1968 Camaro Resto-mod 6.0/6 speed; Project Penny Pincher

[ryeguy2006a]

Ok, time for an update! I've mostly been driving the car and tweaking my tunes to get the car to perform how I want it. I'm no professional by any stretch of the imagination, but I've got the car running pretty good. One little detail was just not right for me however. The engine wasn't building boost the way that I was expecting and to be honest, I was a little disappointed. It didn't want to build any boost over 100 kpa (0 psi, WOT, or atmosphere) in gears 1, 2, or 3. It would start to build about 4-5 psi in 4th gear, and I would see full boost 11-12 psi (180ish KPA) in 5th and 6th. While glad to see the boost numbers, the upper gears aren't ideal for building the boost on the street. After spending hours reading on the internet and the owner of Boost District, Roshan and I did a video chat. Can't say enough good things about that customer service, especially since I wasn't even a customer of his! Would direct anyone to his site if you are thinking of an LSA supercharger, or parts for one.

During the chat he had me do a few diagnostic checks and confirmed that everything was functioning correctly. I was leaning toward it, but he was convinced that it was a weak bypass valve that was causing the issue. Basically anytime the vacuum drops below about 70kpa, the motor should be building boost. That generally comes on right off of idle around 1200-1500 rpm.

I bought a new Bypass valve and compared it with the old one. While the old one looked to be in good shape, the spring tension on the new was noticeably more stiff and did hold the vacuum better. I got it installed Saturday afternoon and took it around the block for a test drive. Now, with the old bypass the thought went through my mind, "What is all the fuss over these superchargers?". After the new fully functioning bypass installed I totally understand what the fuss is all about. It felt like a completely different car and was blowing the tires on command. I was starting to build boost right off of idle, and would quickly ramp up to 200 kpa (14psi) in any gear now. What a simple fix and what a night and day difference! I only got a chance to do a quick drive, but what a difference that made. I'm not 110% happy with this swap, and is fully meeting my expectations of what the LSA supercharger would do. Time to change my pants and get more seat time, haha.

Earlier in the week I was browsing the Holley FB posts and came across a guy selling a Terminator X Max ECU and wideband sensor for not much more than a new stock X ECU. Both were new and never installed because he immediately upgraded to Dominator. I sent him a message and he came down on his price even more, so I bought it. When I first bought my Terminator X, I didn't go with the X Max because I had no plans to go DBW or Auto trans, but what I didn't realize until afterwards that you can easily use the speed sensor input for the auto trans for the T56. The trouble with the VSS signal with the T56 is that Holley won't read a VR sine wave signal, but would need a square wave signal to read properly. But the X Max can read that signal. What it is important for me is now I can easily use an output to control my Reverse Lockout. I can also now upgrade to use the DBW throttlebody in the future. I have the pedal and TB, just need the harness to complete.



Here is a J4 connector and pins so that I can give Holley the VSS signal from my trans. I also found out that pin B17 is an input for the trans temperature and because my TR6060 hybrid trans has a temp sensor on it, I'm going to tap into it and see if it will read properly.



When I build my glove box panel, it was just big enough for the base X ECU, but the X Max is a little over 2" longer so I had to modify my panel. It's not pretty, but it is hidden. Had to drill some holes to access the upper mounting holes for the ECU.





All tucked away and reinstalled. It took a little bit of playing around, but I got the settings right to have the ECU read speed and the reverse lockout functions just like stock. Love that!!



I also ordered a set of 3" mandrel bent tailpipes for 67-69 Camaro hoping that they would be able less work to bolt in. Wrong, they didn't even come close with my mufflers. Now I need to decide if I want to get new mufflers and then make it all work, or add these tailpipes to what I have now. Flowmaster super 60's. My car sounds amazing, but is just too loud. I need to quiet it way down. Any muffler suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Leaning towards Hooker Aeroflow.





Lastly for this update, I noticed after my drive Saturday that my shifter is now leaking... It's a Hurst Blackjack shifter and I love the feel of how it shifts and is very precise. I'm going to call them to see what can be done to fix this leak. I think it's coming up the seal and into the top cup. It's on top of the shifter plate, so I'm confident it's not the shifter base seal. The top plate comes off with 4 allen keys, so I'm going to pull that off and see if I can possibly clean it up and seal with silicone or what Holley tech has to say.







Hopefully I can get my mufflers quieted down, seats bolted back in and can take the family out for a cruise. I have about 30 more miles before I change out the break in oil and cut open the oil filter. The motor feels really tight, but I want to cut the filter just to know what's going on inside the motor.

Cheers,
​​​​​​​Ryan