LS1/T56 into a 68 Camaro
08-19-2015, 12:16 PM
#141
Things are moving along.
Last weekend I reassembled the interior with sound deadener and thermal insulation along with new 3 point belts. It felt good to have a full interior again.
I had the tune done by Complete Street Performance (CSP) in West Chester, PA on Monday. The car put exactly 400HP to the rear wheels and Andrew fine tuned the air/fuel ratios and spark timing at full throttle and part throttle. The engine feels very strong and has a decent lope to it at idle yet it is very easy to drive. I will have You Tube of the dyno pull once I get it from CSP. I will also post the dyno graph then.
The car is getting an alignment today and was ready for pick up when I called about an hour ago. I am going in for window tint tomorrow with 15% on the sides and back.
I have had to fix a few issues: the power steering kept leaking because the adapter fittings Art Morrison sent me use crap O-rings that squish out when you go to tighten them and leak all over the place. I replaced these with copper crush washers and all appears good there. My fuel gauge quit working but last night I found that the 1960's era circuit board had finally deteriorated and wasn't supplying power to the fuel gauge. Luckily I had another one from a parts car that I stripped 29 years ago and got that working again. I ordered a new wiper motor and washer pump since it was blowing the 10 amp fuse when turned them on. It wasn't an immediate blow so I know it is not a short and all the wiring is brand new. The wiper motor was turning real slow, so I figured it is drawing a ton of amps.
My biggest issue now is a fuel leak from the tank that I think is one of the gaskets on top. I started another thread on that, so if you have any ideas please post. I also need to keep making some adjustments to the exhaust system to get rid of rattles and rubs. Almost there.
Last weekend I reassembled the interior with sound deadener and thermal insulation along with new 3 point belts. It felt good to have a full interior again.
I had the tune done by Complete Street Performance (CSP) in West Chester, PA on Monday. The car put exactly 400HP to the rear wheels and Andrew fine tuned the air/fuel ratios and spark timing at full throttle and part throttle. The engine feels very strong and has a decent lope to it at idle yet it is very easy to drive. I will have You Tube of the dyno pull once I get it from CSP. I will also post the dyno graph then.
The car is getting an alignment today and was ready for pick up when I called about an hour ago. I am going in for window tint tomorrow with 15% on the sides and back.
I have had to fix a few issues: the power steering kept leaking because the adapter fittings Art Morrison sent me use crap O-rings that squish out when you go to tighten them and leak all over the place. I replaced these with copper crush washers and all appears good there. My fuel gauge quit working but last night I found that the 1960's era circuit board had finally deteriorated and wasn't supplying power to the fuel gauge. Luckily I had another one from a parts car that I stripped 29 years ago and got that working again. I ordered a new wiper motor and washer pump since it was blowing the 10 amp fuse when turned them on. It wasn't an immediate blow so I know it is not a short and all the wiring is brand new. The wiper motor was turning real slow, so I figured it is drawing a ton of amps.
My biggest issue now is a fuel leak from the tank that I think is one of the gaskets on top. I started another thread on that, so if you have any ideas please post. I also need to keep making some adjustments to the exhaust system to get rid of rattles and rubs. Almost there.
09-13-2015, 03:51 PM
#144
Well I swapped out the gaskets on top of the gas tank yesterday and the job went pretty easy and was successful. The original rubber gaskets were absolutely trashed. It a wonder they weren't leaking worse than they were.
I do have to give a shout out to the baffling in the Tanks Inc tank. I ran the fuel level down so far that my gas gauge was sitting on E and wasn't budging and when I dropped the tank I had no more than 1-2 gallons in there and the pump never sucked air. I have a fuel pressure gauge on the cowl and I was afraid I wouldn't make it home so I was watching the pressure gauge intently ready to shut the motor down if the pressure dropped and it never did. I typically won't go lower than 1/4 tank, so this gives me confidence that I can run it down that low without problems.
I do have to give a shout out to the baffling in the Tanks Inc tank. I ran the fuel level down so far that my gas gauge was sitting on E and wasn't budging and when I dropped the tank I had no more than 1-2 gallons in there and the pump never sucked air. I have a fuel pressure gauge on the cowl and I was afraid I wouldn't make it home so I was watching the pressure gauge intently ready to shut the motor down if the pressure dropped and it never did. I typically won't go lower than 1/4 tank, so this gives me confidence that I can run it down that low without problems.
09-28-2015, 01:13 PM
#145
Well I took the Camaro to its first show since completing the swap and I had a blast. It was the Wildwood, NJ boardwalk show and I had the car up on the boardwalk Fri and Sat. Out of approximately 300 cars, besides me there was only one other LS conversion in a mid 50's Cadillac. I was actually pretty surprised about that, I expected to see more. I also took advantage of my exhaust cutouts and had the exhaust uncapped most of the weekend. That was a lot of fun especially when cruising on the roads after the show. Let's say I abused the rear tires a little bit.
10-15-2015, 07:04 AM
#146
I took the Camaro to Cecil County last night for the Wednesday night street drags. My best ET was 12.39 with a 60 foot of 1.946. My best MPH was 115.51 on a different run. The street tires definitely held me back from making a completely solid run. On my 12.39 run, I actually spun the tires going into 4th and I believe my MPH would have been 116 or so. Based on my MPH, I should be able to muster an 11.8 or so. I guess I will have to go back now and try again.
10-15-2015, 11:19 AM
#147
Mr Tibs,
beautiful car. I LOVE the way it sounds. What are the details of your complete exhaust system?
beautiful car. I LOVE the way it sounds. What are the details of your complete exhaust system?
10-15-2015, 03:06 PM
#148
Thanks Jimbo, it is a Pypes 2 1/2" mandrel bent stainless steel system with X-pipe. I ordered the exhaust dumps that come off the x-pipe and have them manually capped for now. For mufflers I am using stainless steel 40 series mufflers offset/offset (Separate sides). I also added the polished stainless tips so they go straight out the back. It is tight fit getting the pipes past the gas tank, rear wheels, rear springs and quarter panel. I thought I had it perfect, but ended up dimpling the pipes to clear the tires.
10-23-2015, 11:26 AM
#149
Now that the initial excitement of completing this swap is over, I have a few issues that are bothering me that I need to fix. First is a pretty bad vibration at 50 MPH that shakes the rearview mirror so much I can't see out of it. I remember having this prior to the swap, and I guess I was hoping changing everything out would fix it. The vibration feels like it comes from the rear of the car. I started trying to narrow it down by looking more closely at the rear wheels and axles. I took out my dial indicator and checked the side to side runout on both wheels. On the drivers side, I got 0.029" on the inside lip and 0.040" side to side on the passenger side inner lip. I then removed the rear tires and cinched down two lugs on each rear brake disc rotor and took side to side (Axial) and Up/down (lateral) runouts on the rotor hub. On the passenger side I got 0.005" axial and ).012" lateral. On the drivers side I got 0.007" axial and 0.015" lateral. For the axial measurements, I made sure to always push the rotor towards the housing to eliminate axial freeplay.
My question is, does anyone know what allowable runouts are for a 12 bolt rear?
My question is, does anyone know what allowable runouts are for a 12 bolt rear?
Last edited by Aston Tibs; 10-27-2015 at 07:10 AM.
10-23-2015, 04:44 PM
#150
TECH Senior Member
iTrader: (7)
Now that the initial excitement of completing this swap is over, I have a few issues that are bothering me that I need to fix. First is a pretty bad vibration at 50 MPH that shakes the rearview mirror so much I can't see out of it. I remember having this prior to the swap, and I guess I was hoping changing everything out would fix it. The vibration feels like it comes from the rear of the car. I started trying to narrow it down by looking more closely at the rear wheels and axles. I took out my dial indicator and checked the side to side runout on both wheels. On the drivers side, I got 0.029" on the inside lip and 0.040" side to side on the passenger side inner lip. I then removed the rear tires and cinched down two lugs on each rear brake disc rotor and took side to side (Axial) and Up/down (lateral) runouts on the rotor hub. On the passenger side I got 0.005" axial and ).012" lateral. On the drivers side I got 0.007" axial and 0.015" axial. For the axial measurements, I made sure to always push the rotor towards the housing to eliminate axial freeplay.
My question is, does anyone know what allowable runouts are for a 12 bolt rear?
My question is, does anyone know what allowable runouts are for a 12 bolt rear?
When I got my new Strange axles for the 9" in the Cougar I had a max of .002" at the axle flange.
Also, I would use all 5 lug nuts to hold the rotor and torque them down evenly, then measure. With c-clip style axles measuring becomes difficult as the axles have a lot of movement. To reduce the variability, maybe have a buddy turn the driveshaft as you measure runout, be it at the axle flange or on the rotor.
Your vibration can also be cause by improper u-joint operating angles.
Andrew
10-27-2015, 07:13 AM
#151
Andrew, I am going to remove the rotors next like you state. I also have a friend with a tire balance machine and I am going to run over there to get a true measurement on the wheels. For U-joint operating angle, I think it is buried somewhere in this thread, but I recall 3 degrees down at the trans and 5 degrees up at the rear. That gives me a difference of 2 degrees as far as being parallel. I have not checked the driveshaft operating angle versus the trans or rear however. I will probably have to do that.
10-27-2015, 10:53 AM
#152
TECH Senior Member
iTrader: (7)
Andrew, I am going to remove the rotors next like you state. I also have a friend with a tire balance machine and I am going to run over there to get a true measurement on the wheels. For U-joint operating angle, I think it is buried somewhere in this thread, but I recall 3 degrees down at the trans and 5 degrees up at the rear. That gives me a difference of 2 degrees as far as being parallel. I have not checked the driveshaft operating angle versus the trans or rear however. I will probably have to do that.
You definitely need to know the angle of the driveshaft as well as the angles of the transmission output shaft and the pinion, with the car loaded and at ride height.
Andrew
12-19-2015, 03:53 PM
#153
Well I finallt got around to measuring my driveshaft angles and I am afraid that I may have a problem. With the subframe at bubble level and the rear suspension at ride height, I got the following angles.
Trans 5 degrees down.
Driveshaft 0 degrees
Rear 7 1/2 degrees up (2 1/2 Degrees off parallel from the trans)
This gives me a 5 degree operating angle at the trans and a 7 1/2 degree operating angle at the rear. To make things worse, the rear probably rotates a good 2 degrees further up under power until the traction bar snubbers hit the leaf spring for a 9 1/2 degree operating angle under power.
Does this sound like the source of my vibration?
Trans 5 degrees down.
Driveshaft 0 degrees
Rear 7 1/2 degrees up (2 1/2 Degrees off parallel from the trans)
This gives me a 5 degree operating angle at the trans and a 7 1/2 degree operating angle at the rear. To make things worse, the rear probably rotates a good 2 degrees further up under power until the traction bar snubbers hit the leaf spring for a 9 1/2 degree operating angle under power.
Does this sound like the source of my vibration?
12-19-2015, 04:28 PM
#154
I am thinking these might do the trick, http://www.summitracing.com/parts/rex-re1464/overview/
I would be more comfortable using a 3 degree shim, but the same design isn't available in three degrees.
I would be more comfortable using a 3 degree shim, but the same design isn't available in three degrees.
12-21-2015, 08:07 AM
#155
I am thinking these might do the trick, http://www.summitracing.com/parts/rex-re1464/overview/
I would be more comfortable using a 3 degree shim, but the same design isn't available in three degrees.
I would be more comfortable using a 3 degree shim, but the same design isn't available in three degrees.
12-21-2015, 08:35 AM
#156
I am thinking these might do the trick, http://www.summitracing.com/parts/rex-re1464/overview/
I would be more comfortable using a 3 degree shim, but the same design isn't available in three degrees.
I would be more comfortable using a 3 degree shim, but the same design isn't available in three degrees.
12-24-2015, 11:43 AM
#159
Ok, so I installed the 3 degree shims and my new operating angles are Trans 5 deg down, driveshaft 1 1/2 degree down and rear 3 degree up. I have no idea why a 3 degree shim would change the rear angle 4 1/2 degrees but it is what it is. Now as the axle wraps up it should bring it closer to 5 degrees. So before I put the car down on its wheels, I figured I would run it up to 45-50 MPH to see if the vibration was gone. Guess what, vibration still there and just as bad as ever. I then the removed the tires one at a time to see if I could pinpoint the balance issue. The right tire seemed worse and when I temporarily bolted the left wheel on the right side it seemed to be just as bad so i decided to check runouts on the rear axle flange with the brake rotor removed. Side to side runout just outboard of the wheel circle I got .005" and up and down on the outside of the flange I also got .005". Next I called Currie enterprises and asked them what their manufacturing tolerance was and they told me .004" for both measurements and said my numbers sounded fine. The only thing I have left is the wheels, so I will send them out for balancing and runout check now after Christmas. I suppose I could also borrow a set of known good wheels and bolt them up so i may may throw out a query to my friends.
Lastly Merry Christmas everyone.
Lastly Merry Christmas everyone.
