1970 GTO Version 2.0

[andrewb70]

Im going through this with the SPC upper A arms. Cross shaft is black oxide and 2 weeks outside covered with no rain and they are completely rusted.

I am not surprised at all. Black oxide was never intended to be a rust proof coating. You can take the crossshafts off and either paint or powdercoat them. I am sure that the rust is not deep and will easily come off with some sanding or sand blasting.

Andrew

[93Polo]

Thanks for the compliment Chris. If you do get the spring adjusters, I suggest using some thrust bearings between the springs and the adjusters.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HAL-7888-109/

They will make adjustments a lot easier. I wish I had done this when I installed them...

Andrew

I was just reading about these did you go with the setup that has shims or without?

[andrewb70]

I was just reading about these did you go with the setup that has shims or without?

I used the thrust bearings on the front coilover kit, not on the rear. I definitely should have used them on the rear as well. Luckily when I had the car corner scaled the rear's did not need a lot of adjustment as it would have been very hard to do without the thrust bearings.

Andrew

[mikes2nd]

One quick question.

I think I am going with the Holley oil pan.

Did you check around with your oil pan? The oil pans for the ls3 are "structural" so I am leery going with the stamped pans...

I think that stamped pan has a little better baffling though...

http://holley.com/302-1.asp

[andrewb70]

One quick question.

I think I am going with the Holley oil pan.

Did you check around with your oil pan? The oil pans for the ls3 are "structural" so I am leery going with the stamped pans...

I think that stamped pan has a little better baffling though...

http://holley.com/302-1.asp

I started this swap in 2008 and at the time there were few options. The Holley pan is great and has good baffling.

Andrew

[Later-A-body]

You can also look into running the MAST oil pan. It is cast aluminum like the factory pans, not stamped. More rigid. I am using that pan on my build.

[dontlifttoshift]

Just and FYI, unless they changed it the holley pan has no baffling. https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...oil+pan+holley

[andrewb70]

Just and FYI, unless they changed it the holley pan has no baffling. https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...oil+pan+holley

I guess it's all how you define "baffling." The Holley pan has the plate at the top of the oil level that will keep oil from sloshing around. It looks like the Mast pan has some vertical ribs that might control the oil movement a little better. My AutoKraft pan has a box around the pickup with trap doors that control oil movement. No baffling to me means just an open pan.

Andrew

[mikes2nd]

The holley pan has baffling and nothing stopping you from adding more baffling. The mast pan just has two other ridges in the bottom. But the price is a little higher... I think the holley pan clears the frame better.

I might go mast since it has the oil cooler holes already in place, you have to buy the fitting off them though... Don't know why that is but hey. Oh wait the Holley has the oil cooler ports also...

Anyone who says holley isnt baffled is uninformed

the holley does not have the original electric oil level sensor hole.

[Grim]

Still sopping up the drool out of the keyboard after reading the thread.

Just out of curiosity does the shifter for the Richmond come up in the stock location?

My 70 has a factory console that I'd like to keep.

Even with a 3.23 I'm cranking 2950 rpm at 70mph and I just hate keeping the 400 spun up that high on the hwy. The 3.23 is brutal on the clutch (munci 3 speed). Really liking the 3.73 and the .62 OD I believe I read you are running. Sounds much more well rounded (and better MPG) then what I have now.

[andrewb70]

Still sopping up the drool out of the keyboard after reading the thread.



Just out of curiosity does the shifter for the Richmond come up in the stock location?

My 70 has a factory console that I'd like to keep.

Even with a 3.23 I'm cranking 2950 rpm at 70mph and I just hate keeping the 400 spun up that high on the hwy. The 3.23 is brutal on the clutch (munci 3 speed). Really liking the 3.73 and the .62 OD I believe I read you are running. Sounds much more well rounded (and better MPG) then what I have now.

The shifter on the Richmond comes out about 4 inches further back than the Muncie 4 speed shifter, so the factory shifter hump will not work. I had the original shifter hump moved further back and do not have a console. I like the clean look without the console with just a simple trim ring around the shifter boot.

An O.D. is definitely the way to go if you actually want to drive the car for any extended distances.

Andrew

[andrewb70]

For the sake of continuity I wanted to post an update to what's been happening with my car. Since doing the LS swap, I really haven't been able to do many events due to the circumstances in my life. Also, the car has been in storage, with the kindness of friends, but I now have the car with me in Memphis. Back in March I looked at the schedule of events at Memphis International Raceway, and I noticed that the local BMW club holds regular autocrosses at the track. My girlfriend and I attended the March autocross hosted by the Rivercity Bimmers. As it turned out, any car is welcome to participate and the guys were all very friendly. We decided that for the next event we would bring the GTO and participate in the fun.

Yesterday was a gorgeous day. We finally had a break from the rains and the temperature was in the high 60s. There was a slight breeze, but overall, it was a great day. The course wasn't really a true autocross. There is actually a road course setup at MIR and the autocross used a section of the road course for sections of the track. It was very fast and a lot of fun. Cars were a mix of BMWs, a Miata, and a small contingent of Subarus.

The fast time of the day was set by a lightly modified Subaru STi. He ran the course in 56.xx seconds. My first run of the day was 1:04.xx, but as I got more familiar with the course and got a few pointers from a more experienced driver, I was able to get down under a minute. My best run was 59.xx, at which point I called it a day. This was about as much fun as I have had for 30 bucks...

I had a car mount for my cell phone, and I was able to capture some decent videos of my runs. I made a compilation of a several runs. Enjoy!



Andrew

[droptop73]

That looked like a fun day Andrew.

[andrewb70]

I have a curse. It is the same curse that inflicts many of you. This curse makes people crazy and makes them do things for no apparent reason. I am speaking of the inability to leave well enough alone. My car is fine. It drives great, runs hard, brakes well. But I can't leave it alone.

I have never been 100% satisfied with the rear brakes. It is an older Baer Track system that uses a small C4 Corvette caliper (40mm piston bore) and a 12" rotor. When I was doing the last round of updates a few years ago, I noticed that the caliper bracket was slightly bent. I never really tracked down the reason why this might happen, but it was a little unsettling. So after doing some reading on the forum, I decided to install the 4th gen Camaro LS brake system. The LS brakes have amazingly sturdy cast iron caliper brackets, bigger calipers (45mm piston bore), and I will eventually incorporate the drum style e-brake.

Here are a few teaser shots of the components.

I sourced the brackets from a very good seller on LS1tech, who was parting out a 1999 Firebird. After a trip to the sandblaster and a couple of coats or Rustoleum Silver grill paint, they are good to go:



Being on a limited budget, I was basically forced to use re-manufactured calipers. I got on Rockauto and found that Powerstop sells a set of calipers that are powder coated red for under $150 for the pair. They look very well put together and will add a touch of matching color to the rear:





To round out the brake upgrade, I got a set of Raybestos professional grade rotors and semi-metalic pads. Raybestos is currently running a rebate of $5 per rotor and $15 for a set of pads. The rotor is coated (maybe e-coat) and should stay looking nice for a little longer than plain rotors.



The other main reason for the timing of this upgrade is that I will be having the ring and pinion gear swapped by a shop. I don't have the space or tool to do any of the work myself, and I figure that since the rear end will be completely disassembled, adding new brake components should add minimal to the cost of the swap. The main reason for swapping gears is to eliminate excessive gear whine under light load. This is very annoying when going down the highway, and after talking to several trusted people, the consensus was that a new R&P set would be needed. I am also going down to a 3.42 gear (from 3.73) to reduce highway cruising RPM.

Stay tuned for further updates.

Andrew

[EFI69Cam]

Andrew,

Sorry if I missed any updates that might render this question moot.

Are you pleased with the LS7 cam in the LS3? Would you consider the LS9 cam close enough to the LS7 that your experience would apply?

I'm throwing in the towel on my project and have a LS3 shortblock I'll be putting in. At this point I'm pretty tapped out and the LS9 cam's low price and compatibility with stock LS3 push rods and springs is a big draw.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

[andrewb70]

Andrew,

Sorry if I missed any updates that might render this question moot.

Are you pleased with the LS7 cam in the LS3? Would you consider the LS9 cam close enough to the LS7 that your experience would apply?

I'm throwing in the towel on my project and have a LS3 shortblock I'll be putting in. At this point I'm pretty tapped out and the LS9 cam's low price and compatibility with stock LS3 push rods and springs is a big draw.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts!

For what I want from my car, the LS7 cam is perfect. I don't particularly like a lope at idle and I want a smooth broad torque curve. The LS7 cam gives me that and offers a nice bump in power over the stock LS3 cam. I think the LS9 cam is very close and if I was on a budget, I would definitely use it. I wouldn't run the LS7 or LS9 cam in a cathedral port engine, but as long as you have the square style heads, I think you would be very pleased.

Andrew

[andrewb70]

Some progress has been made. I feel terrible having to outsource some of this work, but I really have no choice. Luckily, the shop where the work is being done came highly recommended and they allowed me to hang out while they did the work. The owner's son was doing the work, and he was doing a good job.

Here is the new gear installed:



The brakes were mounted on the passenger side without any drama. The caliper abutment was well spaced away from the rotor and there was no contact even when the axle was pulled out all the way against the C-clip.



The driver's side, for some reason, wasn't as cooperative. The caliper abutment was nowhere close to fitting and after taking some measurements, we determined that the axle offset on the driver's side was .125" more than on the passenger side. I don't know why this is the case, but we ended up using some precision washers to space the caliper bracket away from the rear housing flange. Once that was done, everything lined up great.



Luckily, the guy doing the work was paying attention and he noticed that the driver's side hard line from the center to the caliper was pinched.



There were marks on the exhaust where it looked like the rear end hit during a hard bump. Since the hard line runs over the top of the axle it got smashed. New lines will be made and they will be routed along the backside of the axle tube instead of over the top.

Andrew

[andrewb70]

Well, the gear swap is finally done and I couldn't be happier. It is quiet and the ratio is perfect.

The rear brakes are definitely exerting more force. This is due to the larger bore of the piston and the fact that Raybestos Advanced Technology pads are fairly aggressive, even when cold. The rear brakes lock up now, and they never did before. I have an adjustable prop valve, so if need be, I will reduce the pressure to the rear. I will hold off on doing that now, because I am first going to change the front set-up slightly.

I got ahold of Alan Bailis, who used to work at Kinesis when I bought my wheels. My name came up on his caller ID and he knew exactly who I was. Pretty amazing for a man that has serviced thousands of customer. He is now working for Fikse, but after explaining what I needed, he was able to help. I ordered two inner wheel halves that are 1.5" wide than my current wheels. This will widen my from wheels from 8" to 9.5". I checked for clearance, and I see no reason why I can't run 275 tires in the front. I am also considering running the new BFg Rival tires in 275/35 front and 295/35 rear.

When I widen the front wheels, I will also install a set of Raybestos pads on the front in place of the current Hawk HP pads. I like how the Raybestos pads work when cold and after talking to Tobin at Kore3.com, he said that I will probably like the Raybestos pads. If, after going to a wider front tire and new pads, the rear still lock up before the front, then I will reduce pressure to the rear to balance things out.

I also got my speedometer working and calibrated. As you all might recall, when I had the Richmond trans rebuilt, I had them take out the speedometer gear. I did that so I would not have to worry about the slip yoke hitting the gear. This is a concern with the Richmond 6 speed transmissions. With the loss of the speedo gear in the transmission, I no longer had a source to drive my VDO speed sensor.

Luckily, I have ATS spindles that have a built in ABS sensors in the C5/6 hubs. Dorman sells the ABS jumper harness that fits the C5/6 ABS sensor: PN 970-007.



One of the leads needs to be grounded, while the other lead is the signal wire. It doesn't matter which is which. Run the signal wire to the Autometer gauge and recalibrate. The ABS sensor will start sending pulses after 2-3 turns of the wheel.

The C5/6 hubs have a 48 tooth reluctor wheel. I am running 255/40-18 tires in the front, which according to TireRack, are 801 turns per mile, so for the two mile calibration period, they will turn 1602 times.

1602 x 48 = 76,896 pulses per 2 miles. Having that information, you don't even need to measure out an accurate 2 mile stretch of road. I started my calibration and when the counter on the speedo got to 76,000 I stopped it. I compared the speedo reading to the GPS reading on my phone and the speedo was slow by about 2 mph. I assumed that the GPS is accurate. So I repeated the calibration and stopped it when the counter got to 74,000 and now the speedo reads exactly the same as the GPS.

Andrew

[mikes2nd]

interesting. I am going to have to map my 2011 Camaro transmission into my harness. I have yet to figure that one out.

That's cool you are mapping it off your abs sensor. I removed the abs sensor tail from my front hubs(C6 z06 setup up front, spindles, hubs, calipers, etc)...

[andrewb70]

What ECU are you using? The 2011 Camaro transmission has a VSS on it. Nothing crazy about it. Just plug n play.

Andrew