Dmax camaro

[dslhtrdr]

Started a new thread from tomba67's thread "the duramax camaro" since I continued his idea.



My project is a '67 rs camaro that I am throwing an '06 lbz duramax diesel engine in. Yes, it sounds a little insane, but it's what I've wanted to do for a long time now. And yes, it will fit.

So as of right now, I'm in the middle of replacing the right rear frame rail. It was damaged when the car was in an accident a number of years ago, and just looked ugly, so I bought a goodmark complete frame rail and am installing it. After that, I will finish the dse minitub install, since the driverside is already done.

As far as the engine goes, I'm researching and talking to some people on the diesel place forum to see if someone makes a shorter oil pan so I can mount the engine as low as possible. Mike Racke, the guy who built the duramax powered '70 chevelle (wow is all I can say!) cut his oil pan and shortened it that way, or so I've heard. Many options, but I haven't decided yet. I already have the hot rod stand alone wiring harness to get the motor running from ppe.

I have a chris alston chassisworks g machine front subframe that I know will handle the weight and size of the motor. I also have their subframe connectors, and I'm considering tying in a rollcage through the floor and attatching it to the chassis for added rigidity.

I'm using the air ride bolt in 4 link setup out back which I need to modify because of the minitubs. A fab9 rear axle will be ordered from chassisworks once I get the framerail and tub job done.

I'm going to mount a 47rh chrysler tranny behind it (based off of the 727) using and adapter plate from suncoast converters. It's not electronic, so it will be easy to set up.

I'm replacing the floors, trunk floor, tail panel and both quarters. Possibly widening the quarters so I can fit a wider rear tire, kinda like the baldwin motion camaro.

Can't think of much else other than that right now. I will be working on the car this weekend, so I will take pictures and post them for all of you.

[Jim Nilsen]

It will fit and I bet it would go right in my car no problem.

Check out a few of he pics at my homepage website and you will see what you might have to do and get a dimensional aspect of what can be done.

It won't hurt you a bit to tie the frame and body together. A lot of us have done it for years.

I really like the car and the diesel is really a fantastic idea and alternative. You can run that thing on corn oil from the grocery store if you have to. You gotta love the torque power and being the only one with a diesel Camaro.

[dslhtrdr]

Wow, you really set your small block way back through your firewall! I bet that thing will have awesome weight distribution. Nice looking '67 for sure.

Thanks for the compliments. I have heard that there are two other duramax camaro's, but I have never seen proof of them existing, so... maybe I might have the first.

I'm planning on running biodiesel in it, just for the heck of it. That way the local hippie's and prius drivers can't hate me too much.

I'm taking pictures this weekend, so come back some time and check 'em out.

[dslhtrdr]

Here's a link to my photobucket page with the pics I took today. Not much of a looker yet, but it'll get there one day. I can't figure out how to load pictures on the thread page so I have to resort to this right now.

[slownova73]

not bad, good luck with the build

[dslhtrdr]

Update: Figured out how to load pics. Tell me what you guys think.

[silverdenali22]

I think it will be bad a$$!

[dslhtrdr]

Thanks for the compliment! Keep 'em coming. The more input I get on this the better. Since I need to replace both quarter panels, I was thinking about widening them in the process. Nothing too drastic, maybe an inch so it still looks stock, but I'll be able to fit that much more tire in the back. What do you guys think?

[camcojb]

cool project. Definitely plan on adding some bracing for the subframe, that Dmax is much heavier than any small or big block gas engine. I just swapped out the LMM in my Dmax earlier this year, and my engine hoist that hasn't whimpered with any of the small and big blocks I've pulled in the past was beyond stressed. Had to shorten the arm as far in as it would go, welded the adjustable legs, and it still wanted to flip nose over with the weight of the engine. The subframe is already weaker than most full frames by design, and the weight and torque are going to wreak havoc with it.

Definitely doable, just plan for those changes like a cage, and front support tubes to the subframe.

Jody

[Ash]

Awesome project...subscribed to this one. Crazy high MPG's and the HP/Torque potential of these engines in stock form is baffling. I know these Diesels have a whole lot of STUFF attached to them, but somthing I'd really like to see (but never have) on one of these mills is the wiring harness & electronics extended and tucked/hidden...coupled with all A/N lines, it would be georgious. It's not 100% practical or necessary and sure is time consuming, but the magnitude of the swap would truely shine.

The EVS MOTORS 2JZ-GTE Camaro is a good example



Keep the updates comming

[dslhtrdr]

cool project. Definitely plan on adding some bracing for the subframe, that Dmax is much heavier than any small or big block gas engine. I just swapped out the LMM in my Dmax earlier this year, and my engine hoist that hasn't whimpered with any of the small and big blocks I've pulled in the past was beyond stressed. Had to shorten the arm as far in as it would go, welded the adjustable legs, and it still wanted to flip nose over with the weight of the engine. The subframe is already weaker than most full frames by design, and the weight and torque are going to wreak havoc with it.

Definitely doable, just plan for those changes like a cage, and front support tubes to the subframe.

Jody

Thanks for the advice. I am planning on some serious bracing with a good roll cage tied into the frame. A friend of mine is a professional welder and has done cages for rock crawlers before, so I have faith that we can work something out with this beast.

I know what you mean about stressing out an engine hoist with a diesel. The only engines worse than a duramax is a cummins. I know from personal experience. They weigh a little over 1000 lbs, and I've pulled one out of the same truck 6 times A duramax weighs (from what I'm told) 830 lbs or so.

I'm thinking now about buying the art morrison rear subframe for my camaro now. Saw it on the "camaro 2nv" thread, and damn! Looks awesome, and most of all, strong.

Very true Ash. There is a lot of STUFF attached to the new electronic diesels, but the hot rod harness I have from PPE is supposed to take care of it, I hope Mike Racke, the guy that built the duramax chevelle did a great job keeping it clean under the hood. I don't think I can replicate what he did though. He used twin turbos, but I want to keep the stock VGT and add an F1 Procharger from empire diesel to spool it up faster. But do I really need another pipe dream on this project?

Thanks for posting the pic, very cool! Not really a toyota fan myself, but seeing a supra motor in any muscle car is definately cool. Here's a pic of the chevelle underhood that I attached. Hope you guys like it!

[Ash]

That's a pretty crowded engine bay on that one...never seen that style of piping coupler before.

Don't know a whole lot about diesels, but are you gonna wire up the exhaust break controller? and would it be useful in this application?

...Another new feature of the Duramax 6600's turbo system is the capability of the variable-geometry turbocharger to provide exhaust braking. This function is available on some medium-duty truck models and can replace add-on exhaust brake hardware. With the new system, braking is controlled by a signal from the engine controller and can be activated by the driver...

http://www.thedieselpage.com/duramax...ewsrelease.htm

[dslhtrdr]

That's a pretty crowded engine bay on that one...never seen that style of piping coupler before.

Don't know a whole lot about diesels, but are you gonna wire up the exhaust break controller? and would it be useful in this application?

http://www.thedieselpage.com/duramax...ewsrelease.htm

The truck that this duramax came out of wasn't a medium duty. Just a 3/4 ton 2wd truck. There are companies that sell an electronic controller that you can hook up to utilize an "exhaust brake effect" on the stock vgt, but I wasn't planning on it. Might be cool though, for slowing down at the end of the quarter mile

[dslhtrdr]

Figured out what oil pan setup I'm going to run. Talked to curtis Halvorson of diesel performance research and he told me about their dry sump setup that was designed for marine applications. The pan is about 3 1/2" deep. More than enough for me. Don't have a picture of it, but it's on their website http://www.dieselperformanceresearch.com.

Now all I have to do is save up some more money and buy it...

[dslhtrdr]

New update: decided to go with the art morrison rear clip. I'm trying to sell my air bar 4 link kit to help fund that, so it could be a little while before that portion of this project comes to life. Still have the kit, have some people in my area interested, so hopefully someone picks it up and I can be on my way.

[89cobraysi]

Now this is cool as hell. I was on a website the other day that was showing how to run a car on E85, and how to convert and everything. There is a car in last months issue of Popular Hot Rodding I think, the silver car, with the duramax diesel in it, making somewhere around 1,000+ HP to the tire. Bad Ass car too. Stock block, etc... You have probably read it already, but if you havent, you should definitely check it out.

[dslhtrdr]

Now this is cool as hell. I was on a website the other day that was showing how to run a car on E85, and how to convert and everything. There is a car in last months issue of Popular Hot Rodding I think, the silver car, with the duramax diesel in it, making somewhere around 1,000+ HP to the tire. Bad Ass car too. Stock block, etc... You have probably read it already, but if you havent, you should definitely check it out.

I didn't see a silver car powered by a duramax, but I saw Mike Racke's duramax chevelle. It's green though, not silver, so maybe I missed the one you're talking about. His car, but more the duramax grand national are my inspirations for this project: to have a nice looking, pretty close to stock camaro on the outside, but at a closer look, you see it's a whole 'nother animal. If that doesn't qualify as a "sleeper", I think it should.

[89cobraysi]

Yes, you are right, it is green. I just dug out the magazine.... That car is BAD ASS.... If you can keep the outside of the car basically stock, even rims and tires would be cool. I dont know how possible it is going to be with ride height etc... How much more does the Duramax weigh than a 350 or a 396?

[dslhtrdr]

The duramax weighs about 830lbs. About 200lbs more than an all iron big block (or so I'm told...). The overall duramax/allison package together weighs about 1200lbs or so, which is heavy as hell for a muscle car, so that's why I'm not using an allison 1000. I'm also against having a "smart" transmission, which is what the allison is, with a lot of electronics.

An allison is capable of "learning" the driving habits that each person has. If you use your duramax powered pickup to cruise around town all day using less than half throttle pretty much all of the time, it programs itself to shift very smoothly, easing into each gear carefully. Then lets say you want to hot rod a little bit (we all know it happens) and floor it. The tranny can be hurt because it isn't used to that kind of driving habit. It will go into "limp mode" and not allow the engine to perform normally, even with the stock tune, so you will then need to use a scan tool or a programmer capable of reading and clearing DTC's.

Yes, allison's are great tranny's, and you can build an allison to be nearly indestructable, but everything can be broken. In my mind, the more simple it is, the less can go wrong, and an allison is not cheap to build/rebuild/replace. Therefore, I'm using a 47rh chrysler tranny that comes behind the 12 valve cummins in '94 and '95 dodge diesels. It's based off of the 727 trans, which has a lot of drag racing history as you all know I'm sure. They're fairly small, lightweight, and the only electronics are for overdrive and torque converter lock up. They don't cost that much to build either, and I have a 47rh NADP race tranny in my '94 cummins that is awesome.

When people see my car, I want them to think, "Oh that's a nice looking '67. Decent paint job, lowered a little bit with some nice wheels. Diesel? WTF!?!?" The look on their faces would be priceless...

['70rs]

This is a very cool project. I am subscribed. Not to hi jack the thread but have you seen the chevelle that was done on MTVs "Pimp My Ride"? I never saw anything about it after the build. I only bring it up as another source for pics and info to maybe help you along in your build.
Good luck and keep the updates coming please!