Best with Cam

Took the SS to my favorite track, Steele, Alabama, and set a personal best with cam-only.

11.633 @ 118.01, 1.605 sixty, 1/8th: 7.434 @ 94.56.

 

11's and Then Some

In early November I had a new cam installed, along with what is called an "LS3-conversion". Basically, the new automatic Camaros come with a different cam than the manuals, and also have Active Fuel Management and Variable Valve Timing - fuel economy improvements on many new cars. The AFM turns off 4-cylinders at cruising speeds. Needless to say, pretty useless for my goals.

The new camshaft I chose is from Lingenfelter Performance Engineering, famous in the modern EFI hotrod world, especially with Corvettes. Mine is their GT-9 cam, designed especially for blowers, or superchargers. I decided to install it first, to get me into the 11's easily and get me ready for the addition of what will likely be a Procharger D1-SC Supercharger next year. With just the cam, I gained 48 HP, which was exactly what I needed.

Here's the video of the car on the Dyno after the cam install:


And here's an idle video:


Since my GTO days, there has been a Shootout in Darlington SC each November. It is only for GM cars with IRS, mainly GTO's, Corvettes, Camaro's and G8's. I participated in the first one a few years back and now I brought my new Camaro.



Results were great:
Sixty foot: 1.695, 1/4 mile: 11.731 @ 117.58

No reason to go faster than 11.5 until I'm ready for a roll cage, so I'm very happy.

Here's a video form the day, which tells you a bit about me. We were in a bracket race (racers pick their predicted time and try to run as close as they can to it, without going faster), and as I began the race, I realized I had beaten my opponent handily off the line and could "lift" and coast through the traps - so that I would win and not "break out". But, the launch felt so good and the pass felt so right, that I did not lift, "broke out", but set a personal best. All those things went through my mind in the course of about 2 seconds... it's just not in me to slow down. :)

Here's the video:

New Personal Best

Went back to Steele's Midnight Madness on September 30th. Beautiful cool night. I managed to squeeze out some more timing and set a new personal best:

1/4: 12.152 @ 113.69, 1.677 sixty
1/8: 7.784 @ 89.65



This week, I'll be looking at camshafts and planning the next stage of the car's transformation into a serious contender. For bolt-ons only, my L99 Camaro SS is #7 on the list on Camaro5.com.

Getting ready for Fall racing!

Recently, we have installed gears (3.45's from a manual Camaro), an underdrive pulley, and a Meziere electric water pump. Also installed have been lowering springs, front and rear sways, and differential bushings.

Altogether, I have not beaten my previous times, not because of the summer, but because the new suspension components have not helped me improve my sixty-foot times. So I will be making some adjustments.

I have made some visits to Alabama International Dragway's Moonlight Madness, which is a lot of fun. Here is a helmet-cam video at Steele:



And a good race with my regular camera against an LS2 GTO:



Then a daylight video with the helmet-cam.



On that day, I had six back-to-back runs with a 12.3 @ 112. Very consistent with the new electric water pump, which keeps engine coolant temps down in the staging lanes.

Dog Days of Summer

No chance for records recently with most track days being over 90*F.

I have been racing and have some good videos.

Here's a good one from Steele, running low 12's on a hot day:



And last week, I took a trip up to Bristol Dragway in Tennessee for their Fas Mart Street Fights. It was a lot of fun, though the track was slower due to altitude and heat. Great facility though, and the surrounding mountains are beautiful.

Knocking on 11's

Went to Steele again this past Sunday, May 15th, for a beautiful day of racing.

The only change in the cars was the addition of JBA Shorty Headers. The install was very easy and getting it tightened up for no leaks took a while, but it fits nicely.

I used the same tune from the last time, and immediately I was in the 12:20's at almost 113 mph. With some more tweaking of the timing advance to get rid of Knock Reduction up top and be a little more aggressive down low, I was able to set a new personal best:

Sixty: 1.653
330: 5.021
1/8: 7.799 @ 88.66
1/4: 12.191 @ 112.89

The sixty-foot is amazing for a bolt-on car, and the time is great. It means I'm just two-tenths from an eleven-second run, which is very doable with my next mod, 3.45 gears in the rear. I'm just swapping out the differential from a manual Camaro that has 3.45 gears for my automatic differential that has 3.27 gears.

Here's a simple in-car video.



Interestingly, I used an App called "Dynolicious" for my IPhone on that run, and it was very accurate on the timing.




The horsepower is just a calculation using weight (4000 lbs) and drivetrain loss (15%). But more interesting is the horsepower that each change has gained. I put together a simple spreadsheet:




So that's a gain of almost 90 base horsepower since my first run, and the individual runs are very interesting.



Shows you what a few simple bolt-ons can do!

Oh, and I decided to name the car "The Heretic", because the Conventional Wisdom in the hot-rodding world is that Shorty Headers and Midpipes don't gain you much power. Everyone says you must get Long Tube Headers for good power. Well, the numbers are there, I gained 43.14 base horsepower. Since I'm going against that "Gospel", guess that makes me a Heretic. :-)

The Best First Mod for an Automatic

As has been said, the best first mod for an automatic is a high-stall Torque Converter. This enables the engine to spool up into it's power band more quickly so that the car launches quicker and generally stays where the power is being made, not waiting to rev up to it.


So I had a FTI/RX 3200 Billet Torque Converter installed last week. The only other recent mod was the JBA High-Flow Catted Midpipes, which gained me about a tenth of a second on the ET in the 1/4 mile and about 2 mph on the top end.

The new torque converter gained me 0.43 seconds, including a 1.713 sixty-foot. So the car really launches hard now and the Nitto 555R drag radials are loving it - no spin at all.

My new best time is:

1/4: 12.413 @ 110.18 mph
1/8: 7.965 @ 87.52 mph
sixty: 1.713

I'm very pleased with the results, and there's still more in the car as is.

Any Day Racing is a Great Day!

Went to Steele this past Sunday afternoon for some racing. Temps were in the 80's F, so it wasn't a great day for times, but always a great day for fun.

My main goal this week was to try out my new drag racing rims and tires. They are TSW Nurburgrings in Matte Gunmetal, 18x8 (35mm offset) up front and 18x9.5 (40mm offset) in the rear with Nitto 555, 265/50-18 and Nitto 555R, 305/45-18. The tires maintain the stock height and the TSW rear drag radials are great for driving to the track and hooking the launch, plus they're not too dangerous if caught in a rainstorm on the way home.

With the new setup, I cut 1.9x sixty-foots on every pass, with a best of 12.986 @ 107.51, sixty-1.964. Slower than last time, but good and consistent. Here's a video from the stand:




I also ran into my friend in the Shelby GT500 Mustang. He had a good run against an amazing 2011 Porsch Panamera: a four-door Porsche capable of runnning 11's.









The Porsche also ran against a Twin-Turbo Z06 Corvette. Quite a sight.









Any day racing is a great day!

The Best of the GTO Videos, Part II

Here are a few more videos from various eras of the GTO.

First, when I built the heads/cam LS1 motor, I took a visit to El Paso, Texas, my previous assignment. El Paso has a great street scene and managed to find many legal venues for fun. One was the Dezert Demonz airport street races. On Sunday nights, hundreds of cars and thousands of people would gather at the private airport for cars, fun, and racing. This montage is of one of my runs against a nice Pontiac Grand Prix GTP.



Next is a different kind of montage: a compilation of launches at the drag strip in Steele, Alabama. This is still the heads/cam package I had, but the tim es were getting into the lower 12's. Included are the "conversations with the timeslip guy", where I chatted with the fellow in the booth about each of my runs. A fun night.



Finally, a view from the stands when I had built the 408 motor. This was the first 11-second run for the GTO.

Quicker at Steele

Another run at Steele Sunday afternoon, set a new personal best to help celebrate the 16th Anniversary of my Ordination to the Priesthood (March 4th).

New best: 12.761 @ 109.38 (with new CAI and A6 HPTune).
Previous best: 13.224 @ 106.76 with Cat-back only (Borla Touring).

Only changes: Cold Air Intake(Fastlane Pipeline 4") and my own custom A6 transmission tune with HP Tuners. No other mods to the motor or tune.

Best run:
Sixty: 1.942 (stock 20" PZeros at 27psi)
1/8: 8.282 MPH: 86.98
1/4: 12.761 MPH: 109.38

Overcast in the 40'sF at Steele, good track prep. I figure the CAI was worth 2/10ths, the A6 HPTune 2/10ths, and the weather 1/10th. Guessing, of course.

The car chirped the 1-2 shift, so you can see how much the transimission tune helped. It was almost too good a tune for the launch. I'll be adding drag radials next week.

On the way to the track, I got 22mpg. On the way back with the stock tune reinstalled, I got 21mpg (250+ mile round trip, all highway).

I really like the quality of the Fastlane Pipeline 4" CAI. I've used a down-and-out intake on my GTO, and I feel that and the 4" really make a difference.



First video:


Same run, from the inside with my Ipod:


Lots of fun!

One thousand miles on the Odo.

2011 SS Camaro: First Day Racing in Steele, AL

So what does a pastor do when he takes the morning services and his associate takes the afternoon? Why go drag racing, of course. My first visit to Steele, AL - Alabama International Dragway - since April of 2009. A beautiful February day, 68*F. Great place to race, and I ran into some old racing buddies and met some new ones.


Out of the box, full weight+, stock street tires, only mod is the Borla Touring cat-back exhaust, I ran:

Sixty-foot: 2.057
1/8th mile: 8.828 @ 81.87
1/4 mile: 13.523 @ 105.10





I made several other runs and improved a little, trying different lauch techniques.

Then I met a fellow in a 2009 Ford Shelby GT500, a supercharged car with more than 550 HP to the wheels (mine is maybe 350). His mods are a cold-air intake, a pulley on the supercharger, and a cat-back exhaust. I challenged him to a heads-up race, promising to get it on video. Here we go with my handheld IPod video:



I ran a 2.031 60', 13.447@105.74 and he beat me handily with a 2.051 60', 11.781@122.88. And fun was had by all. Since he was on street tires, his sixty could have been better, so technically I took him on the launch, but all I saw was tail lights after that. Nice race, Neal!

After some cool-down time chatting with other racers, I decided for one last run. Turned out to be my personal best (of 7 runs):

Sixty-foot: 1.982
1/8th mile: 8.613 @ 83.77
1/4 mile: 13.224 @ 106.76

Good lane choice, a bit cooler (64*F and <190*f on the coolant), and a decent burnout (smoking the stock street tires) seemed to do the trick.


When I left, the car had 444 miles on the clock and was getting 4.9 mpg.

2011 2SS/RS Camaro exhaust clips

This is a brief clip of the stock exhaust note on the 2SS. I am using this as a baseline to compare with future mods. My Borla Touring cat-back exhaust is already here, and I am waiting on the JBA Shorty Headers and the JBA high-flow catted midpipes. Those should add ~30hp and more muscle to the exhaust note.



And as I'm installing the Borla, here's a clip of the post-cats removed, no muffler:



And here's the Borla installed:



Lots of fun!

2011 Chevrolet Camaro 2SS/RS

Here's the new racing project (click for photo album):

The Best of the GTO Videos, Part I

Here are a few videos illustrating exactly what my old 2004 Pontiac GTO could do. I started off with a heads/cam package, but blew that LS1 motor within the year. I then built a beast of a bottom end with an LQ9 (iron LS1) block, bored, stroked and forged to 408 cid (6.7L). By the end, it was putting down a solid 460 hp to the wheels and ran 11.5's at 117's with 1.5x 60-foot times.

Here's an early favorite video of the GTO racing in Dallas Georgia's 1/8th mile strip. This was what a head/cam motor could do in the early summer of 2004, when modded GTO's were just beginning to hit the strip:



Here's the GTO by the time of the King of the Hill Shootout as part of the Georgia vs. Florida III event in March of 2006. This was a great event that brought together GTO racers from the South together in Valdosta once or twice a year. This is a quarterfinal race. I'll post the next rounds later.



Finally, the GTO in all her glory. High Performance Pontiac Magazine called this my "Burnout Clinic" at the Pavement Pounder's Shootout as part of a magazine shoot held in conjunction with the GTOAA National Meet in Lousiville, Kentucky in July of 2006.