Tunahead

iTrader: (1)

I thought it would be helpfull to others if I did my best to document from start to finish my my supercharging project of my 98 LS1 Camaro. I will do my best to include pics, prices, my mistakes and how we solved things. I'm going to include links and name names and prices because I think people should know who is who and who to deal with or not to deal with and why.
Any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated!




So here is the 1998 Z28 Camaro Convertible I picked up in November of 2010.
Asking price was $8000 plus taxes (was at a dealer) and all that stuff. Got the car as is for $8000 taxes in which worked out to about $7200 plus taxes. 172000 kms or 106300 miles on it but always stored inside and never winter driven. Looks like new underneath!
The car is bone stock-even the original sparkplugs still in it.

So, lets get started. First thing to do is figure out which supercharger to buy. Personally, I wanted a roots style. The Vortech is cool, but the look in the engine compartment is overpowering. I wanted something that would look like it was meant to be there and that could have been done by the factory.

The problem has been the clearance issue with the cowl and windshield in the Camaro and that the LS1 sits under the cowl so much that the blower simply won't fit. However, Magnuson has finally come up with a blower that has a jackshaft setup allowing the blower to be driven from the rear so the throttle body can be installed on the front, very close to the stock location.



Probably most of you are familliar with this baby by now. Most kits are available for the Corvette, but a few shops are making kits for the F-bodys as well.

I contacted the guys at lmspeed.com, but did not get any answer on the phone or e-mails. not sure if they are around anymore or not. The kit looked good on the site, but if they don't pick up the phone, how do they sell them?

So I found mtiracing.com and they are picking up the phone! Here is the link to the camaro tuning area:

http://www.mtiracing.com/Camaro-Supercharger.html

$6300 gets you the kit, which was pretty much inline with most supercharging packages. And $250 to ship it up to me in Canada. The government will slap their share on it when it hits customs, but what can you do? Stephen at MTIracing said it would take about 10 days to manufacture the custom parts and assemble the kit, then probably about a week to ship it up from Atlanta where their shop is.
The kit does not include the throttle body, and they recommend at least a 90mm to feed the supercharger. I hit the forums here and found a fellow who was upgrading from his NickWilliams 92mm to a monster so he was selling it off after only 3 months of use. $320 plus shipping was a fair price and cheaper that a new one here. So its on its way here now! Thanks again Javier!

So I have a bit of time to get the car ready. The supercharger fits snug under the factory SS hood. Unfortunatly my car isn't an SS and just has the stock flat hood. So I had to find the SS hood. GM said I can buy a brand new one from them for the bargin price of only $3400 and them painting costs. Umm......I'll get back to you on that, thanks.
I have bought aftermarket glass hoods in the past and generally they need work when they get to you. The best price around here was about $750, but they admit that they need to be prepped abit before final paint. So I watched the forums here and found the hood I needed down in Ohio.



Thanks Ricky for the great hood and meeting me halfway on the drive. $400 was a bargin but a hood is a tough thing to ship so we made the drive down to meet and pick it up in person.

I thought it would be nice to get a baseline test done on the car with regards to hp and torque so I took the car to Chandler Technologies in London, On. They offer dyno services as well as specialty welding (aluminum, stainless, etc.) and general hotroding fun. As I was on my way to the shop however, I noticed a vibration at about 80kmh. We hoisted the car up, and began our inspection. The rear ends in these cars aren't known for their strength, so I know its time is very limited in my application, but for now I would like to hang on. It had a bit of play in it, but nothing scary. So we blamed the driveshaft and decided that it probably wasn't a good idea to run the car to 6000rpm in 4th gear with a shaky driveline in it. Bummer.
So, back home, pull the shaft and off to London Driveline Systems.

Matt hooked me up in a day. He replaced both u-joints, then began the ballancing. He said that it was running out about .035" and needed to be straightened. They try to get then down under .015" before the put weights on. When all said and done, both the original GM weights were removed, the shaft was straightened, and a weight was added to the opposite side to make it smooth. He said that back in the late 90's and early 2000's it wasn't uncommon for his shop to do up to 5 brand new shafts a day from dealerships with new cars that had vibrations. So $165 and I have a straight, ballanced shaft with new u-joints I can count on for street use. Much cheaper than blowing a shaft and seeing what happens!
While I had the car apart for that, I changed the outer axle bearings and seals, and inspected the cross shaft pin in the posi carrier.

Im not sure if this is normal wear and tear, but the pin had been polished on the ends and had some funny little nicks in the sides of it on both sides. So, lets just put a new one in and be safe. Called GM. "Sorry, can't get just the pin, you have to buy the whole carrier. That will be $1000 please." Umm....I'll get back to you on that. Called my local performance shop. He had a Richmond Gear Pin sitting there on the shelf for $23. Thats better.

Just got the hood back from being painted and its on the car. The pic is kinda dark because its in my shop. Too much snow here to pull it out.

It looks good, and for only $250 to have it painted to match, it was a nice bang for your buck. And now I have the clearance for the blower!
And thats where Im at today, waiting for parts, waiting for snow to melt to get back to the dyno. I guess I'll go clean the shop.

Bob@BruteSpeed

iTrader: (16)

Very nice first post! Bob

2000navyws6

iTrader: (7)

Thats gonna be a blast to drive on the street! Trust me, i know