^ That's beautiful baby :cheers:

So with the old engine gone it was time to get things cleaned up and ready for what (at the time) was planned to be a “simple” engine swap. Mary dove in head first to tidy things up…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...ompartment.jpg

but then, after some always dangerous thinking, talking, and planning we came to the decision that if there was ever a time to do a sub swap – it was now. There had always been a list of reasons not to do it but with the new front sheetmetal most of those reasons were gone. A huge part of the decision making process surrounded the factory “dry sump” oiling system. In stepping things up a notch there were some avenues we looked in to to add a scavenge stage to the oil system. None of them, however, would work with a stock subframe without a significant amount of cutting. Couple that with the need for a subframe for my other ’67 and I eventually convinced myself to do it.

After some talking with a couple of vendors I wound up working a deal with Art Morrison Enterprises to build a slightly custom subframe. The tweaks we requested were pretty minor and AME accommodated them without hesitation and a week later it was in the shop and off to powder.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...20in%20box.jpg

I know that you’re supposed to mock everything up and do all of the little work before committing to power coating but in this instance I just didn’t have the time to “waste”. With only a short travel fuse to work with we needed to have everything together for an all out thrash over the weekend.

Parts were ordered

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...to%20start.jpg

and we were off!

Our starting point was the engine – although it came from Katech fully tested and broken in on the dyno we wanted to do an intake swap and do some work to the stock LS7 oil pan before bolting up the ATS Sidewinder accessory drive and modifying it to eliminate the AC compressor.

The intake of choice was an LSXR 102mm from FAST with Katech billet fuel rails. A pretty straight forward – albeit time consuming – installation.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...%20removed.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...ast%20LSXR.jpg

which was followed by some modifications to the stock GM oil pan with an Aviad sump and windage tray. We’re working on some modifications to an ATS oil pan but those will have to wait for another day while we work out some of the details.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...iad%20sump.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...age%20tray.jpg

and an Improved Racing thermostat

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...thermostat.jpg

with a GM -12AN conversion kit

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...converions.jpg

Until finally everything was ready…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...ne%20ready.jpg

That proved pretty easy. The first hiccup of the weekend came when we went to bolt the ATS Accessory drive on – the water pump wouldn’t clear the intake and the back of the impeller was interfering with the timing cover. Not a huge deal but an hour and change of messing around and grinding was needed to get everything to fit right

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...ry%20drive.jpg

There is some more work to do but ultimately the AC bracket will be eliminated and a Katech tensioner will take its place – it looks like it will all work but we need to make some spacers to get it just right.

With the engine together and ready to go in we turned our attention to preparing the parts and pieces we would need for the new Art Morrison Enterprises subframe.

LG Motorsports hooked us up with some very cool parts and pieces for the C6 suspension.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...ts%20parts.jpg

Billet drop spindles, SKF Hubs, monoball spherical bearings and some prefabricated brake duct backing plates from LG Motorsports. The great thing about the billet spindles is that they incorporate a 1” drop and in our application allow for proper geometry of the lower control arms at a typical ride height.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...20spindles.jpg

The down side is that the steering arm geometry winds up being off. The solution isn’t exactly simple or painless but we’ve done worse to new parts before. The fun begins by cutting the existing arms off the steering arm… nothing like permanently modifying brand new parts. David then went about fabricating some new steering arms.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...ing%20arms.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...e%20welded.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...0for%20tig.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...nd%20ready.jpg

I’d love to be able to say that with the steering arms fabricated and the upright modified that we were on to installing the monoball bearings but, unfortunately, it wasn’t that simple. LG utilizes a press fit design that calls for 3/1000 interference – our control arms had 3 to 4 times that. We tried to work one in but weren’t happy with the way it felt to discretion being the better part of valor we decided to send the arms to LG for installation. Yeah – we chickened out – but I would rather be 100% sure that they were installed right.

The downside for us was that without the control arms we were dead in the water for the rest of the weekend. At least until David volunteered his front suspension for our mockup – we were back in the game!

Next step – remove the “stock” (and I use that term loosely and with all respect due a piece that has served us well for the last five years) subframe. Our starting point…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...ub%20ready.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...come%20out.jpg

Except of course… the old sub was kind of at home with the subframe connectors and all… thank you Mr. Plasma

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...g%20plasma.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...er%20close.jpg

and with that done, the rest was easy and the old sub quickly found a spot on the floor beside the new one.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...old%20subs.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...0and%20new.jpg

Next step – install the AME Subframe…

James if you get a chance I'd love to hear the design ideas on locating the steering arms. I haven't checked mine yet, and am wondering how much I may have thrown off AME ackerman and bump.

Your 'junk' looks spectacular, as usual!

Love the updates. I may have missed it but was the wider front tire worth all the fab work in your opinion? I know OLC must have a fair amount of miles over the last 4 years and I would think with the last OLoA you have a few thousand more miles with the bigger tires to compare.

Thanks Ron - let us get a bit more work/testing in and we can talk. We've done some preliminary work but we still don't have final ride height set to run through everything with 100% confidence.

Tom - I think that it was worth it. I wish the rest of the car would have been 100% but on the wet and dry skid pads we were markedly improved over previous years and the car was the easiest to drive that it has ever been. There are some fixes that are still required and at this point I'm not sure if the improvement comes from the tire width or the track width balance. I've gone back and forth on tires for the last couple of months and there might be some more work to do. At this point I know that I could fit 325s (and we could probably fit 345s) all round but don't think that it would be worth it.

Great updates, thanks for sharing. Good stuff!

Thanks for reply James. Based on that it makes me want to get out a zawzall:superhack:

Darn it Tom... The sawsall pictures come out tomorrow.... Your killing the suspense here... :)

Thanks for sharing all your insight. I wish I had a tenth of David's and your knowledge and fab skills. AWESOME!

Thanks Mike - it's definitely a team effort and the three of us really work well together. Helps that we've got a great foundation to build off of.


Installing the AME Subframe.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...20subframe.jpg

Powerdercoated locally before we mocked up anything – probably a mistake but time was of the essence. Yes, the color is a bit off but the old sub was painted on top of the powder and ultimately this one will be too – long after the fact.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...or%20mount.jpg

A couple of small changes here…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...20subframe.jpg

Time to get busy

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...dy%20front.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...0new%20sub.jpg

It actually went in easily enough…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...w%20engine.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...%20beneath.jpg

and that’s when the fun started…

It started easy and as expected…

The inner fenders had to be clearanced slightly for the relocated UCAs. This was actually one of the many reasons that we had resisted doing a sub on the OLC in the past – the “original” inner fenders had countless hours (not true – believe me, I counted every hour) of work done on them and they fit very tight to the factory sub; there is no way that they could have been reworked to clear.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...%20grinder.jpg

I aligning the subframe in the car we found that the clearance to some pieces “here and there” wasn’t going to work. Space was tight and we didn’t want to completely remove the front sheetmetal so some alternative tools came out of the box. We started with a nice battery operated sawsall…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...%20sawsall.jpg

and once the battery on that was toast be upgraded to a slightly more powerful sawsall – which dictated that we start taking turns…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...%20sawsall.jpg

The problem with sawsalls is, of course, once you start it’s hard to stop… it’s an addiction. Got a problem? Exhaust in the way? Don’t worry – I have a sawsall!

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...l%20muffer.jpg

Eventually though you run out of things to cut off and you realize that you’re almost ready to install the engine. First though we needed to get the new dry sump tank in place while it was still “easy”…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...ump%20tank.jpg

The new tank has two input bungs vs. a single that the old one used. This allows us the option of adding a scavenge stage to the oil system. And a quick hint if you’re building an LS7 project – compare part numbers before you buy… some vendors charge a premium for a basic tank that’s labeled a pro-touring conversion tank…

Ready to get on with installing the engine…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...engine%202.jpg

With the engine compartment ready we needed some prep on the engine starting with the clutch. We’ve been using Centerforce’s DYAD clutch for the last couple of years and have been really happy with them. When we pulled the old engine we shipped the old clutch back to Centerforce for an inspection and rebuild… the new one arrived just in time for installation.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...DYAD%20box.jpg

The dual disk design works really well and has awesome holding power… the darn things are like jewelry as well…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...rce%20disk.jpg

The flywheel is lightened and is as awesome as every other piece of the clutch

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...20flywheel.jpg

and it all goes together smoothly… if you follow the instructions…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...n%20engine.jpg

Finally time to install the engine… This was the second huge fear that I had with the sub swap – where would the engine end up and would it (and the transmission/bellhousing) clear everything? There were a couple of spots that were really close on the old combination (consideration #1 when building something custom – there is such a thing as fitted too perfect) and depending on where the engine wound up it could be a real pain. The engine slid in really well until we reached the motor mounts… that’s when we found out that I had installed one side upside down… damn. Again, instruction #1 is test fit – ignore that step at your own peril.

After a quick swap (that’s easier done with the engine on the floor vs. hanging above the car but heck – that’s where we were) we were ready to try again. The drivers side slid into place without problems but we couldn’t get the passenger side to seat – the energy suspension motor mount was hitting the frame (see note above RE instruction #1). Again – the fix was probably easier with the engine on the ground but…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...or%20mount.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...nt%20close.jpg

An easy fix…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...20finished.jpg

With the engine in place and everything clearing better than we hoped, it was time to bolt up the new bellhousing. The quicktime piece saves about 10 pounds over the McLeod SFI piece but again, here was another unknown. There was lots of questions surrounding the use of the T56 bellhousing with Magnum transmission. Some people insist that there is a spacer required while lots of others say there is not. We were using an LS non-Corvette pilot bearing and out first attempt was without any spacers – which is what we believed to be correct based on the measurements that we had done.

[img]URL: http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20OLCR/2013/clutch%20and%20bellhousing.jpg[/img]

It fit perfectly with no spacer. A quick check to confirm alignment and it’s on to the transmission

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...ellhousing.jpg

The T-56 Magnum had been sent off to Anaheim Gear for an inspection and rebuild. They upgraded some of the internals and repaired the worn tip of the input shaft (saving us the expense of replacing it).

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...stallation.jpg

and put the old Hurst shifter back on…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...er%20plate.jpg

and here we are – engine, clutch, transmission and driveshaft all in and ready to go

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...in%20place.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...%20drivers.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...in%20front.jpg

The plan, at the time, was to test fit the Kooks headers at this point… unfortunately someone messed up (me or Summit) and we wound up with Chevelle headers and not Camaro headers. I can say with certainty that Chevelle headers will not fit. One more lesson – double check part numbers before, during, and after you order something. Good news is the Summit has a great return policy and the proper headers were on their way the very next day.

We wound up trying the Kooks 1 7/8 Camaro LS engine swap headers on the recommendation of a couple of folks here on the boards. They are stainless, good quality and pretty economical all things considered ($900 and change from Summit with shipping).

Fit on the passenger side is fine

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...ass%20side.jpg

With only a bit of work for comfort needed

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...0clearance.jpg

And alignment to the AME subframe relief is bang on.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...0alignment.jpg

The drivers side will need a tweak on the third tube to clear the steering shaft and we’ll cut the ends off in favor of v-band style clamps before sending them off for coating.

Busy weekend and we could have used an additional day to get a couple of more things done but all things being equal it was a great effort. At this point in time we’re waiting for LG Motorsports to get our control arms back to us and hopefully we can get the headers turned around quickly. In late August/first week of September we’ll focus on getting the ending plumbed and wired and we’ll get the Holley Dominator EFI hooked up and running – can’t wait!!!!

Jimminy Christmas that's fast! Hey.... I've got this project....

:walkingdog:

Keep up the good work!

James,

Love the OLC!!! It was badass before but is on a whole 'nother level now.

James you guys are killing it! You, Mary and David are a testament of what teamwork can accomplish. Everything looks bitchin!!

I saw you went with the Kooks and was wondering what the tweeks to the the driver and passenger sides were. Pics of the mods? Were there any other considerations? The AME's or Stainless Works? I am heading into these same waters.

:cheers:

It's been a while since we have been able to make any headway on the OLC - hopefully that changes next week as we are SEMA bound to represent the great folks at Spectre Performance. We've got a bunch (tons) of work to do but I think everything should come together well.

Baer sent us one of the first productions sets of their all new R-Spec 2-piece floating rotors - not only are they one more tool in helping to completely eliminate pad knockback but they are 3 pounds lighter (each) and are designed for "extreme" use.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...R-Spec%201.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...R-Spec%202.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...R-Spec%203.jpg

Can you explain the comment about knock back. Is that rotor actually "floating" on that hat? That is pretty interesting if so! I'm not sure how that would work though?

James,

Sweet looking parts there.

When do you think you'll be able to test them out?

That's what it looks like. Very interesting.

James, do you know what material the standoffs are?

Those are sweet.....and just in time. I'm due for a front set of rotors :thumbsup:

Yes, the rotor is floating on the hat, within bounds. Instead of the mounting hardware bolting the rotor rigidly to the hat, the hat defines a circular array of U-shaped slots, with the U pointing outward. The mounting hardware is like a pin which is inserted through the U-slot, and bottoms out before it clamps the hat to the rotor, leaving some clearance. So now, the rotor can expand radially, and shift laterally, while still transferring brake torque to the hat.

This arrangement has been used in high-performance and motor sports brakes for many years; Baer is quite late to this game relative to other premium brake vendors. But as a current Baer owner, and serious knockback sufferer, this is good news!

Thanx for the explanation! It would be interesting to see an exploded version of the hat and attachment pieces, as I'm having a hard time visualizing all of the motion capability from the pictures. Specifically the lateral direction. But I have a better idea of how it's working now!

Guess I need to wear out my brand new rotors so I have an excuse to buy some new ones. ;)

Jame's,Those Rotor's are beautiful.Let's :gitrdun: for SEMA~!!!!!!!!!!!!

Wow! Always impressive, thanks for sharing to detailed update.:hail:

Sorry for the delay in updating our progress, I’ve been a bit under the weather for the last couple of months and haven’t been in a position to get any serious headway made on the OLC. With our SEMA deadline now looming large, 100% healthy or not it was time for me to head down to California to put some time in on the car.

David and Mary had both been working on the car in my absence. Work continued on stripping out all of the sound deadener (all is a bit of an exaggeration, let’s say most of the easy to get to sound deadener) and the box is currently weighing in at a hefty 48 pounds…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...%20Dynamat.jpg

Dave starting assembling the new suspension for the final time. The LG Motorsports billet drop spindles needed to me mated to the SKF hubs with the LG brake cooling ducts added for good measure

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...rol%20Arms.jpg

but first the uprights needed some tweaking to work with the first gen steering geometry. So… under the knife they went

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...ring%20arm.jpg

I’ve said it before – anyone can build an awesome part, it takes a certain kind of special to cut them up.

David had also been busy fitting the 1 7/8” Kooks headers in to the relatively tight AME subframe. The passenger side fit fairly well and needed only a bit of help to clear the frame rail.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...e%20header.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...header%202.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...header%203.jpg

but as expected the drivers side header needed a significant tweak to clear the steering shaft to the new rack

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...ader%20mod.jpg

but with a little bit of work there was pretty decent clearance for the steering shaft

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...Arm%20fits.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...%20Arm%202.jpg

A final piece to the puzzle, we decided, was to swap out the solid shaft for a collapsible shaft with a slip yoke – just a bit of added protection for everything. Took a little bit of doing be we got one on the way while the headers went out for coating.

Saturday morning and the engine continues to come together, we started in on plumbing first thing and test fit the new Holley 90mm Throttle Body. The Kooks headers that David had to tweak are expected to be back later in the day so we’re trying to make some headway while they are out of the way.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...20together.jpg

In addition to getting the Holley Throttle Body in place we started working on a modification to the ATS Sidewinder accessory drive. Since we’re on a weight reduction kick we decided to see if we could eliminate the A/C compressor and idler by utilizing Katech’s billet tensioner unit. Alignment looks good but it’s going to need some tweaking.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...olley%20tb.jpg

While David was assembling the uprights and Mary started installation of the Corvette upper and lower control arms (now fitted with the LG Motorsports monoball bushings) I focused on getting the new electronics installed and wired up. First up was the Holley Dominator EFI, Holley’s touchscreen controller and the Davis Electronics traction control unit which is a direct plug-in to the Dominator EFI unit.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...lectronics.jpg

With the header out it was also an ideal time to get the thermostat plumbing done since access with the header in is, from experience, an exercise in frustration.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...thermostat.jpg

With that done it was time for a test fit with the still warm headers.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...eader%20in.jpg

Mary got the suspension installed along with Baer’s new R Spec rotor and we set the caliper in to check spacing. The brake-cooling duct is slightly thinner than the stock Corvette spacer so we had to fabricate an additional spacer and then shim the caliper for proper alignment.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...er%20rotor.jpg

While David worked through spacers and such, Mary fabbed up a quick bracket for the Touchscreen and TC control while I continued on wiring.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...ouchscreen.jpg

Simple and effective and with a bit more effort on the wiring front, functional as well!

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...een%20live.jpg

I have to say that I am really impressed with the Holley Dominator EFI unit from a wiring and integration perspective. Holley components are all plug and play and installation, so far, has been a breeze.

Progress continues on the suspension with the calipers properly spaced out and the additional shim in place the LG Motorsports brake cooling ducts are just about perfect

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...ng%20plate.jpg

With that done Mary focused on installing the shocks while David worked on machining some spacers for the tensioner modification. I, meanwhile, was working on getting the Racepak IQ3 dash to talk to the Dominator EFI unit and finishing some assembly under the hood. The spacers proved easy but we decided that the throttle cable spacer was going to need a tweak to ensure proper alignment with the new intake and TB.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...0tensioner.jpg

It’s nice to have space and the RideTech T3 shocks have lots of room now

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...suspension.jpg

We still need to swap the adjustors on the shock but that will be an easy switch

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...20adjustor.jpg

And the remote reservoirs are right at home on the down tubes…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...20T3%20can.jpg

Making one neat package when it’s all said and done.

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...r%20brakes.jpg

Which left with some final preparation work on the engine. Headers are in and fit like a glove…

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...%20fitment.jpg

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...%20fitment.jpg

The tensioner is waiting on some metric bolts to be finished up (funny, it’s harder than you would think to find 110 mm metric bolts on short notice)

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...er%20lines.jpg

So we’re in pretty good shape for now

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...%20togethe.jpg

We’re waiting on a base tune for the ECM that Mike Norris is putting together for us and we’re going to add one of Mike’s pcv breathers for good measure. Once we have that it’s a matter of replacing a couple of hoses, finding a new belt for the serpentine system, and fabbing up a new SPECTRE intake then we should be good to fire it up.

New steering shaft arrived, as did a new universal joint to accommodate the larger diameter (?) D-shaft

http://www.onelapcamaro.com/1967%20O...ring%20Arm.jpg

We’re waiting now for some exhaust pieces from Magnaflow to build a new 3” system and we should have some new wheels coming soon to give us some increased flexibility on tire choices – be we can talk more about that later.