Big Red's Journal [COTW 1/28/13]

[ssmike]

Originally Posted by Raptor3141

So, is Big Red home yet? How are the new gears?

Not yet! They're still working on it! Even if they finish today I might not be able to pick it up till Saturday.

[Raptor3141]

Wow! I hope you left Red with his Blankie and Teddy Bear. Lmao! Good Luck Mike.

[ssmike]

Originally Posted by Raptor3141

Wow! I hope you left Red with his Blankie and Teddy Bear. Lmao! Good Luck Mike.

Haha! He's fine, I'M the one who needs the blanky and Teddy Bear! I can't handle having him 3 hours away and ripped half apart on the lift!

[ssmike]

Update! Just got a PM from Steve, the differential is in and he's getting Big Red ready for the dyno! I only wish I was there to hear it. Steve said he will do a video so I'll post it up when I can!

[Raptor3141]

[ssmike]

424.3 RWHP on a Dyno Dynamics. Steve is going to do one more tweak in the morning and expects to squeeze a little more out of it. I'll be picking it up tomorrow afternoon!

[Raptor3141]

Sweet!!

[kjkjr27]

Don't know if you saw

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showth...51#post6433851

[Warp12LS3]

Congrats Mike!! One of the cleanest camaro's on C5

[ssmike]

I just got home so Big Red is safe and sound in the garage! I saw the video Steve posted up and I must say they did a super job both on the gears and the tune!

[ssmike]

OK I have a few minutes now so I'll post up a funny story that happened today.
I was anxiously awaiting word from Steve at RDP to say Big Red was all done and what the final numbers were. I kept checking and no PM's until finally, there it is, a PM from Steve! I opened the message and he says "call me, I have some news". Hmm, I don't like the sound of that, it could be good or bad! Why didn't he just tell me the results and come pick up the car? So with my heart in my throat I called him. "Hi Steve it's Mike, how are you?" "Well" he says, " I've had better mornings!" Holy crap! Now my heart is pounding, "Why what's up?" He says, "Well there's a problem with your Camaro" Now my heart is pounding and I'm breaking out in a sweat! Is it the motor or maybe the gears seized up? He procedes to say "the problem is..........IT MADE 443 HP on the dyno this morning! Congrats!" I could have reach through the phone and choked him if I could! Holy crap!!

So, I had a 3 hour drive to pick up the car and all the way there I was scheming about how to get back at Steve for almost giving me a heart attack this morning. I exited the interstate nearing their shop and I called Steve. "Hello Mike" he says. I say "Hi Steve, now I'm the one with some really bad news!" Now just so you all understand, he had loaned me his wife's Explorer on Friday so I wouldn't be stranded because the car wasn't done in time (I live 3 hours away and had no ride). He says "yea right, I don't believe you!" I say "Seriously, your wife's car won't start!" He still didn't believe me so I said "I'm serious, it's dead! Let me tell you what happened. I got off the exit and found myself behind one of those septic trucks that suck the crap out of peoples septic tanks. Well one of the hoses let go and sprayed crap all over your wife's car!" Now I hear silence from Steve so I continued, "So the windshield got covered with septic crap and I couldn't see and I ended up in the ditch and now it won't start!" He said something but I don't remember what, probably swore in Australian! Anyway time to get silly! So I tell him, after he never asked me if I was OK (great guy huh? lol) "Well the car is pretty messed up but I'm OK, that is except for the bone sticking out my leg and my carotid artery spewing blood all over the inside of the car!!! It's gonna be one hell of a clean up job for your wife!"

We both had a good laugh and of course he said "I didn't believe you from the start!" I think I had him though for a second anyway!

[ssmike]

So after I picked up Big Red from RDP I drove home but noticed a new rattle sound when I was idling or going slow. It was a rattle but also sounded like a bad bearing in an electric fan. I crawled under the car and checked all the exhaust clamps, heat shield, muffler, etc but everything was tight! Turned out to be the RX catch can check valve vibrating like crazy whenever the PCV valve was open and would cycle on and off every minute or so. I called RX and Tracy said to replace the check valve with a standard 1/4" NPT elbow fitting with a 3/8" barb. Problem was trying to find one! I missed out on an outing with my Upstate C5 peeps to Watkins Glen for opening day because I was affraid to drive it the way it was!

I stayed home today and after several trips back and forth to the hardware store I came up with a solution. They only had brass elbows that were too short so I had to make up and extension to get it high enough to thread onto the can and not hit the inlet extension. Anyway, all is well now, no more noise and seems to run good! Here's a couple pics.

[kjkjr27]

Nice fix, this has me now wanting to change the elbows with something a little more eye catching that what is on them haha knowing I can remove them without ruining anything.

[ssmike]

Originally Posted by dynosteve

Now get out and enjoy your beast mate

Oh I will!

Originally Posted by kjkjr27

Nice fix, this has me now wanting to change the elbows with something a little more eye catching that what is on them haha knowing I can remove them without ruining anything.

Yea it's pretty easy to remove the fittings! I would have use black plastic again but I could only find brass. It looks pretty good though!