As most of you know, the disc rear in the '92 Z28 got screwed in Kingman, AZ earlier this year when the front pinion nut was taken off to change a $2 oil seal, changing the bearing loading, causing the front pinion bearing to blow out shortly thereafter. After wasting $1K to try and fix the rear, we bought a donor V8 '92 RS Camaro and pulled the disc rear to stuff in the '92. Oddly, it was a V6 26-spline rear, instead of the normal 28-spline. Just for CYA we shopped around and bought two 4th Gen posi rears as backups. Well, the RS rear didn't last very long and it's differential started grinding last week, so we installed one of the 4th Gen rears and a pair of Raybestos drilled/slotted rotors. The install was a direct bolt-on, including the E-brake and existing PBR calipers originally on the '92. The wheels extend about an inch more each side and are even with the fender lip -- looks aggressive as heck. The brakes feel much more responsive than before, but can't really evaluate other performance because at 170K miles the 700R4 is making loud grinding noises in first gear.
According to many, Pro-Built transmissions are the top-of-the-line for 700R4's, so I called Dana at his shop in CA and ordered a "Street/Strip" tranny good up to 550 HP and an Edge 9.5-inch lockup convertor with a stall speed of 2,500 rpm. Dana says this is perfect for a stock 5.7 TPI and will most likely improve gas mileage over the stock setup. Cost, including air shipping will be about $2,200 and delivery will be in about 2-3 weeks. You can read all about the good stuff put in these tranny's at http://www.700r4l60e.com/
More to follow after installation.
__________________ Duck_Pearl City, HI
87 IROC-Z 5.7, 92 Z28 5.7 25th Anniversary, 92 RS 25th Anniversary, 91 RS Ragtop
Sweet. Be sure to communicate with him exactly how you want the car to shift and stuff. It says they use a trans-go shift kit, I think it has multiple levels. Dont want it to show up and perform differently than you expected (too hard or maybe even too soft).
Originally posted by CrazyHawaiian Sweet. Be sure to communicate with him exactly how you want the car to shift and stuff. It says they use a trans-go shift kit, I think it has multiple levels. Dont want it to show up and perform differently than you expected (too hard or maybe even too soft).
One of the reasons why I went with the Pro-Built is that Dana's research spawned much of the Trans-go technology, and he continues to develop the 700R4 into a better transmission. The first thing he asks is for the specs on the car and engine, so the tranny and characteristics match the hardward -- Danny's 11 sec Z28 for example, would have a much more aggressive torque convertor with higher stall speed, most likely over 3K rpm. Then he asked what style is the driver -- mild, aggressive, or race. I chose aggressive, so I guess that's a bit of both where a 2,500 stall would be appropriate.
The Edge 9.5 inch lockup convertor will be a lot tighter than the stock one, so the car should feel much more responsive. This, combined with the "stock feel" of the Pro-Built at low-part-throttle means my coffee won't go flying into the back seat every time the tranny shifts just cruising -- but will slam hard when punched.
I'm still trying to decide if the car needs a bigger external tranny fluid cooler... It would be a no-brainer if the car was used for drifting or back-to-back drag brackets ... but dunno if it's needed for daily driving. Maybe it's time to add a tranny temp gauge.
__________________ Duck_Pearl City, HI
87 IROC-Z 5.7, 92 Z28 5.7 25th Anniversary, 92 RS 25th Anniversary, 91 RS Ragtop
Got the Street-Strip ProBuilt 700R4 and 2600 stall Edge converter in the '92 5.7 a few days ago and the final adjustments today at Performance Auto [John Pinero's place]. This setup rocks! Drive slow and easy on level ground and the rig accelerates and shifts like granny's grocery-getter. But go to half-throttle or more and the RPM's flash to 3K and it really slams hard. The Edge converter seems more efficient than the stock converter -- on the freeway cruising at 60+ the rpms are lower than before. The "looseness" of the higher stall converter is evident when getting the car moving on an incline, as it takes more throttle to say, get it going up a steep driveway [heh, or stopped at the top of Ward Avenue in Punchbowl...]. Otherwise, it drives like normal until you stomp on it, then hold on! Parts, shipping, etc, came to around $2K, about the same as having a normal rebuild, so other than the hassle of shipping, this is a good upgrade. Only downside has been the lack of instructions and documentation from Pro-Built [never bought an expensive item that was delivered without ANY paperwork], but I must say Dana has been very helpful on the telephone. I suggested he put those very necessary instructions and setups on his WWW site... Hmm, now we finished the trans, the rear end [4th Gen] maybe next will be a stroker!
__________________ Duck_Pearl City, HI
87 IROC-Z 5.7, 92 Z28 5.7 25th Anniversary, 92 RS 25th Anniversary, 91 RS Ragtop
Originally posted by xurusaibobx hey you got your tranny adjusted up at johns shop?
thats cool i go to him too...i live like right arcoss the street ..is the white/orange camaro still there
Yep, when there's something I can't or don't want to do on my cars, Performance Auto is my first choice. I met John in the Hawaii Camaro Club when he had his orange/white 4th Gen. When I acquired my HPD/SWAT '92 Camaro, I took it to him for the cleanup/tuneup and he didn't stiff me with a bunch of unnecessary expenses ... and even replaced a broken distributor free with a used one he had in his shop., sure impressed the heck out of me! He's got some nice cars to play with ... hmmm ... like the '61 Chevy 2-dr, all new black paint, the roadster, oh and the fleet of Corvettes.
__________________ Duck_Pearl City, HI
87 IROC-Z 5.7, 92 Z28 5.7 25th Anniversary, 92 RS 25th Anniversary, 91 RS Ragtop
Cool! Have you noticed any sort of change in fuel economy? It would be interesting to see if your lower cruising RPM's helped out with gas mileage. (Like we buy V8's for economy... right.)
Originally posted by pvt num 11 Cool! Have you noticed any sort of change in fuel economy? It would be interesting to see if your lower cruising RPM's helped out with gas mileage. (Like we buy V8's for economy... right.)
Haven't run-up enough miles yet to have the data, but I'm expecting stop-and-go mileage to drop a bit and cruising mileage to improve. When accelerating, the 2600 stall moves higher into the power-producing rpm range of the engine, unless the driver is really easy on the go-pedal. Heh, who's got that sort of discipline...
I buy V8's for economy. Well, TPI's anyway... One of my first 3rdGens was a '91 RS V6 that I bought with only 8K on the clock. It averaged around 20 mph in Oahu driving, was pleasant to drive, but not exciting. It had the annoying characteristic of no-guts going uphill with the AC on, and more engine vibration at idle when the AC cycled on-off.
Doing some basic research on TGO revealed the TPI V8 cars often got better mileage because of the increased torque, would fly up mountain roads with the AC on, pull 14's in the quarter mile, and most important -- be smooth and reliable. Having put a lot of miles on two TPI 5.7's both here and on the mainland during the past four years has proved to me that this is a great mix of economy, fun and practicality ... enough so that it is at a higher level than most new cars with less mpg, less power and much more expense.
__________________ Duck_Pearl City, HI
87 IROC-Z 5.7, 92 Z28 5.7 25th Anniversary, 92 RS 25th Anniversary, 91 RS Ragtop
