1996 Camaro Z28 LT1 Project

[alone_and_insane]

*sigh* this car is a dick.

So I was hoping last night I could swap the upper control arms on the front. We had put the bolts in from the outside, so we would have to remove the top of the shock tower to get access. Well I undid all the bolts at the top of the shock tower, but there isn't enough range of motion in the new lower A-arms to give me room to pull the shocks down out of the holes. It's at the bottom its travel, but there is still compression in the spring.

So the best ideas my friend and I could come up with:

1. Loosen the k-member bolts, drop the k member enough to pull out the shocks
2. Use a spring compressor while it's still installed, compress the shock absorber by hand to remove it

Of course, this is going to be an issue as well if I ever replace the shocks for any reason. Any input?

[birdie2000]

Can you unbolt the bottom of the shocks and pull out the shock/spring assembly entirely? Maybe I'm not picturing the problem correctly but I wouldn't think this would be an issue.

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[alone_and_insane]

I did unbolt the bottom part of the shock, but it's still under compression.

[birdie2000]

Wow, I just don't see how that's possible unless it's the k-member that's built differently. I mean, the a-arms pretty much have to be stock dimensions by default. That really sucks though. I'd almost call BMR on that, seems like a huge oversight.

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[alone_and_insane]

So I've been making progress on this thing at long last. Got my suspension stuff worked out, and I finally got it out on the road last night!





It's running pretty well, other than idle quality. I need to keep my foot on the gas to keep it above 1000 RPM, or else it dies. I'm dropping it off for a dyno tune tomorrow, so that should take care of things.

[DynoDave]

Sweet!

[alone_and_insane]

Took it in for a dyno tune at Vector Motorsports last week, just got it back a couple of days ago. It definitely still has some bugs to work out, but other than that it was a blast on Woodward last night! Here's the dyno results:








As you can see it has some pretty significant ignition issues up top. I plan on swapping the ignition coil today. I'm hoping that's the problem, since the Opti, plugs, and wires are all new. The coil is from my old engine, which also had issues that high in the revs, so I think chances are pretty good that takes care of it. Once I get that and an exhaust leak resolved, I'll take it back and see what she'll do! I'm fairly pleased with the numbers as-is, especially since it did 215hp/252tq last time I got it dyno'd in 2012

[DynoDave]

Sweet!

[DanDalessandro]

If you need a known good coil and icm, I have my old one. Free of charge

[alone_and_insane]

I swapped in a brand new coil on Saturday. Is the ICM the little thing that mounts right above it? If so, i swapped in another one that i had sitting around. Did a couple WOT pulls on the highway. Definitely improved, but it still struggles above 5k. Any other thoughts?

[MP81]

Are you sure it's spark-related?

[DanDalessandro]

Could be opti or fuel pressure could be dropping off.
Icm is the thing right above coil.

Hate to say it, but it could be the opti. What kind is it or is it oem?

[alone_and_insane]

The guys at Vector said it's ignition related. I'm still running stock injectors, but they said that they deliver plenty of fuel and the 36# ones i got were way overkill.

The opti was a new ACdelco unit, i bought it off another member here a while back (I want to say it was Spencer or Spferris , but i don't remember for sure)

[JoeliusZ28]

Delco wires? Whats your plug gap set to and what plugs? LT1 ignition systems are fussy!!!

[JoeliusZ28]

Another thing its possible the coil could be heat soaking off the head and overheating. But for that to be happening youd probably know of a tuning/cooling related issue as well.