J-Body Convert
J-Body Convert Hi everyone. My name is Andy. I've been on here for a couple years now, but neglected to introduce myself.
On Friday, October 31st, 2008, I drove down to Fort Wayne, Indiana and handed over the keys of this:
2000 Cavalier Z-24
For this:
1998 Camaro V6 M5
Needless to say, I was very happy to do the trade. The exterior of the Camaro is in unreal condition given the car is 12 years old. It is a BLAST to drive around a rear wheel drive car! I love how the back end squats down when you hammer the throttle, the car shoots forward and it puts you back in your seat. That is something my Cavalier was never able to do..
As far as my past goes, I'm a former member of www.j-bom.com, Michigan's largest J-Body club who I've been with ever since the beginning. I put a lot of time and effort into my 2000 Cavalier Z-24 which has been supercharged, then remote turbocharged (yes, I said remote), and then supercharged again. Details and a buttload of pictures of the remote turbocharger system can be found at http://www.j-bom.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3871 which was an absolute blast to build. Dyno results via Monkeywrench Racing's chassis dyno were 269 ft/lb tq @ 4700rpm and 279.9hp @ 5400rpm on a stock engine
. I did the system as a proof of concept to show that a remote turbo system would yield some decent results. This turned out to be FANTASTIC for my FWD car because spool was not crazy in first gear (only about 3-5psi if I remember correctly). This allowed me to hook up properly before boost slammed me back in my seat at the start of 2nd gear. No RMT system will provide the same power output or as fast hitting of a powerband as a traditional system will allow, but drivability was definitely a plus with this setup.
Pictures:
T3/T04E 57 trim .50 A/R .48 Turbine A/R
Jonnyracecar.com intercooler with homemade quick release mounting brackets (dipped in rubber for corrosion resistance and rattle dampening):
Oiling system and some exhaust piping:
My 20ft of intake pipe, lol:
Dyno Graph (ignore that it says flywheel torque, it has been verified to be wheell torque):
The weird falloff at the end of the graph is because Matt at @MWR cut off a little early due to the fact that the engine was making some funky noises. I came to find out later was because oil was getting sucked into the intake thanks to a crappy Shurflo pump I picked out for the oil return system. After that, I did a little research and found the supplier of brass gear pumps for the systems that STS makes. Installing this made a huge world of difference when it came to top end power since oil wasn't throwing off the a/f mixture anymore. However, I sold the system before I could get back to the dyno to see the true numbers the car was making.
After getting the car in good mechanical shape, I promised myself that I won't do anything crazy to it until I bought a house. Well, it's almost two years later now and I've got the house.....along with a complete LS1/4L60E dropout, 799 heads, and damn near every part that UMI Performance offers in their catalog (lots of other stuff too).
I actually had a PowerDyne project lined up for the car (http://www.j-bom.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7215) but I managed to grab the LS1/4L60E dropout at a decent price and decided to abandon the project.
So that's it. I will probably end up posting my entire project in the conversions area, but I've already got it posted up on two other sites on the internet.
Here's one of them:
http://www.j-bom.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7350
On Friday, October 31st, 2008, I drove down to Fort Wayne, Indiana and handed over the keys of this:
2000 Cavalier Z-24
For this:
1998 Camaro V6 M5
Needless to say, I was very happy to do the trade. The exterior of the Camaro is in unreal condition given the car is 12 years old. It is a BLAST to drive around a rear wheel drive car! I love how the back end squats down when you hammer the throttle, the car shoots forward and it puts you back in your seat. That is something my Cavalier was never able to do..
As far as my past goes, I'm a former member of www.j-bom.com, Michigan's largest J-Body club who I've been with ever since the beginning. I put a lot of time and effort into my 2000 Cavalier Z-24 which has been supercharged, then remote turbocharged (yes, I said remote), and then supercharged again. Details and a buttload of pictures of the remote turbocharger system can be found at http://www.j-bom.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=3871 which was an absolute blast to build. Dyno results via Monkeywrench Racing's chassis dyno were 269 ft/lb tq @ 4700rpm and 279.9hp @ 5400rpm on a stock engine
. I did the system as a proof of concept to show that a remote turbo system would yield some decent results. This turned out to be FANTASTIC for my FWD car because spool was not crazy in first gear (only about 3-5psi if I remember correctly). This allowed me to hook up properly before boost slammed me back in my seat at the start of 2nd gear. No RMT system will provide the same power output or as fast hitting of a powerband as a traditional system will allow, but drivability was definitely a plus with this setup.Pictures:
T3/T04E 57 trim .50 A/R .48 Turbine A/R
Jonnyracecar.com intercooler with homemade quick release mounting brackets (dipped in rubber for corrosion resistance and rattle dampening):
Oiling system and some exhaust piping:
My 20ft of intake pipe, lol:
Dyno Graph (ignore that it says flywheel torque, it has been verified to be wheell torque):
The weird falloff at the end of the graph is because Matt at @MWR cut off a little early due to the fact that the engine was making some funky noises. I came to find out later was because oil was getting sucked into the intake thanks to a crappy Shurflo pump I picked out for the oil return system. After that, I did a little research and found the supplier of brass gear pumps for the systems that STS makes. Installing this made a huge world of difference when it came to top end power since oil wasn't throwing off the a/f mixture anymore. However, I sold the system before I could get back to the dyno to see the true numbers the car was making.
After getting the car in good mechanical shape, I promised myself that I won't do anything crazy to it until I bought a house. Well, it's almost two years later now and I've got the house.....along with a complete LS1/4L60E dropout, 799 heads, and damn near every part that UMI Performance offers in their catalog (lots of other stuff too).
I actually had a PowerDyne project lined up for the car (http://www.j-bom.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7215) but I managed to grab the LS1/4L60E dropout at a decent price and decided to abandon the project.
So that's it. I will probably end up posting my entire project in the conversions area, but I've already got it posted up on two other sites on the internet.
Here's one of them:
http://www.j-bom.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=7350
