Dad's Nitrous Camaro

[Russell]

Dad decided it was time for him to get rid of his Camaro. I asked if it was ok I played with it this summer and tired to get a 10 second pass out of it. He OKed it as that was one of his goals.
He has had this car for over 10 years some of the work was done at a few shops some done by my Dad and one of my his neighbors. Looking back I wish I would have made the time to help him with it. I moved about 80 miles away and that made working on projects together hard.

Car was started long ago before standalone EFI was popular so it was decided to go with a carb. Dad wanted a 6.0 LS nitrous car. I think the motor has most of the little things that were popular before not letting the magic out became the way. Trunions, rod bolts, shaved 317 heads not sure what else. It has a cam. Single plane intake 750 double pumper! MSD 6LS timing box. NX plate with stand alone fuel cell. 9" ford rear with aftermarket torque arm. 3.73 gear. What may be the weak link is the 700R4 transmission. It's been on a Dyno before iirc it was 310-320 NA and low 400s on spray. It currently has cast iron manifold that I think came off an LS1 with a y-pipe and full exhaust.

I would like to try to dial it in. Jet it up and try to get that 10 second pass. The problem is I know nothing about carburators, nitrous, or automatic transmissions.

I have a used LC-1 wide band that's been on the shelf for 13ish years still in the box I thought about putting it on.

[DanStokes]

An O2 sensor always helps. You can mess around with a carb forever - or take the car to a good dyno shop and get it dialed in in an afternoon. It's true that a dyno is just a tool and nobody races a dyno but there's a reason that every pro in the world uses them. If you don't have anybody you trust you can bring it here to Carolina Dyno and stay overnight with us. The folks at Carolina Dyno are skilled as well as decent folks who charge fairly.

[Russell]

An O2 sensor always helps. You can mess around with a carb forever - or take the car to a good dyno shop and get it dialed in in an afternoon. It's true that a dyno is just a tool and nobody races a dyno but there's a reason that every pro in the world uses them. If you don't have anybody you trust you can bring it here to Carolina Dyno and stay overnight with us. The folks at Carolina Dyno are skilled as well as decent folks who charge fairly.

Thanks Dan! I know a guy with a dyno that is close by and reasonable priced. Typical I do my own tuning there. Not sure now much carb tuning he has done over the years. I need to get some miles on it and see how it runs / drives. I am tempted to put Holley EFI on it but that comes at a time and dollar cost. It's running now!

[Russell]

The Camaro has mostly just sat in the garage. I removed the heat and AC box and made a block off plate. Washer bottle, rear seat belts, and the front speakers.

I put the old wide band on. Was not able to get it to work. Took it to the track in February. Has a terrible bog when you floor it. Don't remember the times I believe it was over 2 seconds on the 60, and 99 mph on the 1/4.

Today I installed a new wide band. It confirmed that it goes dead lean (acceleration enrichment) the rest of the time it is fat. Idle is mid to high 11's and cruise was mid 12's

Trying to decide where to start. I really want to fix the lean bog first.

[DanStokes]

Needs EFI!

[Russell]

Took the carb off and pulled the bowls. The rear bowl gasket was leaking at the top. The rear acc pump arm looked damp.

The rear has 80 jets and 25 squirters. The front has 72 and 40.

Is this one of those were I should make one change at a time? New bowl gasket at diaphragm then test drive?

With the cruise being rich would it be worth while to reduce the jet in the primary while it's apart?

[Russell]

I got rebuild kit put it in the carburetor. It seems to run a little better. It still has a hesitation off idle. Now for the bad news. I did not get the TV cable hooked up correctly and burn up 3rd and 4th in the 700R4. I have let the Camaro set for months while I worked on the mustang. The mustang is currently in a place where I don't have any planned to upgrades so it's time to focus on the Camaro for a while. I put the Camaro on the lift and it started pulling the exhaust to remove the 700r4. I have a friend at work who has rebuilt a few TH350s and 4l60Es. He said if I got it out and cleaned off my bench he would come over and we could open it up and look inside. The u-pull-it near my office. Had a 40% off sale for leap year yesterday so my impulse buy was to pick up a 4L80e. Dad said he always wanted to put a power glide in the Camaro I know a guy who bracket races and is a power glide guy. I may try to get up with him and see what he can tell me.
I'm starting to think I should have sold it when Dad asked me to! Sooner or later I need to pick a direction.

[SuperBuickGuy]

needs more turbo

[Russell]

needs more turbo

and EFI! How much can I put you down for sponsorship? I figure another $10k and year on the rack it would be about right.

With out sponsorship it will still be Carb + Nitrous. Hopefully it will put down a 10.9 maybe even get a picture with the wheels in the air for the sale ad.

[SuperBuickGuy]

and EFI! How much can I put you down for sponsorship? I figure another $10k and year on the rack it would be about right.

With out sponsorship it will still be Carb + Nitrous. Hopefully it will put down a 10.9 maybe even get a picture with the wheels in the air for the sale ad.

true story - my carbs are worth more then many TBI efi systems....

[Russell]

true story - my carbs are worth more then many TBI efi systems....

Worth: what someone is ready able and willing to pay.

Unless I can buy your carb cheap and flip it for a quick buck. It's not worth much to me. If we are going turbo, I would remove the plate nitrous system and go back to MPFI not a TBI.

A well tuned carb is better that a poorly tuned (aftermarket) efi. But poor tuned carb vs poor tuned efi. I would rather have the poorly tuned efi.

I would say the Terminator X on my mustang is poorly tuned it stalls away too often. But I wouldn't trade it for a blow through carb.

I would love to have Holley EFI Dominator. A built power glide and turbo. There is a good chance it would then need some suspension and brake upgrades...

[SuperBuickGuy]

Worth: what someone is ready able and willing to pay.

Unless I can buy your carb cheap and flip it for a quick buck. It's not worth much to me. when we are going turbo, I would remove the plate nitrous system and go back to MPFI not a TBI.

A well tuned carb is better that a poorly tuned (aftermarket) efi. But poor tuned carb vs poor tuned efi. I would rather have the poorly tuned efi.

I would say the Terminator X on my mustang is poorly tuned it stalls away too often. But I wouldn't trade it for a blow through carb.

I would love to have Holley EFI Dominator. A built power glide and turbo. There is a good chance it would then need some suspension and brake upgrades...

background, I helped a guy tune his truck but it had a really undersized carb on it. He bought a larger carb that cost more then a FiTech or Sniper basic system....

also did the correct correction for you above

[Captain]

and EFI! How much can I put you down for sponsorship? I figure another $10k and year on the rack it would be about right.

With out sponsorship it will still be Carb + Nitrous. Hopefully it will put down a 10.9 maybe even get a picture with the wheels in the air for the sale ad.

Russell,
I commend you !!
You have projected a Realistic Dollar Amount and Time Frame, that is a Decision Maker.

Now for Me.....
I blindly jump into projects, Often Fooling Myself, .....Oh, it will be Nothing to It, we have Most of the Parts, it will be done in No Time.
Only to keep tossing the receipts into a file folder until We Do Finally Get It Running and a Year or Two Later, (I didn't say DONE) and add it up to get a Insurance Value to drive it.
i.e. the Mad Max Sammy Project
or even the Grand Cherokee which, Yes is a Great Low Milage vehicle, but I GOT to be the Owner to Get ALL the maintenance items replaced that THEY were at or coming up !

I will consult you the next time I have a Hair Brainer for a project......
It won't be long, I have the '66 F100 on the To Do List .... waiting behind the shop ....

[Russell]

Russell,
I commend you !!
You have projected a Realistic Dollar Amount and Time Frame, that is a Decision Maker.

Now for Me.....
I blindly jump into projects, Often Fooling Myself, .....Oh, it will be Nothing to It, we have Most of the Parts, it will be done in No Time.
Only to keep tossing the receipts into a file folder until We Do Finally Get It Running and a Year or Two Later, (I didn't say DONE) and add it up to get a Insurance Value to drive it.
i.e. the Mad Max Sammy Project
or even the Grand Cherokee which, Yes is a Great Low Milage vehicle, but I GOT to be the Owner to Get ALL the maintenance items replaced that THEY were at or coming up !

I will consult you the next time I have a Hair Brainer for a project......
It won't be long, I have the '66 F100 on the To Do List .... waiting behind the shop ....

I didn't say I am going with the realistic budget and time frame! I am hoping to have the 700r4 out in a week (2), two weeks to fix it. 2 weeks to modify the exhaust. 2 weeks to get it on the dyno. On the track in 2 weeks. That shouldn't cost more that $500 ($1000)

Yep done buy the end of April for 5 bills!

I don't build cars on credit cards I am still working off the profit from the Lightening and my lunch money. I don't think there is enough scrap metal and spare parts around here to get me to 10k in a year.

Should I take bets on how long the 700r4 will last this time?

[Russell]

Got it out in a week! I cut the exhaust, so only two weeks to modify exhaust might be short.