03-21-2013, 10:51 PM | #1 |
Seeking 9s on M6...
Drives: 2012 2SS/RS LS3 aka "BlackWidow" Join Date: May 2012
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 397
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PMJ's 2SS/RS Whipped 416 M6 aka BlackWidow [COTW 6/10/13]
I've always been a Camaro fan, particularly the 1st gen and 3rd gen. I never owned one. When the 5 gen came out I fell in love, but it wasn't really practical at the time for a family of 5. I turned 40 last year and decided I was going to buy myself a Camaro for my birthday (I know…that's never happened before).
When I bought the car (mid May 2012) I had no idea what I was getting into. My plans were new wheels and exhaust...nothing else. It is unbelievable how difficult it was to find rims to fit the offset and clearance for the brembo breaks... As a result I scoured the internet bound and determined to find what I was looking for. Low and behold I stumbled on Camaro5… Still not sure if that was one of the best things I’ve stumbled on, or one of the worse… But for a guy who is handy w/tools but never really worked on cars (besides oil and brakes), I’ve done more things to my car in 9 months than I’ve ever imagined. It cracks me up to think my first purchase was flowmaster cat back American thunder. I paid $150 to have them installed. A few weeks later I read someone’s signature on camaro5 about “having someone else work on your car and bragging is like paying someone to ….. your wife and then bragging about the kids”. And since that day everything has been done in my own garage. I have nothing against performance shops, in fact I stop in to discuss things with them all the time, I just found I really enjoy working on my car and seeing the results. As many times as I’ve pulled the exhaust system on and off, including changing to the Corsa black diamond tips…it cracks me up I paid to have the first system installed. Besides a lot of great DIY and ideas to improve looks and performance of your car, I made the mistake and I started reading about….Drag Racing!! BIG mistake…Talk about addicting! The first time I went to the track all I had was a CAI cold air intake and the cat back exhaust. My goal was to get in the lower 13s. I got beat by a Mustang, but then actually whooped an early 2000s Shelby. I decided getting beat sucked…winning was much more fun. Most of the cars that night were running high 12s and slower, so my new goal was to get into the 12s…this was essentially the beginning of the end…I was officially hooked. Let the spending begin…$$$$ Here are my current performance/nonaesthetic mods:
Hex vents:
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Last edited by PMJ; 12-08-2013 at 04:14 PM. Reason: Updated pics w/new grill. |
03-21-2013, 11:16 PM | #2 | |
Seeking 9s on M6...
Drives: 2012 2SS/RS LS3 aka "BlackWidow" Join Date: May 2012
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 397
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Round 1
The slow start - May - July 2012
I was (still am) the typical newbie. I started with the what won't void my warranty threads...as I had not intention of doing anything to void over the next 3 years...or at least not until next month. Round 1 had a lot to do w/exterior: · Removed all chrome emblems / added black billet bowties · Window Tint · Fog light covers and headlight armor tinting · Flowmaster American Thunder cat back - ~10 whp · Cold Air Inductions CAI w/Apex scoop – ~15 whp · B1K WDO license plate · XO Miami – custom matte black powder coated wheels · GM Splash Guards · Nittow Invo 315/35zr20 · Black bevel rear frames · Lingenfelter CNC Billet pedals · SS floor mats I was all dressed up and ready to go! A whopping 25 hp over stock if I was lucky. I forgot to mention, I took my kids to the Advengers movie in my car shortly after buying it. On the way home they named it BlackWidow. I like Scarlett, so BlackWidow she became. Here was my first time ever at the track. Sorry for the long videos, my kids help edit them (not as short as sweet as most on here):
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03-21-2013, 11:35 PM | #3 | |
Seeking 9s on M6...
Drives: 2012 2SS/RS LS3 aka "BlackWidow" Join Date: May 2012
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 397
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Round 2 - Must get faster! Aug 2012
Round 2 was all about getting the 12s:
My launches left something to be desired. Was at the track 4 hrs never got out of line and only got 4 passes...never been back to Baytown. The next weekend visited a 1/8 mile strip and finally broke a 1.9s 60 and 8.4s 1/8...i was in the 12s (barely and unofficially).
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Last edited by PMJ; 03-22-2013 at 10:40 PM. |
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03-21-2013, 11:46 PM | #4 | |
Seeking 9s on M6...
Drives: 2012 2SS/RS LS3 aka "BlackWidow" Join Date: May 2012
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 397
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Round 3 - SC anyone? - Aug 2012
OK, high 12s were not very satisfying...bring on the whipple!
This was by far the biggest adventure I've had under the hood to date, but the Whipple instructions are fantastic. Out side of 1 minor thing that would bite me a few months down the road...don't use loctite w/an ARP balancer bolt...use the grease that ARP provides! Round 3 - Super charge me!
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03-21-2013, 11:59 PM | #5 | ||
Seeking 9s on M6...
Drives: 2012 2SS/RS LS3 aka "BlackWidow" Join Date: May 2012
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 397
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Round 4 - must go faster...Texas Mile coming up...Oct 2012
Signed up for the Texas Mile. So i decided to pully down a bit...
Round 4:
Camaro Nationals: .
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Last edited by PMJ; 06-10-2013 at 02:25 PM. |
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03-22-2013, 12:01 AM | #6 | |
Seeking 9s on M6...
Drives: 2012 2SS/RS LS3 aka "BlackWidow" Join Date: May 2012
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 397
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Round 5 - Must...go...faster....Plumbing 12/2012
I thought i might be done, after the 4th round...but i lost some close races to those camaros, so had to do something to take a couple 10ths off. So went route of a Brian Tooley blower cam.
Since i installed the smaller pulley, i had to run Torco fuel additive for the extra octane. Torco does some nasty stuff inside the engine. To prepare for more HP, had to upgrade fuel system and added Meth for a little more octane. While the rear cradle and tank were dropped also installed all new bushings (this is the only DIY project i wish i didn't do! What a pain.).
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Last edited by PMJ; 03-22-2013 at 10:53 PM. |
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03-22-2013, 12:02 AM | #7 |
Seeking 9s on M6...
Drives: 2012 2SS/RS LS3 aka "BlackWidow" Join Date: May 2012
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 397
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Round 6 - The Cam & the mistake! - Jan 2013
My Cam install was going great until i started the car and had no oil pressure. Pulled the timing cover and and quickly identified i hadn't seated the pick-up tube properly into the oil pump...easy fix. Until I was installing the harmonic balancer and snapped off the ARP balancer bolt in the crank (another thread w/details).
So...
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Last edited by PMJ; 03-22-2013 at 11:06 PM. |
03-22-2013, 12:04 AM | #8 |
Seeking 9s on M6...
Drives: 2012 2SS/RS LS3 aka "BlackWidow" Join Date: May 2012
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 397
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Round 8 - 416 the mistake I can't wait for...Mar 2013
I chose to take my engine to H-Squared Racing engines to have it rebuild as a 416 with:
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Last edited by PMJ; 03-25-2013 at 12:03 AM. |
03-24-2013, 12:44 AM | #9 |
Drives: 2011 2ss/rs Join Date: Feb 2013
Location: Nurburgring
Posts: 104
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loving this build
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03-24-2013, 01:34 PM | #10 |
Drives: 2011er SS in black!...what else? Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Germany
Posts: 715
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i am too
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03-24-2013, 11:39 PM | #11 |
Seeking 9s on M6...
Drives: 2012 2SS/RS LS3 aka "BlackWidow" Join Date: May 2012
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 397
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Took my engine home today!
Was at H-Squared bright and early this morning to watch them put the final touches on my rebuild. Got the engine home around noon. Here a a few pictures at the shop:
Showing off the double roller timing chain, and new LS4 (high volume) oil pump. Also shows some of the mods on the front cover to fit all the new stuff in. The new 10-rib ATI balancer was installed at the shop to center up the front cover, but for some reason never snapped a pic.
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03-24-2013, 11:52 PM | #12 |
Seeking 9s on M6...
Drives: 2012 2SS/RS LS3 aka "BlackWidow" Join Date: May 2012
Location: Houston, TX
Posts: 397
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Install begins
Had my friend meet me when I got home and we got to work. About 7 hours later, we were done underneith the car (I hope). We installed the new RXT clutch, dropped the engine in, installed a tick remote clutch speed bleed line, reinstalled tranny, drive shaft, headers and exhaust! Attached most of the bolt-ons up top as well (besides the whipple and coil packs due to waiting on parts).
I'm currently waiting on push rods (custom size), and Kurt Urban LS Water Vapor System to bridge from all 4 corners of the heads vs. front 2 only. (will add pics when installed). I had some issues w/the 10-rib pully kit...will follow up on that tomorrow. Removing the pulley from the water pump is a b!%^&. Still haven't gotten it off.
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03-25-2013, 01:05 AM | #13 |
ace5.org
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This will be COTW worthy once you finish this up. Good work!
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Stock...For Now.
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03-25-2013, 04:57 AM | #14 |
V8 Lounge member #2
Drives: 2001 Ws6 Join Date: Sep 2009
Location: Burbank,IL
Posts: 6,373
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That's awesome bud, don't forget the negative wires that hook up behind the cyl heads and make sure they are nice and tight but not too tight lol.
Your doing it right!
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2001 ws6, 40k miles, Ls3 416 stroker, short block built by PER the rest by me. LPE Ls3 heads milled to 12-1 comp, FAST 102, NW 102, kooks 2", dual DMH cutouts, Magnaflow C/B, BTR cam + springs. Full UMI suspension.
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