I've always wanted a race car. Anything I've ever built or attempted to build always took the direction of heading towards becoming a race car. As such, I sold my Fairlane project for reasons and bought myself a race car that already has the stuff done to it that always ends up becoming a hurdle or discouraging for me. Here it is.
1998 Camaro Z28. As purchased it included a 5.3 with an LJMS stage cam, 706's, Precision 7175 turbo, ProEFI 128 system, 4L80E with some sort of 9-inch converter, Ford 9-inch with 4.11's/spool/Strange axles, a basic roll cage, Kirkey seats, Glasstek cowl hood, VFN dash w/Auto Meter instrumentation, and various BMR chassis/suspension upgrades throughout the car.
The engine is a Gen-III externally, but is claimed to have Gen-IV rods/pistons. This engine will remain in the car for now. I'm currently replacing the 4L80E with a Powerglide & bolt-together converter. The 7175 Precision turbo has been removed, sold, and is being replaced with a Garrett Gen 1 94mm turbo.
I'm also in the process of removing the ProEFI 128 system. The Holley EFI intake manifold assembly has been removed & sold. IRD Racing is currently building me one of their billet ethanol blow-through carbs. I have a Holley bolt-together carb intake to install on the engine in place of the EFI stuff. I have a Terminator X to run the ignition side & boost control side of things. The A2A intercooler has been deleted as well.
The Jegs wheels are being replaced with a set of Keizer single bead lock wheels on the rear and their bolted 3-piece front runners. I'll likely run a Pro Bracket Radial on the car to see how I like them.
Plans for the car are to street race it and participate in some local small tire no prep stuff, as well as to serve for a more relevant test bed for new Hughes products when needed.
Why I am replacing a known high quality, powerful EFI system with a blow-through carburetor? Simply because I dig blow-through carburetors and have always wanted to try a fancy, professionally built one instead of using my typical home-brewed garbage that I've built in the past. No, I don't care about pros of keeping the EFI system on the car. No, I don't think carbs are better than EFI. I'm building what I like, simple as that.
I'm not holding out any hopes of serious longevity for the current 5.3 in the car, so I've also acquired an L33 bare block to build a new bullet on the side. I respect the whole SBE thing, but it's not really my bag, so this new engine will feature a forged rotating assembly. I have set of Molnar power adder rods & forged crankshaft on the way. I'm thinking about trying a set of the Summit Pro LS pistons just for the heck of it. I have new custom grind from Dougherty Racing Cams for the L33, as well as a set of the Comp Cams BSR shaft rockers. The new build will either feature a set of mint low-mileage 243's I already have, or possibly a set of Trick Flow 220's money permitting.
I'm also currently working on re-doing the hot side for the Garrett 94. Current hot side is an On3 T4 kit that actually is surprisingly decent quality and fits the car really well, but I'm doing a truck manifold hot side in its place simply because I like the durability of manifolds and the spark plug access on the driver side will be infinitely more user-friendly compared to what the On3 hot side offers.
I'll try to post updates as I make progress. Should have the carb hopefully sometime in December at which point that should be the only item left to install so I can start testing.
1998 Camaro Z28 / blow-through 5.3 / maybe I'll actually finish this one
Discussion in 'The Turbo "Builds" Board' started by TurboComet, Nov 13, 2020.
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Discussion in 'The Turbo "Builds" Board' started by TurboComet, Nov 13, 2020.
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