LSA Powered 69 Camaro -"Lou's Change"

[Lous69]

Originally Posted by g356gear

I think I would be "knockin on wood" right about now.

I have been. So much so, my head hurts...

I'm saying my prayers, being nice to others and not running with scissors in hopes the rust Gods will be nice....

Having said that, the V8TV crew has a proven track record of being able to fix what needs fixing, all the while saying things like "when we're done, you won't be able to tell we were ever there."

If you look at the picture gallery of V8TV's Royal Purple Camaro build on their web site it leaves little doubt they can fix ANY amount of rust.

Very impressive.

Most people would have given up and looked for another body.

Here's a link to that gallery:

http://www.v8tvshow.com/images/stori...S05/index.html

[Musclerodz]

Originally Posted by Lous69

Next week the body goes out to media blasting. We already know there will be some needed floor and trunk repairs along with some inner rear fender and dash repairs. Hopefully there won't be TOO many surprises when it comes back...

I would have waited till after blasting before welding up the clearanced areas since I know Murphy works full time at my shop. No doubt Kevin and crew will do you right in the event you did not knock on the right piece of wood.

[fleetus macmullitz]

Originally Posted by Lous69

I decided to order the Recaro Sport seats from THMotorsports.

While I am happy with the seats, I will say that I am surprised that Recaro doesn't put more effort into making the seam down the side of the seat look better. Perhaps they should be using double stitching or something because as you can see in the following picture, the vertical seam down the side of the seat looks a little "amateurish" in my opinion. I think it should be nice a crisp without wrinkles and kinks.

Agreed.

Should never have been passed by QC. No excuse for that IMO.

[Lous69]

While we wait for the car to return from the media blaster I thought I might provide an update on some details and parts we have ordered.

Our cooling strategy has evolved. We decided to upgrade from our original plan of just copying what is used in the ZL1. We listened to some of the good advice we got from this thread and others.

We ended up ordering a C&R radiator module rated for 1000HP. The module is made to drop right into the first gen Camaro. It includes two mounted fans, engine oil cooling and power steering cooling. It also has both the engine coolant inlet and exit on the passenger side.



For an intercooler, we decided to go with C&R's GT500 intercooler. It also comes complete with two fans already mounted.



For the intercooler pump, we decided on the 55 GPM rated unit sold by Torq.





With all that cooling packaging in the vacinity of the core support we decided that a hood latch assembly similar to the one Stielow used in Charlie's JackAss was in order.
The arrangement they used is cable accuated which also offers a little more secure access to the engine compartment.
It also just looks cool.

Here is the hood latch in JackAss. Like the rest of the engine bay, it's a very clean solution:





When we started our research on where to buy parts to do something similar, we first figured out the latch/lock pieces were similar to those used in some mid 80s-early 90s era Volkswagens.

For instance, here is a Lower hood latch for a 1990 Volkswagen Jetta:




Here is the Upper hood latch for the same car:




For these pieces, it appears there are genuine Volkswagen parts and then there are cheap imitations. Even on the genuine VW parts, we were a little hesitant relative to the safety catch design which looks pretty light weight.

Next we found a very nice, turn key solution already customized to drop right into first gens. The kit is made by Screamin' Performance. Here are some pics from their web site:





Not only did Screamin' Performance engineer a total drop in solution, it looks like they also beefed up the safety catch and some other aspects of the latches.

Since we are planning to custom build the covers in and around the core support anyway, we decided to just buy the beefiest latch components we could find of similar construction.

That led us to the hood latches that were used on the Volkswagen Thing back in the 70's. I know, most of you are probably too young to rememeber that vehicle....

These are the pieces we ended up with because they are very similar but considerably stronger. For instance, note how the safety catch is a U shaped, wide claw design vs. a single metal thickness design. The easier to access opening lever/tab is also a nice upgrade.





In case you decide to go this route one day, the part numbers are as follows:
Upper latch: VW 175 823 507
Lower latch: VW 411 823 509
They are still available through sites who sell parts to restore the old VW Things.

[Grnova]

Originally Posted by Lous69

While we wait for the car to return from the media blaster I thought I might provide an update on some details and parts we have ordered.

Our cooling strategy has evolved. We decided to upgrade from our original plan of just copying what is used in the ZL1. We listened to some of the good advice we got from this thread and others.

We ended up ordering a C&R radiator module rated for 1000HP. The module is made to drop right into the first gen Camaro. It includes two mounted fans, engine oil cooling and power steering cooling. It also has both the engine coolant inlet and exit on the passenger side.



For an intercooler, we decided to go with C&R's GT500 intercooler. It also comes complete with two fans already mounted.

This is exactly what i am looking for on my set up. GREAT FIND!!! Are there Vendors on his site for C&R???

[randy]

so it seems like there setup constist of this cable latch
http://www.carid.com/lokar/item-1085...gn=Become_feed

and the VW part numbers you posted huh

[BBC71Nova]

Originally Posted by Grnova

This is exactly what i am looking for on my set up. GREAT FIND!!! Are there Vendors on his site for C&R???

If I'm not mistaken Dan@Holohan's is setup as a C&R dealer. They are nice pieces as seen here.

[waynieZ]

Thats a beautiiful cooling set up you decided on. You should have no problems with that in there.

[Lous69]

Even though we’re following the best of the best in many aspects of this build we still find that we are doing some things that apparently no one else has done before.

One of those things is putting an LSA motor in the Detroit Speed subframe and mounting the AC compressor and the alternator tight and low on their respective sides of the engine.

We could only find people who have installed their LSA in either stock or other after market subframes.

This made me a little nervous but the crew at V8TV just took it in stride as another challenge to be overcome.

First, they took one of the small Sanden SD-7 AC compressors Vintage Air recommends for use in their systems.

The objective was to mount it low and tight right about here but a little further back…



Next they performed a little surgery on the subframe and massaged the motor mount a little..









Then they made their own lower mounting bracket...



Their own upper mounting bracket...



Their own adjustment link...



And there you have it…AC compressor where we want it!



To mount the alternator tight and low on the driver’s side, they started with an alternator from East Coast Auto Electric. It is smaller but still puts out more than 120 AMPs (part number 2003)

They put a mock up pulley on it and sized up their plan of attack…



With some surgery on the mounting bracket and some minor fabrication it looked feasible to mount the alternator without modifications to the subframe.

They pulled it off. No notching of the frame required on this side..



For the steering pump, we bought a reservoir that has an extra return line port in it from Jones. We need an extra return line port because we are going to install a Hydratech brake booster.



That reservoir works best with the Corvette power steering pump so they made some slight modifications to the Corvette style pump to mount it in the LSA mounts.



The result….What we think is the World’s first LSA with ZL-1 accessory locations installed in a Detroit Speed Subframe….. TA DAAH!!



Frankly, the V8TV crew makes this stuff look easy. Can you tell I’m a happy customer?

[V8TV]

Lou did a nice job of simplifying the front accessory drive challenge a little, but the concept was to keep it as simple as possible. We never said simple = easy, but we're happy with the results.

The LSA belt system and front of engine are very different from the LS9, so we chose to work with what we had rather than change everything and try to adapt the LS9 stuff as others have done.

Also, the LSA power steering pump is unlike most common Type II GM pumps. The LSA uses a plastic reservoir. We didn't think we could safely add a port to the plastic reservoir and expect it to stand up to harsh use over time without issues. We really liked the fabricated Jones piece that provides the additional ports for returns.






However, you cannot simply swap the LSA reservoir for the Jones piece, which fits Corvette pumps. You'll notice in the pics that the LSA pump has no "slide" mounts for the retaining clips and tabs that hold the Jones and other GM type plastic reservoirs. In addition, the LSA pump has threaded mounts to attach it to the bracket, not openings for bolts to pass-through like most others. Next, the outlet has a 90-degree fitting pressed into the side. The fitting isn't hard to work around, but the missing tabs and threaded bosses were interesting.

We ended up using a Corvette style pump, which shares the large diameter shaft with the LSA. We simply added Heli-Coil inserts to the Corvette pump and mounted the Jones reservoir to it as designed. Clearance is tight to the heads, so the correct length bolt is crucial as not to hit the head or the pulley on the front. The whole assembly bolted up to the stock LSA bracket at that point.

These little projects take some time, but are fun to do when you figure everything out. We're fortunate to have a crew that likes to find solutions that would pass for OE.