[cwebster]

I'm posting this because I could not find a procedure for removal of the 6th Gen ZL1 rain guard and heat extractor in the owner's manual or online.

It's not necessary to remove the water deflector (aka rain guard) to get the heat extractor off but since I'd be removing it at the track I figured I'd see how hard it was. The Performance Supplement suggests removing the water deflector for competitive events to improve cooling. So, I've included it here for reference.

I'm getting my heat extractor re-painted so, rather than leave my new ZL1 at the body shop, I went ahead and removed it myself and delivered it.

I've outlined an illustrated procedure below for removing the water deflector and heat extractor. At first I was dumbfounded that the insert would not come out even after removing all the bolts. Then I discovered that the insert is also secured by foam tape with double-faced adhesive strips on both sides. Even though I carefully pried up the insert, I managed to tear the tape. I've included a magnified insert in a photo below to show how the foam tape got torn. I recommend putting all the fasteners in a zip-lock bag to prevent loosing them.

Note: When I'd finished taking off the water deflector and hood insert I had 17 - 10mm bolts. I noticed that 4 of them were 1" long and the rest were 7/8" long. I believe the longer bolts go in the deep captive nuts showing on the rear side of the heat extractor below, two along the rear edge and two in the center. Take note of where your long bolts come out so you don't come up short later. I'll update this when I re-install the heat extractor.

[20170113 Update] I was in kind of a hurry at the paint shop to get the newly painted hood insert back on that I didn't really track where I put the longer bolts back in. What I did was to install all the 7/8" bolts where they'd easily thread by hand. When I got to the longer bolts there were only 3 left so I'd apparently used one with the smaller bolts. The two outboard bolts farthest to the rear of the hood seemed to need the longer bolts the most.

WARNING: Be careful not to drop any of the fasteners. There are lots of inaccessible nooks and crannies on the engine where they might come to rest. Then you'll need to spend time locating and retrieving them with a flashlight and magnetic or mechanical retrieval tools before you can start your motor.

Tools Required:

3/8" drive Ratchet
3" long 3/8" drive extension
10mm 3/8" drive socket

Tools & supplies you may need:

Strong flashlight
Magnetic and/or mechanical retrieval tool
Zip-lock plastic bags

To remove the water deflector, simply remove the 3 - 10mm bolts securing it to the hood (green squares). Place the water deflector in your trunk and the bolts in a zip lock bag.



To remove the heat extractor:

1. Remove the 6 soft plugs and the 6 10mm bolts (orange squares) near the rear edge of the hood. You'll need a 3" extension on your ratchet. To avoid marring the finish on the underside of your hood with your ratchet handle, I recommend using an extension for all the bolts.

2. Remove the 8 10mm bolts that outline the perimeter of the hood insert (blue squares).

DO NOT remove the bolts outside the perimeter of the hood insert. These secure the entire rain gutter. That would just complicate things.




3. Lower the hood. Then slowly but firmly, pry up the rear of the hood insert from each corner to loosen the foam tape.

Note: Some of the tape may tear as you lift up on the hood insert. The foam tape is secured to the hood and insert with double-faced adhesive tape on both top and bottom. Most of mine stayed with the hood. I replaced the few pieces that tore off by gently peeling them off the insert and positioning them back on the tape secured to the hood.

[20170113 Update] I ended up leaving the foam tape as-is, without adding more double-faced tape to secure it to the insert. This type of double-adhesive foam tape can be purchased at most home improvement outlets or hardware stores as "insulation foam" or similar name. It looks like the purpose is to prevent vibrations and rattling. When all the bolts are replaced it's still solid so I didn't bother peeling and scraping off the old foam to replace it.

4. Gently slide the hood insert to the rear and out of the rain gutter well.

Interesting pattern of grooves in the rain gutter. I'm guessing this aids in drawing hot air from the engine bay.



A view of the damaged foam tape with magnified insert.



Note: The hood insert will not fit into your Camaro trunk without forcing it. I maneuvered it over the top of the front seats into the back seat so that it leaned against the back of the front seats so I could bring it to the paint shop.

I hope this information is useful for someone else.

--Cal

[17CamaroZL1]

Very nice instructions!!

Thank you!

[Hellobatman]

GREAT write up! Thanks!

[Nezzy18]

The instructions on how to remove the rain guard are in the Performance Manual under the section that describes how to prep the car for the track. Although is does not talk about removing the heat extractor itself.

[cwebster]

Originally Posted by Nezzy18

The instructions on how to remove the rain guard are in the Performance Manual under the section that describes how to prep the car for the track. Although is does not talk about removing the heat extractor itself.

Yes it does but I put it here because it's not obvious whether that needs to be removed to remove the heat extractor. Since I could find no maintenance manuals online, I figured it would be useful to have a complete procedure here where owners or smaller repair shops (i.e. body/paint shops) could find it.

--Cal

[GrimReaperSS]

So what color are you painting the insert?

[cwebster]

Originally Posted by GrimReaperSS

So what color are you painting the insert?

When I went to the paint shop the painter showed me several books of paint "chips". I looked at a lot of metalic red colors, then brought several candidates out into the sun to see how they looked against my black. After a few minutes I found the perfect deep, rich metalic red. It's a Corvette color called "Crystal Claret Pearl Tricoat". You can't really tell how beautiful it is without seeing the actual paint in the sun but here's a link.

Crystal Claret Pearl Tricoat

I'll update the thread with photos after it's done. They say it should be ready to pickup this Thursday.

--Cal

[Michigan1LTRS]

[Evolvedx27]

We need to create a "how to" thread. Everything related to working on the car should be put in there. Just my opinion.

[cwebster]

Originally Posted by Evolvedx27

We need to create a "how to" thread. Everything related to working on the car should be put in there. Just my opinion.

I think single thread would be too busy to browse. Sure, you could do a thread search but I think it would be better to have a separate HowTo sub-forum. If members used some common sense naming conventions for titles, it might be easier to scroll through and pick interesting projects.

Then there's always the Member Car Journals sub-forum, where members can record their projects. I probably should have put this thread there...

Description states:

"Want to keep a long term Camaro project journal to share with the community? Use this forum to create a single thread which you can update over time to document the progress."

--Cal

[cwebster]

Here's the repainted heat extractor. I think it came out fabulously. I had them use an old Corvette color called "Crystal Claret Pearl Tricoat".

I shoot raw with my Nikon D600 then process the images on my laptop. The color in the images doesn't look the same on my laptop as it does in real life. In the close-ups it almost has a pink hue. It's really a dark, rich red. There's 5 coats of clear over the base coat total, the 3 special clear coats required for the "tricoat" and 2 more to deepen it. The small metallic flakes make it shimmer and appear to shift shades as you walk around it in the sun.

I think I need to setup a shoot in a large darkened garage with my strobes up on light stands to try and capture the essence of this car.

Here are some full car angle shots so you can see how it looks against the black.




Now some close-ups of the heat extractor.

Please let me know how the color looks on your displays. Colors are difficult to replicate online because computer displays can be so much different from one to the next.




--Cal

[BreedsAS]

That looks awesome!

[cwebster]

Originally Posted by BreedsAS

That looks awesome!

Thank you! I'm SO glad I chose this color and let them do the entire heat extractor.

[HyperBlueX2]

Good job! Should be unique.....