The Bald Eagle Machine Chronicles

[Ashen 6.2]

Those dang chips causing problems for everyone!! Lol

[The SS Godfather]

Originally Posted by The_bald_eagle_machine

Hello Camaro5 Forum. I recently stepped into the 5th gen Camaro in December of 2020. It has been a hell of a ride so far. I am coming from my first real car, a 1987 Trans am GTA that I bought when I turned 21. I had that car for almost 10 years, went from a 305 TPI 5 speed to a 5.3 Swapped Iron block with a Tremec T56 Magnum trans. I was tired of constantly tinkering and having tuning issues, and strange noises that always needed to be addressed (Not to mention the lack of creature comforts, no AC in Florida). I also had a 2002 Chevy Avalanche that i used as my trade in and got a fair trade in value on it, eventually.

Enough Gibber gabber about my old GTA... I bought the Camaro right as Covid19 was starting to spike the prices of used cars, luckily I am a tough negotiator. It also helps that in South Florida 99% of people do not want to drive a manual car, because of all the busy highways. I paid roughly $23,000 for a 2011 2SSRS with only 33k miles on the clock. It was freshly traded in and they didn't even detail it yet. Still had Cigarette ashes all over the seats and floor (another reason why I got such a good deal on it). They tried to force me into paying for the maintenance that they did to the car which totaled an additional $1500. Which included an oil change and 2 new front rotors. I refused to pay for what I consider "road worthy" maintenance and "The manager" eventually agreed to it. I traded in my 2002 Chevy Avalanche that was lifted and actually super clean, they tried to lowball me at $1000 trade in. I eventually got blue book trade in value after threatening to leave multiple times. Blue book was roughly $5,000 for that. The car is Summit White with Orange hugger rally stripes, and the Inferno interior package. The previous owner already installed a Cold air inductions Cold air intake as well as a Borla axle back which was a nice little bonus!

While test driving the car on the local city streets, I couldn't help but think the car was absolutely perfect. I later discovered a few gremlins here and there. Such as; badly grooved rear rotors, shaking steering wheel at highway speeds, and worn out suspension. I've done alot of work to the car already, and I will post all the stuff that I have done to the car, and eventually end where the car sits today. All of this content is also up on my instagram @the_bald_eagle_machine.

Here are pictures from when I picked her up from the dealership with the Wife.

Nice mate, you can do wonders to that Camaro, 9never ends) same colour as mine as never stopped personalising my baby - Love the ink too !! ENJOY-

[The_bald_eagle_machine]

Got my hands on a Pre-order from Granatelli on their "Pro-Wing" style spoiler. Waited about 6 weeks and it finally arrived, I dropped it off at the paint shop the next day for a Satin black paint job. Simple install, good fitment, really matches the lines of the car well. Thinking of calling her the Stormtrooper SS now! I love all of the black and white contrast.

*** Side note, I love this Bissel Steam cleaner. Bought it for $35 on Amazon and it makes removing emblems, vinyl and stickers an absolute breeze! ***

[Ashen 6.2]

That looks great! Great choice!

[The_bald_eagle_machine]

I know it's not Camaro related, but I did put up a new daily driver / beater this week. 2002 Chevy Blazer Extreme, 233k miles, V6, auto, very dirty and in need of a bit of TLC. Planning to drive this thing into the ground while I work on the Camaro, and then probably do an LS swap on it in the future. Let me know what you guys think! I hated the Typhoon vinyls at first, but the more that I look at it I am starting to like them. What do you guys think? Remove them and rebadge it as an "Xtreme"?

[joekono]

Originally Posted by The_bald_eagle_machine

Finally got around to installing my Texas Speed and Performance Headers and full exhaust. Believe it or not the 2 inch Primaries' fit perfectly fine. I did have to unbolt the steering shaft on the driver's side to slide the header in and I did have to cut the boot off of the steering shaft knuckle as well as it was rubbing on the header and would have melted anyways. I did opt to go with their complete exhaust system including High flow catalytic convertors, X-pipe, Intermediate pipes and Mufflers/tips. I hate those band clamps that come in every "bolt-on" exhaust system so I took the car to the local Exhaust specialty shop and had flanges welded in at the headers and the rear diff. They welded the rest of the system together so it comes apart similar to the factory system except I can take mine apart in 2 full pieces. The tips don't match as good as I thought they would. So I will be replacing them in the future. But it is good for now. This exhaust really woke the Camaro up and she sounds as powerful as she should have sounded to begin with!

I know this thread is about the exhaust but that one one hell of a clean under carriage!!!!!

[The_bald_eagle_machine]

So, I'm gonna vent a little frustration here... I got my Granatelli pro wing in the mail. I noticed that the wing wasn't "Perfect" as in some of the casting/fiberglass was a little dinged and dented. You could clearly see the lines where the 2 pieces are laminated together. I didn't think nothing of it and since I had been waiting almost 2 months for the spoiler to arrive, I took it to my local paint shop and had it painted satin black. I installed the wing and I was very happy. I loved the new look.

Fast forward about 2 weeks and we had a long week of bad rainy Florida weather. It had just rained all morning the day before, and I go outside and notice that water is puddling up on my trunk and not running down the car like the stock spoiler. I open the trunk so that the water can run off the front and into the cowl and low and behold... The spoiler is full of water, and I mean FULL. As I lifted the trunk all the way up, water starts pouring out of the spoiler. I noticed that the lamination line that I noticed before and didn't pay any mind to, is separating. The dings in the corners were also part of the delamination. Mind you every bolt hole was surrounded with red 3m double sided tape, because I didn't want fluid leaking into the trunk. I immediately removed the spoiler and reinstalled the stock one.

I call Granatelli and speak to Joey Granatelli, I sent him pictures and videos of the spoiler and his response was "Yeah, if you tighten the nuts on the spoiler too much it will delaminate the wing". He made it sound as if countless people have done this already and it was a known issue. BUT, the spoiler didn't come with any instructions, so there was nothing to warn you about overtightening the nuts and ruining your $700 custom spoiler. He also told me that because I had the spoiler painted that "unfortunately since you painted the spoiler, I can't give you a refund or even exchange it for you. Imagine what would happen if I processed an exchange and the guys in the warehouse received a black painted spoiler. That would be unacceptable" So basically I was Shit out of luck.

I find that this was not handled in an acceptable manner. Maybe I am just "seeing red" because of my frustration but I feel like a company as big as them, should have stood behind there product a little more and worked with me on a solution. I ended up throwing the spoiler in the dumpster. Will not be buying any products from them ever again personally. Maybe I'm the idiot for buying a spoiler from a company that specializes in spark plug wires and throttle bodies. I should have spent the money on the ACS wing like I was going to originally. Oh well, live and learn.

end rant...

[bsn]

If you like the spoiler take it out of the dumpster and have a good body shop repair it and foam fill it.

[Joe.G]

Coming along nice, Did you decide on the Poly or Solid Cradle bushings?

[The_bald_eagle_machine]

Scored a sweet deal on a GM Dovetail spoiler on Ebay. $225 including shipping. It is painted gloss black and has one or two small defects. I am going to have it resprayed in black, with a satin clear on it. Should look really sharp when I am done with it. I might just have the bodyshop install it as well since I don't have the template that comes with it when buying new.

[The_bald_eagle_machine]

I bought these off of a forum member months ago, and I finally found the motivation to install them. A sweet little upgrade, will pair nicely with some BMR sway bars in the future!

Although I have used Proforged stuff in the past with great success, I am not sure if i am a fan of non-greaseable parts on something like this. My Moog replacements that I replaced have greaseable ball joints as well as, many other parts on the car. I guess if it is a high quality part, it will last a long time with the internal greasing. Only time will tell!

[The_bald_eagle_machine]

I went ahead and bought a used GM Dovetail spoiler off of ebay, it arrived in black color and had a few scuffs and rub mark. Took it to a local bodyshop and had them repair the spoiler and paint it Summit White to match the car. I think it turned out great. Drilling the holes was no easy task and the holes required a bit of massaging to get them perfect. Overall I am very happy. I still need to wire in the third brake light, but i just found a write up on where to splice it in at so I will be doing that soon. I will probably keep the factory third brake light as well, because why not?

[Leadsled]

Looks great

[Ashen 6.2]

Great job!