Allen's QuickPix

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I got up to Superior Dyno in Fairfield CA on 3/27/99 at a VetteNet dyno Day organized by Steve Merenkov and now have my first look at how both engines are performing:

The Corvette made 391#/Ft and 392HP with a 6500 RPM redline, while the Camaro made 461#/Ft and an even 475HP. Please keep in mind this is power measured at the rear wheels, not at the engine's flywheel.

The Corvette's exhaust system is pretty marginal, and Keith at Superior Dyno found the Holley's secondaries weren't opening 100%. I estimate there is another 25HP "in there" with a good exhaust and proper carb tuning.

The Camaro's Crane ignition box is dead, and the motor won't spin over 5500RPM due to miss fires using the stock ignition. I've got a new Crane box coming sometime in April. I'm pretty confident the Z28 will make closer to 525RWHP once the ignition, PCM and fuel injector issues are taken care of.

Here are a couple of photos of the Vette w/the un-painted L-88 style hood on it taken 1/2/99:

That's moi' on the driver's side of the car and my
396 LT1 Impala SS friend Marc Mcgovern on the left.

The Blackstone 383 showing the Super Victor intake, MSD distributor
cheesy Edlebrock valve covers and the Hooker Supercomp headers
and the beefy four core Griffon radiator.

The flex fan and shroud are hopefully temporary - I'll see how
the cooling system performs at Hot August Nights in Reno.

Meanwhile, on my Camaro, here is what the new 355 LT1 engine looked like as received from the
shipping company back in 12/98. Note the no extra charge "Fork Lift Special" ventilated oil pan.

If your curious as to the amount of work that has gone into the car, click here.

I won't have the hood painted until sometime this spring after the weather warms up. Until then, I'll have a nice white gel-coat look to enjoy.

The car still has a couple of problems to fix: The tach decided to break, despite a brand new cable. After talking w/ace paint and body expert Chris Springer, I'm going to hold off installing the Eckler's weather strip kit until I have the $$$ saved for a complete paint and body touch up job.

The Muncie spun the brand new input shaft bearing two weeks after these photos were taken. What a PIA to have that repaired :-/. Hopefully the tranny bug will be the last show stopper.

Other than the paint and body work, the last remaining big expense planned is a set of wheels and tires. I'm leaning towards a set of 17"x9.5" on the rear, and 17"x8" up front.

With the shortened Guldstrand spring and the Vette Brakes offset trailing arms, the ruler says a 275mm tire on a 9.5" wheel with a 5.5" backspace will fit under the stock fenders and clear the brake calipers. Time will tell if this is wrong or not.

The Torque Thrust II's look very nice and are avialable in the sizes I need. The down side of those wheels is that they are on a *lot* of cars now, if Hot August Nights in Reno this year was any indication.

I'm looking around for a less common, but still affordable, clean 5 spoke design. If I can't find a decent alternative, the TT II's will do just fine.

I'm looking at Comp T/A's for the Vette (I've got SZ-50's on the Camaro, and they are a great road tire, but lack in the hole shot traction dept. compared to the BFG's). The new BFG "g-Force" tires look awesome, but the cost is horribly high, so I'll pass on those until I hit the lottery.

For the truely interested/bored, here is my to-do list for this summer on both cars:

1) Tig weld the damn pin hole leak in the Vette's oil pan shut forever.

2) Fix the secondary linkage on the Vette's Holley (secondaries are only opening 80%, dagnabit - pure amateur mistake there).

3) Install the KTRE 12 bolt and LG DSL into the Camaro.

4) Get the Camaro's PCM dialed in for 30# injectors.

5) Get the Vette's tach and a few other annoying busted/tweaked stuff fixed.

6) Get the Vette up to Chris Springer to get the paint and body perfect.

7) New wheels and tires for the Vette

8) New rear stickies and wheels for the Camaro

9) Install new carpeting and generally clean up the Vette's interior.

10) Get a cage of some sort into the Camaro if it looks livable, otherwise, screw it :-)

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