Cam Slam Weekend!!

[E30Delara]

Sounds great, man! Sometimes I wish I would have went with the 2.5 cam, but I live in Cali, so probably better that I didn't, hahaha.

[RobZL1]

Originally Posted by Coop[580

Patina!! Love it. Get u some corsa!! You’ll love it!!

You know, I had Corsa on a previous car. I loved the sound, but these days it helps to have the "quiet mode" when needed with the stock muffler flaps.

Originally Posted by E30Delara

Sounds great, man! Sometimes I wish I would have went with the 2.5 cam, but I live in Cali, so probably better that I didn't, hahaha.

Thank you! Yeah, it's a little hard to hide it. I think you can get it sounding pretty tame, but anyone who listens to cars all day long can probably still tell. I'm actually going to do a "smooth as I can get it" tune for those times once every year when it might be beneficial to me. Otherwise: "Yeah, it's not a normal Camaro. That's why it sounds different."

[RobZL1]

More pics finally for those that are interested.

1) Ready to go on ESCO jack stands and ZL1Addons pinch weld jack pads.


2) That oil pump bolt is as tight as everyone says it is, but honestly there was so much hype about it I was expecting much worse.


3) I used the pipe cleaner method that several people have mentioned. It worked well. After loosening the bolt with a flex-head ratchet wrench, I used precision long needle nose pliers to help wrap the bolt twice with the pipe cleaner, then just unthreaded the bolt the rest of the way with the wrench and my fingers. I pulled it out without the needing the pipe cleaner, but it was great insurance.

[RobZL1]

4) Comp Cams spring tool in action. One thing that helped me was to put the pen magnet on the valve stem when installing the locks. That way, the locks grab onto the valve. After you have them in place, you can use the magnet to push the valve down into the spring retainer to keep them in place. (Assuming you use the TDC method to keep the valves from dropping.)


5) BTR springs ready to go on bank 1! (Minus the hair on the first spring...LOL!)


6) Out of order, but here's one with the rockers installed.

[RobZL1]

7) Stock 1-bolt cam


8) New 3-bolt cam


9) All buttoned up with ARP bolts, Katech C5R chain, and dogbone damper.

[RobZL1]

10) Melling 10355 oil pump ported, gears coated, and assembly blueprinted by Precision Oil Pumps.


11) Installing the gears. Mine took 0.004" shims on the inner gear and 0.002" shims on the outer gear.


12) Ready to go!

[RobZL1]

13) Next time, I'm going to buy the alignment tool that fits around the crank snout and inside the cover bore to perfectly center the timing cover, but this time I used 3 sockets that were within a few thou of each other (0.675" +/- a couple) to center the housing. I figured that was better than eyeballing it.


14) I also installed a C&R heat exchanger while I was in there.

[RobZL1]

So far, I've got the VVE tuning nearly complete. Then I'll move over to the MAF, then adjust the narrowband sensor feedback again to deal with the different airflow conditions at low speeds. Finally, I'll get the WOT timing dialed in and should be good to go. I'll post dyno results at some point.

[StreetRage320]

Did I miss the dyno results? Great build BTW. Thanks for the information and photos.

[RobZL1]

Thanks! I love this darn car- so much fun.

No dyno results yet. I still haven't taken the time to go make it happen. Pulls really darn hard, though! Took a Tesla guy for a ride. He said it felt like it pulled harder than the "ludicrous mode" as far as he could tell. So that's my only scientific reference point thus far... LOL!

Next round of mods likely this spring- heads, blower, 103TB, bigger intake, 3" exhaust. Pretty sure I'll need the dyno for tuning at that point. With the amount of power it has now, I'm right at the limits of my comfort zone tuning this thing while it's in motion.

Guessing I'm somewhere between 685-700SAE now, and hoping for 750SAE after the next round of mods.

[diddies]

Originally Posted by RobZL1

Thanks! I love this darn car- so much fun.

No dyno results yet. I still haven't taken the time to go make it happen. Pulls really darn hard, though! Took a Tesla guy for a ride. He said it felt like it pulled harder than the "ludicrous mode" as far as he could tell. So that's my only scientific reference point thus far... LOL!

Next round of mods likely this spring- heads, blower, 103TB, bigger intake, 3" exhaust. Pretty sure I'll need the dyno for tuning at that point. With the amount of power it has now, I'm right at the limits of my comfort zone tuning this thing while it's in motion.

Guessing I'm somewhere between 685-700SAE now, and hoping for 750SAE after the next round of mods.

I wish you would do an install for me so I wouldn't have to pay anyone. lol

[RobZL1]

Ahhhhh! If I had millions of dollars sitting around and didn't have to work, I'd be happy to.

I'd just do this stuff all day for fun probably if I was crazy-wealthy. I'd modify GM stuff, probably build a few kit cars, resto-mods, etc. Maybe one day I'll sell some business I haven't started yet.