Replaced my Camaro with a.....Camaro. 4th Gen LT1 Fbody Content

Same thing its been a slow couple weeks. Rent house got hit by a tornado, new baby, and working on the parts car. I did manage to get a little done. First I did an oil change. Went with the standard T6, helped with the oil pressure a little.

Cold Idle

Put the little mirror trim pieces on I picked up a couple weeks ago

Put my new interior fuse cover one. Old one is broken

I extracted the broken underhood fuse box cover screw, and put a new one on

Then I turned my attention to the parts car and finished stripping it.

I forgot to take the obligatory picture of the front end hoisted way in the air. It wasnt fun but it really wasnt that bad. Its been 5 or 6 years since I did it, but I could knock another one out in probably 3 or 4 hours. Got most of the parts off I want, and my dad got the trans, driveshaft, brake booster and master, starter, pedal assembly, and flywheel to go in the 57. I took a couple trim pieces, hardware, engine and k member, sail panel, suspension, rear and PCM.

I went ahead and put the 95 PCM in. Its is easier and cheaper to tune, and its plug and play. You just have to change to a 94-95 knock sensor. TunerPro RT and EEhack are free. I can datalog and tune for free. EEhack has had an update since i did the Firebird and is even more useful now.

Being a 96 the car has an obd2 port, I already had the OBD1 cable from the firebird and I couldnt find a straight answer if I needed just a normal OBD2 cable or if I needed the GM OBD1.5 cable (in 95 GM used and OBD2 port on an OBD1 system.). I ordered a cheap obd2 cable for Vagcom stuff and it didnt work. The car does run but not great on whatever bin is loaded in that PCM. I ordered the 70 dollar OBD1.5 cable and Im just waiting for it to be delivered. Ive already got a bin touched up and ready to go when the cable gets here and I can start tuning it.

Went and retrieved part of my bounty

Its locked up but for an unknown reason. Previous owner said it cranked over until it didnt. Finishing up a home reno before I tear it apart. It will be the basis of the new engine for the camaro. Right now looking like 383, stock heads and intake worked over by lloyd elliot and Im torn on the cam. I vowed I would go something middle of the road to maintain drivability, but as a fun car a super rowdy cam is pretty dang fun, plus the extra cubes will calm it down a little. Looking at stuff like the Tick "Hold My Beer" or GM847, probably high 230 low 240s duration and around 600 lift.

Also picked up the rear end which is fine, and the K member

Plan is to use things like the control arms, stick some new bushings in them and paint them up. Instead of having the front end torn down while I do a full rebuild, it will just be swapping parts. Plan is all new bushings, mounts and ball joints, Konis, BMR springs. Already have the springs and shocks.

I received my OBD1.5 cable.

For anyone doing the obd2 to obd1 pcm, you have to buy the 95 specific gm cable. It is an obd2 port with obd1 cable. Its used for certain cars before GM switched to OBD2 but did switch the connector. With the new cable I was able to pull up EEhack and after a little trouble shooting got it connected. Dumped to stock bin to see if anything was modified and loaded up my new tune. I just turned off the knock sensor code, because Im currently too lazy to swap to the obd1 knock sensor. Reports are the OBD2 sensor sets a code on obd1 pcm but still works. I havent actually tested it, and do plan to switch. Did a little datalogging, just a trip around the block and some idling to see if Ive got any sensors dieing or dropping out. Wanted to do a power balance test but the throttle position is varying from 4-0% with it closed, but the voltage is dang near perfect, gonna have to do a little hunting on that.

So hear is the problem im hunting,

See the little movements in the sensor readings. Not much, but thats key on engine off. The developer said atleast TPS should be rock steady even with the engine on. He recommended checking alternator, or maybe we had a floating ground.

Started with the battery terminals. Ground was a little loose. Tightened it up, and it reduced the frequency but not the amplitude.

Unplugged alternator and no change. Wanted to see if I had a sensor back feeding, so I unplugged them one by one seeing if any changed happened. Nope. Then I started checking grounds. I found two broken grounds at the coil, but I might have broken them when I removed them, not sure. Repaired them and reinstalled.

Checked the one at the motor mount, and it had some corrosion,

Cleaned it up and reinstalled it. Also checked the PCM ground by the starter. It was fine, cleaned it up anyways.

Removed the battery tender and cleaned the ground on the right front fender. No resistance on any of the grounds.

Fired it back up and connected it, same thing.

I know Anthony had to change the battery cables, so I will make sure I have good contact at the negative terminal, might try and swap out the battery in the truck. Found an old Surface laying around, spent a bunch of time wiping it, to eliminate my old tuning laptop as a problem, but it wouldnt connect so now i have to troubleshoot my troubleshooting tool.

Anyways I gave up for now, and wanted to atleast test the knock sensor so I did go do a little data logging. I made one WOT pull and powershifted 1-2, and got a bunch of KR, like 12 degrees. The motor mounts are smoked and the engine moves around a bunch, so Im assuming thats what caused the KR, got a little when I was doing weird stuff like intentionally lugging the car. So it would appear the knock sensor at least partially works. Still want to swap it to the early one, so I can turn the code back on. Also I need to do some tweaking on the tune once I have a clean signal for datalogging.

Since you can tune yourself more cam on your future 383 isn't so bad since you can do things like raise the idle a little and lock the timing advance cells to the same amount of advance from 800-1200 RPM so the idle doesn't hunt as much.

Opti said:Did a little datalogging, just a trip around the block and some idling to see if Ive got any sensors dieing or dropping out. Wanted to do a power balance test but the throttle position is varying from 4-0% with it closed, but the voltage is dang near perfect, gonna have to do a little hunting on that.

Worn throttle body butterfly bushings?

In reply to Opti :

i saw your posts at gearheadefi.com.  seems like you've got responses from the greatest minds in LT1 EE.

i have four EE PCMs: two 8051s from crashed junkyard cars (caprice and fleetwood), one 8051 from not crashed car (fleetwood), and the original 1333 from my 94 corvette donor. when i get monzora running i will test them all and i'd be happy to send one of my spares your way as long as i've got one good spare on my shelf.

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

Yah the guys over there are super helpful.

I found a chafed o2 wire on the harness side.

Fixed it, no change.

I checked ECM input voltage on a multimeter and it was dead steady. Checked input and output 5V reference and it was steady. The concern was the changes might be so fast a multimeter wouldnt pick it up. The recommendation was to check again with a scope. Before I spent another day diagnosing it I wanted to rule out the PCM and computer. I was able to get the old laptop connected and it had the same readings. Okay not the laptop. I found a local LT1 guy had a Bbody PCM laying around. He let me have it so I installed it this morning and loaded the tune.

And it....

Fixed it. This is engine running. ECM input voltage varies a little and TPS is dang near perfect. Before KOEO it was fluctuating like crazy. Was able to sit and warm up. Idled perfect at 800rpm. Fans kicked on early and now it wont go over 200 instead of 236 before the high speed fan even kicks on. Seems to have helped with oil temp as oil pressure was slightly improved also. Drove it around and runs much better. Seems to still have the extended crank when warm, but now ive got actual data to try and track it down.

Also was able to try a new feature of EEhack and run the cylinder balance test.

For 185K miles Im very happy with that.

I think next Ill throw some new o2s in it and repair the map connector (tab is broken) before i do much tuning. Want to get a wideband so I can actually tune fueling, then I want to finish out the interior. Problem is a set of headers is calling my name. I really love the sound of 2OTL with a set of long tubes.

Also need to start stripping the LT1, K member and new rear I have.

That's an old Engine Analyzer feature right there!

In reply to GCrites80s :

I really like it. The OBD1 setup cant pinpoint misfires, access is also quite limited, so diagnosing things like a misfire can be a pain in the ass. Should be a useful tool if I need it.

I've always had a soft spot for LT1's, I keep tryign to convince a buddy to put one in his RX7, but he'll have none of that....

In reply to ejs262 :

Ive always had a soft spot for turbo rotaries. Missed on a few FDs in the last few years and unfortunately ive probably been priced out now.

In reply to Opti :

His is an FC, it's worth mentioning, the car currently has a carbed L98, and he wants fuel injection, without chopping into the hood, which to me, an LT1 swap. in my opinion, swapping from the L98 to an LT1 would probably be the easiest way to pick up power, lose weight, and gain fuel injection, I personally would have preferred it have kept the rotary, because it's the thing that makes an RX7 unique. 

In reply to ejs262 :

He could do an L98 injection setup or for the better manifold have an lt1 manifold converted to work on a gen 1. Used to be a couple hundred bucks haven't priced it in a long time though.

I have both manifold sitting on a shelf if he's in Tejas

Yeah I as well was thinking basically make a non-Opti LT1 by starting with the L98 and doing the LT1 H-C-I but then I started thinking that may have gotten too expensive. Especially with the amount of work involved.

Drove the car quite a bit yesterday. Running pretty good. I got all my stuff done and wanted to work on something so I turned my attention to the spare LT1. The 355 for the 57 is on my stand, my back up is missing arms, so a buddy is bringing me one Monday, until then I've just got the hoist

Got it stripped to here. Time for a craigslist rebuild

All rebuilt

Didn't want to strip it anymore without a stand but I'm pretty curious what happened, since I haven't seen this often. I yanked the plugs to see if they offered any clues. One plugs was a little rusty.

Can't wait to pull the heads but it will be Monday at the earliest

Got it on the engine stand. Some weird things on this engine.

Yanked the intake and valve covers. 2 different VC gaskets and the covers themselves are spotless along with the valley. Seems odd for a 190K mile engine.

Got the heads off and heads looked decent. One cylinder has fresh rust in it.

That hole was pretty decent but two others are real bad.

Wiped everything down with some wd40 and a plastic brush.

At this point the top end had all new gaskets, everything was clean, block was painted and the heads and block has some engraving which I believe is not OEM, at least ive never noticed it. All i did to the pistons was a WD40 spray and wipe with a paper towel and they came pretty clean. I was starting to think this thing had been rebuilt. Next was the valvetrain. I yanked the lifters out.

That doesnt look like a 190K mile lifter to me. They are all perfect.

Then I got the cam out

Ive got 2 smoked lobes and perfect lifters. Interesting.

Started yanking the pistons and rods, and as soon as I pulled number 1 out, the engine freed up and I could turn it over with the counterweights very easily. 2 or 3 holes had pretty bad rusty spots and they pistons had no problem getting over them, but the number 1 wrist pin is stuck. So im not sure if it was the wrist pin that had this thing locked or the rusty spot on 1. All the rods are straight, and I couldnt find a breach in the headgasket but I had enough water in some holes for them to rust where the piston was sitting. I havent checked the heads yet but I sure hope they are good, because they are the ones i want for porting. All the rod bearings are fine and show almost no signs of wear.

Its not any clearer what happened to this engine but I took pics of all the part numbers and engraving, so maybe I can dig up some info after some googling.

This is the worst hole after some wd40 and a plastic brush.

Not sure if the block is worth saving yet. I need to get it down to the machine shop and have them see if .030 over will clean it up.

Im still deciding on how I want to build it. Ill have lloyd elliot port the heads and intake and Ill probably run the tick "hold my beer" cam.

Ill run a scat 9000 3.75 crank, trying to decide if I want to run a 6" rod or if these rods are salvageable have them bushed and put some better bolts in and run the stock ones.

Either way next step is to get this thing to the machine shop to have them check it out, then I can start ordering parts. Ill probably get the bottom end built, bag it up, and work on the suspension before I finish up the engine.

I went and picked up some more parts, including a stock tail light panel to experiment with, Im considering doing the Berger panel. 

Id do it in satin black like the original berger cars. This is the most common version, satin with stainless camaro lettering

.

Then this style. Shaved "camaro" lettering. Its what I did on my first one, some people put a badge on it centered, like the 1st gen cars.

Also considered doing a light up "CAMARO" Id still do the panel in satin.

So what does GRM thing looks the best?

Satin black no letters and matching satin black Berger hood stripes.

In reply to Opti :

Body color. The Berger panel looks like an unfinished repair to me.

In reply to AngryCorvair (Forum Supporter) :

I'm keeping the OE one untouched, so i will have that option, but I think I want to try the black out and see

I drove it to a diesel event at Texas Motorplex, some friends were running. The diesel guys generally dont overlap with the LT1/Camaro guys, but still had a couple people stop and BS with me about it. It was about an hour and a half for me each way, it ran great. I realized on the way back Anthony told me when he did the LS rack and shaft he only did a quick and dirty string alignment. It drives pretty good but I need to atleast check it so I dont smoke the nice set of tires he put on it.

Ive been working on other projects the last few weeks, but I did decide to strip the K member I had, kept everything I needed and scrapped the rest.

On my first camaro I replaced every bushing and it made a massive difference in the way the car rode and handled, I did the same thing on my NA and it made a similar difference. This thing is here for the long haul and at 190K miles I figured its time for some new rubber.

I stripped the old bushings out of the control arms, cleaned them up and shot a little paint on them.

These are the lower control arm bushings and just for reference. If someone ever does a 4th gens lower bushings, they arent pressed all the way in, if you do that youll have issues, so you have to measure how far the bushings are pressed in before removing them, and install the new ones at the same depth.

One control arm had a weird bushing id never seen before, and Ive worked on a bunch of these things.

I dont have any Idea what it was, only one side was like that. 

Shot it with some of the Rustoleum 2X semi gloss. I generally prefer satin for suspension stuff, this is a little too glossy, but itll be fine. I loaned out my ball joint press and snap ring plier set, so I couldnt yank the lower ball joints. They will get replaced, but for now these things are going to be left alone for a while to bake, and Ill order some rubber components and ball joints.

Gonna try my hand at tint on the GMT400 in a couple days

I tried to clean up my key fob and get it working. It didnt help. I went ahead and ordered a couple replacements

Also had a guy want some stock injectors, and since I have two sets I traded a pair of OEM injectors for a set of 42lb SVO injectors. If I remember correctly they are 48lbs at GM fuel pressure. I need to do a little looking to see if they are knock offs or real boschs, my assumptions are they are knock offs, but I have really checked yet.

If they are decent they will save me a little money on the stroker build.

I added some lightness

A buddy had an electric water pump laying around and gave it to me. Ive been noticing a couple drops of coolant on the front of the engine, figured it was either the WP or the WP mounting gaskets. Figured I might be able to solve that and add a couple horsepower.

Time to pull the water pump. Ive done this job a bunch of times so should be quick and easy, right? RIGHT?

Water pump off.

Sure is grimey, but its an amost 200K small block, if its not leaking oil, its out of oil. The eagle eyed will also notice I broke stuff.

I didnt do the coil stud, but I must have pryed on the opti connector when pulling the WP off. My first WP job i ever did, I did this, and actively thought about not doing it on every LT wp job since. I was working in the dark but I made sure to pry from the top of the tstat housing to the TB. Eh whatever I can be ham fisted sometimes.

Anyways I hit the area with some superclean and blasted it with the pressure washer.

Took the opti off and disassembled it. I spy a Mitsu sensor. This one is going in the spares drawer.

Then I took apart the new parts store opti, put some loctite on the rotor screws and some RTV on the cap to seal it up and reinstalled it. For reference if any new LT1 owners are reading this, the cap is held on with inverted Torx bolts, they are an E4 and they arent the easiest things to find sometimes. In a pinch you can remove one of the torx bolts from the throttle body plate put it in a pair of vice grips and use the bolts as your E4 socket.

Next I pulled the cover off the water pump and punched all the guts out of it.

I did notice the impeller would sometimes spin on the shaft, so that was a problem, but it doesnt matter anymore. Then you just punch a freeze plug into the hole the cam drive used to occupy and bolt your new electric water pump in place of the cover. I had to get slightly longer bolts, since the jegs base plate is thicker than other brands like CSR. Then you just reinstall the pump

The considerably smaller CSR pumps I used to run would hit the fans and required some slight clearancing, Im sure Ill have to cut a big ole chunk out of the fans with this one.

I also deleted this bad boy. The little 90 degree hose takes coolant from the steam pipe and routes it through the throttle body before sending it to the radiator. That's technology for you boys up in the great white north and not something Im interested it, so It will just be routed straight to the rad. Between the TB bypass and EWP, these coolant "repairs" might net me 5 or 10hp.

I ran out of daylights and had to stop. I also managed to hit my new radiator with a wrench on accident, so I need a radiator now. Need to order a few more parts and have some time to button it up and wire up the EWP.

I'll take all the LT1 content you're willing to post

Electric water pumps for LT1s are extremely popular in drag racing street classes.