Ashen 6.2 2014 Z/SS

[Ashen 6.2]

Welp, havent been up to much lately.. havent made it to the track yet. Two days after I was at GPI my wife passed out and broke her leg in three places. She has pretty much in a wheelchair/couch/bed ever since. She isnt strong enough for crutches unfortunately (we tried and that was going to end badly). SO I have been working from home and taking care of her, just taking short trips/running errands with the car.

Anyways, hoping to be able to get to the track in the next week or two. I had the car up on the lift looking things over since it has about 1k miles since the swap now. One thing I have been trying to track down was exhaust fumes making it into the cabin. Found several small pin holes and gaps from removing the battery tray in the trunk. Got those all sealed up and still getting some fumes inside.

Finally found this last night - Its the backside of the muffler and is split open. The exhaust is a Solo-Performance Mach X and the muffler sits right under the front seats. I never even thought about it being something with the exhaust as I looked it over when it was out during the trans swap...







Trying to decide what to do next. Probably can get it welded up somewhere for now but it's probably just going to happen again.

Been looking at Herfurth Aluminum Racing mufflers and really want to go with one of his kits. I just need to find someone to fab & weld it. Or get off my lazy butt and figure out big welding.. lol.

[SlowLS1]

Sorry to hear about the wife! Hope they know why she passed out! Certainly the car takes a back seat to life!

As for the muffler, that is weird but not unheard of. Sounds like a solid reason to upgrade

Brian

[Joe.G]

Car's looking great, sorry to hear about your wife, hopefully she recovers quickly.

[Ashen 6.2]

Originally Posted by SlowLS1

Sorry to hear about the wife! Hope they know why she passed out! Certainly the car takes a back seat to life!

As for the muffler, that is weird but not unheard of. Sounds like a solid reason to upgrade

Brian

thanks Brian. Yeah, that was all figured out pretty quickly thankfully. I ordered the Corsa 3" system yesterday as that was the only one I could find that stated it clears the low hanging ZL1 diff AND was in-stock ready to ship. More than I wanted to spend on exhaust right now but that's how it goes sometimes.. lol

I did reach out to Solo-Performance and while the exhaust is out of warranty they did offer to knock $100 off the front section (where the muffler is at) for me. However thats a 2 1/2" system and I really needed 3" or larger. Guess I have some stainless steel to practice welding with now.. lol

Originally Posted by Joe.G

Car's looking great, sorry to hear about your wife, hopefully she recovers quickly.

Thanks Joe. She is doing pretty good overall now and should be able to put weight on the leg and start walking in two weeks.

[Ashen 6.2]

Got the Corsa system Wednesday afternoon - Shout out to CSP Performance for quick processing and shipping. This is what I ordered - Corsa Performance 14971 - 12-13 Chevrolet Camaro Coupe ZL1 6.2L V8 Polished Sport Cat-Back + XO Exhaust. Per Corsa, ZL1 Sport is very similar in sound to the Extreme SS part#.

First off, this is a very nice product. The only complaint I have is that it's in soo many pieces. The Solo-Performance exhaust was 3pcs total. The Corsa is 9pcs when it could have easily been 5 IMO.. Anyways. the fit is exceptional which makes up for all the pcs. The only pain point is the mufflers as they try to rotate when tightening the clamps, almost need a 3rd hand to help with that part..lol Will see if it holds its shape when pulling it off for track days and back on. The weight difference is only 2lbs. I should've taken side by side pics.


Here are some pics after install -












Here is a short idle video -


https://youtu.be/jU6akTiKFZk



It certainly sounds louder to me, my wife says it's not from inside the house. With the Solo my watch would always ping me warning about the 90 db or higher level. With the Corsa, it hasn't done that at all. Could be different tones tho.. Or like my wife says, its my hearing... lol

Driving is great except for the 23-2400 RPM range where it drones a bit. Unfortunately, that RPM range is 58-62mph with the t400... Will keep me from speeding through town I guess... lol

All in all happy with this and the car certainly feels more responsive during normal driving. I plan to cut the pipes off the Solo muffler to see if it was clogged or if the weld at the seam just failed.

Oh, one thing that has me perplexed is that the garage would always smell like e85 exhaust before this change. To the point that I would sometimes keep the doors open to let the garage air out. Since putting the Corsa on it's not like that at all. I am at a loss with that change. maybe the new exhaust just needs to be seasoned... lol.

[Ashen 6.2]

After getting the exhaust on the only thing left that I hadn't tackled is the driveshaft safety loop. The Metco loop for the 6L80 will not work since the T400 since it uses a different crossmember (or at least I used a different one). So I took a piece of 1.5" wide 1/4" thick steel and tried to bend it to make a crosss brace the loop could mount too. Bending that was not only a chore, but couldn't keep it straight at all. So I put the measurements into Sendcutsend.com and after $38 and 8 days I hade a properly bent piece of 2" wide steel. And I didnt get any pics of that before I started..

Anyways, I cut down the main part of the Metco loop and welded it to the top of the new brace.

It rides just above the exhaust and is right at 5.5" behind the center of the U-joint. Most tracks that require a driveshaft loop follow the NHRA rule of being within 6" behind the center of the U-joint.






Passenger side (looking forward)





Driver side (looking forward)










Since my wife has been out of the wheelchair for a week now I plan on heading to a track this coming weekend and test out the new trans and exhaust (unless I decide to pull it off lol).

[Ashen 6.2]

Was able to get away and head to Centerville Dragway Saturday night. Made 7 passes and some progress. Best pass was a 5.91 @ 118mph and 1.35 60'. Still lots left in it though. Launch RPM was set at 3500 all night. On the best pass I had a little over 11 degrees of timing out at launch and ramped down to 0 taken out at 1.3 seconds in.






Pass 1 - 6.68 @ 113 1.72 60' was a turd leaving
Pass 2 - 6.50 @ 114 1.63 60' Spun at the hit
Pass 3 - 6.22 @ 116 1.56 60' spun just a touch
Pass 4 - 6.29 @ 116 1.56 60' exhaust came loose at the connector pipe behind the collector on the top end. Pulled exhaust off the car.
Pass 5 - 5.99 @ 117 1.39 60' (same tune as previous pass)
Pass 6 - 5.91 @ 118 1.35 60' best pass of the night
Pass 7 - 6.16@117 1.49 60' Spun at the hit - not many cars making passes so seemed like the track was going away.

All in all a good night.

Here are some videos

Pass 1 (6.68) – https://youtu.be/HYi1InfNBks

Pass 2 (6.50) – https://youtu.be/Fd7MqpkRaOI

Pass 3 (6.22) – https://youtu.be/Sc7D4kRwraQ

Pass 4 (6.29) – https://youtu.be/GajUE1JbcEk

Pass 5 (5.99) - https://youtu.be/rphEMgPSKnc

Pass 6 (5.91) – https://youtu.be/VOQ9SLsaM7M

Pass 7 (6.16) – https://youtu.be/jalzFDKPy8o

[hesster]

Gotta weigh in - the hard work is paying off, and those YT Vid's are killer!

[SlowLS1]

You are gettin it done! Car seems to leave hard once you got it dialed in. How much more 60ft do you feel like it's got in it?

[Ashen L99]

Shoooo buddy! car is running good!

[Ashen 6.2]

Originally Posted by hesster

Gotta weigh in - the hard work is paying off, and those YT Vid's are killer!

Originally Posted by SlowLS1

You are gettin it done! Car seems to leave hard once you got it dialed in. How much more 60ft do you feel like it's got in it?

Originally Posted by Ashen L99

Shoooo buddy! car is running good!

Thank you all! I think it should get into the 1.2x's 60'. Will see how close I can get this weekend. On the vids, credit goes to my buddy Daniel (GRNFLSH) and he cannot make it this weekend so no videos except maybe from my Go Pro if I try to use it..

[Ashen 6.2]

While waiting on the oil to drain I took a couple of pics of the driveshaft loop without the exhaust in the way.

[Ashen 6.2]

Went to Centerville again last night. It was a bit warmer and had a 5-7mph headwind all night.. Was by myself so no videos and I didnt even think to take a pic or two..

Anyways, made 6 passes. The track was resealed this past week so that was another change...

Pass 1 - 8.08 @ 85 1.62 60' Spun at the hit

Took some timing out
Pass 2 - 6.25 @ 115.98 1.55 60'

Added some timing back in
Pass 3 - 6.04 @ 116.58 1.41 60'

Left it alone to see if it would repeat
Pass 4 - 6.06 @ 116.40 1.43 60'

Added more timing
Pass 5 - 6.01 @ 116.52 1.38 60'

Added more timing and reduced the time
Pass 6 - 6.40 @ 115 1.56 60' - Spun

I was in the process of taking a little timing back out and add in some launch RPM when my computer decided to move the global config files (tunes) and hide them in a random folder.. More likely me fat fingering it and moving accidentally but either way.. That took me a good hour to find the files and by that time I was done with the night and loaded up and headed home.

I really enjoy being able to play with the timing and be able to get a pass in without spinning! I really wish I had done the Holley change a lot sooner.. Still learning and having fun doing it! I hope to be able to get back to the track some in the next few weeks. But for now the exhaust is going back on and driving it when I can.

[SlowLS1]

How is the learning curve on the Holley system vs HPTuners. Car looks like it’s running great!