The Camaro Club (UK)

Finally got around to applying some stickers today



Also spent a couple of hours swapping out the injectors to the new 70lb ones I got. Runs OK, still some fine tuning to do but it idles good and isn't running out of duty cycle now!

Also did a bit more work on the serpentine drive, just got to get a PS pump for it. Before that I ought to check it will actually fit under the hood, I reckon alternator clearance will be very tight! Anyone else tried one of these?

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

It looks front end heavy.

Decided that the T3 exhaust side was too small and that I needed something bigger. Moved on the hybrid turbos and wastegates and ordered some different bits. So lots of goodies arrived today! Fast shipping from SS Autochrome - from California to UK in 4 days. Wasn't expecting the best quality items, as I know turbos at this price can only be made in China but knowing that I'm impressed with the quality of the parts, packaging and service so far.

They came packaged as a pair





These are the anti surge turbos with journal bearings. The compressor and turbine sizes are exactly as advertised - checked with a vernier. They are water cooled centre sections - not sure if I'll connect up a water supply to them or not. All of the bolts holding the housings to the centre section are stainless too. There's some radial play in the shafts, but no more than I'd expect.





These are *exactly* the same turbos as sold by CX Racing - the part number on the boxes was TRB-GT35-2-P82, and the hot side has WSR Turbo cast into the housing

Next the 50mm BOV - packed in foam, 2 different springs ship with it along with a load of other accessories and a mounting flange with v-band. Also comes with a spare seal for the plunger. I've fitted the lowest pressure spring for the time being. The diaphragm is very thick heavy duty and nomex reinforced.





Final goodies was a pair of 60mm wastegates. These have 4 springs with them for different boost levels from around 8 psi to something beyond silly and everything in between. Also have adjustable preload on the spring at the top. I'll be running electronic boost control through my ECU so I fitted the softest spring and bench tested with my compressor. They start to open at 8psi and fully open at 12 psi. I also have over boost protection on my ECU, so I'll be using that as a final safety device.

Again the diaphragm in these is heavy duty and nomex reinforced...



I need to pick up a couple of scrap heads for mock up then I can get on with some fabrication on the headers.

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

IMO the Chinese cannot make reliable bearings.
Might be worth changing to Timken or SKF bearings and putting Locktite on all the fasteners before you bolt it on.
Cheap insurance.

This is starting to be a seriously fast car... .. traction may be an issue....

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“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

Picked up a junk cylinder head tonight to use for mock up and ordered some stainless tube to modify the headers. Quite a bit of modification to do, including some braces to support the weight of the turbos and prevent the headers cracking.... all will become clear!

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

Made a start on header mock up today.

First things first, make sure the turbo will fit under the hood without too much adjustment of existing parts of the car! What I wanted to work out was where the outlet of the collector will need to be from the header. So I cut up my existing headers into their component parts and tack welded the turbo flange to one of the 3" 90 deg bits of tube and bolted a piece of 1/4" plate to the front of the head.

After a few hours messing around I think I have something that will work. Got about 1/2" clearance to the underside of the hood. Only thing I am slightly unsure of is the turbo has ended up being mounted at a slight downward angle to the front of the car. Around 3 degrees.







A little modification will be needed to the inner fender, but nothing that a hammer and dolly can't sort out pretty quickly.

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

Right, winters here, the tax has run out so time to get cracking.

The 700r4 is out and gone off to a new home - so made a proper start on the 4L80. Bought it in bits, the only thing I knew about it was there was no drive in most gears. Clean down the case and rebuilt the gear train, fitted a new rear band, new output shaft seal and a few other bits and dropped it into the case then set about rebuilding the clutch packs and drums.

All looked good - could still see the writing on the OD and direct clutches. Not so good when it came to the forward clutch though....



No friction material left at all and the bevel/spring plate was flat!



Soon became apparent that whoever did the last rebuild didn't do a very good job... these are the seals from the apply piston



Needless to say they weren't going to be doing much at all.

Just waiting to pick up the rest of the rebuild parts next weekend then I can finally get this transmission rebuilt and start thinking about trying to fit it in the car.

The plan for the winter is to get this transmission built and fitted behind the current engine which will give it a good road test. And in the mean time start making the headers for the turbos and building up the new short block with a view to having the twin turbo set up ready to fit toward the end of next year with enough time for some testing before winter 2015.

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

thats gonna be a beast ! i keep looking at the rear mounted exhaust turbo setups that pop up every now and again and wondering if i should add a pair to the SS

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1997 30th Anniversary SS SLP
1993 GMC Typhoon

I haven't heard anything good about rear mount turbos to be honest.

Been working away on a few bits and pieces. Finished building the 4L80 after the rest of the parts arrived from the USA last week. Was waiting on the billet input shaft and clutch hub. There's a significant difference between the original input shaft and the billet one, no undercuts at the splines and seals







Shouldn't break that in a hurry! Just waiting for a torque converter so I can get it back in the car - then I'll need to make a cross member for it amongst a few other bits. It's not the prettiest, but it's whats inside that counts



Also made a start on the block. It's a '90 2 bolt main block out of a day van. Nothing special about it really. Checked the cylinder wall thicknesses and they are all good - no core shift at all. Its been bored .040 recently so a quick hone of the bores will sort that. Obviously a 2 bolt block isn't going to stand up to the turbo power very well.

First step in fixing that is a set of Milodon splayed main caps. Measured them up and milled the pads on the caps to suit the registers in the block. Fitted them back on and drilled and tapped the outer bolt holes. It's now ready for line boring.



Next thing is a thorough clean out and then a half block fill - need to get a couple of bottles of acid to give the water jackets a soak before filling it. I'll get the block line bored after its been filled. A job for another day.

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.