project car: 94 z/28 m6

Ok, so I am finally posting a build thread for my car. It is a 94 z/28 Camaro m6 that I bought in November 2012 for $1500. The guy i bought it off said he had blown the original motor and swapped in a lt1 out of an 95 impalla ss and hadnt driven it much after the swap. so i test drove it a bunch and decided to buy it as a project. well halfway home the motor started to develop a ticking noise. i got it home and started trying to diagnose what the noise was as well as doing the usual tune up items and fluid changes. i did a valve adjustment and that seemed to get rid of the noise for the most part. then it started eating through belts like crazy the more i drove it and i figured out that the harmonic balancer was sticking out about a half inch further that the accessories causing the belt to get kicked off. i did some research and found that the crank hub on an impalla pushes the balancer out farther than the f-body hub does. the car already had a K&N intake, edelbrock shorties, magnaflow cat back and a stage 2 ebay clutch. the plan for the car is to be a weekend toy and i want to get into autocross/roadracing with it at some point as well. it will rarely see the dragstrip at all as it will be setup for handling, but it would be fun to see what it runs though.

i will try to bring it up to the present state, but here are some pics of the car when i first got it home
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...ps17eba0e4.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0e92b659.jpg

i decided to pull the motor over the winter and swap in a 383 ltx long block that was built by golen engines here in NH. here are some pics of the
teardown and removal of the motor
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...ps34306e01.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...ps30830317.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...pseaa25b19.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3c87c106.jpg

motors out!
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8ba6bf22.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...psa5324fe5.jpg

heads/intake off
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...ps70f6ce04.jpg

the new motor has the stock aluminum heads and intake that have been ported and have new springs/valves installed, a cast scat crank, with scat forged i-beam rods and wiseco forged pistons at 9.5:1 compression, along with comp 1.6rr and a custom comp cam (214/224, 555/568, lsa 115). i plan on putting a d1sc @8lbs on it at some point but for now will be running it n/a while i build the drive train and suspension to support that.
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...psd8a3ee61.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8921bddc.jpg

then i assembled the new front end which consists of a BMR tubular k-member, upper and lower adjustable a-arms, and a set of double adjustable viking coilovers with the 550lb springs. i blasted and painted the upper mount and spindles and put new timken hubs on
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1d1dad1b.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...ps67460742.jpg

trans bolted back up. i decided to put the ebay clutch back on since it was brand new and i figured i would give it a try since i have it
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7d9bb99e.jpg

pacesetter longtubes installed, much easier than doing it when the motor is in the car as well as a BMR trans crossmember with torque arm mount and a hust shifter
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3ec79497.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...psc99cebd7.jpg

lowering the car onto the subframe
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...ps968ad684.jpg

aaand its in!
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...ps2f9d2ad1.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...pse11168ac.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...psc4ad8f0d.jpg

this is my brake setup: stock, repainted calipers with EBC redstuff pads and rotors. i will be getting the same setup for the rear as well. when these wear out i will look into a big brake setup, but for now this will do just fine.
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...psd20a9785.jpg

i have the radiator and fans reinstalled, BBK 58mm TB installed, brake lines hooked back up (need to bleed them), tick master installed (need to bleed), i have the viking rear coilover kit with 150lb springs from UMI on the way, BMR adjustable panhard bar installed and a set of their adj lower control arms waiting to go on, strano hollow sways, a set of bosch 42lb injectors, and the drive shaft is in. that brings it up to the present.

let me know what you guys think or if you have any suggestions!

i am trying to get the car done and driving for when the snow melts, which should be in the next month or so. i still have to hook up the engine harness, top off fluids, bleed the brakes and clutch, find a set of valve covers that will clear the roller rockers (thinking cantons) install my alt and belt, finish up the exhaust (install ORY, cutout and magnaflow cat back), install the SLP CAI i got off a member here and get a tune. over the summer i will update the wheels with a set of black c6 zo6 18x10.5s on all four corners from OE wheels and 295/35s tires.

future plans are an aluminum driveshaft, moser 12 bolt rear with 4.10s and LSD, big brake kit, McLeod RXT clutch when the ebay one goes, a cowl hood (still deciding on what brand, leaning towards a harwood), install my Mcnord lt1 front bumper and SS wing and paint the car. then farther down the road i want to put a d1sc supercharger kit on with FMIC at around 8lbs of boost. will probably go with e85 and meth for fuel with dual in tank walbro 255s.

damn nice work. not wasting any time.

thanks! yea i didnt waste any time at first, but now i am dragging my heals....i hadnt touched the car in 3 months until last weekend when i did work on it for a couple hours and got some small stuff done. i think once the weather warms up a bit, i can get motivated to work on it again and get it done and driving

looking very good!

Wow... great coverage of ur build. Nicely documented. What do u plan on doing for tuning.

LTXtech.com is my DRUG!

thanks guys! i plan on getting it dyno tuned at a local shop that does a lot of gm/lsx tuning. i still want to talk with them some more to make sure they know what they're doing around an ltx though, but they said they've done a couple so im hoping they are good. so we'll see

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hokeplaya05

thanks guys! i plan on getting it dyno tuned at a local shop that does a lot of gm/lsx tuning. i still want to talk with them some more to make sure they know what they're doing around an ltx though, but they said they've done a couple so im hoping they are good. so we'll see

---

What shop?

granite state dyno and tune

small update....got my viking rear coilovers in the other day with the UMI kit. not sure when i will be installing them, but hope to get back to work on the car this weekend, if it doesnt rain

lookin good

thanks!

got a set of canton VC's on monday, so i will be putting them on this weekend and attempt to start hooking the engine harness back up and who knows maybe get crazy and get the exhaust installed as well.

man i need some motivation to finish this thing up lol:banghead:

spent all day saturday working on the car, i cleaned up, removed A/C wires/connectors, re-loomed and reinstalled the engine harness. also got the cantons installed along with the alt and belt. i will be getting fluids tomorrow, and also some caps to cap off most of the water pump since i removed the unused hoses that went to a/c and the oil cooler. so providing that i can get all the caps i need, i can fill the block with coolant and top off the oil. i still need to bleed the clutch and brakes and install the exhaust, and i also have a set of stainless brake lines coming along with a 160 degree t-stat and a ls1 driveshaft i got off a member here. so hopefully in the next two weeks i will be able to start it!

here are some pics i took this weekend
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...psf3kihcmj.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...pskzyuutq7.jpg

and one more thing, my steering shaft is about an inch to short on the steering shaft....i think it is because of the BMR k-member. anyone have this issue after installing a BMR k-memeber and how to fix this? i sent BMR an email and havent heard anything back yet.
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...ps48303f3f.jpg

got my stainless brake hoses and thermostat in yesterday and the ls1 driveshaft in today, so friday i will be installing those and install the exhaust and bleed the clutch and breaks. havent gotten fluids yet, maybe tomorrow

Nice progress man. Don't know anyone who has had the K-member issue

thanks man! yea BMR says it happens a couple times a year to 4th gen cars and they usually have people send the steering shaft to them and they lengthen it for them no charge, so i will look at it tomorrow and if cant get it to work, i will send it to them to fix. kinda sucks though since i cant really move the car around much since i cant steer it...

got my steering shaft installed finally, never heard back from BMR so i decided to order the rag joint eliminator kit from unbalanced engineering and that seemed to do the trick, guess it was a combo of the k-member and a sloppy rag joint

got my PCM back from PCM for less, needed to get it tuned and figured i could go that route for now until i can throw it on a dyno for a tune, or possibly tune it myself, havent decided yet. working on the car when i have time....getting closer!

i would tune it yourself. just start reading up on it, make small changes and log. takes time but nice to be able to make changes later if you need to.
just get a wideband o2.


let me know how the stainless lines do, i'm going to replace mine since they have been dry for a few years and was thinking about upgrading.

yea, i am kinda leaning toward doing it myself. i just installed new o2 sensors on it, but i highly doubt they are wideband, will have to look into it. definately will have to do a lot of research on the self tuning, since i have no experience with tuning at all, but it would be cool to get good at it. but for the time being, the PCM for less tune shoud suffice

i got the russell kit and have only looked at it, but im not sure the kit will work. gotta figure that out, hopefully tonight

long overdue update... i have been working on the car a lot more lateley, trying to get it running and on the road by sept 1st because i am sick of looking at it in my barn and want to drive it lol. i have the exhaust bolted in for the final time (had to test fit and have the cutout welded into the catback) and put in the BMR adj rear lower control arms. i have pulled out the rear swaybar, shocks and springs and tonight will install the coilovers and new stainless braided barke lines and after changing the rear diff fluid, i can install the strano rear sway to match the front that is already installed and that will finish off the rear suspension. i have a new walbro 255 fuel pump and new fuel filter to install, going to do the fuel trap door mod for the pump and drain the 89 octane fuel that is in the tank now while i am at it since i need 93. that is all the big stuff that i need to get done along with some small wiring and stuff it should be good to start.

along with that stuff, i have also done some asthetic stuff as well. i installed the ss spoiler that i plasti dipped untill i can get the whole car painted and also got my new Weld RTS wheels in on monday. they are 18x10.5 with nitto nt-05 295/35/18s for all four corners. here are some pics of the wheels and spoiler.
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...psenjlt7pu.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...pskbacznzp.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...psv8spiti6.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...psp3p0ccj2.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...psyoej84xp.jpg

hopefully more updates to come in the next week or so!

just a word of advise... your concrete blocks are laying sideways... there much stronger laying with the holes vertical instead of horizontal

Thanks for the advise! It was only temporary, but I will remember that for next time

so rear suspension is done! although in process of instalin the stainless braided lines, i bitched up the hardlines so now i need to replace those. did the trap door mod over the weekend and pulled out the sending unit to put the walbro 255 in. in process of putting it back together now, but need an adhesive that is gas resistant to seal the white bucket the pump sits in. anybody have any suggestions?? also the tank has less than 1/4 tank of 87 in it, so i am just going to put in 93 since i dont feel like siphoning that small amount of gas out. is that ok to do?? so once i figure out the adhesive thing, i can put it all back together and getting very close to start up!

here are some pics of the trap door mod:
marked and cut initially as a rectangle, but found it really tough to get to the line connections, so i cut out the L-shape and that made it much easier to access the lines.
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...psxtsrvo36.jpg
a little liquid courage lol
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...pspoxwz9rs.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...psa83fy47m.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6kqvawpe.jpg

i will get some more pics of the progress tonight

trap door mod finished up. used an .025 sheet of aluminum and #10 sheet metal screws
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...psjoldsp2m.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...psiufidjdk.jpg

working on small stuff now, wiring up the cutout, need to grease the ball joints and tierod ends, final torque all the new suspension parts with the suspension loaded, check and top off fluids, put some 93 octane in it and the brake lines. then it will be fire up time!

very nice... first person that realized a trap door would save so much time was a genius!

you can say that again! lol was a lot easier than i expected, worst thing was finding glue for the white fuel pump bucket thing that was gas resistant. was also a bit nerveracking using the cut off wheel over the tank with sparks flying, but no explosions to report!

The Car is looking good. I had the same feeling when cutting above the fuel tank. Had my friend stand by with a fire extinguisher.

thanks man! looks like i will be doing the brakelines myself, gonna order the lines tonight and get them bent up, then bring them to a local shop to have them flared and instal the fittings. will be the last major thing to do

ended up bending up my own brake lines, bought some stainless coiled line and bent it up myself last night, then brought it to my mechanic today to do the double flare since i dont have the tool to do it myself. installed the lines tonight and went to bleed the brakes and snapped the bleeder valve, so now i will have to fix that tomorrow and get the brakes bled and then it is start time!

ok so got the brakelines installed and bled last night and everything else was done so i tried to start the car for the first time. needless to say i couldnt get it to start, it would crank and crank, then backfire through the intake and make a grinding noise when it backfires, which tells me that it is out of time, not really sure what the grinding noise it htough. i am going to check the plug wire routing tonight (which i am 95% sure it is right) to make double sure it is right and take a look at the starter while i am under there. but i am thinking that when i put the opti in, i might have put it in 180 degrees out. is there any way to check this without tearing apart the front of the motor?

started the car for the first time saturday! chased down the problem and found i had no spark, so i pulled the opti off and found some moisture and corrosion inside so i bought an MSD vented opti and a delco coil (had an MSD coil on it before that the PO put on) and put them in. hit the key and it fired right up! wouldnt stay running unless i held the gas (new TB idle stop hasnt been adjusted), but i was able to drive it out under its own power into the driveway. didnt have time to mess with it too much saturday, do going to mess with the idle screw and get the motor broken in tonight. i snapped some pictures, pardon the dust since this is the first time it has been out of the barn in 2 years and i havent gotten a chance to clean it or even put the hood on. going to lower it another half inch or so as well, enjoy!

http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...pssx1ysy7n.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3lfyhoit.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...psptvx2dop.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...psv6hfceit.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...pspshc3srq.jpg
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...psri4elx0k.jpg

Looks good man, but don't trust that msd opti as far as you can throw it. I love that blue with the welds

Looks great man.

thanks guys! tubby- have you had issues with the MSD unit? i was depating whether to go with a delco unit or the MSD. i didnt hear anything bad about the MSD when i was comparing the two, plus my car didnt have any of the vent tubing and i saw that the MSD unit came with the tubing i needed. i got the idle figured out, i guess i forgot to plug the hole on the front of the intake under the TB and that is what was causing my idle problems. so now the car runs and idles perfectly, gonna break it in tonight when i get out of work

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by hokeplaya05

thanks guys! tubby- have you had issues with the MSD unit? i was depating whether to go with a delco unit or the MSD. i didnt hear anything bad about the MSD when i was comparing the two, plus my car didnt have any of the vent tubing and i saw that the MSD unit came with the tubing i needed. i got the idle figured out, i guess i forgot to plug the hole on the front of the intake under the TB and that is what was causing my idle problems. so now the car runs and idles perfectly, gonna break it in tonight when i get out of work

---

Yes, tons of issues, to the point that after 3 rebuilds on it in 4 months from them I sold it to someone for the cost of shipping and bought an unvented delco, no issues since from what the new owner said. Remember, stock unvented optis still went 100k before failing, my msd failed 3 times after 10 minutes of running.

thanks for the info, i will keep an eye on it

motor is all broken in, took it for a short drive up and down my road and all is good. going to get it to an alignment on friday, then it should be good to go!! so excited to drive this thing!

got the alignment friday and drove it all weekend. car runs good and handles like it is on rails. still have to do some minor adjusting to the coilovers to get the ride perfect and also lower it a bit more. it is really fun on the street, not really beating on it yet though. i am hoping to be able to drive it some more before it snows and i put it away for the winter, but so happy it is running and driving! snapped a picture while i was out cruising sat night, i plan on removing the pin stripe and the door moldings toohttp://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...psi4mylsuq.jpg

drove the car for the last time today and was racing the snow on my way home and lost, car is now stowed away in the barn for the winter, will be throwing the stock wheels/tires on for the winter storage. snapped a pic on my way home after it had started snowing
http://i1175.photobucket.com/albums/...psfxiqgugp.jpg