After exhausting options trying to keep my 96’ Camaro happy with a solid roller cam and E85, I have decided to bite the bullet and order this system. I’m excited since it should solve the only problem I’m having now being speed density. Consistent idle quality and drivability. I’m going to put a MAF back in the car but it will be an LS7/LS3 card style and run an open loop tune “no o2 sensors”.

Anyone else had some good good luck with this kit?

 

Hey Bro, there was one for sale on here for $1300....complete system. Check the parts classifieds.

 

Guess it depends on how aggressive your cam is, my setup idles pretty well with OLSD

 

Solomon has it running well but sometimes it wants to idle on its own warm and sometimes it doesn’t. Cam is a 244/254 .629/.637 110+4. Compression is 12.77:1. Just want to help with street manners plus with the port matched AFR 210 Eliminators it’s acting like it will rev past the pcm limit.

I feel like with a smarter/faster pcm with a nonrestrictive MAF the car will be more enjoyable to drive farther distances and I will put more miles on it.

 

Your cam has about 29* of valve overlap.

The TorqHead will help you with just about everything else you want it to help....but your drivability (Street manners) will always be sketchy JUST due to the cam specs.

KW

 

Got my kit in yesterday! Will be going on in about two weeks.

 

I want this so bad. Good luck with the install.

 

Thanks. It’s expensive but looking how well everything is made the saying definitely goes you get what you pay for.

 

Don't get me wrong the torqhead is a great kit, but with proper tuning the stock pcm is just fine. That cam if perfectly tunable with a stock pcm, Restrictive MAF? my motor makes 806 BHP 710 RWHP with a stock MAF, (forced inducted), A lot of people tell others that they NEED a 24x system when they don't, now if they want it and can afford it, then yes that is the way to go, I just want to let others know that the kit is not NEEDED for a lot of setups, heck this guy only had the Hot cam and had tuning issues and someone on the board told him it was because the cam was too big for the stock pcm and needed a 24x system.

 

She’s almost there! Just waiting on a LS1 ECM holder and the 4” MAF tube still needs made. The rest is finished.

 

Engine and build looks great top to bottom

 

Very nice, I wonder how the setup with the intake mounted coils will look for those of us that have Aftermarket valve covers? I have the chrome GMPP covers on my car and they're pretty nice imo, I really don't want to cover them up with coils, at the same time I really don't like the idea of running the wires over them either. It would be nice if they offered wires long enough to run back the intake and under the headers or maybe mount coils under the cowl and route wires under the headers. I looked and don't like the coils on top of the intake either.

 

Thanks!

Thats funny you say that because I was just thinking the other day that I was glad I still had factory valve covers because they are covered up now anyway.

MAF tube is done. A buddy of mine that is doing the install is a also mechanic for Lingenfelter and a hell of a fabricator. We have talked about doing a drag car together in the near future.

 

Nice MAF tube. Looks good on the car.

 

Very nice!!

 

I had to go with a slightly taller short valve covers on my L31 based 383. 0.100" longer valves and non self aligning 1.7 rockers just do not clear the stock steel covers. Valve covers with two holes in them on one bank and two mounting provisions for the oil baffles that were tall enough to mount my rockers under and short enough to clear my ac bracket with minor grinding to the bracket were practically impossible to find. Add in the notch needed for the LT1they would have been non existant. That being said the EFI connection brackets look great on the valve covers I have. Its a shame I am having to build my own coil mounts that mount to my fuel rail. The EFI connection mounts run the D585 coils right into the body on my Express van.


I will try to find time tomorrow to mock the coil brackets up on my mockup 305 so that the masses can see what they look like.

I am also going with a cartridge MAF in a custom 3.5" air intake system. I am using DBW stuff from a 2002 8.1 van and a LS2 Trailblazer SS 87mm throttle body. I am using a foward facing edelbrock plenum on my build and the dual plane mpi intake on the mockup engine. Its an 11:1 383 built to make low-midrange grunt that I still want plenty of HP from.




Another thing I like about the 0411 and later PCMs is the dual knock sensors. I swapped over to dual knock sensors some time ago on the 350 and it eliminated all of the false knock retard I was experiencing.

Finally like is said it was almost impossible to find a short centerbolt valve cover that clears this valvetrain. They still need some clearance grinding on the cast webbing that strengthens the mount bolt area in order for the rockers to clear said bracing. The heads are Assault racing casting that I bought bare and built that I had Lloyd Elliot port. Flow over 290cfm @ .600".


This whole build has been full of little gotcha's so to speak. Like having to have Fluidampner mill down the standard SBC dampner for the reluctor ring. Also having to space the crank pulley with a 1/4" billet spacer and accessories out with 1/4" thick 3/8" washers to run a 1/4" longer TBI water pump to cover the water bypass port which eliminated the need for the Vortec external bypass plumbing. I could have had the TBI pump housing milled 1/4" but that would make a water pump replacement on the open road next to impossible. I actually bought the GM 3/8" vortec accessory studs to mount the accessories rather than the standard bolts. The need to use a special low profile thermostat housing and a -20 AN upper radiator hose to clear the fuel rail, compressor and plenum/throttle body combination. Had the swap over to a TBI fan clutch to match the TBI water pump. The list goes on and on of this hybridized setup. Holley aluminum timing cover would have needed 2 bolt holes drilled and tapped had the Summit racing block not come already tapped.The lightweight crank was supposed to balance with 1 piece of mallory metal but took 2. About the only things on this whole engine setup that will be stock are the oil pan, mile long oil dipstick and oil fill tubes, the alternator bracket amd the distributor base. The rest is all either adapted, modified, machined or in altered in some other way. But its going to be one hell of a strong runner when it is finished.

 

Spent some more time over at the shop mocking up things for final assembly. Even though I will not be able to use the very nice EFI Connection mounting brackets I mounted them for a picture. If the coils had cleared my engine tunnel I would have also had to contend with the fact that my ac pressure switch harness would have run right smack into #1 coil.




I discovered 2 more snags in this build. The Edelbrock plenum is not tapped for a LS2 throttle body mounting pattern and it is also designed to be sideways mounted. Edelbrock and Offenhauser both make 90° adapters for square bore carbs. They come as a pair. You have to love making changes that require you to make 4 more changes. The intake plenum is tapped for a 3-bolt GM LS TB pattern. ICT Billet makes a 3 bolt intake to 4 bolt DBW adapter. Problem there is it is tappered down to 78mm for a stock LS intake. I will probably call ICT on monday and find out if they can build me a spacer without the taper and a straight 90mm hole machined through it.

 

Thats a pretty slick plenum. I would definitely try to keep it at 90mm minimum. I drove mine home today. I paid extra for the custom base tune via PCMforless that you could purchase with the TorqueHead kit. It definitely still needs tweaked but to me the car sounds louder and starts noticeably faster. I believe I was dealing with some misfires until the engine was completely warmed up. May have been tuning related as well.

I run 1.7 COMP High Tech stainless rockers and don’t have any clearance problems after they were trimmed originally for the 1.6’s.

 

You are lucky on the rockers. Mine are Scorpion 1.7s that are wide body. They hit everything especially with the 0.100" longer valves and big block sized double spring set. IIRC they are 1.55" double springs. The raised guide plates also did not help the valve cover situation.

 

The issue I ran into with 1.7’s were the AFR heads and pushrod pockets. The pushrod pockets had to be opened up so the pushrods wouldn’t hit at full travel.