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    Results 761 to 780 of 808
    1. #761
      Join Date
      Sep 2009
      Posts
      2,695
      Country Flag: United States
      Thanks guys, the car really came together for me. It's a total blast to drive with all that torque.



      1955 Nomad project LC9, 4L80e, C5 brakes, Vision wheels
      1968 Camaro 6.2 w/ LSA, TR6060-Magnum hybrid and etc SOLD
      1976 T/A LS1 6 Speed, and etc. SOLD


    2. #762
      Join Date
      Mar 2009
      Posts
      107
      Bad ass numbers man! Its gotta be fun. Whats the weight? Did I miss that? My pickup should be making right around 1000hp now, but its over 4100lbs. I'm hoping for my camaro to be around that 550-600 mark.
      http://i133.photobucket.com/albums/q47/tim_bo16/004-24-1.jpg

    3. #763
      Join Date
      Jul 2018
      Posts
      433
      Those are great HP & TQ numbers.. gotta be a blast to drive

    4. #764
      Join Date
      Sep 2017
      Posts
      825
      Country Flag: United States
      Looking and sounding killer Ryan.
      Now you get to enjoy all the labor.
      I see too many people build and then sell with hardly any miles on them. It's crazy. I'm building mine to drive. And probably for a casket since there won't be any money left for one lol
      Tankmasterj
      TANKMASTERJ
      https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/...touring-Camaro
      Jasons Toys
      67 Camaro White Lightning LMR LS7 powered, Speed tech Front and Rear.
      2023 Rapid Blue ZL1 the Blue Devil
      2000 HD Softail
      1989 CBR Hurricane anniversary edition

    5. #765
      Join Date
      Sep 2009
      Posts
      2,695
      Country Flag: United States
      Haha, thanks Jason. As crazy as it sounds, I have considered selling it. I think I like building the cars as much, if not even a little more than driving them. Especially with the prices that the used car market is currently bringing...


      1955 Nomad project LC9, 4L80e, C5 brakes, Vision wheels
      1968 Camaro 6.2 w/ LSA, TR6060-Magnum hybrid and etc SOLD
      1976 T/A LS1 6 Speed, and etc. SOLD

    6. #766
      Join Date
      Sep 2009
      Posts
      2,695
      Country Flag: United States
      I haven't done anything with the car since the snow started flying here in NY. I've been planning out some smaller projects for this winter and found a few good deals on Black Friday.

      I'll start by saying a big thank you to EBC brakes! I entered a raffle on Camaros.net, and they picked me for a free set of front brake pads! They let me pick what I wanted so I went with the Red Stuff pads for my C6 Z51 brakes. Should make a difference with stopping power and they are supposed to have almost zero brake dust.





      This year I'm not planning on doing any big projects like last year; full engine rebuild, engine swap, trans rebuild, supercharger swap to name a few...

      One thing that did bother me last year was that my rear gears are too short now with the supercharger. After a lot of thought and calculations, I decided that I need a 3.42 rear gear instead of the 4.11's I'm running now. I need to get something taller, but unfortunately for me I opted for a 4 series carrier rather than the 3 series when I first built the rear diff. So that means that along with gears I also needed to buy a new carrier. I've only used a posi unit with clutches, but decided that this time I'd like to try a gear type carrier. While searching around for my options I found that for a few dollars more I could get an carrier with 33 splines. So what started as a gear swap, turned into a full upgrade. I bought a 33 spline Eaton TrueTrac, Richmond 3.42 gears, Timken master rebuild kit and a pair of Yukon direct replacement 33 spline axles.







      When I built my rear differential originally, I really wanted a TA cover but opted for the stock one due to my lack of budget. Since I was going to have the cover off anyway, I decided now was the time.



      The gear swap should only take a few weekends to finish, and I'll have to take my break in period in the spring.

      They haven't shipped yet, but I also picked up a set of DSE frame connectors for a really good price on Monday. That will be a much more involved project, but looks pretty straightforward. I'm going to take my time to ensure that my fitment is spot on. I've decided that I'm going to stick with my stock wheel tubs and figure out how to get it to hook. It may involve a set of 15" wheels and sticky tires.

      Cheers,
      Ryan


      1955 Nomad project LC9, 4L80e, C5 brakes, Vision wheels
      1968 Camaro 6.2 w/ LSA, TR6060-Magnum hybrid and etc SOLD
      1976 T/A LS1 6 Speed, and etc. SOLD

    7. #767
      Join Date
      Sep 2009
      Posts
      2,695
      Country Flag: United States
      As I do most nights, I was checking out FB marketplace to see if anything interesting was posted for sale. I found a guy who has posted up a pair of 18x9 Rocket Attack wheels with Falken 660 tires with about 1k miles on them. He was asking a really good price, but more than I wanted to spend. On a whim, I asked if he would be interested in my 12 bolt axles, carrier and gears. To my surprise he said yes, and after a little back and forth we traded on Saturday. The problem was everything was still installed in my car, so I had to rip it all out on Friday night.

      I was able to pull it all out in about 1.5 hours, so I was pretty happy about that. No real drama.



      Before I did the swap, I wanted to check a few things because when I was looking up the pros/cons of upgrading to a 33 spline axle in a 12 bolt one thing that came up was the weight of the axles. The guys were saying that the added weight in rotational mass may not be worth the added strength since the 30 splines are really strong anyway. What was great is I happen to have one stock 30 spline axle, one aftermarket 30 spline axle, and 2 aftermarket 33 spline axles. So I thought why not throw them on the sale and measure the diameter of the shafts.

      First up was the stock axle shaft. Weighed in at 14.2 lbs, and 1.26" in diameter the majority of the length of the shaft. It was hard to measure since it varied.



      Next was the aftermarket 30 spline axle. Weighed in at 14.8 lbs, and had a diameter of 1.32" until it gets close to the splined section where it necked down to 1.26"





      And lastly it was my new aftermarket 33 spline axles. Weighed in at 14.8 lbs. (although this didn't include the studs), and had the same 1.32" diameter the entire length of the shaft right to the splines. I'd guess that the studs will only add maybe another .2 lbs. so still very close to what an aftermarket 30 spline weighs.





      So the conclusion that I'm going to draw is that if you are upgrading to an aftermarket axle shaft, there is a minimal weight difference between the 30-33 spline axles. I received my studs and some brake line plugs on Sunday so hopefully I can pull the diff so that I can install the new gears up on my work bench rather than on my back.



      Oh, you guys probably want to see some pictures of the wheels.





      I really love the wheels, but I'm still unsure if they will actually work on the front unfortunately. They are 18x9 with a 4.5" backspacing and have a 255/35 front tire. I would feel much better with a 5" backspacing, but time will tell if they will work.









      I'd love some input from anyone who's run a similar wheel and/or tire size. Rolling the fender lip is out of the question, but I may consider notching the inner fender if necessary. I actually have fiberglass inner fenders so this wouldn't be too bad to modify. If I can get them to work, I'll sell my BMW wheels and then pick up a matching set for the rear in 18x11 with a pair of Falken 660's in 315 flavor! Fingers crossed.

      I'd also possibly be open to any creative options that I could do for relatively cheap to effectively increase my backspacing. Only thing I can think of is possibly running a different hub that could tuck the wheel in further, but that also creates other issues.

      Thanks,
      Ryan


      1955 Nomad project LC9, 4L80e, C5 brakes, Vision wheels
      1968 Camaro 6.2 w/ LSA, TR6060-Magnum hybrid and etc SOLD
      1976 T/A LS1 6 Speed, and etc. SOLD

    8. #768
      Join Date
      Apr 2001
      Location
      The City of Fountains
      Posts
      15,971
      Country Flag: United States
      Nice work Ryan.

      Very good info in the axle weight. As always, hard facts tend to contradict internet myth.

      Andrew
      1970 GTO Version 3.0
      1967 Cougar build
      GM High-Tech Performance feature
      My YouTube Channel Please Subscribe!
      Instagram @projectgattago
      Dr. EFI
      I deliver what EFI promises.
      Remote Holley EFI tuning.
      Please get in touch if I can be of service.

      "You were the gun, your voice was the trigger, your bravery was the barrel, your eyes were the bullets." ~ Her

    9. #769
      Join Date
      Jul 2018
      Posts
      433
      Those look great

    10. #770
      Join Date
      Sep 2009
      Posts
      2,695
      Country Flag: United States
      Pretty excited about this next update. I orders some frame connectors and mini-tubs from Detroit Speed. Thanks to MCB for being so easy to work with and having the best prices around. They said the wait for the 67-69 mini-tub kit was 3-4 weeks, but it showed up in 1 week the same day they said the frame connectors were to arrive. Thanks Kim and Melissa.







      I've also pulled the rear differential to get it prepped for the re-gear. It kinda feels like I'm going in the opposite direction, but it is progress. The new gears should make a big difference toward putting the power to the ground and the frequency that I was shifting. In case you missed it in an earlier post, I'm swapping out the 4.10 gears for 3.42 gears. When I originally ordered my Yukon Duragrip carrier, I went with a 4 series rather than the 3 series. So dropping down to a 3.42 gear meant that I needed a new carrier... Hindsight is 20/20 I suppose. I went back and forth between buying a 3 or 4 series a few years ago. But since I needed a new carrier anyway I decided to go with an Eaton TrueTrac and after looking around it was only a few dollars more to upgrade to 33 spline axles. When I originally put my differential together it had one stock axle and one aftermarket. I was planning on getting a new axle at some point anyway so this was an opportunity to get two new stronger axles at the same time. Differential kit with gears came from Quick performance and the axles were from Ron's Machine Shop. Best prices on the internet for both if you are in the market.





      I should have the differential together soon. I got the new Koyo bearings pressed on the carrier and pinion gear. Jim, I'll try and do a sort of step by step for you if I can.

      Cheers,
      ​​​​​​​Ryan


      1955 Nomad project LC9, 4L80e, C5 brakes, Vision wheels
      1968 Camaro 6.2 w/ LSA, TR6060-Magnum hybrid and etc SOLD
      1976 T/A LS1 6 Speed, and etc. SOLD

    11. #771
      Join Date
      Sep 2018
      Posts
      49
      You do GREAT work sir!

    12. #772
      Join Date
      Sep 2017
      Posts
      825
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by ryeguy2006a View Post
      Haha, thanks Jason. As crazy as it sounds, I have considered selling it. I think I like building the cars as much, if not even a little more than driving them. Especially with the prices that the used car market is currently bringing...
      Haha Ran I don't know about building being more fun than driving lol bjt yeah I love the build. You stand back every time you get something else done and and hell yeah I did that my way. And watching guys like you build it to the drive stage, then go back in and constantly make it better pushes us to do better in all stages. Your thread and car rocks
      Jason
      TANKMASTERJ
      https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/...touring-Camaro
      Jasons Toys
      67 Camaro White Lightning LMR LS7 powered, Speed tech Front and Rear.
      2023 Rapid Blue ZL1 the Blue Devil
      2000 HD Softail
      1989 CBR Hurricane anniversary edition

    13. #773
      Join Date
      Apr 2009
      Posts
      44
      Quote Originally Posted by ryeguy2006a View Post
      I appreciate the compliments. Hoping to get the rest of the materials to modify the tank soon.
      Hey just curious if you want to split up the Rocket Attacks. Shoot me a message to discuss. Thanks.

    14. #774
      Join Date
      Sep 2009
      Posts
      2,695
      Country Flag: United States
      Jason, Thank you for the compliments, but sometimes I think I have a problem haha.

      I was able to make some time here and there over the holiday break between visiting family to get the rear end set up. I'll do my best to do a quick write-up to hopefully give confidence to others to attempt. Really isn't that difficult with the rights parts and tools.

      I started by completely disassembling the differential and took it down to the carwash to get power washed. First step is getting the new bearings pressed onto the pinion gear and carrier. The gear kit that I bought came with brand new Koyo bearings with the master install kit.

      Before you can install the bearing on the pinion gear, you first need to add a shim. Best advice I've gotten was to start with the stock shim that came out of the differential. My stock shim was .0315, but if you don't have that shim my instructions that came with my kit said a stock 12 bolt shim is .030. So that would be a good starting point. I found two shims that came to .031 and used that as a starting point.





      I installed new bearings and races about 3500 miles ago, but if you are doing a complete rebuild, I would suggest knocking out the races and installing new at this point. Next I took my new pinion gear and installed it in the rear end without a crush sleeve. It's important at this step that you just snug the pinion down until there is no play in the bearings. Since there is no washer it would be very easy to get the bearings too tight and ruin them at this stage. Just get the pinion nut tight enough that the play front to back is gone and maybe a touch more to give it a bit of preload. But it doesn't take much. Spin it around to make sure there is no binding. It's also a good idea to put some gear oil on the bearings since they are brand new.



      I bought this handy tool to hold the yoke while I tightened the nut and it worked beautifully. I think it was from Ratech, but I can't remember. I used this for both tightening and loosening the pinion nut.

      Next up was installing the ring gear onto the carrier. I used a file on both the ring gear and carrier to make sure that the surface was completely clean and flat before installing the gear. I did actually find a little nick in the carrier surface that needed to be filed down. Would have definitely caused it to run out of true. This is an important step and is also in most instructions. The gear fought me a little getting lined up but just take your time and use a little heat. I used a small torch and lightly heated up the ring gear then made sure to get one bolt lined up and tapped it into place with a deadblow hammer. I know it's not recommended, but once I got a few of the bolts started I used them to pull the gear up flush. I only turned the bolts maybe a 1/4 turn at a time and went very slow to walk it up flush. Then I pulled all the bolts, added Loctite and torqued.





      I had planned on using my old shims, but realized that at some point the old shim pack had wiggled out of place and was contacting the axle. Not good, but glad I caught it when I did. I mention this because although my rear was making no noises, I think that I didn't have enough preload on my carrier bearings. Either that or the bearings weren't quite pressed on all the way. I was able to pull the carrier out of the rear without prying on it upon disassembly. I think what happened was a kept the shims loose enough that I could pull it in and out for the next step, but never added the shims back in to give pre-load. Gotta post the good with the bad.



      Next was to get the carrier installed in the rear to see what adjustments need to be made. What I did was kept the old shims labeled from when I disassembled earlier on. I measured those shims and use that measurement as a starting point. What's nice about these new shim packs is that they use a capture style setup, so they become almost one piece once installed.



      When I used the measurements from the last go around, I found that I needed to add several shims to get the tight preload needed for the carrier bearings. I wasn't taking any chances this time and decided to get them tight from the start even if it's more challenging to get in and out. Initially I was pretty close and had a backlash of .016, but we are shooting for between .007-.009 since my gears and bearings are new.



      The instructions said that you need to move in increments of .003 to notice a difference, so I kept moving .005 since that was the smallest shim I had in those packs. I kept fighting with the shims because when I would swap the .005 from side to side, it would either be .006 or .011. So I measured all of my shims and played around with it and got it to .010. I decided that it was good enough. So I painted the gears with the yellow paint to see where my pattern was. The instructions I had gave a ton of scenarios for what was acceptable and mine look good according to the pictures. pattern is mostly centered top bottom and left right on the gear faces.





      Then I blew everything apart to prep for final assembly. I pulled off the yoke applied silicone to the splines and both sides of the washer. This time I installed my old crush sleeve and put it all back together with Loctite on the pinion nut. If you are using a new crush sleeve you have to get ready to crush it. It takes something like 400 lb ft to get it to crush so make sure you eat your Wheaties. I re-used my crush sleeve since it was new and still had tons of tension. As a matter of fact it had so much that I had to crush it more to get the 14-19 in lb rotational torque. I used that yoke holder and added a bar for more leverage. I don't have a dial style torque wrench for in lb, but have a bar style and click type. I used both of those to check one another and I feel confident my settings are good.

      After I got the pinion nut torqued I reinstalled the carrier with the shim packs and tapped it all back into place. Torqued the carrier caps and I got lucky or something because when I rechecked the backlash, I was right on .009! I'd rather have mine on the loose side anyway than too tight.





      Then with it all torqued down, I test fit my TA cover. Looks really good now! I've always wanted one of those covers and so glad I went for it this time around.





      It's not quite done yet because I still need to paint the raw steel ends of my axles then install with the c-clips and center plug. Once that's done though I can button it all back up and put it back in the car. I first need to find someone to help me get it off my work bench. It's way heavier now that it's fully loaded!

      I also want to say that the car community is so great. Thanks to a fellow member of Camaros.net who sent me some parts he won't be using. Thanks Frank!! It's a set of 67 spring perches for running my springs inboard. These should work perfectly for me.



      I also need to re-clock my brake line tabs since they were hitting the exhaust. I didn't realize that, so I will just move them down more in line with the stock brake line tabs. Then I can get the rear back under the car and start on the frame connectors.

      Cheers,
      Ryan


      1955 Nomad project LC9, 4L80e, C5 brakes, Vision wheels
      1968 Camaro 6.2 w/ LSA, TR6060-Magnum hybrid and etc SOLD
      1976 T/A LS1 6 Speed, and etc. SOLD

    15. #775
      Join Date
      Sep 2009
      Posts
      2,695
      Country Flag: United States
      Continuing on the assembly of my rear differential, I installed and torqued down my ARP Wheel studs to match the front. I've never used a screw in stud before, but according to Yukon I added some high strength thread locker and torqued to 90 lb ft. I actually used 95 lbs just because. Before that I also cleaned up the mating surfaces since they were raw uncoated. I just found some gray paint that I had left over.





      Once they were installed, I put the C Clips in and the puck that comes with the TrueTrac. I really like that little puck instead of the pin in the Eaton copy because there is hardly any endplay in the axles now. I also like how the puck is retained in the carrier with the clip. Very nice design overall.





      Another little adjustment that I needed to make was how I mounted the brake lines. Where they were on the top of the axle housing rubbed on the exhaust tail pipes, which I didn't realize until I was taking out the differential. So I cut them off and rotated down where the stock lines would have been. I didn't get a picture, but because of the relocation, I had to bend up some new lines to meet up. Both ended up a little short so I used some extra line I had.







      Once the new lines were finished, back in the car she goes. Just needs to be filled with oil and that's a done deal.



      Good news is that the Rocket wheels fit the rear! So they will work for rears if someone is interested.



      Now that the rear is back together, it's time to start on the frame connectors! Out goes the interior. I'll need to modify the rear seat frames anyway for the mini-tubs so I needed the back seats out anyway.





      First up before I did any cutting was to make sure that the frame was square. Now I thought it was good to go, but I never had a tape measure on it. Glad I did because I was out of square by about 3/16". Also the frame measured 1/2" more forward on the passenger side from the same reference point on the rear frame. I basically loosened up 3 body bolts and the 2 core support bolts. I left the short side rear frame bolt tight, then pulled on the passenger side wheel with some jackstands under the body and the weight taken off the frame. Worked great. I had to do that twice to get it to move enough, but after that I was 1/16" out of square, and the frame was only 1/16" forward now. Close enough for me.



      Cut out my templates and laid them out roughly where they will go.





      So because I had to take out the battery and battery tray to get to the core support bolts I figured I'd also install my new coolant overflow tank. It's from a 75-79 Chevy Nova and fits really nicely in the passenger fender space that is unoccupied.





      It has a nice single mounting tab that meets up nicely with the ridge on the passenger fender too.





      Almost invisible now. You can see the old overflow I had. When I had my 14" fan it was tucked down nice and low, but after the C7 fan was installed, I had to relocate to the fender brace temporarily.



      Here's what it looked like before. Not a great picture, but you can see it doesn't flow in that location.



      That's all for now. Hoping to start on the passenger side frame connector tonight.

      Cheers,
      Ryan


      1955 Nomad project LC9, 4L80e, C5 brakes, Vision wheels
      1968 Camaro 6.2 w/ LSA, TR6060-Magnum hybrid and etc SOLD
      1976 T/A LS1 6 Speed, and etc. SOLD

    16. #776
      Join Date
      Sep 2009
      Posts
      2,695
      Country Flag: United States
      I've been plugging away working on the frame connectors. I made some good progress so I'll post up some pictures. I can't just take a weekend and knock them out, so I'm posting up the progress I make in 1-2 hour sessions.

      Once I got the templates laid out, I scribed the lines and made the cuts. Now since my interior is completely installed, I had to get creative on how to avoid damaging it. Since we regularly get large boxes from Target, I decided to use one for a "tent" and keep the sparks inside this little box.



      Then I cut out these seat plates to get to the cuts underneath.





      The overall fitment is pretty good for the first test fit. I do have a few gaps larger than I would have liked, but nothing that can't be fixed. What I used for my first cut was a 3' long metal ruler and made sure to line up the template on the bottom with the ruler to connect the rear frame rail with the front. That way I knew that my one line was very straight. I then trimmed with a pair of metal shears until I could fit the connector up.



      DSE makes the connectors a little long on the front so that you can trim to fit closely to your frame. they say it should be 1/2" from the front of the frame connector to the back of the sub-frame. I used my handy bandsaw which made really nice clean cuts.



      Tacked the end cap in place and then fully welded it up. I had to play around with my settings at first so there were a few more stitches than I wanted, but great penetration so It's all good.





      I then test fit the frame plates and assumed they were all the same at first, but they aren't. Make sure that you are using the inner/outer when you mock them up. The ends of the sub-frame are just slightly different.



      I clamped them in place and made sure it had a really tight fit. Then put some tack welds on to hold them in place.







      I then repeated the process on the driver's side. Everything was the same with one exception, the rear frame rail fitment. The passenger side was nice and tight and the width was going to tie in nicely. Once welded and flap disked, it will blend in very seamlessly. However, the driver's side was about 3/16" too wide at the taper.



      That gap was too large to overcome, so I had to modify it. Wasn't really expecting to do that, but we are building custom cars so not completely out of left field. I measured the amount that I needed to narrow it, then cut a pie shaped piece out of it. That large metal ruler came in handy for this too.



      Note that I added two reference lines to put the frame rail in the same spot. After I increased the taper, it fit just like the other side.



      Welded up the seam and hit with the flap disk until it disappeared.



      At this point both sides have been mocked up and fit pretty good. Time to get the frame plates welded to the frame connectors. I stopped over to my dad's for that though since he has a bigger welder that can weld the 1/4" frame plates to the 1/8" connectors.

      I still need to play around with his welder since I don't use it all the time. His welder has always had way more welding spatter than mine. I had to chisel them off and grind smooth when I got home. One of these days I'll get a larger welder.





      This was my best weld for the day, definitely need more practice.



      Then yesterday I was able to get some time in the garage I got the frame connectors welded to my frame. I welded them on the outside and inside.



      They tuck up really nicely. I'm really happy that I went with these connectors. They are definitely more involved to install, but I think will do a better job of tying the frames together.





      I still need to weld the frame rails to the torque box and inside on the floor pans. As well as a few other areas, but I'm hoping to get that all done this week. Then I can paint and seam seal.

      I'll be happy to get this project done and out the way.

      Cheers,
      Ryan


      1955 Nomad project LC9, 4L80e, C5 brakes, Vision wheels
      1968 Camaro 6.2 w/ LSA, TR6060-Magnum hybrid and etc SOLD
      1976 T/A LS1 6 Speed, and etc. SOLD

    17. #777
      Join Date
      Jul 2018
      Posts
      433
      Very nice work

    18. #778
      Join Date
      Dec 2008
      Location
      Detroit
      Posts
      2,584
      Country Flag: United States
      Nice Progress!!!
      Big dreams, small pockets....

      Chris--
      '72 Cutlass S LSA/T56 Magnum
      Bowler Performance, Rushforth Wheels, ATS, Holley EFI, KORE3, Ridetech

      Project Motor City Madness

    19. #779
      Join Date
      Apr 2001
      Location
      The City of Fountains
      Posts
      15,971
      Country Flag: United States
      Well done Ryan!

      Andrew
      1970 GTO Version 3.0
      1967 Cougar build
      GM High-Tech Performance feature
      My YouTube Channel Please Subscribe!
      Instagram @projectgattago
      Dr. EFI
      I deliver what EFI promises.
      Remote Holley EFI tuning.
      Please get in touch if I can be of service.

      "You were the gun, your voice was the trigger, your bravery was the barrel, your eyes were the bullets." ~ Her

    20. #780
      Join Date
      Sep 2018
      Posts
      49
      Great work Ryan!
      Inspiring to follow your progress.

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