67 French Camaro

[TheJDMan]

Very Nice! I have to ask, are American muscle cars common in Europe? How hard is it to get parts for them? It seems as if they are just as popular there as they are here.

[gui67]

Very Nice! I have to ask, are American muscle cars common in Europe? How hard is it to get parts for them? It seems as if they are just as popular there as they are here.

Yes, they are popular. Not so common as in the US: the classic carts here are mostly European, but there are still some american cars. (Most people here only know Corvette, Cadillac and Mustang)

[gui67]

The 383 sbc is ready to get out of the car. It will be replaced by a 5.3 LM7.
I keep the turbo and the megasquirt ECU for that engine.

I am in the process of ordering all the parts to upgrade the engine: forged pistons and rods...

I also have an intercooler to install: a lot of work for this winter.
I really hope to increase the performance even if the displacement is smaller: As the bottom end is stronger then my small journal 383, I will be able to increase the boost to 15 PSI or even higher.

[neki67]

Keep it going Gui!

[Hotwhilz]

Bonjour Guillaume, semblerai que nous soyons "voisins", belle auto! Travaillant dans l'import de voitures US et pièces détachées perfo , dis moi si je peux t'aider les prix sont plus que convenable sur le shipping.

[Bmf5150]

Very cool mounting the turbo back there!any issue with heat back there on floor board or by gas tank?

[gui67]

a small update of the project:
the LM7 is in. (I draw and built the mount adapter myself)
with a pro-flo intake. (it fits the flat hood, only by a few mm)
I also added an intercooler. (threadstone vertical flow)
I managed to get the RS door-light opening even with the intercooler, and to keep the original hood opening. (I didn't want to drill holes in the hood to add pins.)
Some pictures of the actual state.










I still have some wiring to finish before trying to start the engine.

[neki67]

Great going Gui! That's gonna make some impressive numbers on the dyno . . . .

[gui67]

I don't think the power will be so impressive: the turbo is rather small.
But the sound was awesome on the previous engine, with that huge turbo whine.
My main goal is to have a good acceleration, a good sound and being able to smoke the tires on the highway. If I manage to get these 3 things, I will be happy.

[gui67]

The engine was upgraded with Wiseco forged pistons, Compstar rods, ferrea exhaust valves and a LS2 camshaft.
The heads are stock.
I used Autokraft oil pan, Dougs exhaust headers. I had no interference problems. My engine mount adapters were made to place the transmission on the same place as the Gen I SBC: to keep the crossmember and the driveshaft length. It is very close to the firewall but it does not touch. I also tried to make it the lowest possible to let enough place for the intake.

If you are interrested, I can send you the dxf to be laser cut.

[Hotwhilz]

Excellent, enfin des frenchs qui coupent et transforment du Muscle!! Beaux talents de fabrication!

A un de ces jours peut être, peut être que ta camaro et ma Nova croiserons leurs routes!

A+

[SickSpeedMonte]

That's cool that you can hear the turbine, but I'm surprised by the muffler placement, that's a lot of volume and heat dissipation pre-turbo.

Did you build the MS3 yourself? How did it go? Did you take it somewhere to tune it or do that yourself? I love the car, and I agree with others about stock appearing wheels... that would blow some minds.

[gui67]

Bernie, I used the 3.57 board for Megasquirt, so nothing to solder, but for the other boards (relay board, peak and hold board for the injectors) I built them myself.
I tune it myself. For the Gen1 sbc, I used the ignition and VE map of a friend as a basis: a twin turbo 350, but then made the fine tuning to adapt them to my engine.
It is really easy to make a approximate tune whith which you can drive the car, then you have to take a lot of time to make the final details for optimisation. but Autotune healps a lot on Tunerstudio.

For the muffler, I did not have enough place to put it behind the turbo and the noise was too big to drive like that without being arrested by the cops. The only place was before the turbo. In the future, I plan to insulate it with heat band, but I don't think the volume makes a big difference: it is only a few litres mores, when you think about all the exhaust that is pumped by the engine at 2000 or 3000RPM.

Hotwilz, j'aime bien le look de ta nova aussi, elle est vraiment sympa. On se croisera peut-être un jour. On est plusieurs dans le grand est à modifier du Muscle car pour les faire avancer un peu mieux. A+

[Barrrf]

Sweet mary..........this is awesome. Im so jealous of you guys with your LS engines and your turbos.

[gui67]

Thank you. Don't be jealous, it is just a 5.3: I think it can be found for really cheap in the US.
I had to pay 1000€ for it. (very very good deal here in Europe where most 5.3 cost minimum 2500€ and LS1 more than 3500€) you can it for less than $300 in the US.
I worked during more then 2 years to build it and get the results I have now, it was a choice not being able to enjoy driving the car for a long time to make all the modifications.
And you have a big-block , it is also really nice in my opinion, not like if it was a small 305.

[gui67]

Some more updates.
the intake is now in place, bolted, the harness is finished, just needs to be cleaned.
I draw a coil support and let it laser cut for the Yukon coils:



Closer pic of the intercooler:


Nearly no interference with the light-doors:





To find a place for the ATF cooler, I had to put a spacer on the radiator to push it a bit to the back. I put the cooler between the intercooler and the coolant radiator.

[gui67]

The 5.3 started yesterday.
Uncreadilbly easy: 2 seconds were enough to make it start. I just needed to add more fuel cause the idle was way too poor (AFR = 22) and let the autotune make its job. The car idles now perfectly at 800 RPM, in drive too.
The engine is much quieter then the last one: It has 1 liter less and the cam is much smaller. I can't wait to make the first drive next weekend, it seems really promising.
The only concern is that I cannot make full power: I want to change the original axles with C-clip for welded Ford ends and beefier axles. I don't want to see one wheel overtaking me on the road...
I don't have a video now, but I hope to post one next week

[Hotwhilz]

Félicitations! C'est vrai qu'une vidéo serait sympa! Bon courage!