there during the race also. I did lose a lower radiator hose clamp right when i pulled in the pits but I account that to operator error.
First time i really got to push it through the turns and as my confidence climb my lap times came down. I'll share some pics.....off to SEMA on Wednesday hope see a couple of you guys there.
https://i.imgur.com/UB1vsTE.jpg?2

https://i.imgur.com/Owth0tF.jpg?1
https://i.imgur.com/LUIojbJ.jpg?1
https://i.imgur.com/zPNka89.jpg?1
https://i.imgur.com/UB1vsTE.jpg?1

Congrats! Enjoy SEMA. I've got a friend there texting me pics. Place looks like the typical madness you'd expect.

revision with better picture links
 

ok let me try to link the pictures better
https://i.imgur.com/UB1vsTE.jpg?3
https://i.imgur.com/UB1vsTE.jpg?3

Are you choosing the direct link feature on imgur or simply posting the url once the pic is open?

I just tried that and it works for me. I set the size to huge thumbnail since I have large pictures.

https://i.imgur.com/42gHCNzh.jpg

Finally Painted
 

Ok, car is home after paint and a bit of delay but a 6 month end to end for paint isn't too bad considering what others have gone through. I'd like to get it on the road by late fall but there was some mods i wanted to do since the last track event.
Add Vintage A/C all purchased and i welded in brackets prior to paint but running lines and wiring still needs to be done.
Put the brakes and fuel system back on.
I changed my serpentine system to alleviate the belt breakage issue.
Moved my battery from sitting below the package tray to the corner of the trunk.
I decided to rewire the car to clean it up.
New venting system for the dry sump.
install the interior finally.
https://i.imgur.com/dw5PhNn.jpg

more pictures to com....

Looks great!

Nice color...

Thx Jody!...

Nice color scheme, Tony! Glad paint jail was only a short stint.