48 Hour Camaro build

[Mrfixit]

Any updates, yet? Maybe they're still napping after the celebration..

[syborg tt]

Pretty sure they are on there way to Nashville

[radrambler]

Got to watch them run it today at the autocross
Nice ride


Tom

[SLO_Z28]

Are you gonna bring that beast to the good guys show in pleasanton? Cool car!

[Vegas69]

I'm not feeling it...

How many times have you seen people be unpleased with vendor delivery/ parts and build time?

Good marketing but bad for the hobby.

[bret]

After a little search I realized that I had not kept up with ANY updates on this forum. So I will post some stuff that I had written previously on another forum to get everyone here caught up and then try to do better in the future on updates!

48 Hour Camaro update - October 2011

It has been one long summer! I’m not complaining…the 48 Hour Camaro has exceeded every expectation and even most of my hopes. We’ve put on about 13,000 miles, burned through 4 transmissions, 2 rearends, 11 sets of front tires, 4 sets of rear tires, one fuel tank, one fuel pump, a power steering pump, and 7 oil changes. I have no idea how much fuel…I just couldn’t bring myself to look!

One might look at the amount of “attrition” that we’ve had with parts this summer and think that we’ve had a run of bad luck. I think that considering the quantity and quality of use this car has had, our luck has been stellar! I didn’t build this car to set around and look pretty. It was built to demonstrate how easy the various parts manufacturers have made it to build a car like this, and how durable those parts are. The only way to that is to push the car to its limits…otherwise you’re just speculating.

Here is a question that I get ALL the time: “ does that [insert part or manufacturer] REALLY work?” I guess the perception is that even if I had problems with something I would try to seep it a secret, or at least gloss over it. Well, here is my personal and unabridged evaluation of the parts and systems of the Camaro this summer. For those who are interested, keep in mind these simple concepts:

1. For the consumers out there: This car has been used harder than any street car has a right to. REAL race cars have a team of professionals that attend to these components on an ongoing and regular basis. This is a street car that is driven like a race car.
2. For the manufacturers: My credibility is more important to me than your feelings. My opinions are just that…opinions. Others could have different experiences [better or worse] and therefore different opinions. If I only write about the good stuff it looks like an informercial!

Lingenfelter Engine – I have come to LOVE this Lingenfelter LS3. Initially we had to work through a couple of EFI tuning problems and ended up changing to a smaller camshaft to get more low end torque. After that…this thing just doesn’t give up! It made 470RWHP on Mike Norris’ dyno in September, which is only about 25 shy of the 427 cu.in engine that was in Velocity. It runs smooth, it pulls hard, and it’s never complained, even after being run “on the chip” multiple times. Score: 10

Engine accessories…Vintage Air Frontrunner, Holley cast aluminum oil pan, Hooker headers, Spectre air inlet system, Lokar throttle cable system – It’s hard to truly appreciate components that just sit there and do the job that you bought them to do. They don’t make any fuss, sometimes they can’t even be seen, they attract no attention until they break. That’s why you’ve not heard much about the components listed above…silently and completely efficient and effective. Score: 10

Holley EFI system – Here’s the one I get a lot of questions about. Everyone has looked at the self tuning capacity of the new Holley Avenger EFI with much anticipation…and for good reason. If it works [and it does] it resolves a LOT of the fears that some hotrodders have about EFI tuning [I don’t know anything about computers, etc…]. I would say that we initially experienced what I consider normal hotrodding bugs…a sensor was bad…a couple of wires got crossed…then we changed cams to get some more low end torque [so tuning started over]. Throughout ALL that the engine ran…OK. It just wasn’t the crisp efficient unit that I have been spoiled by with my Corvette and even Velocity. The self tuning feature of the system actually covered up some of these issues…so a normal EFI would have protested much more. The guys at Holley did not settle for OK, however. They found the bad sensor, they found where we screwed up the wiring connection, they plugged in a shelf program for the style of cam that we ended up with…and amazingly the engine now runs like it was intended to! No drama, just power. Score: 8.5 [and getting better daily!]

Transmission – My original direction of a Muncie 4 speed with the Gearvendors overdrive was a noble cause. I LOVED the simplicity of installation and the convenience of being able to push a button to engage the overdrive, especially on the racetrack. It’s almost an unfair advantage. The Muncie initially shifted great both up and down, the gearvendors unit performed flawlessly [after we rescued it from our mis-measured coupler clearance issue] and life was good until the trans gave up under my less than forgiving shifting style. The Muncie did not seem to be enchanted with the ongoing full power upshifting and rigorous downshifting that I put it through on the road courses. Each time I went on the big track I came back with the teeth missing from third gear. After the third time the guys at AGE very graciously suggested that I try another path until they could figure out why a transmission that regularly sees 800hp drag racing action would not hold up to the road course action. I say gracious because they did not try to blame the problem on me…they acknowledged the problem, set about on a fix, and did not let me continue to suffer in the meantime. Real men and real hotrodders.
The next fix in that area was a race prepped Tex T101a. This thing came out of an ARCA car and was complete with the gear dogs that allowed clutchless up and down shifts, and straight cut gears that made shifting effortless, but also made the car sound like a garbage truck going down the road. This is one hell of a transmission, but it lacked one crucial element: There is currently no adapter plate for the Gearvendors overdrive unit. That is why this transmission was a temporary fix. There is no way I would give up that gearrvendors overdrive. Besides the obvious RPM reduction that the .78 overdrive allows, I could run most big tracks in third gear only, toggling between direct and overdrive to affect gear changes. Like I said, almost an unfair advantage! It was great at the smaller autocrosses as well. Most of the Goodguys tracks are a first gear affair, but some are just a little larger…too long for first, but second is too tall. THAT is where the Gearvendors unit is a true advantage…it’s like first-and-a-half!
Score – Muncie – 5 – great for a street car – couldn’t hang on the big track with all the down shifting I do
Score – Tex T101 – 6 – great transmission but no adapter for the overdrive unit
Score Gearvendors overdrive – 10 – I WILL find a way to engage this tool. Maybe Gearvendors can get in the transmission business?

So what is the current status in the transmission department? Well, I’ve had people LINED UP to extole the virtues of the Tremec T56 Magnum. I initially had no interest for a couple of reasons: my last tremec experiences a few years ago were not successful, and the MOST of the people who were braying about the Magnum had yet to complete their cars, or at least use them the way I intended to use mine.
BUT…since I had to make a change…AND there were now a few people whom I trusted and who HAD actually used that transmission in anger successfully…And American Powertrain had a complete conversion system that made the installation very painless…we have now gone in that direction. At this point I truly do not have enough track time to give an informed evaluation [that will change shortly] but after initial installation and street driving…it’s looking like at least a 9!

Moser Rearend – I can’t imagine a company that is more efficient or more easy to work with than Moser Engineering. They can deliver a complete custom rearend in 2 days! This is not some “special favor” or a one time effort…they do this as a matter of everyday business.
Any by the way…this 12 bolt Moser unit works great. Proper fit, no noise, no leaks, no mistakes…it just works. We are using the new WaveTrac posi unit with a 3.50 gear. This design has plenty of drag racing track time on it, but not as much road course testing until now. We’ve traded out Wavetrac units a couple of time to allow disassembly and evaluation. Each time they have made a couple of small refinements to improve release and oiling and such things…all in the name of making it better! Score – 9

Baer Brakes – Best brakes in the world. Stable, linear, predictable, no fade, no pad knockback. Oh, yeah…they look kinda zoomy, too! Score - 10

Vintage Air A/C system and US Radiator – So, I’m sitting in the staging lanes in Nashville at the Power Tour autocross in 96 degree heat and at least that much humidity. I am a creature of comfort so I turn the air conditioning on and continue to sit there like that for another 25 minutes. Two guys walk up to chat about the car and reckon that I’ve not turned the car off because I’m afraid it won’t restart in this heat. When I informed them that, in reality, I had the A/C on to keep cool, they responded [in unision] “Bull****!”. So I said…stick your head in here…A/C blowing cold…temp gauge pegged at 196 degrees. My friggen new Z06 won’t even do that! Score – 10

Text limit exceeded...continued on next post!

[bret]

Continued from last post - October 2011

RideTech Suspension – Ah, yes…let’s see if the owner of RideTech can at least appear to be somewhat subjective about his own products! OK…here goes!
Let me preface this part by repeating what many other manufacturers have told me directly: There is NOBODY harder on equipment than Bret Voelkel. I don’t abuse anything, but I don’t baby anything either. If there is a weak spot, I will find it.

Tru Turn front end – The Tru Turn was created because I tired of getting my ass beat in Velocity because I was handicapped by not being able to get anything bigger than a 245 mm tire on the front of it. When we built this car I told the guys that we are going to get a 275 tire under that frontend if it takes a sawzall to accomplish it! While we were at it, we discovered that we could fix the inherent bumpsteer issues as well…AND we could accomplish all this with bolt on parts! The result? 275 tires on a 10” wheel, full turning radius, no bumpsteer…all on a stock front subframe for $1000. Performance? This car sticks the frontend better than my Z06 Corvette. Problems? None of the 48 Hour car but I have heard of some customer experiencing clearance problems with Gen 1 small blocks with big headers. Score – 9

RideTech 4 link – We’ve had this bolt in 4 link for several years. The basic architecture remains the same, but we’ve made small refinements over the years…rear swaybar, articulating heim ends, offset lower bars to increase tire clearance…small stuff like that. We have also taken to recommending welding the cradle in IF you are going to use the car consistently with sticky tires. For civilians, it bolts in, its compatible with minitubs and 335 mm rear tires, you don’t need to cut your floorboard up, its compatible with ShockWaves AND coilovers…and it flat works. I’m not sure how I could make it much better [but I’ll keep trying!] Score – 9

Triple Adjustable Coilovers – Our new baby! I did not understand the tangible and massive differences between a twin tube shock and a good monotube shock until we started testing with these units. The “texture” of the road simply disappears. The shocks are reliable, responsive, predictable, and repeatable. They will make your car do about anything you want it to do. The ability to adjust low speed and high speed compression is a REAL nice tuning tool, especially for a rough track. What I want to refine…right now it takes a screwdriver to adjust the low speed compression and a 17mm wrench to adjust high speed compression. We’ve already developed knobs to replace this situation so no tools are needed. Score – 9 [10 when the knobs come online]

Forgeline Wheels – This is definitely an area where you get what you pay for. The Forgelines are not a cheap wheel. BUT…they do not leak, they are round AND in balance, the finish is perfect, they are light as hell, they do not bend, and they were delivered in about 3 weeks. Score - 9

BFG Tires – Here is what I really like about the BFG KDW series tires…they work well in the dry or the wet [meaning you don’t have to stress if you get caught in the rain], they wear nicely, and they are VERY forgiving and predictable on the track. Some tires are really great…all the way up to the point that you are backwards. With the BFG’s…they squeal, squall, bark, and howl WAY before they actually give up traction. Very comforting if you don’t have the benefit of years of racing experience under your belt. Score - 9

Ricks Stainless Tanks – I’m on the second iteration of gas tank from Ricks. The first one had 2 issues. First, the car would starve for fuel in a LONG lateral G situation with less than ½ tank of fuel. By long, I’m talking about a 5-10 second sustained 1G plus lateral load. This is a situation that 98% of you will never find yourself in. Think the carousel at Road America at 100mph. Even the healthiest of autocross action would not make the car starve, but the extended lateral g load would. So a refinement was in order. Before we could make that refinement I experienced a failure with the Aeromotive fuel pump while on the starting line at the Sandhills Open Road Challenge in Nebraska. Obviously I was pretty damn disappointed, but I do realize that any mechanical device can fail. It just happens.
So while we were refining the fuel tank situation, I discussed with Rick the feasibility of building this new tank in aluminum to reduce the weight. What ended up with was a new aluminum tank that incorporated the newest twin scavenge pickups from Vaporworx, and a GM fuel pump module from a Cadillac CTS V. The new tank is about 35lbs lighter, the fuel pump is dead quiet, and I have run that sustained lateral G loading with under 2 gallons of gas in the car. Yeah, it’s fixed. Score for the old system – 5. Score for the new system – 10

So, what's next for the Camaro? Well...tomorrow we load it up and head for Las Vegas and the SEMA show and the Optima Ultimate Street Car Invitational. After that we'll be doing the last 3 Goodguys shows on the West Coast...Pleasanton, Scottsdale, and Del Mar. Yes, the Camaro will be there, yes we will be running hte autocross at Pleasanton and Del Mar.
After that...a long deseved break for the car...and for me!

[bret]

May 2012

Well, it's been a few months since I've posted anything significant on the 48 Hour Camaro. Lots of reasons for that...wintertime...busy building/shipping product...building a new 33 Ford project...
But one of the main reasons I've not posted anything since last fall is because...the car didn't need any work! Yes, we went through a little spat of transmission problems last summer...and an extremely untimely fuel pump failure in Nebraska, but after the Optima race after SEMA last year, there was no large punch list of items to redo or fix.

Having said that, Mike Copeland from Lingenfelter calls me on January 4. He says "me and Ken think you need more horsepower." I said "I was thinking that very same thing just now!" They want us to try out their new 417 cu.in LS package in the Camaro.
We had just had the discussion at the shop that the engine ran so well that there was absolutely no need to freshen it up. BUT, what hotrodder can ignore the lure of more horsepower? So we snatch the engine out of the car, send it to Lingenfelter, and have them turn it into a 417 package. One saving grace of changing the engine was that we found the clutch to be toast. Not sure why, but I don't think it would have lasted another 4-5 races.
I've been wanting to try out one of the new Centerforce Dyad clutches ever since I saw the first one being built last winter for Jimi Day's AMX. This thing is absolute artwork! The design, the machining, the lightening holes...looks like a million bucks.
We got the engine back from Lingenfelter around April 1. In it goes with the new Dyad clutch in front of the American Powertrain T56 Magnum [that we had changed over to late last summer].
It starts and runs like clockwork. The 417 is about 50 cu.in larger than the original one, but the Holley EFI did a nice job of accommodating the difference. After driving around town a little bit we drove down to Holley [about 2 hours] to put it on their chassis dyno for some power tuning.
The old engine made 469 hp and 451 torque. The new 417 makes 488 hp and 491 torque! AND...it's making 400 lb ft of torque as low as 3000 rpm. THAT is what the buttometer feels! This thing now pulls much stronger off the corners and makes downshifting much less necessary.
Oh, yes, the clutch...it works at least as well as it looks. Smooth, linear, quiet, and able to handle much more than the 580-600 hp it is currently managing. Its is at least as nice as the clutch in my CTS V, and much superior to the one in our 2010 Camaro. The end result of this increase in hp and torque, and the new Dyad clutch, is that the 48 Hour Camaro is about as good a package as I can imagine a Camaro to be. I was making a mental list of items to fix/change on my drive to Bowling Green. I was reduced to thinking of the following items:

* add a couple of Kicker midrange speakers - stereo is too "tinny"
* find a better holder for my iphone so I don't have to chase it all over the car
* somebody lost the cigarette lighter
* there is a little annoying squeak in the rearend - don't know if its the suspension or the cage, or something else
* The car is now so refined that the exhaust seems a little...loud. I may try some more/other mufflers
* The fixed back Recaros are fine for the track, but I've got to find something more appropriately sized for my butt.
* I need a drink holder on the console

That's it. I could not think of anything else to change. I would put my wife in that car and point her towards California in a heartbeat. [I would have to install seat heaters first. It is smooth, reasonably quiet, the ride quality is better than Sharons 750 BMW, and the power and handling is better than my Z06 Corvette.

Since we've basically run out of ideas to improve this Camaro...we are building a 69 Camaro just like it for Marc Meadors from Goodguys this summer. Look for the build thread to start on it in a couple of weeks!