Purpose Built Road Course LS7 Camaro [COTW 1/19/15]

[JusticePete]

The latest revisions have taken a bit longer than planned. We had a Harlan Sharp rocker fail. The most likely cause is an adjusting nut worked loose. A careful inspection of the rockers showed some signs of wear due to high RPM instability. That lead us to more from the billet rocker stands and single bolt arms to a more robust COMP setup with steal stands, rocker bars and three bolts per two arms.



Upgrades are rarely as easy as take the part out of the box and bolt it in.



Time to clearance the new rockers.



Time to clearance the valve covers.



This will work.

Now about the oil temps the last time out. It was 85 degrees. The oil came up to 260 at the end of some intense high RPM sessions. Where would that put us on a 105 degree day, too hot. Time to install the Fluidynne we suspected we would need from day one, but with 4.5 gallons of oil maybe not.

This is the old Setrab 72 row cooler.



Here comes the new improved version.









We took her to dinner and let her idle and get hot. We returned to the shop and tightened all the fitting. We'll go through one more heat tighten and cool cycle before we put the fascia back on.



And now, more Black Magic is ready to happen... SSsoon!



See you all... SOON!

[JusticePete]

[SSSoon]

Originally Posted by JusticePete

Lol!

[SSSoon]

I've dropped off the radar a bit as this is my crazy busy work month. Things lighten up a lot by the end of May, but between now and then it's intense. Not much to report that JusticePete hasn't already. New rockers and seats look great - I think they'll be much more capable of handling the high RPM my engine creates, along with better springs. Suspension upgrades are going in - new camber plates look great. Billet bushings, caster locks, adjustable end links, all in. We're also moving the shift light to try something cool - placing it inside the opening for the HUD, pointing up, so that it will reflect off the windshield like the HUD does. Stay tuned - will see if it is bright enough to work in sunlight. I think it will be.

Tune being updated shortly, including a 109 octane tune

New front tires going on, too. Looks like the last time I was on the track I hit some debris that weakened one sidewall on one front tire. We'll swap both and keep the extra old one as a spare.

Next track date is May 22-23-24 at VIR. There's a Mustang SVT club that meets there and I cannot wait to get in there with the LS7. Last year with my supercharged LS3 I had a lot of folks stopping by to see what was under the hood. But honestly it's one of the best track events I have been at (3 years running now) and would encourage anyone else who is thinking about going to VIR to consider this weekend as real pleasure. It's a great group of guys and a very well run event.

Meanwhile, check out the awesome camber plates.

https://www.facebook.com/JPSuperiorS...9249871472816/

[camaro500]

NUTZ! good luck!

[JusticePete]

SSsoon please excuse this thread jack for a good cause.

Ben Parker was an EOD and also is a Camaro owner. Ben was medically retired about two years ago. He could use your votes.

http://yourherosnamehere.nascar.com/

Benjamin Parker, 28, of Cincinnati, O.H. is a retired army Staff Sergeant who was deployed to Afghanistan twice as an Explosive Ordnance Disposal Team Leader. Safely disarming more than 300 IEDs and saving countless lives during his tours of duty, Parker received two bronze stars for his bravery. “I don’t consider what I did heroic I was just doing my job,” said Parker. “I am deeply honored and humbled to be a finalist.” After his second tour, Parker returned home and was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Devastated to have to end his army career, Parker decided to pursue another passion and against all odds received his pilot’s license and now works as an aircraft mechanic. Born in Indianapolis, Parker is an avid NASCAR fan and used to set alarms and call his dad from a satellite phone overseas so they could watch races together. Parker looks forward to returning to the Brickyard 400 as a finalist and watching his favorite driver Dale Earnhardt Jr.



The contest allows Chicago style voting. Vote early and vote often!

[tadams72]

Originally Posted by SSSoon

Lots 'o progress! In order:
- Cutoff switch for rear charging lug so that the battery cannot be shorted from outside the car
- Fast intake and fuel rails installed. Back side of the 102mm Nick Williams throttle body had to be milled for clearance. Idler pulley had to be changed out too for clearance.
- Remote filler bracket with oil pressure and temp sensors, and one fire nozzle
- Fire nozzle on driver side mounted on body
- Oil pressure/temp display will be mounted to roll bar
- PS cooler installed. It's a Dodge SRT8 power steering cooler, repurposed.
- Charging lugs work!
- 3 gallons of 15-50 Mobil 1, looks like it will take 4 gallons total.

Pete,

Where'd you place the sensors for the Innovate oil pressure/temp gauge? Just bought one and I'll probably use the port on the oil cooler adapter for the temp but have not decided on an alternate location for pressure since I am keeping the factory gauge as well. Thanks.

Travis

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by tadams72

Pete,

Where'd you place the sensors for the Innovate oil pressure/temp gauge? Just bought one and I'll probably use the port on the oil cooler adapter for the temp but have not decided on an alternate location for pressure since I am keeping the factory gauge as well. Thanks.

Travis

With the dry sump, there is no adapter, but of the adapter will work well for you.

[tadams72]

Originally Posted by JusticePete

With the dry sump, there is no adapter, but of the adapter will work well for you.

Got that for the temp sender. What I'm wondering is where you put the pressure sender (assuming it was on the block and not somewhere in one of the dry sump lines). I've seen some guys T it off the factory sender at the back of the block but I'd like to put it in another location to make it more like a redundant/fail-safe setup for pressure monitoring.

Great build by the way and closely following your parts development for the future. Thanks.

[SSSoon]

Another quick update. Headed to a Mustang SVT event at VIR Fri May 22 - Sun May 24 (c'mon down if you're looking for a great event! 17 people in my run group. Awesome group of guys.)

Lots of tuning and tweaking going on lately at JPSS
- Hoping to install a second rear facing camera that is not as wide angle. The current one is great in a racing context when what you really want to see is who is right on your bumper and whether they are 2 feet or 4 feet back, but I'd also like to try one that can give me a better sense for who is a little further out. The current fisheye makes it hard to see folks when they are 50-100 feet back. Monitor accepts multiple inputs so I can just set up whichever one I want before the lap session. Adjustable angle bullet camera on order; hope that arrives today.
- Moved the cool box from the back seat to the trunk. See attached pic. Was a real PITA to refill when it was behind the seats. Once the battery was moved into the passenger corner there was space there.
- Tune has been updated, provides lots of consistent power now even as temps increase, and lots of little tuning improvements.
- Lots of suspension tweaks and adjustments to give sharper turn-in and better mid-turn grip. Going to drop tire pressures a little more, too.
- New data logging system in, JP is just doing final changes to what we capture, how it looks, etc. It's going to be awesome. No more shaky iPhone videos.
- Accusump turning out to be a more flaky piece of equipment than we thought, with multiple valve failures. grr.
- Thinking about wickerbill and splitter, but no conclusions yet

Hoping to be able to upload some videos as the weekend progresses.

Pete

[JusticePete]

I can feel the pressure mounting to deliver perfection tomorrow, but that is the goal.

[SSSoon]

Originally Posted by JusticePete

I can feel the pressure mounting to deliver perfection tomorrow, but that is the goal.

As long as I keep breaking stuff and deciding I want better stuff, it's gonna be a while before we hit perfection...

[X25]

Accusump is indeed not as reliable as one would hope. I've also seen it failing on various cars. Here is hoping you get it all sorted out! Sometimes it just takes a bit of time..

[SSSoon]

Originally Posted by Nathan Moreno

Hey Pete, just an FYI, we are running the same Dialey Engineering dry sump on G5.R. We have the privilege that Dailey is just a couple of miles from us. We have spoken with Bill Dialey (Owner and designer). Here is what he explained to us..........

Folks will use them as a pressure priming system. As an example, the motor is running, you shut it off, you come back a day later, you open the valve and the Accusump oozes two quarts of oil through the motor.

Yep. We have a Daily dry sump with a huge tank in the trunk. Just using the Accusump to prime the engine after it's been off a while. Engine builder recommendation. Pump from Accusump into engine, turn Accusump off, start engine, and when it's up and running well with lots of oil, reload the Accusump.

Pete