Welcome to my build thread. I've had the car for two years, so have plenty of construction (and destruction) to add to the thread. I've taken this car farther apart than any other 3rd gen, and slightly more than my first car: 71 Camaro. A teaser for things going back in: C4HD & LS brakes, L31/LT4HOT cam/TPI/cut and welded SLP runners, T56, "N10" exhaust, and an old school stereo (Nakamichi head, a/d/s/ and Kenwood amps). We'll see what else I've forgotten.

I'll start off with some good, bad and ugly...

Good! Engine compartment is painted. Next is to pull the cross member and A arms, strip, powder coat and rebuild (Del-A-Lums & Howe 3/4" BJs).




Bad, because it came with a 4th gen rear (4.11s would have gone pretty well with the T56), and I want to run factory IROC wheels. Although the salad shooter 4th gen wheels could classify this as "ugly".



Ugly! PO let water freeze in the block. Cracks below the deck on both sides!

 

Looking good. Somehow I thought that this car was maroon... Don't know why. You gotta post some pics of the runners and plenum. I'm really excited to see how that turns out.

 

Thanks for the sequeway! The parts car was maroon. Although, it was a toss up to which car to keep and rebuild. The red car had obvious rod knock, and I didn't realize yet the blue car had a cracked block. The blue car had/has slight better paint, red one definitely needs body work... The location of problems (center of hood & passenger side B-pillar/roof) and my preference for blue won out.
- So I swapped interiors; complete decent black cloth from the red car, to replace the filthy, mostly grey in the blue car, which itself had replaced the original tan.
- IROC wheels and 3.42/3G rear end (from the red car) replaced the 4.11/4G rear and 93-era Z28 wheels.
- I sold the red car complete, still with rod, for a bit less than I paid, but got the value out of it.








I am about ready to get the intake, runners, and plenum powder coated. Here is a teaser of the under-construction showing how far I opened them. I got to know Paul (the welder) fairly well due to the number of trip



I love seeing progress pictures from other guy's projects. I just find it really hard to take a break in the action to grab a camera and take pictures.

 

Dynamat and RAAMmat under the mostly installed black interior.






Old school Nakamichi CD/radio and AudioControl EQ. Between an Aux input in the head unit, as well as front and back of the EQ, I have plenty of options for an ipod. The bezel needed just a little trim at the bottom. And the steel strap screwed to the back of the console, that supports the stock radio was in the way. So, cut and bend some light gauge steel, and clearance was had.

 

I am calling the intake done enough for powder coating. Here's after-porting, before-coating shots. I am using the Socal guys for inspiration, and I hope to get close to what they've accomplished.





It's always fun to put the parts together, even though they're months away from going in. The engine, and pre-welded/pre-ported runners, and even the T56.



There are many posts about on-engine, no machine work necessary, bee-hiving the Vortec heads. I have a tendency to overkill, so the heads came off, machined the valve guides, and for screw in studs. I went with an .015" head gasket to pick up a little compression over the ~.026" factory gasket. It also brings quench down to .040".
I still went with the Crane +.050" locks to dial in spring height and coil bind. (That was last year, so I'd have to find my notes if anyone wants to know exactly what I measured.)

 

The runners look great! Sub'd for results

 

Looking great man! The interior is looking killer!

 

@Brandon & JP - Thanks for the compliments. The intake and runners are with Paul getting blasted and powder coated. I took the K member and A arms to Powder Coating Specialty to handle the bigger parts. I am looking forward to putting parts back on the car!

 

Here's a picture from the welder/powdercoater. I can't wait to get them in-hand!

 

Nice color!

 

Ta-da! Here is the intake, loosely assembled. The "carbon black" anodized TPI throttle body looks a bit purple.

 

The powder looks awesome. You should have Paul powder the TB too

 

Yeah. The TB looks pretty cool on its own, but then kinda looks like crud against the rest of the intake.

While waiting for powder, I hung the struts and mounts. Still waiting on the K & A arms at the big-parts-coater. I really want to get the wheels back on!

 

nice work. love what you did to the intake. im subscribing to get more updates. good luck with this build, man!

 

Unexpected score. Local guy selling his IROC with louvers. I offered him $200 for just the louvers... including all 8 brackets, but only 4 of 6 dzus fasteners. Everything is in excellent condition!
Anybody got a pair of louver dzuses they want to sell me.

 

I personally hate the louvers, but I'm all in for a good deal. I have done that with several things buying parts of a car someone was selling. Nice work.

 

Thanks. The buyer had the same opinion as you, which is exactly why I got the deal. He got the louvers along with the car, and I gave him "money for nothing", as he knew louvers wouldn't make or break any deal on him selling the car (without the louvers).

I guess that is the take-away lesson: Want something that no one else does, and you'll get it cheap!

 

As long as we are learning right!?

 

I've been bending tube lately. Here is the external-EGR from a Dyno Don header (Thanks to Vincent for the idea!) to the Edelbrock vortec TPI base. There's 1/2" all around, and I will wrap it in a heat sleeve.

The tube is 3/8" 0.035" stainless. (I also got some .049" because I wasn't sure which size I would use).

 

Nicely done.

 

Good idea with the EGR! I'm also liking the powder job. Love or hate the louvers, they are period correct.

 

Thanks on all.

I did run into a potential problem with the EGR: the fitting running into the AC housing. Once I get everything else in place (install header around the dipstick, relocated AIR valve, etc), I may have to lift the engine a bit to head the passenger header into place WITH the fitting attached.

 

Great stuff so far. Looking forward to the future progress.

 

Looks good. Double check that EGR tube doesn't interfere with the A/C box and/or firewall!

 

Thanks. It's the fitting on the header that hits the AC box.

 

Finally a break in building a table, cabinet installation and other household projects let me get back to the car.

Today's topic: relocating the AIR valve. I found some inspiration from The Project's project...here. Instead of squeezing behind the motor mount, I went in front, directly below the pump. It is snug between the lower radiator hose, but does fit with clearance.

I had welded up the L bracket a few months ago. Sourced some 3/4" mandrel 90*s, chopped them up, welded back together, and coat it with Eastwood's chassis black.

 

Looks like it could have left the factory that way. You're becoming the Custom Plumbing King!

 

And now for some steps backwards: The 4th gen coolant can sounded like a good idea to tidy up the engine bay. However, it moves the battery up and toward the center of the car about an inch. It's not bad, but not where I wanted to go. So, out comes the painted battery tray, and in goes an aftermarket replacement. You can see how I hunted for some of the spot welds.

About the only positive is the replacement comes with an unstripped battery hold down nut. But, now I need to find the correct threaded bolt for that!

The 4th gen tank is for sale. $55 PP'd and shipped in CONUS. Includes the metal pickup tube.

 

I'm back. When my wife goes to visit her mom, I get car time. During her trip earlier this year;

1. I pulled the engine,
2. swapped cams ... I decided LT4 HOT was too much for LTRs, swapped to GM 94666492 / Crane CompuCam 2032.
3. bent up a new EGR tube... the other one grew legs in the past 5 years, and this one doesn't interfere with the tweaked factory AIR tube. Fully installed, this clears the AC box.
4. and addressed all the other to-dos (AIR plumbing, gaskets, oil pressure sensor, etc) on the engine before dropping it back in.

Next up is to finish the 165-to-730 ECM swap rewiring.

 

I love the EGR tubes and the AIR tubes too. Nice work. I may have to do something like this eventually (actually just bought an intake that preserves the EGR option, with some creative plumbing). What materials did you use (just read back to post 19, so I guess I have some idea)? Any tips or tricks?

I hope you like the cam. I have the same one waiting to go into my 305 (so it may "act" even bigger in that smaller engine). I didn't know it when I bought it, but it was the biggest cam Crane offered in that line.

 

@DynoDave - Thanks.

The AIR tube is the factory piece to supply the driver's side. I just couldn't replicate the (tight)bends and brackets. Since I moved the diverter valve, I made/used simple 90* bends - you can see the radius of the shoe - to connect the dots with heater hose. One or both simple-90* bends were cut from my attempt to replicate the factory tube to go under the header to where the valve is... which is too congested with the starter and spark plug wires.
Heater core - Speaking of running things under the header, I still have to figure out how to run hoses to the heater core... without laying over top of everything, and getting between the header and AC box... I have 5/8" and 3/4" rubber hoses shaped like a question mark to run DOWN the firewall. My though was to transition to metal tube to bend 90* and run toward the front. I want to get the car running first, so this is just an idea.

EGR tube -
Having the engine out of the car gave room to move, measure, and test fit MANY times. The compression fitting needs a short, straight bit, so keep some extra length to make the bend, then cut to length. Guesstimating where to start the next bend to end up in the right spot took some practice, and is the real trick.
I ordered the tube from OnlineMetals.com... My first attempt with 3/8" was a lot easier, looked nicer, but I wasn't sure that would flow enough for the EGR to actually work. So... 0.5" OD x 0.028" Wall x 0.444" ID Stainless Round Tube 316 Seamless . I goofed and order 2x 2 foot lengths. Which was just enough for 4-5 attempts to get the bends in the right place.
I used a Baileigh bench mounted bender... I don't think a hand bender would have been enough. 1/2" SS is tough to bend. It was not quite mandrel bender quality, but didn't kink, and covered with a DEI sleeve, it is good enough.
I drilled and tapped a block off plate on the manifold side.
The fittings were stupid expensive (@MSC and Grainger) for what they are... Parker A-LOK 6MSEL8N-316 3/8 X 1/2 Male Elbow, Stainless Steel or cheaper here. The 6 and 8 indicate the MNPT and tube sizes respectively, so you can figure what works for your needs.
The header side - DynoDon added the 1/4 or 3/8 NPT stub when I ordered. I got the idea from one of Vincent's threads.

Cam - I hope I like it too. Mostly to have the numbers listed in one place... I "needed" something bigger than the L31 came with (191/196/111 .414/.428). Stock (202/207 .404/.415" +/- depending on year) doesn't take advantage of the other upgrades. The LT4HOT cam is getting too big (218/228/112 .492/.492) for LTRs, since it was intended for a short runner intake.
And in the middle is the 94666492 at 214/220/112 and .452/.465" - bigger than stock, smaller than the LT4 - in both duration and lift (kinder to the beehives), and came up for cheap.

 

Thanks MoJoe. I appreciate knowing the details. I bookmarked a few of those sites, and made a .pdf of this thread for future reference if needed.

I had (have) an L98 cam...the "hottest" of the L98s...but was afraid it would not be "enough". So like you, when I found a brand new GM roller cam for $100 (the Crane 2032), I could not pass it up. I have a set of 305 Vortec heads, and I'm hoping that cam (along with a host of other upgrades) will allow me to put those heads to work. The Vortec 305 (RPO L30) was 235 horse, so I'm hoping with a better cam and better exhaust from port to tip that I can end up in the 250+ range. My best friend in H.S. built a 350 with a Comp 268 cam waaayyy back when. It ran pretty darned well, so I'm hoping this cam will be similar.

Here's the Crane Cam card for the 2032, in case you did not have it.

 

What happened?
No more updates??

 

Thanks for reviving my thread. Truth is: Life Happened. The company I was working for got sold to an unethical man, who put the company into its final death sprial. Fortunately, before the company fully augered into the ground, I was able to change job and industry that put my EE degree to use. OTJ learning was like drinking from a firehose. I travel out of town on average one week a month. Wife and I volunteer more at church. We each lost a parent (neither to Covid!). The Camaro is mostly together, still waiting for finishing touches on wiring, and putting the whole dashboard back in. I've at least made a list of things that still need to be done...

I still have hope that I can dedicate some time to get back to wrenching, soldering, and shrink wrapping.
-Joe