Chris49066SS Build Thread GPI

[NEstyle]

Sorry if I missed it, but what were your shift points with the factory intake manifold?

[Chris49066SS]

Originally Posted by NEstyle

Sorry if I missed it, but what were your shift points with the factory intake manifold?

They were right around 6900-7k rpm

[xc_SS/RS]

hey chris have you had any rubbing issues with the 17x10 race stars? i'm looking at picking up a set soon and want to be sure they fit over the brembos

[Chris49066SS]

Originally Posted by xc_SS/RS

hey chris have you had any rubbing issues with the 17x10 race stars? i'm looking at picking up a set soon and want to be sure they fit over the brembos

Hey, so actually yes. Only at the hit off the line though when she squats, otherwise no. The inside of the wheels have distinct marks a couple millimeters deep where the stock lower control arms have had contact. They clear the Brembos just fine though.

The main issue I have is with the shank lugs. I always get them started by hand and don't use an impact wrench. 3 of my wheels have stripped lugs/damaged studs. It seems the way to go is to get studs from ARP (don't know the part #) off hand, and some lugs, its in ttshovel's build thread. I need all 4 corners done. Some people get lucky and have no issues with RaceStars. I am not lucky.

[Tajefe Couple]

Hope you got that wheel taken care of, sucked to see you have those issues. Sure you'll be back at the track in no time.

[Chris49066SS]

Originally Posted by Tajefe Couple

Hope you got that wheel taken care of, sucked to see you have those issues. Sure you'll be back at the track in no time.

Thanks Jeff, tryin, I am just loathe to spend the dough on basically the same mods before I can get to some of the others I have planned. One step forward two steps back.

[acammer]

Originally Posted by Chris49066SS

Hey, so actually yes. Only at the hit off the line though when she squats, otherwise no. The inside of the wheels have distinct marks a couple millimeters deep where the stock lower control arms have had contact. They clear the Brembos just fine though.

The main issue I have is with the shank lugs. I always get them started by hand and don't use an impact wrench. 3 of my wheels have stripped lugs/damaged studs. It seems the way to go is to get studs from ARP (don't know the part #) off hand, and some lugs, its in ttshovel's build thread. I need all 4 corners done. Some people get lucky and have no issues with RaceStars. I am not lucky.

My Racestar shanks are pretty gritty. I found they were actually contacting the bores more than it was a threading issue. I've turned down the high spots on my bench grinder a few times and they work decent now, but I agree, I always run them down several threads before I put the impact to them.

[Chris49066SS]

Long story short, last Fall multiple RaceStar shank lugs were stuck on and I ended up with stripped wheel studs on both the left wheels and the right passenger side wheel. This kept me driving on MT bias ply rears and M&H skinny bias plys in front ALL WINTER AND SPRING. Not the original intention. I ended up running over a nail and popping the right rear MT, paid the car off (WOOT!), and got a set of ARP wheel studs and some more tools. A Dewalt impact driver with 1300 ft/lbs of breakaway torque is a nice thing to have! I also want to say that when these bad Larrys got stuck on and stripped, I was starting them all by hand, progressing to a ratchet, and finally a torque wrench, setting them all to the recommended spec of 100 ft/lbs. I really can't explain why they got stripped, as its hit or miss with these things. Some people have no problems with them, and others have issues with them. I am not lucky anymore.


Front driver side wheel-

One stuck lug, couldn't get it off with a ratchet, bought a lug removal socket that ended up stuck on. The stud was spinning in the hub! Enter THE DRILL. I had no choice but to drill through the center of the removal socket, through the lug, and into the stud itself, in order to degrade the structural integrity of the stud so that I could pull the wheel off. It took a few beers, more drilling, a lot of hard pulling, and a LOT of yelling and swearing, and I finally got this wheel off. There is some outer damage such as scuffs to this wheel now, mostly cosmetic.



Front passenger side wheel-

Bent upon hitting an unfortunate pothole, will only hold about 15 psi ever since. No issues with lugs.


Rear drivers side wheel-

One stuck lug, was able to get it off with the impact driver without using a removal socket.


Rear passenger side wheel-

One stripped stud, the lug came off easy enough.


Note from last November- I was short on time and money, so I had the local Firestone do some work= they installed 4/5 wheel studs in the rear drivers side and didn't put the brake rotor bolt in, they reused the old axle nut, and the caliper bolts! They let me drive it away like that! Meanwhile they always try to hose you with stuff like = "Well your front rotors are out of tolerance too so we can't replace one warped rear rotor unless we do all 4 of them."

I completely re-studded all 4 hubs with ARP studs, and went with some Autozone lugs. The ARP studs are very long, and the stock lugs will not fit as they are closed-ended. The studs were a little over $200 and a set of Collector Tethers are around the same price, so I will save those for another paycheck. I don't plan on doing any track days anytime soon, sadly enough. Hopefully this Fall. The car is back on the road though, and I have the stock wheels and tires on, so it doesn't handle like a lumber wagon anymore, but traction is BAD! The tires bust loose pretty easily at 55mph. It sucks, I have had drag radials on it ever since it was cammed. With the stock wheels on, its an eyesore and ugly as sin, but these ARP studs will do nicely with the RaceStar wheels and a set of Collector Tethers lugs. Thanks again for your help, ttshovel!

[Tajefe Couple]

Good to see you finally getting it worked out sir. I know you struggled with a few wheel related issues for a bit now. Looking forward to seeing you post times again this fall.
Congrats on paying it off too!

If you don't mind what model # Dewalt impact did you get? I've been looking to add a high impact to my 20V lithium set.

[Chris49066SS]

Originally Posted by Tajefe Couple

Good to see you finally getting it worked out sir. I know you struggled with a few wheel related issues for a bit now. Looking forward to seeing you post times again this fall.
Congrats on paying it off too!

If you don't mind what model # Dewalt impact did you get? I've been looking to add a high impact to my 20V lithium set.

Thanks Jeff, it really is a good feeling to get this thing taken care of! It kinda feels like I went a step backwards, since all the stock wheels and tires are back on, but it definitely needed to happen. I really didn't mind driving around on the drag pack, but I didn't like the idea of wearing them out, and when one of my rear Mickeys picked up a nail from the road, that was the last straw. Its just gonna take a bit longer than expected. Trying to pinch pennies for the next round, which should be a Nick Williams 102mm TB, 4.11 gears with the TrueTrac, Pac springs (I'm almost due for a change), solid motor mounts, and a tune. The 4.11s will be perfect for the TH400 when that goes in with the right converter and driveshaft.

(DCF899HB) is the part number for the Dewalt impact I got, its the battery powered one, I got the best one I could find.

Hows your build coming?

[Tajefe Couple]

Thanks for the info!

Mine is at almost a standstill. Had some chances to get to a couple tracks lately. Found a local 1/8 mile(old Naval base)that's a lot of fun. Good people and good grudge races.
Right now need some new drag tires and to get some data down to Ryan to look at the tune. Going to be time for some springs for me as well and regular maintenance.
Considering the 15" conversion and better fuel system for future power at the moment. Other than that no definitive plan any longer.

Just mainly dealing with life. Working with several small business owners and school districts. That's been ever challenging and changing as of late. We also became foster parents, so putting that all 1st and just running the car like it is on the occasional weekend. Who knows when I'll get back to playing with the toys more and if will even be able to with the whole social distance thing picking back up.

Good to see you staying on course with your build direction!

[Chris49066SS]

Originally Posted by Tajefe Couple

Thanks for the info!

Mine is at almost a standstill. Had some chances to get to a couple tracks lately. Found a local 1/8 mile(old Naval base)that's a lot of fun. Good people and good grudge races.
Right now need some new drag tires and to get some data down to Ryan to look at the tune. Going to be time for some springs for me as well and regular maintenance.
Considering the 15" conversion and better fuel system for future power at the moment. Other than that no definitive plan any longer.

Just mainly dealing with life. Working with several small business owners and school districts. That's been ever challenging and changing as of late. We also became foster parents, so putting that all 1st and just running the car like it is on the occasional weekend. Who knows when I'll get back to playing with the toys more and if will even be able to with the whole social distance thing picking back up.

Good to see you staying on course with your build direction!

Yeah sounds like you've got a lot going on. Its definitely not easy. Money helps too. So our builds definitely seem very similar! I just spoke with James at GPI last week about the build. He said to wait to do the fuel system until right before/during the supercharger. We will be going with the 1700cc injector, and he explained that it will flow too much fuel to the current setup, that its too big of an injector for my current setup. I was trying to lean forward on that stuff, too. He also didn't recommend a fuel cell until then because its a semi-daily driver, and you lose your fuel guage. He does recommend the drivetrain though, so the TH400 trans with the higher stall (I'm thinking 6-6500k), DSS driveshaft, and I may be going to a 4.11 rear, but what with all the problems acammer has had, I am kinda on the fence about it. He also said that they have got the IRS pretty strong with some DSS axles, that a solid axle won't be a must with my planned power level which is around 1,200 rwhp and 8s in the quarter

[Tajefe Couple]

Seems like our builds are so close we both know what needs to be done before giving them much more power safely. Then at what point do you fit in the cage and other things needed to avoid being kicked off the track? Just a matter of what area to start on. 1200HP & 8's is just an impressive goal. Solid axle would be nice with your goals I'd think. Not an inexpensive option for sure though. That Turbo 400 should defiantly compliment your build direction and 4.11's will be crazy especially with that big of a stall.
Curious you thinking about the aluminum or carbon fiber driveshaft when you do it?

Good tip on the fuel system to, thanks! Those guys at GPI really know how to get these cars done right. Cool to see Andrew is part of that team now. I was leaning more toward another fuel pump other than my ZL1 for now. Then getting bigger injectors later. Kicked around what to do on the rear diff and driveshaft to. G Force is in my backyard so thinking about them. I hear of some people breaking both DSS and G Force axles with no where near the power they rate them at. Both seem good and maybe because others don't set up the suspension and just expect the axles to take the abuse Right now I have a couple sets of stock axles so will probably be one of those that sees how much abuse they can take. I also have an extra 3.45 diff from a Hot Wheel set aside if needed. If anything a one piece driveshaft would top that list out of it all. I'll probably never get rid of my overdrive or take mine as far as you plan to go though.
I've been kicking around the thought of this car and not putting any more in to my current one. He said would take 30k for it. https://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=578210

[Chris49066SS]

That thing looks pretty sick, actually. You'd lose the fun of building it yourself, but it would be awfully fun driving it.

The order that I see it, ideally

Drivetrain first:

TH400, driveshaft (probably staying with the aluminum from DSS)
Solid axle
15" wheels

Fab work:

Strip all the weight you're willing to/carve up the car
Tubs
Cage

Motor:

Forge the bottom end/ 6.0 block

Boost:

Fuel system (cell, E85, meth, 1700cc injectors)
Blower (either F-1R or maybe F-2, the F-2 would give a lot of room to grow)

Sounds like somewhere in the neighborhood or in excess of 30k for parts with the labor for just the trans, nothing else, and considering the extensive fab work for the cage, the tubs, and a ttshovel front end with all chromoly tubing. You could save yourself the work and just stay IRS, strap on some DSS axles and hope for the best though, but if you get a Moser....you're not breaking that thing, and you have more options for more gear than a 4.11. The S60 looks bulletproof in itself.

So with the overdrive, yeah I just won't be bothered by it. I am expecting trash gas mileage, and I have held it in 4th at highway speeds which puts you way up around 3500ish I think, and its not an issue, but then again I like driving around with open headers, so lol