Alright, here are some upgrades made to the cooling system. Horsepower = heat, so the cooling system must be up to the task. Ron Davis does incredible cooling systems for all forms of racing. Talk to anyone and they will eventually send you to Ron Davis. I recommend them highly.

So they custom built a radiator to the specs of the SST Camaro with the knowledge of its higher than normal cooling requirements. Most radiators have 3 or 4 small "cores" that traverse the radiator between the caps. A typical Davis radiator uses two larger 1" cores that flow about 3x a standard radiator. A bonus with the 5th gen Camaro is the added space which allowed us to max this radiator out with two 1.25" radiator cores. This effectively gives it a cooling capacity many multiples over stock. The one pic gives you the idea as this radiator core is 4" thick.

Since this is an automatic transmission that has a converter with a significantly higher stall speed, transmission cooling becomes paramount. Also note that a good transmission cooling system is only about 5% of the cost of a replacement transmission, so keep that in mind. So the radiator was sent back to RD and they put a custom high pressure tranny cooler and reserve in the bottom of the radiator - beautiful work.

Another thing about aftermarket radiators is that they usually come with Spal fans which are considered pretty bulletproof. Well the guys out at NRE were farting around with the setup sent by Ron Davis and found that the factory GM fans not only flowed MORE than the same size Spal, but they did it with LESS current draw. So...the radiator was again sent back to RD and they made a custom mounting system for the factory fans. Lesson here - keep your factory fans - they kick butt !!

OK, so here are the radiator/fan pics.

First Pic - SST Camaro Extreme Capacity Radiator
Second Pic - Thickness of the core - 4"
Third Pic - The high pressure transmission cooler/reservoir they added
Fourth Pic - Better shot of the mounts they made for the factory fans
Fifth Pic - How is sits in the Camaro. You'd think it came from the factory. Also, don't mind the turbos in that shot, they were just used along with the old motor to make sure everything would fit. :)

COOL!

( no pun intended )

MORE PICS'! MORE PICS'! MORE PICS'!!! :D

Are you going to still run an external cooler, too?

God ****! You aren't leaving a stone unturned :bow::clap::bow:

We have an auxiliary external cooler, but will not put it on until we drive this around and see what the running temps are. If the trans is already running cool it would just add unnecessary weight, so we will see.

...and FWIW, the Camaro has a lot of stones. :facepalm:

she needs a diet?

LOL

Are you guys just going to fart around with the converter then to get it to lock sooner? What size are you running again (I was thinking a mid-3XXX, but I'm probably thinking of another build).

I see I'm going to learn a lot from your build :D

:laughabove: Huh?... :sm0:

Even though I'm not going as big as your (nowhere near even halfway), I'm actually learning quite a bit as to what I will need to upgrade or where to look for problems if something goes wrong with my build. So while I can drool and oogle your engine, it's enlightening at the same time. Subscribed.

NO kidding,

I was actually thinking about aftermarket fans.... Not now..

:thumbsup:

Well I was hoping that whatever lessons we learned from all of the research and development done on the SST, Camaro 5 members are able to glean some useful info that may help them out. :)

The converter should stall in the 3500-3600 range if all works as planned. The only difference is they stuck in a 2.75 first gear ratio so that may change things a little. The torque at this rpm is fairly obscene and we have a transbrake. The converter lockup can be adjusted by the computer controller. :cool:

Your car already makes tons of power...:thumbsup:

Well if there is any other data/pics that would help feel free to yell. I guess once it hits the road any weaknesses will be logged and stuck in here for members to use. I am sure there will be some somewhere.

I guess that goes back to the R & D statement above. Maybe it could even save members some money... :D Yeah, that fan stuff was pretty surprising. The Firebird has Spal fans.

Dats a BIG radiator....how cool would that be if you didn't need the intercooler. I wonder what the weight will come out to be once it's finished. Not like it's really going to matter...hehehe...but

We still need the intercooler for the turbos but we switched from an Air-To-Air to an Air-To-Water specifically for the SST. Since this car will see a fair amount of track time the only way to actually control the intercooler is Air-To-Water. That way if it is a super hot day I can pump dry ice/ice through the it before a run and drop the IAT's.

Here are a couple of pics of the custom SST Air-to-Air Intercooler. It is a monster. The workmanship is again flawless. If anyone would like this intercooler for their FI Camaro, PM me. I'd rather have a C5 member be able to use it. :)

Bruce, so you aren't using this intercooler and it is for sale? I am curious if this will work with my new build for the F1R?

Yes. I will PM you. :)

Hey, sorry about the delays in getting more posted. I have a bunch of cool pics and stuff to put up, but have been out of the office a lot.

Suspension, driveline install, chute mount... :D