BlueZee28

iTrader: (7)

This is an awesome swap. It's SUPER CLEAN. You're doing everything the right way, good job.

GC99TA

iTrader: (30)

I didn't go with the ARPs. I used Katech rod bolts. Here's a direck link. They're also a sponsor:

http://katechengines.com/katech_inc/...-rod-bolts.htm

GC99TA

iTrader: (30)

Thank you! I appreciate the compliment.

6D9

iTrader: (1)

Love your build man! Very clean and well thought out. I have a 69 right now with a mellow 408 sbc but am really looking hard at these LY6's. Sure would be nice to not have oil leaks and the other weaknesses of the gen 1 motor. What kind of ET's are you looking for on the motor?? I see you went with an
8" converter....what kind of flash stall are you shooting for with it??

My damn car is a mix of sometimes Protouring and sometimes street/strip. It also hauls my 3 and 6 year old girls around to the local shows/meets. So it needs to be a jack of all trades....lol

How well do you think a motor set up like yours would pull a TH400/GV overdrive/"tight" 10" 3200 stall/3.50 gear/26" DR's??? Kinda worried about the low and mid range torque.

Keep up the great work and I will be following it closely!!!

GC99TA

iTrader: (30)

Thanks a lot for the kind words! Yeah, you sure do have to love all the modern engineering that went into these engines. There’s so much more to them than just the obvious advantages of fuel injection for frequently/daily driven vehicles.

I usually try to avoid predicting things like ET with so many unknowns and variables still involved, but I guess I’d say I’ll be satisfied if it goes high 11’s on the motor. The converter is a PTC 8” specifically for LS/TH350-400 combos. They say it will go between 4800 and 5200 depending on the combo. I’m hoping it’s on the tighter side of that range so I can still play with a little nitrous from time to time, but I’m sure it’ll be fun either way!

I think it’d do pretty well with that set up. If you were to keep it fuel injected (unlike me) you’d probably do well by keeping the VVT to maintain some of the low end grunt. You gotta figure they put the LY6 in pretty heavy trucks with similar gearing and they get around pretty well, even with a load on. Granted, you’d maybe lose a little low end with the cam swap, but that’s what the converter is for, right?

I don’t have any experience with the Gear Vendors overdrive, but my guess is that with 3.50 gears, that 10” 3200 stall might not be as tight as you’d think when you’re in your overdrive gears. That’d be my only concern with a set up like that with a non-lockup converter. It might build a lot of heat in the higher gears. I’m gonna have a similar issue when I first get my car out. I hope to have it drivable before I get the 9 inch with 4.10s under it. So, it’ll get driven for a while (not raced) with the 2.73s that are currently in the stock 10 bolt. I’m expecting my 8” to be WAAAAY too loose with those gears.

Thanks again. Keep checking in and let me know if you have any more questions. I’m out of town right now so there won’t be much progress being made, but I will be picking up my TH400 from Rossler in a few days!

6D9

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the reply!!

Shoot I think you are be conservative for sure about the ET's! With that beasty converter and overall set up I would think mid to low 11's easy. I think your right...it should pull my set up just fine. The VVT im sure would help as well.

Im currently running the TH400/GV overdrive with a Continental "tight" 10" 3200 stall. Its very tight at part throttle and works great even with the GV engaged. My trans temp never reads over 160-170. So far the car has run
11.89 at 115 untuned. I would really like some 10.9's on motor...but cant have everything right...lol

cant wait to see whats next with your car!

Razor

Nice write up!

I live just up the road from you in Tucson and also have a 73 Camaro. I just finished up an AFR headed 406 SBC. Anyhow, looking to go with a 6 liter/l92 set up later this year. I'm sure Ill be in contact with you for info as you seem to know what you are doing.

Ray.

sjsingle1

iTrader: (1)

did you think about going with a rack to solve the alt pitman arm issues?

PitchblackC3

iTrader: (3)

Nice build. Look forward to more.

GC99TA

iTrader: (30)

Thanks Ray and sorry for the late reply. I'm out of town right now and just figured out how to reply on my Blackberry. Anyway, feel free to ask any questions and I'll do my best to help out. You're close enough you could actually come by and see the car if that would help. I'd like to see your 73 as well.

GC99TA

iTrader: (30)

The thought crossed my mind as a possible option but I figured the cost to benefit ratio would be a little high. I know DSE (I think) makes an aftermarket sub frame for a rack set up but its pretty pricey. I'm not sure what kind of fabbing it would take to adapt a rack to the stock sub frame but its probably more than I'd wanna get into.

GC99TA

iTrader: (30)

Thanks! Like I said, I've been out of town for quite a while so I'm ready to get back at it on the car. I picked up my TH400 from Rossler last week so when I get back home I can get it bolted up and have the engine and trans "permanently" installed in the car. Since everything lined up in the stock location when I mocked in the TH350 I decided to order the correct TH400 crossmember from Year One to make everything a direct bolt in rather than modifying the stock TH350 crossmember. More on that I guess once I get back home.

Jimbo1367

how much was the new 400 crossmember?

GC99TA

iTrader: (30)

I think it was like $89 and then they were having 20% off. That basically saved me the shipping and maybe a few more dollars.

GC99TA

iTrader: (30)

I haven’t updated this for a few weeks because I’ve been out on the east coast visiting family and friends. Since I was heading that way I also took the opportunity unclutter my garage by taking some stuff with me to put in storage back in Pennsylvania. The biggest thing I took back was my 99 Trans Am, but I also took a lot of the original parts I won’t be using on the Camaro to put them in my parts storage shed at my in-laws house. The major stuff I took back was the stock 350, the TH350 transmission, all the AC stuff, and the stock gas tank. There was also a lot of little stuff too. Pretty much everything could be packed in the shed by hand, but the 350 provided a little more challenge. My good buddy Dan was helping me out, and we came up with the solution of pushing the engine and dolly up a set up ramps and into the shed with my four-wheeler. Here’s a picture of Dan doing the honors (Yeah, we were having WAAAAY too much redneck fun with this!)



Our plan was flawless except for one thing……we failed to account for the two inch drop at the other end of the ramps going into the shed…..that and the poor condition of the shed floor. This is what happens when 450lbs comes off the end of a ramp and a dolly caster goes through the floor. Don’t worry….no harm no foul and we got a really good laugh out of this whole thing!



So anyway, I couldn’t take all those parts out there and come back empty handed. On my way through, I stopped at Rossler Transmissions and picked up my TH400. It’s the Terminator 2 transmission and I also added the billet front drum, deep aluminum pan, and a JW Ultrabell.




Also, here’s my new TH400 crossmember that arrived from Year One. The TH350 one is below it to show a comparison of the mounting pad location. Hopefully everything should bolt in to the stock location with this new crossmember.



I also stopped through the swap meet in Canfield OH and picked up a spare set of LS valve covers. That way I can run a passenger side valve cover on both sides of the motor. The large oil fill in the passenger side valve covers will allow me to run a Metco style push in breather on both sides of the motor like this. I still need to buy another breather for the driver's side, but you get the idea.



The last thing I brought back was the original alternator off of my 99 Trans Am that I’ll be running on the Camaro. I originally replaced this alternator several years ago when it suddenly stopped charging. When the new one didn’t charge either, I found the problem to be a faulty exciter wire plug and not the alternator. Rather than putting the original back on and going through the hassle of trying to return the new one, I just left the new one on the Trans Am and put the original in the shed. So, hopefully it will work OK on the Camaro.

I’m not sure if I’ll get any work done this weekend, but the next thing to do is install my PTC converter, mate the engine to the trans, and drop it all in the car for good. I’ll update again once that happens.

Rick Speed

iTrader: (55)

Man if I knew you were going to be in canfield I would have gone to meet you and talk cars lol.. and Don't you mean passenger side covers?

GC99TA

iTrader: (30)

Hey, that'd been cool. I was only there for about three hours so I didn't get to see everything. I was on my way from NW PA to Cincinatti so I had the wife, kids, and dog to contend with. Wish I'd have had a few more hours.

Oooops....yeah, you're absolutely correct. Brain fart on my part. I fixed it above......

GC99TA

iTrader: (30)

I was still feeling a little ambitious this afternoon after getting some stuff done around the house so I went to the garage, put a quart of fluid in the converter, slid it in the transmission, bolted everything together and dropped it all in the car. The converter spacing checked out perfect at 3/16ths.

Going in again……



And here’s another shot of the firewall clearance….



I couldn’t be happier with how the transmission lined up with the new TH400 crossmember. Just like with the TH350 set up, the transmission mount bolt holes ended up right in the center of the slots on the crossmember mounting pads so everything bolted right up without a fight.

NYTHAWK

iTrader: (5)

Sorry to go back in time, but I just started reading this (excellent BTW). What kind of paint did you use on top of the POR 15?

billsnogo

iTrader: (7)

Why does the car shop non-set back plates not account for this then? I have a pair just like the non-set back and the bolt holes for the motor mount are not 1/4" lower than the plate bolts.

Trying to find a set that will work with my car and hopefully use my jz oil pan