supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

You are right man. I started the insulation and found I am going to run out of insulation and I dont think Lowes will be open tomorrow. I sealed all of the gaps with aluminum tape so there are no seams, I think it is going to be great. I am in a much better mood now. I will post up pics tomorrow.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Ok up date time,
I have been busy working on the camaro when I can. I took most of turkey day off to spend with the family. But here is what I have gotten done as of tonight:

-I gave up on the bed lining of the floor boards. I only did the drivers front. I think it will be just fine. I put down the insulation I got from Lowe's. Took me two and a half rolls (Now I got a little left over for speaker enclosure stuff since I am not doing a big system like normal). This is the first half done:


Here is the whole thing covered and ready for carpet:


Once that was all done I tossed the new-to-me carpet in, installed the hydro booster from an Astro van, re-ran all of the wires under the dash so nothing was hanging down any more, put in my new-to-me dash complete with all the original supports (no more floppy dash), fine tuned my brake pedal height, bled my clutch, and put the steering column back in it.


Hydro boost assembled:


I actually used the lines from the astro van, I heated them up, and bench them on my tube bender anchored in my vise. Took me about two hours to get the bends just right on both lines and they hide quite well.



I also finished up the transmission (T5), installed my aluminum drive shaft, and the put the rear axle (28 spl, w/posi and 3.23 gears) in the car.



I also rigged my tranny shifter bushing to work again by sanding down the worn part at the top and stacking washers under it that fit perfect in the hole in the tranny. That fixed my wobbly B&M shifter.

Tomorrow I am going to finish putting the rotors, calipers, and brake lines for the rear axle disk brake swap. I am also going to re flare the stock lines off of the LS1 master so they will adapt to my prop valve. Then I can bleed everything. I found that the starter for my 700R4 flywheel does not fit my manual tranny flywheel. So I guess that is one more thing I am going to have to get.

If you got any questions about any of the mods I have done, just give me a holler and I will be more than happy to help you out.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Well, I had my machinist buddy make me a custom bronze bushing for my shifter so I got that all done and the center console is back in it. I recovered the center console with black auto carpet and swapped the tan vents for black ones. It looks awesome! I will post up pics later.

I filled up the tranny and rear diff so I wont forget later when I actually do get it up and running.

I also started refinishing my interior plastics. I know some sand the whole panel, but I am not worried about that. I am scraping the top layer of crap until I get to fresh plastic, then I am sanding the panels, then hitting them with a heat gun to get rid of the marks. They look 100% better so I am happy with the results. The finish does not match, as the refinished parts are smooth and the rest has the grain in them, but it dont cost me anything. I will post up some before and afters of the panels tonight.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Ok, here are the before and afters for my plastics. I found that 60 grit is little too rough and the sanding marks are hard to get out. They still look great compared to what I started with though.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Well, nothing is going to happen to the camaro for a few weeks cause I am out of town on business.

I did pick up a matching front and rear set of gold GTA rims off of craigs list for $200. They are in decent shape but will clean up good. The tires are shot, but they hold air and will work as rollers. I got them on the way to the airport and man the wife was pissed! She had to lug them out of the jeep when she got home and stick them in the garage.

Son of Anarchy

Damn man, I love these kinda stories, just inspiring to us all...keep it up! Cannot wait to see the finished project!

hellz_wings

iTrader: (2)

Haha gf/wife will always be pissed when spending cash on the car rather than designer bags! Also, the panels you painted look a helluva lot better than before! Did you paint them or just sand them? I'm planning on doing that to mine cuz I have some scratched/faded panels and would like to do that too. Good deal on the rims too!

FryeDaddy

iTrader: (1)

Man keep it up! I'm gonna keep reading your progress, I got a feeling you will be providing everyone with answers especially me. I'm 19 and at college and you just got me really excited again to work on my 85 iroc over winter break. Third gens forever

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Well the wife just didnt understand the need for the rims since I already got some nice polished 5 spoke rims with two almost new tires and two brand new tires. I need them for my LS1 front brake upgrade.

As far as the panels, I didnt paint them. I used a stiff putty knife to scrape them back to good plastic, hit them with some 80 grit and blasted them with a heat gun until the plastic took a shiny appearance. You can still see sanding marks and gouges from the putty knife, but I dont really care because they look 100 times better.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Just let me know and I will help best I can.

I havent broken anything down in this thread other than my gear install in the drivetrain section. So there is allot more I can expound on in here or in PM's.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

You can buff away a lot of carnage from plastic panels with green Scotchbrite pads. Scratches, scuffs, staining, etc come out. If it makes a dull spot, Armor All or similar and let it soak a bit and they come right back.

hellz_wings

iTrader: (2)

Will those scotchbright pads change the texture of the panel?

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Yeah it will change the texture just like sand paper and scraping. I would think it would probably damage the panel less.

Drew

iTrader: (58)

The grit is REALLY fine... You have to scrub for a LONG time before you remove the texture. That's the point. It won't fix UV damage, but it'll knock off the raised edges from scratches, and scuffs, and remove set in stains, etc.

FryeDaddy

iTrader: (1)

Will do, and thanks bro.

white gold 88

Subscribed! Good job! I may have done it different but that'll work. Keep on posting.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Well, been a while since I got on here and gave an update. I dont have any pics today, but I will try and take some tonight. I got a new elec fan controller which means I am going to rewire my current setup. My in head fan temp switch is not working out.

I also got a new Willwood proportioning valve which will replace my entire factory unit. Ran into some line issues there. The factory lines are too hard and I cant reflare them so I guess I am going to have to run new lines or something.

I did get the rear brakes put together. Had to get a new caliper, put some washers behind the ebrake bracket to get rotor to abudment bracket clearence, and modified (shortened, new ends) a pair of blazer ebrake cables so my ebrakes work.

I also have gotten 90% of the interior back in the car. I might try and finish that up tonight.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

I finally got the brakes bled and put a starter in it. Started it up and it sounded so good. Really revved faster then it did with the auto in it. The brake pedal felt good and no leaks on my fittings for the adjustable prop valve.

I was looking at the hydro boost for leaks when I heard a vacuum leak. Pulled the air cleaner off and it was coming from behind the driver TB. So I took my can of trusty brake clean to pinpoint the vacuum leak when I just about had it, the whole top end suddenly went up in a fireball (no backfire or anything!).

Well my fire extigusher was in the jeep from my last ride and after cooking for a few minutes (took me a min to drag the water hose from the back yard) everything on the back of the motor is a big molten pool of crap. Took out the cap, rotor, wires, coil, both harnesses across the back of the motor, all the vaccum lines on top of the motor, and every connector across the back of the motor (including every wire and connector on the dist).

Guess I will be hitting the scrap yard this weekend and re-wiring the engine compartment.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Ok, here are some pics.

This is the completed hydroboost/LS1 master conversion and wilwood prop valve. I think it came out pretty good.


Here is the completed rear disk conversion. They are 2WD blazer units so I got the alum caliper, drum style parking brake like the LS1, easy to modify parking brake cable setup, and 11.6" rotors. I dont think I am going to miss the .5" extra I would have gotten with the LS1 setup on the street.


Here is my modified parking brake cables. I cut a slot in the body end and split it apart with a screwdriver. I then measured my distance for the cable shell, removed the cable from the shell and cut to length with a hacksaw (a cutoff wheel got it too hot and melted the inner liner). I then put the shell in a vice and drove the end back on and reclamped it with the vise, covered the slit with silicone, and topped it off with a small hose clamp. I determined the distance between the lever and the mounting point on the axle, pulled the cable taught and clamped it at the measurement. I then determined how much cable I needed between the body mount and the "Y" and cut the end off of the factory cables. I used two stainless cable clamps per side to clamp the cables together making sure I had plenty of travel fore and aft of the clamps. Works great with no issues and only cost me $15 total.


And this is some of the aftermath of the engine fire I had.

ericjon262

you know you've got the wrong distributor if you plan to stay fuel injected right?

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

It is the factory computer controlled dist. What is wrong with it?

ericjon262

maybe crossfire cars are different, but all the GM Gen 1 Fuel injection I've ever seen uses a small cap HEI, not the large cap, maybe the CF cars used the large cap too, but everything I've seen hasn't.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

As far as I know they used this large cap cc HEI on all the cc carb and pretty much all fuel injected systems into the mid 80's? I am pretty sure the 85 TPI cars also had the large cap cc HEI.

copyfixr

iTrader: (3)

Subscribing. Great thread! To bad about the fire man.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

So I got the car back on its tires today and out of the garage. I needed to clean up and repair the massive oil spill from my bad oil press sensor. I also wanted to make sure the tranny was working good and the brakes were good.

The brakes work awesome in my low speed tests and the car will break both tires loose (posi now) into a full on burnout on command anywhere in 1st or 2nd gear. The crossfire 350 is strong!

I decided to convert to the newer style oil pressure sensor because the zone wanted $50 for a new one. I got one out of a 96 suburban with the 80psi oil pressure guage (some have a 60psi guage so pick the right one) so it would match my 80psi guage I snagged out of a V6 car. Work great and accurately.


I also got the fans wired up and adjusted and they cool the motor awesome.


I also found a firebird and took the black plastics out of it to replace my tan ones.


I still have a ton of small stuff that needs to be done, like fix 5th, figure out why it pops out of 1st when taking off sometimes. I need to finish up the inside, save up for a windshield, install the t-top weatherstripping, and then she should be ready to go.

Dartht33bagger

Are you going to keep crossfire injection?

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Yeah, I have debated this with myself a bunch, but I am going to keep it for now and try and make it run even better. She seems to be a screamer right now, definately much faster then when I had it in high school.

84 1LE

iTrader: (9)

Excellent work.
Whats the hydro boost weigh, compared to the stock set-up?
I think 88 was the first year for the small cap HEI btw.

19CAMARO85

iTrader: (5)

I dont really visit TGO much anymore since i dont have the iroc anymore but every now and then i do browse. I love what you have done. Makes me miss my iroc-z. You are doing a great job. Keep at it. I will be watching your progress. Thanks for your service. Have fun. -Matt

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Well the hydroboost is a little chunkier then the factory vaccum booster. I would say it probably weighs a little over 5 pounds more than the factory stuff. Just guessing there. The factory booster is pretty light, but the LS1 master felt lighter than the factory unit and I dropped a few pounds by chucking the cast iron prop valve.

My main concern for going hydro boost was brake feel and performance, not light weight. The pedal is still firm like it was before, but definately inspires braking confidence unlike my factory booster that required a bunch of pedal effort without the benefit of actually stopping the car quickly.

Thanks for your support. I think as this war has drug on, support has wanned a little from the American public.

As far as the camaro it has been a long road to get where I am without the payback of being able to drive the car and enjoy it thus far. I cant wait to get the glass back in the car and put the weatherstripping in so I can get this thing out of my garage. I have never worked on something so long (long term project) that hasent been on the road since I drug it home.

I guess the sad part is the car will still look like crap on the outside so it almost feels like I havent done anything. Dont get me wrong, the t-tops shouldnt leak much , the interior will be almost completely redone, and mechanically the car will be in very good shape with many improvements (both performance and function) from the GM parts bin.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Man, I had to really dig back a few pages to find my old thread. I havent updated this thread since early january. The Marine Corps has been sending me all over traveling and I have had a few other projects that have taken all of my spare time. I did however get the back window back in the car, all of the interior is back in the car, and I dyed the back seat black to match my new black plastics.

I will be getting a new windshield put in it this week and rebuilding the tranny this up coming weekend. Once I get the windshield in I can finally put in the new t-top weatherstripping.

I will post up some pictures when I get a chance.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Wow, after over a year, I finally got a windshield installed in the car. Makes me feel good because the windshield fit perfect so I know I did a good job on the sheet metal repair. The other issue is the rear panel I put back in is off about a little over an 1/8" which is actually pretty noticable, so I am going to have to center the T-top support so it looks right.


I started modifying a fuel pressure regulator from a junk 2 barrel TBI unit. I wanted to parallel my TBI's to help control FP and make it easily adjustable. I made it adjustable and remote mountable. I drilled and tapped the outlet for a 1/8" NTP fitting and just tapped the inlet with a 1/8" NTP and mounted a 6AN fitting on it. Well, I am pretty sure I am going to chuck it all and swap in a LT1 and T56 combo because the T5 I got was junk when I tore into it to rebuild it and I dont want to take a chance of getting another junk T5. By the time I add up a set of aluminum heads, DCS intake, cam, EBL and computer, convert my engine harness for the EBL setup, T56 conversion flywheel and T56 the costs exceed the cost of just getting a LT1 and T56 by quite a bit. I will keep you all informed.

88rsbenjy

man supr_fly, its people like u who give people like me the will to go on. i love this site so much, ill sit here think about my camaro and the problems im having with it and mope around. then ill sit at my computer, smoke a cig, and drink a cup of coffee and read threw post, not looking for anything specific, just reading what other people are doing and ill come across a thread like urs where people have BIGGER problems than me. i' ll think to myself wow that guy has more problems with his car than me but damn he did a good job fixing it, why the hell am i just sitting here, i can fix the problems i have. So all in all its more of goals that u and others on this site set for themselves that gives me the will to finish up my goals. so again i thank u and thank thirdgen.org.

p.s. i wish it were possible for everyone on this site to meet up, show off cars, and say "hey i read ur post on how u fixed that problem and check it out it worked on mine too".

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

I appriciate the comments. I am glad that this thread at times helps or inspires other 3rd gen owners to repair or modify their own cars. I am having to sacrifice my 06 Jeep rubicon so I can get a powertrain for the camaro. It is on Ebay if anyone is interested. (Shameless plug!)

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

So, aint updated this in a while. I made the plunge and sold my jeep to fun my motor swap, pay off bills, and buy a house in a few months. Here is the old engine getting ready to come out.


Figure while it was out and my OCD was kicking, I attacked the engine bay.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

I took the engine apart and had the crank polished, new bearings, oil pump, and replaced all of the gaskets and seals. It is so much easier to do out of the car. I put some billet EGR block off plates on it, Accel cap and rotor, MSD wires, mail order tune on PCM, Dyno Don Headers have been ordered, and a Magnaflow cat back.


And of course the transmission. I already mounted the 4th gen pedals, 4th gen hyrdaulics, had the flywheel turned, got a hurst short shifter, and picked up a stage 2 clutch kit.


I set the engine in the car tonight and it looks sexy, but I didnt take pictures since the tranny is not on it and it looks kinda funny leaning to the rear.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Well, I got the motor and transmission in the car, dropped the tank, coated the inside, stuck a 255 fuel pump in it, got the harness mostly done and back in the car. I am just waiting on my DynoDon headers. Should be here soon.

hellz_wings

iTrader: (2)

Very nice work! THat is gonna haul a$$

cprmn14

iTrader: (3)

this is a great swap, and a great story!

cant wait to see the end result.

Rhett86IROC

Looks sweeeeet! Can't wait for video!!

Offtopic but, How do I get sig pictures to pop up?

hellz_wings

iTrader: (2)

Question.. How did you go about painting the engine bay.. You just did primer and then paint? Or did you clean the area first and sand? Sorry just never done that before

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Well it was a multiple step process. Here are my steps:

1. Pressure washed and scubbed the empty engine compartment with purple power and a brush, then pressure washed again. (WARNING, BLOCK OFF ALL HOLES INTO PASS COMP!)

2. Things looked good, but then I decided to start prepping to paint instead of leaving it alone. I took some 80 grit on a small block and hit all of the rust spots to bare metal and feathered into the surrounding paint.

3. At this point I decided to strip everything out, so out came all the wiring harnesses, hood cable, radiator, condenser, heater/AC box, master cylinder, wiper motor, vaccum canister, and anything else I could unbolt.

4. I then hit the remaining rust areas with 80 grit.

5. I took 320 grit on the same block and hit all the sanded areas and feathered everything real good. (Sounds like a big jump, but it works real well)

6. Then I hit the remaining paint with a red scotch brite pad to scuff everything else up good. It needs to have a dull finish when done. (Red pads are sold at paint supply stores and they work better than green pads)

7. I masked everything off I didnt want to paint white and the surrounding body panels. (I used green 3M masking tape, it works better for this application)

8. I used some Eastwood PRE to wipe everything down. I did that twice.

9. I broke out my HF HVLP gun and mixed up some epoxy primer and slapped a coat on it. You really only have to hit the baremetal spots.

10. I followed that up with two coats of Summit Racing 2K Urethane Primer Surfacer. That hid any sanding scratches and left a good surface for the color. Note: If you want a super smooth finish, you need to let the primer cure per the instructions and wet sand before color, be carefull when wet sanding on corners and edges, you will sand through the primer fast. Oh, and use a block made for wet sanding.

11. I mixed up some Summit Racing Pure White single stage Urethane paint. I didnt have enough to make two coats and tried to reduce it a little to make it go farther, that was a bad choice and made the paint thin and my HF gun tip was too big to spray it without running. Coverage was not as good when I sprayed the t-top area. Two coats of color would be a minimum recommendation from me and no more than 3.

12. I let the color dry for 48 hours (only needs 24) then masked off the color. I then used a combination of brake cleaner and Eastwood PRE to prep the k-member metal since it was already rust free.

13. I then rattle canned the K-member and strut mounts with Rustoleum rusty metal primer then Rustoleum semi-gloss black metal tuff paint.

The results are above. Took me about three days start to finish but it looks great.

itsMikey

lookin good

hellz_wings

iTrader: (2)

Very nice step by step procedure.. Thanks and again, great work! White engine bays look so damn clean with they're freshly painted..

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

It does look good, the pure white is sooo brite compared to the white on the car it almost looks tan next to it. I will be painting the whole car at som point in the future, but the stuff I have painted so far are areas I wont be able to get to later.

On a side note, My Dyno Don headers and Y-pipe are one the way!!!
Once they show up, I can slip them in the car and finish my harness, run my MSD wires and fire her up!

OUTATIME GTA

iTrader: (2)

Thanks for that step-by-step detail on the engine bay! I'll get there someday, but always good to hear what others used.

nomad350Z

Absolutely amazing work so far!

One question....what brand 255lph fuel pump did you get? If its a Walbro, and its less than 4 years old, you may want to reconsider.

Walbro used to be great quality, made in America parts. But they sold out, and their quality went down. I went through 3 Walbro 255's (or Holley, or BBK, all of them are made by Walbro, check the side of the pump).

Moral of the story: Ditch the Walbro. Get a GM Delphi pump; I opted for the '89 Turbo Trans Am pump, and it supplies all the pressure I want to my L98 350.

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Actually I went with a TRE 255 pump. They had flow charts done up and the quality of the pump looks very good. Had their logo and pump part number lazer engraved on the side and it even came with a 1 year warranty. It came with quality hose, hose clamps, sock, o-ring for the tank, and the pig tail for the pump.

hellz_wings

iTrader: (2)

Hey Supr_fly, I don't wanna change subject of the thread here, but that TRE pump looks interesting. Was it a direct bolt in part? I have a 305 making 270HP at the crank, not as much as you but still more than stock.. Is a 255lph overkill? Thanks!

supr_fly03

iTrader: (2)

Yes it was bolt in, just had to splice in the new pig tail. Truth be told, there is no such thing as a fuel pump that is too big (dont take that out of context). It is better to have a pump that can supply more than you need then one that dosent supply enough. Even with all my bolt on mods on the LT1, I doubt I am pushing much more power than you are. A safe estimate would probably be around 315hp at the flywheel. A 255 pump would be a safe bet with your 271fwhp. If you ever wanted to put a power adder or jump to bigger cubes then your fuel system would already be up to the task.

http://www.treperformance.com/FuelPu...umps.html#340C

On a side note, when testing my engine harness before the install, I also tested my car's harness to make sure it was up to snuff. I discovered that my fuel pump power feed had 1.2ohms of resistance between the fuse box and the connector at the fuel tank. That is a pretty sizable amount of resistance and will definately cause a drop in fuel pressure or at least in fuel pump performance. I am running a 10 gauge wire from the new fuel pump relay to the back of the car now to permanently take care of that problem. Just some food for thought.