| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
aaron_sK
Member
Joined: 23 Jan 2006
Posts: 8834
Location: Back in beautiful Tacompton
1987 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z
|
 Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 5:52 pm Post subject: |
 |
|
| Twilightoptics wrote: | | There should be some other badass pictures in there Aaron...... |
Alright, alright! 
Progress abounds as I spent the day of Presidents tinkering on my POS:
-Throttle body:
GM put a huge center pillar in the middle of the RWD throttle bodies. It is purported to direct air into the MAF sensor but none of the FWD cars had it, so I don't know. Regardless it went bye-bye:
I haven't done any porting work really and I am curious what you guy's would recommend I use to get the rest of that crap out of there. Some sort of long-shank carbide, maybe? I'm not sure what type of bits to buy or where to get them so any suggestions are appreciated.
-Alternator bracket and heater hose outlets:
GM used a silly routing system on the 3800 that ran the heater coolant through the alternator bracket as a ways of cooling the alternator. On the FWD cars this makes sense because it's way at the back of the engine bay but I have no idea why they carried it over to the RWD cars other than avoiding extra tooling.
The lower heater hose had to go for sure because it ran smack into the turbo. The upper hose was retained because the way it exits the intake manifold would have required a lot of cutting and fabbing for no discernible gain. I did remove the silly factory twist-lock attachment in favor of a good old-fashioned hose barb:
The 1/8" pipe plug is blocking a crossover that cycled coolant past the alternator even with the heater off. With half the system removed it was merely plugged. The rest of the assembly was cut off and clearanced.
-Intercooler brackets:
The factory radiator support has a lip on it for structural integrity and so I needed to make some sort of standoffs to hold the IC up a bit like so:
Installed. Crappy pic but you get the basic idea:
I will have to clearance the air dam around the nuts but this is the basic plan:
As promised the duct tape was replaced by actual bolts: 
-Hood latch:
Set the hood on it, adjusted for height and ran smack into another problem... because of course there is another problem.
No way that factory pull is going to work. I can still use the rest of the latch but I am going to have to build something else to act as the secondary catch.
The hood latch itself has a lot of adjustment in it for height and parallel. The only real trick seems to be getting the angle forward and back:
You can see my basic plan for the latch:
I dorked that latch mount up cutting and bending on it, but there's plenty of 'em around and this was more a proof-of-concept (which seems to work well).
-Serpentine belt:
These cars never came without aircon as far as I can tell. I think some of the early cars may have had a delete pulley but that's of no use to us since there's a motor mount and turbo in the way.
First step is to replace the 3" tensioner pulley with a 3.5" for added deflection. I forget what that pulley came off of, I think it's a supercharger idler:
That allows you to run a 61" belt (61.2 as I recall) like so:
That picture leads us into our next topic:
-Welding porn:
I know Paul is eager to show off his excellent TIG skills and I wont disappoint him any further: 
The driver's side comes pretty close to the water pump outlet but with this tight 90* piece and maybe a bit of insulation on the pipe right there I think it will be fine:
More to come... |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
Twilightoptics
Hardcore (12sec Club)
Joined: 13 Jan 2004
Posts: 9191
Location: Auburn , WA
1987 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z
|
| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 6:08 pm Post subject: |
|
|
YAY!
_________________
A redline a day keeps the carbon away! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Alphius
Peanut
Joined: 05 Sep 2006
Posts: 2429
Location: Grand Mound
1984 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28
|
| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 6:20 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Badass! When does the wiring start? 
Also, since it's been on my mind lately, do you have room to run spark plugs with those headers? It looks kinda close.
_________________
84 Camaro Z28 - LS1/T56
85 Silverado - Low and Slow |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Twilightoptics
Hardcore (12sec Club)
Joined: 13 Jan 2004
Posts: 9191
Location: Auburn , WA
1987 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z
|
| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 6:27 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Should have tons of room. The plug wholes are pretty deep. If he runs NGK I doubt there will be a problem with 90deg boots.
The real question is, did I guess rotation right for the Turbo to fit your non-screwed up chassis this time?!
_________________
A redline a day keeps the carbon away! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
aaron_sK
Member
Joined: 23 Jan 2006
Posts: 8834
Location: Back in beautiful Tacompton
1987 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z
|
| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 6:38 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Alphius wrote: | | Badass! When does the wiring start? |
My next project is the oil pan, then start on wiring.
| Twilightoptics wrote: | | holes are pretty deep. |
Yup. 
All of the plug holes are wide open except for the rear passenger side (farthest left in the first header picture) which looks like it will work but may need the header loosened so it will drop into the hole far enough to start. We shall see once I have the correct plugs in hand to test.
| Twilightoptics wrote: | | The real question is, did I guess rotation right for the Turbo to fit your non-screwed up chassis this time?! |
Check PM's.  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Twilightoptics
Hardcore (12sec Club)
Joined: 13 Jan 2004
Posts: 9191
Location: Auburn , WA
1987 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z
|
| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 6:42 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Note to all:
Do not build custom stuff on a chassis that is fubar. It doesn't always transfer over to a chassis that is not fubar.
That is all.
_________________
A redline a day keeps the carbon away! |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
IROCDave
Member
Joined: 16 Jan 2010
Posts: 957
Location: Snohomish WA
1987 Chevrolet Camaro IROC-Z
|
| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 6:59 pm Post subject: |
|
|
| Nice to see progress man. Tacoma screw is your shop for carbide die grinder bits. They will make short work of the obstructions in the MAF. I have a die grinder and bits, more then welcome to borrow them. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
turbo_jimi
Member
Joined: 23 Feb 2004
Posts: 1206
Location: Tacoma
1985 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28
|
| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 7:04 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Cool pics! Especially that air dam!
_________________
1985 Z28 Crate 350, Hurst T-5, 3.23s, Flowmaster Under previous set-up: 143.82 rwhp 216.98 lbs. torque @4390 rpms 3/12/11 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
QwkTrip
11sec Club
Joined: 17 Feb 2004
Posts: 3942
Location: Peoria, IL
1989 Pontiac Firebird
|
| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 7:05 pm Post subject: |
|
|
That's looking cool!  |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Schultzy89GTA
M.R.A. (11sec Club)
Joined: 08 Jan 2004
Posts: 4417
Location: Gresham, OR
1989 Pontiac GTA
|
| Posted: Mon Feb 20, 2012 8:56 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Very nice gentlemen!
-Schultzy |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
iansane
Member
Joined: 16 Jan 2004
Posts: 5742
Location: Bothell
1991 Pontiac Trans Am
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 2:23 am Post subject: |
|
|
Niiiiiice.
Those headers look a million times better than the chickencrapwelds I'm laying down.
_________________
| Quote: | | Sometimes I actually think I'm slightly retarded in the mouth. |
|
|
| Back to top |
|
|
RSFreak
The other "John"
Joined: 23 Jan 2004
Posts: 2946
Location: Renton
1989 Chevrolet Camaro RS
|
| Posted: Tue Feb 21, 2012 10:45 pm Post subject: |
|
|
NICE! I gotta come by the shop more often, like maybe when I don't have an automotive emergency!
_________________
'86 Trans Am - 5.0L TPI - LT1 cam - 700R4 - WS6
'85 Camaro Berlinetta - IROC clone
 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Quasi-Traction
"I have petals"
Joined: 24 Oct 2005
Posts: 3873
Location: stumptown
1986 Chevrolet Camaro Berlinetta
|
| Posted: Mon Mar 05, 2012 5:23 am Post subject: |
|
|
| Very Nice. I've been outta the loop so long, I wasn't aware Aaron was going with the 3.8L. Good motor, both N/a and boosted. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
Garage
FAQ
Search
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
