My 97 Z4C project...A Work in Progress

**97Z4CZ28** · 10-23-2013, 12:06 PM

Well I decided that I would start a thread on here as to my project that has been ongoing for a year and a half now. I have been documenting this on a few other forums and since this is dedicated to LTX I thought I'd add what I doing as well. This started outside under a car port and eventually has been garged once I finally closed on my house. I will be posting several posts to get caught up to where I am now.

Well here is a pic of the car as it was when I first obtained it. Not the best photos...but. Many other mods not seen or described but will be in due time. Stock motor, when comes time to do rebuild plan to stroke it out to a 383. Trans is 4L60E, which I plan to swap out to a built 4L80E when I stroke to 383, has shift kit and aftermarket stall. Moser 12 bolt rear end with 3.73 gears. Have a set of ZR1 style deep dish 17 X 9.5s for fronts and 17 X 11s for rears with Nittos all around to go on when she is ready to roll again. These are going to be painted artic white as well to match the car! Pacesetter LT headers ceramic coated with O2 bungs, with with true duals, deleting cats, and a 6LE CME rear bumper cover with polished CME tips. I am maintaining the EGR system however as I feel LT1s tend to run better with EGR in tact although I know you can tune it out, but removing EGR doesn't accomplish anything in my view and can create more issues than its worth. I have deleted the Air pump system though. POLY bushings all around, motor mounts, tranny, end links, sway bars, torque arm. Aftermarket Panhard rod, LCA's, Torque Arm in as far as suspension mods this far. Have many other things in the process of doing as well. And eventually plan to repaint car, taking doors, hatch, hood, and everything else off so it can be done right. It IS a work in progress!

Pic of what engine bay looked like when I first got the car. Pic doesn't show it but dirty, rusty...ah doesn't cut it in my book lol! Plus I'm not into stickers in an engine bay not my cup of tea ha ha ;-) to each his/her own.

Here is what it looked like once engine bay was repainted. Also, notice hood with liner removed...this nasty thing will be getting repainted as well ha ha! The engine bay was in much need of some help, dirt, rust and such, so I ripped everything out and off and in the process of replacing every bolt, nut, hose (AC lines and radiator/heat hoses), clamps (stainless polished), complete stainless polished hex head bolt kit, all new accessories (everything), completely stripped, sanded, primed and repainted the entire engine bay. ALL hoses, accessories, and other parts are original AC Delco parts. Powdercoated intake orange, accessory bracket black, all mount brackets black, oil pan, POR-15 the block orange, new valve covers, completely redone wiring harness re-tapped and new wire loom, OTVC wires/brackets. So you get the picture of what I am doing.

A few pics of once block was painted Chevy orange, and firewall and frame rails were finished painted artic white, of course K member semi gloss black. I am almost ready to put it all back together and will begin doing so this week as matter of fact. Should get it done and to the tuner in time to drive it a few times before putting away for the winter as it is NOT a daily driver.

**97Z4CZ28** · 10-23-2013, 12:10 PM

Headers are installed, new Energy Suspension Poly Motor Mount Bushings (what a pain in the *ss), NGK TR55 Spark Plugs installed, Oil Pan Installed, and Timing Cover installed. Pics of a few other items as well.

I ruined a waterpump shaft seal in the timing cover while installing it, knew it was gonna happen as the WP coupler is attached to the shaft...I gotta figure out how to get it off and install new seal. Powdercoated the Timing Cover. Polished Stainless Hex Heads.

Powdercoated the oil pan, installed with Polished Stainless Hex Heads.

I got the Pacesetter Headers with Air Injection tubes and EGR pipe connection, although I have deleted the air injection system.

Energy Suspension Poly Motor Mounts Passenger Side

Energy Suspension Poly Motor Mounts Drivers Side

Powdercoated the Intake manifold Orange. Have full set of Polished Stainless Hex Head Bolts for it as well.

I polished the Fuel Injectors by hand and sent them off to InjectorRX and had them cleaned and flow matched.

Holley 52mm Throttle body polished by hand.

Proform Valve Covers tapped off red painted areas and painted Orange to match scheme of car.

High Temp POR-15 orange on new Front Calipers.

**97Z4CZ28** · 10-23-2013, 12:14 PM

Well she is beginning to look like an Engine again! Found some brass caps to cap off Air Injection pipes on headers, don't think they look to bad and they should hold up pretty good I think. Installed EGR pipe to pass side header...another royal pain in the A$$. Hooking up to the Intake was no issue at all. bent pipe out and away from back side of intake as well. Installed Intake, and new Valve Covers with OVTC brackets (have pre-cut and assembled 8mm MSD black Super Conductor wires to go on once I mount New Delphi Optispark). Ordered new heated O2 sensors to mount in headers as well. Plan to make a heat shield for drivers side to help protect fuel lines. I am installing braided stainless fuel lines with stock style disconnects, rerouting fuel lines in behind brake booster. Will be routing the wiring harness soon as well. Few Pics of how its beginning to look.

Intake looks red in some pics but it IS Chevy Orange!

Note the Brass Caps installed on Air Injection pipe on header. Also not the OVTC brackets by Smoothie, these things are great!

**97Z4CZ28** · 10-23-2013, 12:17 PM

New AC Delco Waterpump with 160 degree Thermostat

Hub and Underdrive pulley installed, not bolted down yet.

Passenger Side MSD 8.5mm Superconductor Over the Valve Cover Spark Plug Wires with Smoothie brackets

Drivers Side MSD 8.5mm Superconductor Over the Valve Cover Spark Plug Wires with Smoothie brackets

View of Engine prior to installing Altenator

Powdercoated Accessory Bracket with new AC Delco Belt Tensioner

New AC Delco 140 Amp Alternator installed

View of Altenator with powdercoated brackets

Fuel rails polished and lines painted black with New AC Delco Schrader Valve and cap installed

Fuel Rails installed on intake. Fuel Injectors were ultrasonically cleaned, new filter baskets, O-Rings and collars, and flow matched.

**97Z4CZ28** · 10-23-2013, 12:22 PM

ABS Module Installed only lacking Master Cylinder installed. Coil installed as well.

LT4 Damper installed onto UD pulley. All Accessories mounted as well including new AC Delco Starter.

Wiring harness completely ran on drivers side of engine bay.

Wiring harness completely ran on Passenger side except to PCM which is not installed yet. All new AC Delco AC lines, dryer installed. New AC Delco Battery installed new AC Delco cables run, POS cable not hooked up yet and battery is hooked up to a battery tender to keep charged.

Front view of how it looked at this point.

Bottom view of Holley 52mm Throttle Body with bottom powdercoated and new AC Delco sensors installed.

Holley 52mm Throttle Body installed front view.

View from above of engine with TB mounted. All sensors are plugged in and wiring routed. All accessories mounted as well and new Serpentine belt is also installed.

Deep dish OE ZR1 style wheels painted Artic White to match the car. 17 X 11 rears and 17 X 9.5 fronts. Nitto 555s to be mounted soon. I had the inside of the rims painted completely to the rear of the wheels as well, well worth what I paid to have them done!

Smooth Center Caps painted at same time with vinyl Chevy bowtie I had made to fit clearcoated on. These are gonna look great with Orange rotors, Zinc chromate drilled slotted rotors.

**97Z4CZ28** · 10-23-2013, 12:35 PM

Well I ended up droping the fuel tank to drain old fuel out didn't wanna take a chance with old fuel and such in new lines, and fuel injectors being cleaned & flow matched. I pulled rear end & fuel tank eventually removed everything under car to completely sand primer paint underbody. Glad I decided to pull tank cause evap lines dry rotted and finish fuel pump access mod. Pulled tank as I didn't wanna take chance with dirty fuel in new lines injectors and such. So underbody will look as good as rest of the car when I am done...if I am ever done! Little did I know my OCD and rust would cause me to completely want to redo the underneath in it's entirety!

Battled for literally weeks on front lower A arms and getting rear rusted bolts out! What a royal pain in the A$$! Got a poly kit for front end a arms. It will be worth it but damn I sure dont wanna screw with this again...damn!

Fuel tank sanded...

To this POR-15 and top coated chassis coat black...

Dropped rear end and left driveshaft attached as no leaking seals and the 1350 U joints are perfect so why mess with it, and I can isntall just as easy with it attached. Completely sanded and Coated with POR-15...

Finally painted with chassis coat black and sterling silver on driveshaft. Gonna replace the chrome cover with a Moser aluminum girdle cover soon...

Ordered/received a rear CME from 6LE, the OEM style center mount exhaust tips polished, and the McNord blended rear bumper cover. Ordered/received a Spohn adjustable chrome moly mid-length torque arm, bracket with driveshaft loop, chrome moly shock tower brace, rear sway bar installation kit for the 12 bolt (doing it the right way). And some new hardware kits for existing suspension pieces as well. Ordered/received set of Bilstein (SLP valved) shocks on all four corners. Also, ordered/received a set of Eibach Sportline lowering springs.

Pic of the leather seat covers and a matching deck mat...had to have them! These will go great with paint scheme of the car. Spendy but well worth it!

Finally got around to POR-15 Chevy Orange on new rear calipers as well..

New GM front bumper cover. Old one was busted up underneath and stripes pealing. Decided gonna completely apply new stripes across car as they are flaking bad here and there...

Finally mounted the Nitto 555's on wheels. 275/40 ZR17s on 9.5" front wheels...

315/35 ZR1s on 11" rear wheels

**97Z4CZ28** · 10-23-2013, 12:38 PM

A few pics to update as to where I am at now. Still haven't started her up yet as I got sidetracked into completely redoing the entire underneath of the car before I can put it all back together! Only thing I have done is turn the crank over by hand. Only things I still need to order are new carpet, stainless brake hard lines, Stainless exhaust (decided to go true duals with X pipe and bullets to the CME) and other than some new bolts here and there, and few odds and ends I already have everything ready to go. Interior is completely out now as well. So slow but sure.

I decided to completely sand the entire underbody, prime with POR-15 and completely paint it with POR-15s Whitecoat. Other than a few places to touch up where I have already painted, all that is left is the rear wheel wells, top from above the driveshaft tunnel to the rear bumper area. This are still need to be finished sanding and primed/painted. I hope that my efforts are worthwhile in the end. It takes some time to do this right but should last a long time as well. Of course car will not see weather either and is garaged so should be easy to maintain. I have also decided that once done I am going to repaint the car and reapply new decals and clearcoat over them so they wont peel in the future as well. So here we go...

Powdercoated Upper Control Arms

Powdercoated Lower Control Arms

Spohn LCA Relocation Brackets Powdercoated

View of Underbody after completely sanded with a coat of Black POR-15 Applied. POR-15 Whitecoat being applied around edges. You can see where I left off.

View of Underbody after completely coating over POR-15 with Whitecoat. Still some places to touch up but you get the idea as to what i am trying to do now.

View of Drivers side rear

View of the driveshaft tunnel

View of trans tunnel area. new rear tailshaft seal to go in as well. Zip lock bag works good to catch trans fluid in jacking it up and down. Soon as I can get four new bolt will remount powdercoated trans crossmember and get rid of that dang jack that has been in my way for a few weeks now lol!

View of Passenger Side Underbody

Drivers Side LCA/frame rear area

**Ugod02010** · 10-27-2013, 07:09 PM

Bad ass!! This is absolutely my favorite Camaro ever!!! The arctic white/hugger orange is just awesome! U can see the car a mile away. I can't believe the work u have into this one. My new t/a project was gonna be a quick swap and run but after looking at these build threads I may take the time and build a show/driver