Last Updated: 8/5/14, post #137 -- Car sold to new owner

I figured a build thread on LS1tech would better serve the interests of the 4th gen community more so than my build thread does elsewhere. I hope this thread to be of use to anyone interested in taking one of these from stock to whatever -- a decade after the last one rolled off the assembly line.

This is my fifth Camaro and third LS1 4th gen. I also had a '05 GTO which was a nice DD but not really a replacement for a F-Body (IMO, anyway). You can see everything at www.fquick.com/demonspeed if you're interested.

The goal for this car is just a nice, all-around car that can reliably be beat on the street and at the track.

I will list every part/modification that deviates from stock. I try to exclusively use ACDelco/GM parts; I will note where this is not the case. I will also note if I use ACDelco/GM parts from other years and/or models -- if it wasn't on the 2002 Camaro SS as it rolled off the line then it will be noted as a "modification."

Thanks everyone at UMI Performance for their suspension products and expertise and WS6Store/RPMSpeed for their great prices and service!

2002 Chevrolet Camaro SS
GM Build date: April 2002
SLP #7146
True WU8; no Y2Y options
Bright Rally Red
Ebony Leather
T-Tops
Hurst
No ASR

Current best 1/4 pass: 12.84 @ 109.4 -- 1.99 60', 576 DA (lid, no filter, ported TB/air box, muffler) -- 10/13/12 Pittsburgh Raceway Park

Current Modifications

Engine/Intake/Exhaust:
Texas Speed & Performance Rumbler catback with ROL turndowns (painted black)
Frost tune
GM Performance Parts spark plug wires
Corvette "long" O2 sensors
Texas Speed & Performance y-pipe (catless; stainless)
PaceSetter 1-3/4" long tube headers (no emissions; painted)
Alper Motorsports header studs
OE iridium spark plugs
AIR system delete
Goodyear Gatorback belts
SLP [Powerbond] underdrive pulley
Airaid SynthaMax non-oiled air filter
Fel-Pro intake manifold gaskets
'04 LS6 PCV conversion
Potz Speed & Performance ported throttle body
SLP air lid
Throttle body coolant bypass
Ported air box

Drivetrain:
UMI Performance short shifter handle #2105
Strange [LPW] differential support cover (Ultimate 7.5)
Moser [ARP] differential main cap studs
Tick Performance adjustable master cylinder
Pro 5.0 shifter
Tick Performance brass shifter cup bushing

Brakes/Suspension/Steering:
UMI Performance front upper control arms #2311
UMI Performance front lower control arms (adjustable; street) #2305
UMI Performance subframe connectors (two-point; bolt-on) #2002
UMI Performance rear lower control arms (single-adjustable; rod/poly) #2016
UMI Performance rear lower control arm relocation brackets (bolt-on) #2012
UMI Performance panhard bar (single-adjustable; rod/poly) #2021
UMI Performance strut tower brace #2005
Energy Suspension sway bar bushings
Prothane transmission mount
Prothane torque arm mount
Prothane engine mounts
BFranker caliper decals
G2 brake caliper paint
Power steering cooler delete
Energy Suspension sway bar end links
SLP [Eibach] lowering springs
SLP [Bilstein] shocks/struts
Powerstop brake pads
Brakemotive drilled/slotted brake rotors
Uniroyal Tiger Paw GTZ all-season tires (400 tread; on car when purchased)

Exterior/Interior:
BFranker rear fill-ins
Side molding delete
Bosch Evolution wiper blades
OE non-Hurst leather shift ****
SLP SS floor mats (in car when purchased)
Auxiliary jack
Automatic headlights delete/daytime running lights delete
Rockford Fosgate P163C door speakers (in car when purchased)

 

I found this SS on eBay from a guy outside Richmond, VA. 65k miles and priced right, so I hit the buy it now and picked it up the following weekend (2/4/12). This was after getting it to Pittsburgh:






Please note the anomaly which is the ASR motor on the passenger strut tower. The car did not come as a NW9 car -- you can see the throttle/cruise cables running right to the throttle body (it also has 3-channel ABS). However, the traction control motor was indeed installed from the factory without being hooked up to anything. I had a similar instance with my '91 Z28 L98/G92 yet it lacked J65 rear disc. Stuff happens...

 

While it only had 65k miles, it wasn't immune to lazy owners. I pulled the interior out to clean:




While I had it apart, I also replaced the factory Hurst with a Pro 5.0 shifter along with a Tick Performance brass shifter bushing (you can see the shifter-less transmission above). This is because in my past experience, the plastic bushing wears out with hard driving causing the shifter ball to pop out of the cup. This happened to me at the track and royally annoyed me, but no one made the brass cups back then (afaik, anyway).

I also cut the handle 1" and installed an OEM non-Hurst round ****.



I decided to remove the side molding:



While the driver side went well, the passenger side didn't look so hot. It looks like the passenger door and rear fender had been repainted at some point -- and the body shop didn't remove the molding:



The hold down for the battery tray was broken, so a dead battery prompted me to just yank it all out and replace everything. I went with a regular ACDelco 75/5 battery as I'll never have a stereo system.



I also had to replace the passenger side AIR check valve as it was throwing an SES light. I picked up one from someone on LS1tech who removed their AIR system. I'll be yanking the AIR system out when I do long tubes, but for now, I wanted it to work. You can see the shiny valve below, along with the new battery, a new SLP lid, and a freshly cleaned engine bay by using GUNK foamy engine cleaner:

 

While I mentioned that I'll never have an aftermarket stereo, I would like to use my iPod when I go on trips. This mean the installation of the "Novak" jack ( https://ls1tech.com/forums/stereo-el...t-adapter.html ). I used some cat5 cable:



and a $2 jack from Radio Shack:



With the head unit out, it was a great time to do the DRL delete and auto headlight delete ( http://xse.com/leres/ss/drl.html ). Notice the "bridge" soldered at the top right:



I also did the throttle body coolant bypass:



as well as "free ram air" mod:



and a Potz Speed & Performance ported throttle body:



Bosch Evolution blades since the old ones were falling apart (thought I don't plan to drive in the rain):



I also got some rear inserts from BFranker, a frame off eBay, and a vanity plate:

 

It seemed like I had a slight miss since I brought the car home. In the past, this usually happened when I bent a push rod. I decided to pull them and see if they were alright. They were all fine, but I busted a rocker arm bolt -- and two sockets trying to get it off! However, I was very happy to see what appears to be a well-maintained engine with frequent oil changes -- and it seems like the miss is gone.




Don't you think it looks better without those ugly coils and AIR tubes?




As I said, I'll yank the entire AIR system out when I do long tubes. I might do a coil relocation in the future, but it's not a priority at the moment.

 

The passenger window motor died on me when I took the car in for the PA state inspection. I went with an ACDelco motor from Amazon and I simply followed these instructions: http://shbox.com/page/windowmotor.html

It was pretty easy other than being a PITA trying to get the bolt holes to align correctly while meshing with the gear. Now that I've done it once, I am sure it'll go a lot smoother next time. Word of advice -- a Dremel makes the holes much nicer (drill bit splinters the SMC). However, be sure to cover your interior with a sheet unless you like to sit in dust.

I did, however, find a surprise hiding in the door:




I am not a stereo person whatsoever, so I haven't any idea if this a good replacement for the stock Monsoon. I don't know what may be in the rest of the car, but I don't care enough at the moment to take things apart to find out.

 

I needed pads and rotors for inspection. Power Stop rotors & pads -- $165 shipped for all four corners! I would have liked to done something a bit better, but I wasn't planning on brakes yet. Economy vs. desire, and economy won out for this one. It was quite interesting pulling the original brakes off as the previous owners must not have driven the car hard at all to get 65k miles out of them (still had those "claw" washers on the wheel studs).




I also cleaned ten years of grime off the wheels:

Before:



After:



I would have liked to invest some more time on the calipers. They need a good cleaning and painting, but I simply lack motivation for them at the moment.

 

Spring 2012 pictures:

 

A little shifting action:

This is just a roll out of a parking lot (5mph?), side-step the clutch (1500rpm?), and run to 110. You'll notice I paddled the gas a little at the top of first due to spinning.

 

Post in the Suspension forum: https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspensio...stall-umi.html



And a strut brace:

 

Got some new UMI stuff put on: Single-adjustable PHB & LCAs (rod end), LCA brackets, and 2pt bolt-on SFCs. I definitely notice how much more "together" the car feels. No loose feeling when going over any bumps or irregularities in the road, and the mods in the rear made a significant difference in helping put the power to the ground, even with these crap all-season tires.





I also put the new strut mount on. New one on the right, "modified" one on the left (remember, Ryan & Jerry at UMI had to do something to get me home):




This was an ACDelco mount, and it included a pair of bolts and nuts to replace the torx bit setup. I didn't think much of them, but when I went to put the torx bits back in, I some how cross-threaded one of the molded nuts and it popped out. Hence, my use of the new bolt and nut!



This stuff is free to anyone who wants it:

 

The car took 2nd place in 98-02 Camaro Street (essentially the mild-mods class) Saturday at Carlisle GM Nationals. It got beat out by a low-mile '01 Berger SS. I knew I had no chance at beating an essentially new car, but I'd rather take 2nd place and enjoy driving my car rather than 1st place and keeping it covered in the garage! One can see some of the Berger in a few pics below.

 

Post in the Drag Racing forums: https://ls1tech.com/forums/drag-raci...a-muffler.html

After 7 years, I finally got to the track! Made four passes at Pittsburgh Raceway Park:

1) 2.11 60' 13.52@98.9 (missed 4th) 3250 DA
2) 2.15 60' 13.36@106.8 3267 DA
3) 2.07 60' 13.19@107.4 3150 DA
4) 2.01 60' 13.07@107.7 2650 DA

Wish I would have had one last pass as I know it has a 12 in it! I kept moving up my launch RPM from 1500 on the first pass to 2500 on the last pass. Tires aired down to 26psi; shift at 6000.

Remember, this is on Uniroyal all-season tires (with UMI LCA's & brackets). Only engine mods are a lid (I removed the air filter), ported TB, FRA, and Flowmaster muffler.

Can't wait to get back with cooler weather!

Video of the 13.0 run thanks to "MEC's Toy" from Camaro5...

 

Just a random "out and about" picture:

 

Haven't driven the car since the track, so there hasn't been anything to update until today.

I've had a high-idle problem where it idles around 900-1000 when cold, but after driving around it stays high 1200 or so. When putting the clutch in, the rpms hang and take their time settling back down -- but still sticking around 1200.

I did some poking around and found the PCV hose was cracked:



[B]One can see that it's in two spots, and the crack closest to the PCV valve is leaching oil. In hopes that my high idle is due to a vacuum leak from the PCV system, I figured what better time than now to perform the '04 LS6 PCV conversion. This arrived from GMPartsDirect.com:



Parts list: valve cover plug (12568011), valley cover to intake hose (12594779) and valley cover with built in PCV - aka: 2004 LS6 PCV (12577927)

*NOTE* 98-00 with LS1 intake manifold (or those converting from LS1 to LS6 manifold) will also need two coolant plugs (12602540 x2) and the crossover tube (12602548). You can also do the dual-cross over setup if you'd prefer: https://ls1tech.com/forums/generatio...ver-pipes.html

This is no guarantee to cure the LS1 oil consumption issues, but it's proven effective to at least minimize it substantially (it does cure it in some cases). Not only that, it cleans up the engine bay by removing the PCV hose system from wrapping around the valve covers and intake. I'll be using the instructions from LS1howto: http://www.ls1howto.com/index.php?article=18 (note that the OLD valley cover part number is listed on the website).

What a mess!



After some elbow grease:



Took the Dremel to the notch:




Decided to put new Fel-Pro intake gaskets in (would have gone with ACDelco had I not needed to get it back together right away):



What got yanked from the engine bay:



Back together -- not much to look at, but there's now more room!

 

Post from the Drag Racing forums: https://ls1tech.com/forums/drag-raci...s-muffler.html

Went back to the track 10/13/12. With 2 hours between runs, I was only able to get three passes in:

12.84@109.4, 1.99 60', 576 DA (launched at 2200)
12.96@107.7, 1.96 60', 1200 DA (launched at 3000)
12.87@107.8, 1.91 60', 1480 DA (launched at 3500)

The track was hooking well for cars in my power range (this was on all-seasons; aired to 18psi). The car probably has another tenth in it, but I'm happy to finally break into the 12's. I'm also happy it's so consistent, especially with a 6 speed.

Had I launched with no mercy on that first run I believe it would have got me the hero pass!

 

Santa brought me an Airaid SynthaMax dry air filter:



What's happening at the moment:
SLP pulley/balancer from WS6store
Goodyear Gatorback belts and ACDelco power steering pressure hose from Amazon

 

Looking great keep it up

 

Love the attention to detail. Subscribed. I was having a somewhat similar issue with the high idle but it has gone away over time. Started right after i deleted the AIR.

 

Thanks! I wanted to be sure and cover everything that I could so that I wouldn't leave anything to be questioned. I always hate looking up stuff to only wonder what someone did for a particular "generic" part or some other "minor" thing they did not mention during an install. Anything that deviates from how the car rolled out of the factory will be documented -- why else do you think I mention the wiper blades!?