Good morning Ls1tech & Welcome to Project Three Pedals! I hope you enjoy your stay here, feel free to contribute any information, make any suggestions or ask any questions as I want this to be a great resource for anyone looking to do some all motor stick shift partying!

I am creating this thread to document my journey of building a 9 sec all motor stick shift street car. I have learned from many great ls1tech contributors over the years and I don't see a ton of new NA stick shift information out there anymore, so I am going to throw my hat in the ring.

I've spent many years on this forum and it has grown my knowledge on the sport and the ls platform significantly. I love the internal combustion engine and the many ways enthusiast choose to utilize them. However, I developed a passion for drag racing. Specifically all motor stick shift drag racing. Tech has been a great resource for that due to many people showing their builds, successes and failures. I have purchased a car from a fellow ls1tech member 2 weeks ago and I couldn't keep from making a build thread about it. The car has been on ls1tech since at least 2011, where it started as an ls1 with 1 7/8" headers, ls6 intake, monster stage 3 clutch, rear end and drag pack. The car managed a best of 11.50 @ 118 during that phase of its life and participated in Hot Rod Drag Week 3 times, and was on the cover of the January 2012 issue of the Hot Rod Magazine. The previous owner went to install a camshaft and did not have enough PTV clearance due to stretched valves. Everyone knows when you have stretched valves you should buy a TSP shortblock instead of a different set of heads, and that is exactly what Steve did.

Steve turned a best of a 10.52 @ 128mph with a 1.48 60' I believe after the new transplant. The picture below is from one of the races Steve participated in and is one of my favorite pictures of this car to date.


Let's get to my ownership and details about the setup.

1999 Hugger Orange SS Stripper Car
77,000 original miles
Full interior less the rear seats, factory speakers, (I use bluetooth) and air bags. No HVAC.
Manual windows, manual locks, hardtop, no keyless entry, no abs, no cruise control, manual rear hatch open only




I probably have every receipt for all parts listed in case we need specs or part numbers on something that is old or difficult to find.
This car is not a new build, all the work was done around 2011-2012 based on the receipt dates.
The clutch is still the same monster stage 3 that Steve beat on when he was a bolt on car. Probably has 350-400 passes on it.
The motor has 2500 miles in the last 9 years.
I have the camshaft card and cylinder head specs, bottom end specs, etc. I will provide more pictures and details later after we get the big stuff out of the way.

Engine Setup:
404 LS2
Shortblock was built by Texas Speed and Performance
Callies Compstar crankshaft and rods
Wiseco Pistons
ARP main studs
Improved Racing trap door baffle in the oil pan
Oil pump is a Katech Racing ported LS6 pump
Heads are GMPP ported LS6 heads
ARP head bolts
Brian Tooley Racing .650” lift dual springs with Ti retainers
Brian Tooley Racing chromoly pushrods
Stock rocker arms with the comp cams trunnion upgrade
LS7 lifters
Ferrea stainless steel valves
Cam is an EPS 234/246 .602/.607 on a 111
Stock LS6 intake with a ported LS6 throttle body (speed density tuned)
ATI Super Damper
Mezeire 35 gpm electric water pump
Stock ignition coils with Firecore plug wires
Spark plugs are TR55 (I don’t remember the gap)
Green top 42lb/hr injectors
Nasty Performance fuel rails
Recetronix fuel pump kit with hot wire kit
Lingenfelter 2 step box (no timing retard) hooked to the clutch pedal switch
American Racing Headers 1-7/8” with custom 3” dual exhaust pipes. There is no crossover in this system.
Mufflers are Dynatech Split Flow’s

The cars current setup is a 402" Ls2, t56 and s60 rear end.

Where am I at with the car and what do I need to do?

The car is pretty light, but I would like to make it lighter, either low cost or free weight reduction.
The suspension is okay for now. I could upgrade it, but I don't feel like that would be money well spent at this point.
The largest problem I feel like the car has right now is it needs more power. I am not sure I can do much more, except drive better to get my ET down.

I will be updating with lots of pictures and videos whenever I can.
I am creating a video from the first track trip today, and I will post when I have uploaded the video. I have a few pictures and time slips to post from the first test n tune as well.

Again, I appreciate and welcome any questions, comments or suggestions.

Talk to you all shortly!

Parker

 

Cool car. That pic you post is awesome!

Sounds like more power is in order. Are you looking for thoughts/ideas on how to get there or something else? Do you have a budget in mind?

 

Very nice, your car is a gem. Keep up the good work.

 

Thank you! I am open to all options to increase power without doing a complete top end rebuild prior to winter. Well of course the options for power depend on the pocketbook. I am wanting to take the more with less approach for now. I am buying a house this year, so the available funds won't be at an all time high.

I do drive the car on the street, so I am not interested in an aggressive single plane style manifold, solid roller 8500rpm build with Jesel valvetrain type of build. I would consider a LLSR at some point, but I don't know a lot about them.
I am open to most options except spend $4-5,000 rebuilding the top end right now.

I have tossed around a few ideas

1) Leave heads and cam as is for now change intake manifold, throttle body and lid and see what I can get it down to. I know I could go low 10s with this setup but I am not sure what my limit would be. This seems like the easiest solution for significant power, but man the ls7 lifters are always in the back of my mind. However, the ls7 lifters have probably seen 8k rpm 3 times in this car.

2) Pull the heads to replace ls7 lifters with Johnson lifters so this party doesn't get cut short, but I would need to replace my pushrods as well if going from ls7 to Johnsons? Then replace manifold and throttle body but leave heads and cam as is.

3) Pull the 243s, install Johnson lifters, install ls3 heads and intake manifold to see what it will do? Would any sensors or wiring adjustments need to be made to run ls3 heads? Although I realize I cannot optimize changing from cathedral to rectangular without a camshaft swap.

I am open to options I haven't even thought about or considered as well.

 

I dont know who like all motor stick cars more... you or me..

Anyway, I want you to talk to a clutch specialist that custom build clutches to your specific car and usage of the car. Monster clutches are great but its a off the shelf clutch you know. Eithier it holds up or it dont. Contact Black Magic clutches... the guy is going to ask you 30 questions or so.

 

Thanks Fred! I plan on keeping this car for a looooong time.
I actually would like to determine how many cars were manufactured identical to mine from the factory.

It looks like there were 54 1999 Hugger Orange SS Camaros produced with a hardtop and a manual transmission. How do I see how many of those 54 came with no power windows, locks, keyless entry etc?

 

Here is the link for the first track outing. I will post of the slips later today!







Top slip is 1st pass in video, middle is 2nd and bottom is 3rd.

 

Haha my man Tusky! Let's just be glad we both like them and keep the torch burning. Your cookbook may very well have given me inspiration for this car.

I agree with you man. This monster stage 3 with a 28lb flywheel is a run of the mill, heavy single disc unit. But wait till you see the short times from my 2nd track outing...

How much do those black magic clutches run? I was reading about them this week.

 

Thanks for the kind words about my Cookbook thread.

The black magic clutches price just depends on what all they put into the clutches. They have different types of discs, coatings etc. Visit the Facebook group Stick Shift Nation where guys are consistently going faster at the track by going to the Black Magic clutches. Even the 60ft picks up....

 

I have had my 2002 1SC since 2008. Bought it with 8500 miles, now, 13,000. I just keep improving on it.
Life keeps throwing me curve *****, getting close to getting it done.

Keep up the good work.

 

Oh I know no doubt I could do more with their clutches than an off the shelf single disc. I just don't feel like my car on motor will go much quicker than a 1.2X and I am already almost there. I am not sure how much I would gain, and would it be more than just the 60ft?

 

Alright below is the 2nd video from my TNT experience with this car. So far I have 7 passes in the car with a best 60ft of 1.32.

 

Any objections to some nitrous?

 

Here are the time slips from the 2nd outing at TNT.



I lowered the Launch RPM from 5,000 to 4,900 and dropped about 40 lbs off the rear of the car and pulled the air filter out of the lid. No other changes were made mod wise. No suspension changes.
Track was prepped for 150ft out and the track was solid.

I started to shift a little better and made sure I was running the RPMs a little higher after being more comfortable in the car.

 

I would talk to Steve some in the day and we would share some info as we were stick cars. Always loved that car and glad to see it out rip.

 

Ironmask airflow ported msd intake with a 102mm throttle body is a good 20+rwhp for that car. That 60ft is nice. 1.32 is getting it done

 

I didn’t see it anywhere but what’s the compression ratio?? Maybe pull the heads, change the lifters, mill the heads for a bump in compression and then add a MSD intake if you are spinning it over 7k. I bet you’d pick up some power from the compression bump (if possible) and the intake setup. Also what fuel are you running it on?

 

I know I wouldn’t want to cut a car like this up but have you thought about using a intake tube like the chris1313 setup . We have a couple local cars that picked up alittle Et and a few mph with it or something similar.

 

Thanks for stopping by and I appreciate the comment. Steve is a really cool guy, and I am thankful for his dedication to stick shift drag racing as well as taking care of this HOSS for over a decade.
Years ago I kept up with your car too. Anyone running 10s cam only with 3 pedals is a solid setup in my book.

If I can keep the car healthy, it will be ripping this year!

 

Shoot man, running a stock ls6 intake and ported ls6 throttle body on a 402, I'm leaving a quarter second on the table just with the manifold and tb alone.

I'll admit, I was impressed by the 1.32. However, I have about 100lbs I can shed without cutting metal, and I would really like to see some 1.2x short times. I don't know how long this 10 year old monster stage 3 has left though