The BEST Break for a new car. "very long"

[Darin Morgan]

Originally Posted by Bobby

ok so if I understand this correctly I have a manuel tranny so I can take it to 6, so you suggest taking say take off easy in 1st shift 6000 rpm 2nd 6000 rpm and 3rd to 6000 rpm, and from there go neutral and shift into 6 to ride it out without downshifting

Sounds perfect to me!

[Darin Morgan]

Originally Posted by irvinecamaro

So let me get this straight. Once I get up to the desired speed and shift the car in neutral and slow down (to say 50 MPH) then to speed up again just shift the car in to 6th instead of like 3rd to avid engine breaking? Is this correct? Would this load the engine too much? Do you think there will be any problems with this approach? Thanks for your help.

That is correct.

[Darin Morgan]

Originally Posted by Bobby

not sure if you have heard the sound clips but with the cats and the resonators, the muffler delete did not seem that loud, have you seen that post?

The term "loud" is some what subjective and can be perceived differently. Some would say my car is to loud and some say it not. I know this because there was a debate at my work place over this very topic. Some of the guys (most in fact) thought the car was not to loud but just right. Some the guys thought it was way to loud yet some stated that it was not loud at all and needed to be "turned up" a notch.

I am used to hearing the sound of open headers at the race track so to me, its not that loud but most of the general public that I have come across have stated that the car is just a little to load. Just make it as loud or as soft as you want. Its a personal choice and one that cant be argued individually. It can only be argued in court when the cop whips out the decibel meter and writes you a ticket.

[irvinecamaro]

Originally Posted by Darin Morgan

That is correct.

Thanks for all the help Darin, chappy48 and everyone on this thread. I can't wait to get my car and start driving the crap out of it .

[iwanttogofastNY]

hey Darin, does it matter when i put my corsa exhaust and vararam intake on?? should i wait till after i have done my break in or can i do it ASAP

[Darin Morgan]

Originally Posted by iwanttogofastNY

hey Darin, does it matter when i put my corsa exhaust and vararam intake on?? should i wait till after i have done my break in or can i do it ASAP

No. It makes no difference.

[Bobby]

Originally Posted by Darin Morgan

The term "loud" is some what subjective and can be perceived differently. Some would say my car is to loud and some say it not. I know this because there was a debate at my work place over this very topic. Some of the guys (most in fact) thought the car was not to loud but just right. Some the guys thought it was way to loud yet some stated that it was not loud at all and needed to be "turned up" a notch.

I am used to hearing the sound of open headers at the race track so to me, its not that loud but most of the general public that I have come across have stated that the car is just a little to load. Just make it as loud or as soft as you want. Its a personal choice and one that cant be argued individually. It can only be argued in court when the cop whips out the decibel meter and writes you a ticket.

ok but loundness asside, do you think the muffler delete would give you added power and more sound for a cheap 80.00 job?

[floraneg]

Darin,

Forgive me, but I am stupid when it comes to the mechanics of cars. I love the thrill of speed. I purchased the '05 Vett and now (Monday) I will be the proud parent of the 2SS. I have been reading your advice on the engine break-in and just want to make sure that I have it correct. At first I thought your advice was just for the maual engines, but after reading other postings I now understand that it is also meant for the automatic. I have to admit that accelerating to 90mph and shifting from "D" to "N" is kind of scary the bigger art is droping it back to "D" from "N" at 50mph. I read your response that it would have no problem doing this. The part I'm fuzzy on is how many times do you do this at each drive time? Do you accelerate to 90 drop to 50, reengage to 90 and continue over and over for a set number of times? I saw where people said to let the car cool for 4 hours then the next run let it cool overnight. I guess I'm clear on the sealing of the rings, just not clear if there is a set number of times it should be run from 90 to 50 and then back and forth from 50 to 90 or when you drop it back to "D" at 50 should you drop below a certain speed to gun it back to 90. Again I'm not an engineer or have a nack for these things. I can fill the tank up with gas and love to feel the power, just not very clear on what gets me there in between. Thanks for your posts and expertise. By the way, I'm a CPA, so if you need any help with your taxes, I'm your man.

Thanks again.

[FNKNSTN]

Have you broken-in one of these Camaros "following 'Corporate procedure'" to compare the differences?

For a while now I've wanted to see some numbers from a track with a professional driver driving two Camaros... one broken hard and fast, the other long and easy... the driver not knowing which is which.

I have no doubt that your car rips now. But a lot of people are being fed a "placebo" and are imagining things. Kinda the same way your old car runs and sounds better when you give it a good wash and interior detailing. I've seen an improvement in my performance... but I couldn't say it was from the break-in, the fact that it has some miles on it, a fresh oil change, cooler weather, or just the fact that I'm comfortable driving my Camaro and that I understand the way my Camaro runs.

[Darin Morgan]

Originally Posted by Bobby

ok but loundness asside, do you think the muffler delete would give you added power and more sound for a cheap 80.00 job?

More power? Thats debatable. I have not personaly seen any dyno runs with only a muffler delete. If there is a power gain its probably negligible at best.

[Darin Morgan]

Originally Posted by floraneg

Darin,

Forgive me, but I am stupid when it comes to the mechanics of cars. I love the thrill of speed. I purchased the '05 Vett and now (Monday) I will be the proud parent of the 2SS. I have been reading your advice on the engine break-in and just want to make sure that I have it correct. At first I thought your advice was just for the maual engines, but after reading other postings I now understand that it is also meant for the automatic. I have to admit that accelerating to 90mph and shifting from "D" to "N" is kind of scary the bigger art is droping it back to "D" from "N" at 50mph. I read your response that it would have no problem doing this. The part I'm fuzzy on is how many times do you do this at each drive time? Do you accelerate to 90 drop to 50, reengage to 90 and continue over and over for a set number of times? I saw where people said to let the car cool for 4 hours then the next run let it cool overnight. I guess I'm clear on the sealing of the rings, just not clear if there is a set number of times it should be run from 90 to 50 and then back and forth from 50 to 90 or when you drop it back to "D" at 50 should you drop below a certain speed to gun it back to 90. Again I'm not an engineer or have a nack for these things. I can fill the tank up with gas and love to feel the power, just not very clear on what gets me there in between. Thanks for your posts and expertise. By the way, I'm a CPA, so if you need any help with your taxes, I'm your man.

Thanks again.

If you go back and read my initial post the "recipe" is pretty much laid out.
I do NOT propose that anyone break the speed limit nor am I going to say that you must do so in order to break the engine in correctly. As I stated before, you just accelerate to a speed you feel comfortable with. I am also not going to propose that anyone shove the thing in neutral after the run unless you have professional driving experiance as this can dangerous. Although modern trans will probably not lock up and just "skip" if you shove it in reverse the danger is still present. Just shift to a higher gear and that will prevent engine breaking. Just go out and load the engine through the gear at full throttle. 5-10-20 times it up to you. If in doubt just read the initail post that started this thread.

[rebelliondog206]

After many days of rain right after I picked up my car.....i have finally been able to get some hard runs on it. It feels good....speed and handling were great the first dry day. I was a little disappointed late in the day the second day (yesterday) when I could have sworn the car was losing power. I parked it and waited for the next morning, dropped the wife off at work (she drives to help warm the engine) and decided to make a couple runs down the freeway....basic: load the engine through the gears to whatever speed...etc., etc..... depending on traffic.

All the power plus more was there....it ran faster than it had so far. I looked down once and could not believe how quick I had gotten to 111 and the car was still accelerating hard.

I went home after those few runs and after a couple hours cool down, installed the New Era OTR CAI.....you are right Darin, it does look badass, and I really like the sound. Could be my imagination.....thought I could feel the difference in the power (car just went over 500 miles too).

Tomorrow will be the axle backs: SLP LM II's......stock sound is not quite right for this car.

Weather willl be getting cooler down here for the weekend and I have a little roadtrip planned out to the country.......Hope the deer look both ways before crossing.

[Standard]

I have a nice long steep hill near where I live, straight road before and after (2222 between 360 and 620 for Austin, TXers - note, not the 360-mopac portion, which is fun but suicide if you hit the gas).

I have an M6 on order - is a 2nd gear rolling run up to redline up said hill a good example of the kind of load you have in mind? Or does using a hill overdo it?

[ClutchKargo]

Originally Posted by Darin Morgan

After you break it in correctly and have about 1500-1800miles on it Its time to turn up the wick and change the car into a REAL quick street car. After I got the CAI, headers and other things done on the car the increase in power was noticeable but not like a "Holy Crap this things bad ass" noticeable. It was more like a," Wow that really helped" noticeable. After you get all the "bolt on" MODs on the car your doing yourself a great disservice if you dont get a tune to make those MODs work to there maximum potential. After I got the first tune, It was like a whole new car. It changed the feel and sound of the car so profoundly that I still have not stopped smiling! I know that the tune voids the warranty but after experiencing how the tune completely and totally changed the feel, experience and the acceleration rate I would not even own the car if I could not do it. That's right. It changed the car so completely that if I had to buy another Camaro and was told that I could not tune it, I would not buy it. I would go get something else. Thats how profound it feels. All the street cars I have ever drove or experienced had nice firm or hard shifts and when you hit the throttle you had soothing to play with. The Stock Camaro with its HORRIBLE Torque management makes the car "soft". It shifts like transmission with the clutch packs half blown out of it. It shifts so soft and gives up so much power on the gear changes that it was actually pissing me off.
A Trans should not shift like that in a high performance car ever! I did a lot of logging with the HpTuners software and e-mailed it to Mike at New Era. He e-mailed me a baseline tune to play with. Nothing to aggressive just somthing that he knew would be safe and fun. I flashed the tune into the car at 4:00p that evening. I was not expecting to feel and experience how profoundly it changed my entire experience with this car and I could not quite driving it until way into the wee hours of the next morning. After laying into the first time after the tune I thought," WOW I finally have a quick street car!". Not blinding fast mind you,, just quick. Thats all I wanted. I didnt want to run high 11s or even low 12s but a nice 12.80 or 12.90 would be just fine. The car will do that now no problem. It Barks the tires on the gear changes now and when it shifts (even at part throttle) it kicks you in the ass.

After experiencing how profoundly a good tune can change this car, I now say SCREW THE WARRANTY!
I dont want it.

Darin,

Okay now I have a question for you. I have read many threads concerning tuning and warranty coverage. What I would like to do is use the system that would enable me to reflash the car back to stock so I could take the car in for work and not worry about the warranty being killed.

I have read the ECM can show the dealer it has been tampered with and I have read it does no data logging and can not be used to show a tune if it's reflashed to stock. Now I am talking about tuning and then if I were to reflash back to stock and if I were to take it in could the dealer be able to see it had been previously tuned. I am sure without a doubt if the car was tuned and then taken in that could be seen if it were looked for.

So I would like you to give your thoughts on a reflash to stock after a tune if you think or know if it could be detected.

Thanks,
Clutch