Purpose Built Road Course LS7 Camaro [COTW 1/19/15]

[X25]

Originally Posted by SSSoon

Yep. No regrets!

Auto tranny is holding up remarkably well. I am surprised, personally. I am not easy on it.

Heat is okay but I am not sure it will remain cool in really hot weather, so we will swap out my old oil cooler for a supersized one. I was trying out shifting consistently around 7k rpm and the oil was up around 230. Not bad but I wonder what happens when the temps are 105 outside instead of 80. Better safe than sorry. Pete

230 is actually very good. Do you have a thermostat on your oil cooler? My oil cooler is pretty big, yet I can hit 230s even at the street since I have 212 degrees thermostat and it obviously does not open all the way at 212; takes a while.

As long as it never exceeds 280, I think it's pretty good.

[IOM Black Diamond]

Wow this is a great build very nice.

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by X25

230 is actually very good. Do you have a thermostat on your oil cooler? My oil cooler is pretty big, yet I can hit 230s even at the street since I have 212 degrees thermostat and it obviously does not open all the way at 212; takes a while.

As long as it never exceeds 280, I think it's pretty good.

As I have said before, every build has a budget, so we reused his old cooler hoping that improved air flow through better placement may get us by. With cool weather to start the season, we knew we had time to see how it performs on track. Now we know. It does not have the capacity required to keep the oil in the range we want for the long term health of the engine.

As Peter gets more seat time, he'll be spending more and more time at high RPMs generating more heat in the higher summer temperatures. We want to be able to run close to WOT in 100 degree heat and not exceed 280 degrees. The motor is built to run Mobil 1 15/50. We could run as hot as 300, but we re more comfortable under 280.

Thermostats are restrictive, even when fully open. There will be no thermostat. We are installing a race ready oil cooler. It is 21" x 5 7/8"
x 3". The new cooler makes the old one look like a postage stamp.

What more is there to say. Oh. Yeah. racecar

[RJT2SSRS]

SSSoon your car build is the stuff of dreams or so my wife tells me:-)

Does the honeycomb material in front of the radiator restrict airflow,and is the honeycomb material available to us laymen?

[JusticePete]

Originally Posted by RJT2SSRS

SSSoon your car build is the stuff of dreams or so my wife tells me:-)

Does the honeycomb material in front of the radiator restrict airflow,and is the honeycomb material available to us laymen?

Peter hunted down the protective material. It would defy all logic to say there was no restriction, but the mfg says it is minimal. Perhaps Peter can provide a source and spec?

[SSSoon]

Originally Posted by RJT2SSRS

SSSoon your car build is the stuff of dreams or so my wife tells me:-)

Does the honeycomb material in front of the radiator restrict airflow,and is the honeycomb material available to us laymen?

Honeycomb was from Summit Racing: http://www.summitracing.com/parts/aa...FU1o7AodCikAYw

In other news....

Engine start knocking late in the day last Sunday at the track. Packed it in and dropped the car off at JPSS for diagnosis. Turns out a rocker got damaged - looks like a bolt pulled through. On further investigation the conclusion was that the MAST billet rocker stands and Harland Sharp rockers were not up to 7000 rpm road course abuse. We are switching to Comp steel rocker stands and bars, Comp rockers, and new steel retainers and keepers.

At the same time as its all open, we are swapping out to better pushrods and going from MAST valve springs to higher rate Comp race springs. Goal is to improve high RPM operation and valve train stability. Pete tells me that the old stuff would have lived a long time on the street or in a drag application, but I guess I am kinda hard on the engine on road courses.

Aaaand here are also some pics of the new oil cooler. It's huge, and 3 inches thick! I think we are going to remove the OEM crash bar and weld up one in aluminum or chrome moly and then mount the oil cooler to that, so it hangs right in the lower opening for lots of air flow. Cool = good.

Pete

[Firefighter]

So you are going with the shaft mount set up? What's the valve cover requirement for that set up?

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[Firefighter]

Double tap...

[JusticePete]

We are in the middle of the installation and hoping we get the new push rods in today. Once we have those, we'll double check the cover clearance. We think we are OK as we removed the splash covers/ baffles for the Harlan Sharp rockers. We'll know after we get the new rods.

[Synner]

Don't even bother with an aluminum bumper brace, it won't be adding any safety. Use plain steel, chromemoly doesn't flex that well so not worth a few lbs in savings if safety is your goal. Just my 2 cents which are worth what you paid for them.

[Firefighter]

Originally Posted by JusticePete

We are in the middle of the installation and hoping we get the new push rods in today. Once we have those, we'll double check the cover clearance. We think we are OK as we removed the splash covers/ baffles for the Harlan Sharp rockers. We'll know after we get the new rods.

Thanks for getting back to me Pete. I'm curious how these fit, I'm planning my top end in my quest for some legit N/A power from my 1LE right now. Waiting on the latest and greatest manifold to come out. MSD? Vararam? FAST? We'll see...

I still need to call you and discuss the suspension. I thought I had all my parts needed then you talked about the Knuckle Drop. I feel like I need those to make the package what I really want it to be. I hope I can afford it though. LoL

Other than SOON how is it looking for the knuckles?

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[JusticePete]

Knuckles are so close and yet so far. At least 90 days.

[Firefighter]

Originally Posted by JusticePete

Knuckles are so close and yet so far. At least 90 days.

Damn... I need to call you soon then and go over some things. 90 days will kill me to wait. I know you are doing your best though. Don't get me wrong.

I might do a stop gap with the parts I have then do the knuckle after they come out.

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[RJT2SSRS]

SSSoon thanks for the quick info and the URL.