Bumble Bee Racecar

[Dexman1349]

I probably should have started this about 6 months ago when I really got started modding Bee, so these first posts will be to get caught up.

Current setup as of 7/06/2014:
419 rwhp, 419 torq

Cosmetic: ZL1 front w/mailslot, painted stripes, powdercoated SS rims, tow hook, and Gary's customs bowties, painted emblems and taillight bezels, DIY Flowtie (only installed at car shows).

Suspension: Pfadt subframe bushings, Pfadt, rear upper control arm bushings, Z28 Upper control arms, Spohn Trailing arms with del-sphere ends, BMR outer trailing arm bushings, BMR differential bushings, ZL1 Toe Rods, ZL1 springs, Prothane radius arm inserts and steering rack bushing, Pfadt Sport sways, Pfadt strut brace

Powertrain: RMCR tune, CAI intake, Kooks headers, high-flow cats & exhaust, VMAX TB, ZL1 Fuel Pump, LSR Tri-Ax shifter

Audio (coming soon): Focal 165AS front component speakers, Focal R-690-C rear speakers, Audiocontrol LC7i signal processor, Alpine PDX-V9 amplifier, JL Audio 12W3v3-2 subwoofer

Here's what Bee looks like today:




Let's start at the beginning:
Bought Bee on June 21st 2010 on the south side of Denver with only 12 miles (had been delivered to the dealership that morning). He was a plain yellow 2SS/RS with a LS3. Within 2 hours of taking delivery I found myself parked under an overpass as a nasty hailstorm hit on my way up to my In-Law's house. Ended up with 3 dents.

I think it was all of about a week before I started researching all of the cool things to do to these cars here on Camaro5. Got the windows tinted, then promptly started looking at what it took to turn my Camaro into Bee. A few PM's, emails, and phone calls later and Bee was at the body shop getting stripes painted on and the wheels powdercoated. I also replaced the tail-light bezels, bowties, and fender emblems with custom painted ones from Gary's Customs (awesome vendor here on C5, highly recommended). Got all of this done before I even had license plates:

[Dexman1349]

Things were quiet for a couple years mostly due to budget constraints. I continued commuting to work with Bee. It's one hell of an awesome daily driver, and commuted with him mostly because I couldn't afford to get another car. Plus, if you're going to be stuck in your car for 2 hours per day, shouldn't it at least be in a nice one? That first winter I learned how insanely bad the Pirelli's were in the snow when I couldn't get out of the driveway with only 2". Bee spent that first snow storm parked on the side of the road because I couldn't get him home.

I lurked on here on and off again until late 2012 when I got into discussions about suspension upgrades with Justice Pete (another awesome asset here on Camaro5). He made me into a huge Pedders fan and really taught me the importance of improving the suspension before doing anything else. A ton of horsepower and torque really doesn't do you a lot of good if you can't get it to the ground, right?

http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showth...highlight=noob

Unfortunately, budget still wasn't there for me but I was able to at least get some subframe inserts and a LSR short throw shifter for Christmas.

[Dexman1349]

Sometime after getting the stripes done I was contacted by a guy who was running a local car club dedicated to Movie Cars. I still don't really know how or when we met, but I'm glad we did. He is a very outgoing person who loves all things nerdy (he owns the Dodge Magnum Ecto1 in the pictures below). As a club, we visit various car shows and other miscellaneous events and show off our various movie and/or TV themed cars. We have a couple BumbleBees, 3 General Lee's, a couple Herbie the Love Bugs, a Bluesmobile, a Starsky & Hutch Gran Torino, 3 Jurassic Park Jeeps, and dozens of other miscellaneous cars. Check out the club on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ColoradoMovieCars

Here are a few pictures from events we've done (most of them are not mine, but can be found on the group page).

Random group photos:




Haunting at the Hangar (Halloween event at a local air & space museum):


St. Patty's day parade:




2013 Denver Comic Con:












And my favorite pic from the show:


We are doing Comic Con in Denver again this year, as well as the Denver Juneteenth parade. I will be at Comic Con, but Bee won't be as we're taking turns who gets to show of their cars (limited space to only 5-6 cars per year).

[Dexman1349]

Fast forward to the summer of 2013 (shortly after Comic Con). First real issue with the car started to develop: that damn annoying loose baffle in the exhaust system. Not much you can do about that except replace the cat-back system. So I found myself back here on Camaro5 asking all the same repeated questions about which exhaust is better.

After some initial research I got to thinking, "Well, if I'm doing the cat-back, why not get a CAI to go with it?" and then evolved to "If I'm doing the exhaust and CAI, why not do long-tubes too?", and since I'll be getting LT's I'll have to get it tuned, and then...

$4000 later:
Apex Catchcan (thanks Apex)
Kooks 1 7/8" Headers & high-flow cats (thanks Maryland Speed)
Kooks "Sleeper" cat-back exhaust (Maryland Speed)
Cold-Air Inductions CAI (Maryland Speed)
VMAX ported throttle body (Tampa Tuning)
Pfadt sport sways & endlinks (JDP Motorsports)
and a couple Prothane bushings for the front end (steering rack & radius arm insert) (JDP Motorsports)

Only thing I didn't do myself was the Dyno-tune which was done by Rocky Mountain Competitive Research (RMCR) in Colorado Springs. When all was said and done, I was rocking 419 rwhp & 419 ft-lbs:

video (yes, I know it's dirty, but it was February and was only a day or two after a major snowstorm so everything was pretty sloppy outside):
http://s44.photobucket.com/user/dexm...19aba.mp4.html

[Dexman1349]

About the same time I was dealing with the exhaust in the previous post, the front of Bee got smooshed. Nothing major, no one was hurt, and the damage wasn't even noticeable unless I showed it to you. Essentially the front license plate bracket got pushed back into the car causing the bracket to mushroom out a little and creased the bumper cover around it. Damaged enough that if I wanted to fix it I would have to replace the entire front clip. I could have been perfectly fine leaving it alone, but this is Bee we're talking about, not my wife's Jeep...

Anyways, I had told my wife that as soon as I got the opportunity to change out the front end I would. I had wanted something more like the Transformers 2 Bumblebee, so I started shopping around to see how much it would cost. In my research I came across a vendor here on Camaro5 (I won't say who because they are gone and no longer making the bumper) who added the SS mailslot to a ZL1 front end. I liked the look, plus it was in the middle of a group buy and could get the bumper for ~$600 (obviously not counting paint & install) which was significantly cheaper than anything else I was finding aside from just replacing with another stock SS so I bought it. Over the next month or so I was entangled in a couple different battles: one with the insurance company to get them to cover it, the second with the vendor. I won't bother with the details, but in the end the insurance company paid for the repair (I still had to pay the deductible and any "upgrade" costs) and I ended up with the bumper I wanted.

Despite getting damaged in late fall and receiving the bumper in December, I decided to wait until after things started to warm back up again before going through with the install. The biggest reason was the fact that I was still using Bee as a daily driver and I knew I'd be driving in the snow/ice/sand/chemicals associated with winter in the Mile High City. April finally came around and I took Bee back to the shop that did the original stripes for me. I think he did a good job:



The next step of the process was trying to figure out how to wire the new 2nd set of fog lights. Always on? With the headlights? With the other fog lights? Where to connect? I really had no idea. The bumper came with the lights and a harness with the group buy package, but I'm no electrical engineer. Red: Hot. Black: Ground. White? Second red? Second black? Crap. Once again, I turned to the guys here on Camaro 5. The Gen5DIY guys were a huge help with figuring out where everything was supposed to go, and I decided that since the harness I had included a switch I would set the new lights up as a "on when the car is on", but still have the manual over-ride switch inside. That weekend, lights work:



I'm still having issues with the passenger side due to a crappy connector, but I think I've figured out a fix and will be working on that in the coming days.

While the car was in the shop, I decided it would probably be a good idea to get a tow hook. I like how they look, plus I need the added functionality stemming from the fact that I drive Bee in the snow and have no "safe" place for a tow truck to hook up to in case I find myself in some deep $hit. A few PM's and phone calls to Tyler at JDP later, and I had a yellow tow hook on it's way. I hoped it would arrive before the car was done at the shop while the front end was being done so the shop could do it, but the scheduling just didn't work out. A few weeks later, I finally got the courage to attempt the install myself:

[Dexman1349]

A few miscellaneous other mods I have done this spring:
Installed a Pfadt strut tower brace. I picked this up from another Camaro 5 member. It had some LED strips attached to it, but unfortunately when I was trying to figure out the wiring for the fog lights I damaged the connection to the point it wouldn't work anymore so I removed them.


I thought I'd see if I liked black side mirrors, so I Plasti-dipped them:






Installed a set of ZL1 Toe rods. I managed to find a set of take-offs from a fellow Camaro5 member for significantly cheaper than anything I could find on the aftermarket circuit, plus I like how they have the spherical bearings instead of the Urethane. Sorry, no pics for this one.

[Behic2320]

more pics my man, great story cant wait to see the beast

[Dexman1349]

Originally Posted by Behic2320

more pics my man, great story cant wait to see the beast

Thanks. I have a bunch of pics to upload, so this will be updated as I get time. Performance wise, the story is up to date, but I really want to get into some of the goals (short and long term). I really hope to start tackling a lot of this over the summer, but the budget only allows for so much progress at a time...

[Dexman1349]

Above posts updated. Please let me know if any of the pictures don't work. Most of them are linked from Facebook, and a few of those are linked directly to my FB page which doesn't always work well for forums.

Here is what Bee looks like today:


What do I want to do next? Here's what I'm hoping to have done by the end of the summer:

• Dynamat the trunk of the car. While I like the sound of the exhaust most of the time, it still has a bit of a drone at 60-65mph in 6th gear and I'd like to get that quieter. This should be done this weekend.
• Rear upper control arm bushings. I have a set of Pfadt take-offs from a fellow Denver Camaro owner, just waiting to install with the stuff below.
• New trailing arms & outer TA bushing. Probably going with the Spohn arms with spherical bearings & BMR outer bushing
• Subframe bushings. Not sure if I'll be going with the Prothane full bushings or ADM Performance solid bushings. I really want the solids, but will be dependent on budget.
• ZL1 springs. This is just an interim thing until I get the budget for some decent coilovers.
• ZL1 side skirts
• Splash guards
• Painted mirrors. Just make the plasti-dip previously done permanent.
• New wheels & tires. I have the stock rims powder-coated and fitted with Continental DWS's for winter use, but I'd like to get another set I can use for summer/track use. Right now I'm leaning towards 20x9 Ruffino Chronos wheels wrapped with Hankook Ventus V12 evo K110 tires.

[Dexman1349]

What are my big picture goals?

Well, here are some Camaros I am using for ideas:




Some of the things I have started looking into:

Mechanical/drivetrain:

• 3.91 gears (includes posi-mod & differential bushings)
• CTS-V Big-brake kit
• Upgraded clutch
• Coilovers
• Cam & all subsequent matching parts (rods, springs, oil pump, etc)
• Forced induction. Not sure if I'll be going with a supercharger or twin turbo, but I know there will be quite a few associated mods with either route (axles, driveshafts, fuel pump, etc)

Cosmetic:

• Vented front fenders. Probably one from Gary's Customs, although I love the widebody look of the Black Gumball car above (and yes, I know that would involve changing the front bumper again).
• Vented hood. Have no idea on this one. Probably won't happen until after the FI is done. I'm thinking either the Hex vents (so I can hide them in the stripes) or maybe a new hood altogether with vents built in. The ZL1/1LE vented hood doesn't really work with the stripes I have.
• Spoiler. I really like the high-wing spoilers in the "idea" cars above, but Mrs Dex likes the Anvil.
• Nightowl Halo kit.
• Painted door/dash inserts. Thinking of having them hydro-dipped with a yellow carbon fiber.

Ultimately I want to have what I would imagine if Bumble Bee was a street-legal racecar putting down over 700rwhp.

[starscream88]

Haha I love the front tag man!

[Dexman1349]

Originally Posted by starscream88

Haha I love the front tag man!

Thanks! It's my "show" tag. Since I live in a 2-plate state and the car came with the bracket already installed, I had to come up with some way to built it into the show package. When I go to shows, I always remove my license plates simply because I don't want some whack-job looking me up (I had hundreds of pictures taken of Bee at Comiccon, and I have no idea where they all got sent off to). With the new front end I was able to get a different front bracket that I can simply remove if I don't want the plate.

[Dexman1349]

Project I started this weekend was trying to get Dynamat installed throughout the trunk. I have about half of it done so far in the limited time I was able to spend on it. Biggest reason for doing this is to help quiet down the exhaust noise inside the car because the exhaust does drone a little (its only really noticeable when I'm going 60-65 in 6th gear under light acceleration, like up a hill).

What I have done so far in the trunk is the floor, the driver's side wall, and the rear wall. I still need to get the passenger side wall and down into the spare tire area. I will upload pics once I'm done.

[Sapphire]

I really like your bowties! did you plasti dip them and pin stripe them?