Aries' EpicSS - Build Thread

[Aries240SS]

Updated: Format changes too!

2011 Camaro 1SS/RS
417hp / 406tq

Performance Mods List:

• BMR Adjustable Sway Bars
• BMR 1.4" Lowering Springs (front and rear)
• BMR Trailing Arms
• Hotchkis Chassis Max Brace
• Hurst Billet Plus 2 Short Throw Shifter
• Jannetty Racing SCT Tune
• MSD Superconductor Plug Wires
• Rotofab Cold Air Intake
• Texas Speed 1 7/8" Long Tube Headers
• Texas Speed Off Road Pipes
• 305/35/20 Nitto 555R Drag Radials

Appearance Mods List:

• Headlight Armor Stealth Blackouts
• Headlight Armor Carbon Fiber Bow-Tie Overlays
• Side and Rear Emblems Deleted
• ******** 12" Stealth Box

And story begins here. Pics included!

Well, I've finally gotten around to putting together a build thread for my 1SS RS Camaro.

I picked her up from Capitol Chevrolet in Austin TX on 04/01/2011. Thought it was a joke at first when the sales-lady called and said it had been unloaded the night before and was back in the wash bay. I pulled into the dealership in a pouring rain to sign final papers and take possession of the new hotness.

Camaro 1SS RS, with only the Hurst Short Throw Shifter added, and only 5 miles on the clock.






Well, having traded in my 2004 Titan Crew Cab and replaced it with the Camaro as a daily driver - apparently the truck still had some value after 2 rear ends, 3 motors, and 6 years of nitrous fed beatings - I was really considering leaving the new car stock for a bit. I had other toys to keep me busy, but as with most members here once the mod bug gets you, you just can't leave well enough alone.

I thought long and hard about what I wanted to do with the plates on the Camaro, and came up with EPICSS. After a little research and a lot of waiting, the plates finally arrived and were attached. Rear only of course, because I'm not going to drill holes in my front bumper. Silly Texas.

After seeing another member's car with tinted lights all around, I thought it was a great look and found Headlight Armor running a special on the full set for our cars. Placed my order that night, and they came in the same day as my license plates, along with a little 3m carbon fiber vinyl to overlay my bow ties.





From here I managed to leave the Camaro alone for the summer. I spent most of my time playing with my Chevy swapped Nissan 240SX, and working out the details on stuffing the new LSX 376 into it in place of the existing 396 LT1.



The good people here at Camaro5 managed to suck me back in though, and in August we all met up for the Texas Gathering here in Austin. It was great to see so many Camaro fans and fanatics gathered about, and all discussions quickly led to 1 thing. Mods. Who had them, what was planned, and of course, whose car is quicker.








At this point I resolved myself to getting under the hood in the SS. I still had a warranty looming over me, but you've gotta pay to play so I knew that wouldn't last very long. I decided that day to pick up a used exhaust from KK2010SS here on the forums. a great guy who made me one hell of a deal on a full catback with muffler deletes and 4" Magnaflow tips that had been on his car. It sounded great from the first start, and I still love the look of the back without the stock mufflers hanging there.






I made it until October before I felt the mod itch come back, but this time I needed something to solidify the feeling of the car. I'd been to the track with the car on stock P-Zeroes, and had the worst wheel hop. It still managed to get down a 13.1 @ 109 but the 2.0 60' was just not helping at all.



That night I ordered the Hotchkis Chassis Brace from Maryland Speed, and it made a world of difference. Not only in the launch, but in stiffening up the car's handling in the corners as well. This thing is amazing and ties the rear subframe into the unibody which helps with the car's tendency to squat unevenly and produce excessive wheel hop.




That weekend we took the car back to the track and got 12.8 @ 113 with a 1.8 60' and nearly no wheel hop. This this success I got greedy and turned on the dry nitrous kit on the next pass. Well, getting greedy got me a nice little time slip of 11.5 @ 121, but burnt up 2 spark plugs in the process.



I hadn't really done my research on the computer system and it's method of adjusting timing based on MAF readings and was counting on the setup being very similar to the LS1 and LS6. Well, it is, but not similar enough to compensate for a dry 100 shot without pulling additional timing or regapping the plugs. A valuable lesson learned, and extra plugs purchased off a friend at the track.

Soon after I contacted Maryland Speed again to pick up a Rotofab Intake. This made a huge improvement in throttle response, and seemed to wake the car up. Not knowing when I would be getting the car tuned to handle the nitrous, I went ahead and pulled the kit off and set it aside in the garage. i think it's on my roommate's 98 Z28 now.



I was driving the car even more than I had thought I would, and quickly decided that the stock Hurst shifter had far too much throw and play to it. So i contacted Apex Speed and ordered the Hurst Billet Plus 2 shifter to replace it. This thing is wonderful. A little noisy if you choose not to install the DynaMat provided with the kit, but it makes a world of difference in smoothing out she shift pattern while firming up the troublesome 2-3 transition. Install took about 1 hour on ramps in the driveway, and we tossed on the Skip Shift Eliminator for good measure.





Well Christmas time came, and that meant bonuses at work. Steve at ******** put together a very nice Kicker package with his Stealth Box at an amazing price. No more listening to exhaust drone at 75 on the open road! Instead I've got Kicker's ZX400.1 Amp and CVR12 sub keeping me sane on long road trips.





With the great deal from Steve, I turned around and also ordered BMR Lowering Springs and Sway Bars from Apex Speed. These took me a little bit of time to get around to installing, but the sways go on in about 2 hours, and the springs took another 3 hours. I probably could have done this faster if I did them all at once but my schedule makes it a bit hard to commit to the possibility of an install taking all day.






That brings us about up to speed. I've just gotten in another order from Apex Speed, this time with BMR's Trailing Arms. I plan on a visit to Nitro Dave's Nitrous Outlet up in Waco soon, as well as a stop off at LG Motorsports for a G6X3 cam and headers. Just gotta wait on work to allow the time off!

[Aries240SS]

Found a little free time and skipped out of work early today. The BMR Trailing Arms are on after only an hour, and wow do they make a difference!

[LED Crazy]

Very nice build. Like the carbon fibre bow tie overlays. Getting rid of that ugly gold is a must

[aquablueL99]

Nice build...these cars just get better with time...oh yeah...and money too...
Keep up the good work and keep us posted....

[austinjames]

looks great so far. amazing work

[Aries240SS]

Thanks guys! I'll get her all cleaned up for Cars and Coffee on Sunday and put up a bunch of new pictures.

[Aries240SS]

Wow, I kind of neglected this thread lol.
I've been spending so much time working on our 98 Z28 and prepping cars for TX2K12 this coming weekend that I totally forgot to update my own build thread.

Well, I recently picked up a set of Texas Speed Long Tube Headers with off road pipes to go on my 11 SS, and got an SCT tuner and a new tune from Ted Jannetty. Before the tune, the car put down 401hp / 392tq, and after we got 417hp / 406tq. Very happy with the numbers.

I've got a ton of pictures to upload, and some new video from the GoPro to boot! I'll get some of that up tonight/tomorrow after I get back from picking up my new Nittos. 305/35/20 should be enough meat under the rear.

[Aries240SS]

Ok, It's been a busy couple of weeks. Spent a lot of time chasing a vibration in the 98Z only to find out that it was the pinion angle being off. /sigh. Well here's a picture of it anyways.
[img]http://www.4playperformance.com/98Z28/DS****95.JPG[/img]

Ok, on to the fun. Off with the stock manifolds, and on with TSP 1 7/8" long tubes. Of course I had the normal problem of one O2 sensor being cross threaded from GM, so I had to get another before we could finish. Really easy install on ramps in the driveway.



God those things were heavy and ugly.
New headers on with MSD wires in place.




And the off road pipes bolted up. They actually look like catalytic converters if you don't get right up on them.

[Aries240SS]

With the new found power I ran into the traction problem again. Stock Pirelli tires just could not hold the ground, so I went with a nice set of Nittos. I'm running 305/35/20 555R Drag Radials on the stock rear wheels, and they look and work great.

Pardon the daily driver dirt >.<




And here's one where you can see the contact patch at 34 PSI. At 26 PSI it spreads out very nicely for the track.

[Aries240SS]

Hightech Corvette posted this picture of my car just before I dropped the stock exhaust valve in #8 due to a failed valve spring yesterday. TX2K12 was a good time, but now I'm building a new motor.

[Aries240SS]

another from the track Saturday

[Aries240SS]

This was the first pass of the day on motor.
You can see my car bog the launch at 3500 RPM, and the boosted Challenger come around me about the 1/8th mile.

[Aries240SS]

Just got the car back from HP Motorsports in Katy, Tx.

Great guys who have come together from a lot of other shops in the Houston area to form one of the premier racing shops in Texas.

Car was in for valvetrain overhaul. New cam, springs, and retainers to see if we can up the power a bit. The car picked up ~60hp from the cam swap and is an absolute monster now.

New cam is a BTR LS3 Stage 4.

Videos coming soon!

[Aries240SS]