1970 Camaro RS

[tim510]

TPI looks sweet I reckon!

What ECU are you going to replace the standard one with?

[6000SUX]

TPI looks sweet I reckon!

What ECU are you going to replace the standard one with?

I'd like to have at go at modifying the factory computer. I was thinking about something like the Dynamic EFI EBL P4 Flash. It puts another board into the ECU with flash RAM on it so you can tweak the tune without having to remove and burn a new PROM. There's a lot of 2nd and 3rd gen Camaro guys using this on some forums I've been lurking on. They seem to work well and have good support on those forums.

[6000SUX]

I finally finished the AC installation today. What a bloody mission that was. I totally underestimated how much time that it would take. I reckon it took me about 4.5 days spread over a few weekends (including being interrupted umpteen times by the kids etc).

I just need to get two hoses crimped and the system gassed.

[darwinschops]

awesomeo. love the tpi too. later tech in early cars done right would be so much better for a daily. like the suspension and ac updates too, that's some commitment. fuck i wish i could be arsed rooting around with this sort of shit like so many other people.

[tim510]

I'd like to have at go at modifying the factory computer. I was thinking about something like the Dynamic EFI EBL P4 Flash. It puts another board into the ECU with flash RAM on it so you can tweak the tune without having to remove and burn a new PROM. There's a lot of 2nd and 3rd gen Camaro guys using this on some forums I've been lurking on. They seem to work well and have good support on those forums.

my honest advice is to get it swapped to something someone can tune over here easily. Pick your dyno shop and see what ECU they prefer. Personally I wouldn't talk to any one else but Matt Spry at PITS.

Not many of the shops over here use the yankee computers, so you may not get a good outcome.

[tim510]

I'd like to have at go at modifying the factory computer. I was thinking about something like the Dynamic EFI EBL P4 Flash. It puts another board into the ECU with flash RAM on it so you can tweak the tune without having to remove and burn a new PROM. There's a lot of 2nd and 3rd gen Camaro guys using this on some forums I've been lurking on. They seem to work well and have good support on those forums.

my honest advice is to get it swapped to something someone can tune over here easily. Pick your dyno shop and see what ECU they prefer. Personally I wouldn't talk to any one else but Matt Spry at PITS.

Not many of the shops over here use the yankee computers, so you may not get a good outcome.

[krisr]

Make sure your heads can take a TPI intake because the intake bolts go straight down from memory and not perpendicular to the intake face. Not sure about those Vortec crate engines.

Personally, i'd throw the TPI in the bin but keep the dizzy if it came with one and just put a 4bbl injected manifold on with a 1000cfm throttle body. If getting a Professional Products manifold, pay attention to the ports as they may require some clean up and minor matching (an hour with a dremel and gaskets). TPI was batch fire anyway but can be unlocked for tuning but not worth the hassle in my opinion. A Megasquirt MS2 is what i'd be putting on it.

[6000SUX]

The TPI I have has a Scoggins-Dicky vortec base plate so there's no problems with it fitting my heads. I have an unlocked ECM for it with an EBL P4 flash on it so I think I'll have a play with that first and see how it pans out. If it sucks then I might look at Megasquirt as you suggested.

Likewise, if the TPI is no good then I might go the 4BBL.

I have it all now so I may as well try it and see what it's like before replacing or upgrading anything.

[krisr]

Yeah have a try while its there. I just remember what our old 87 Trans Am went like. Admitedly it was a 305 but had a 5 speed - fuck me it was a sluggish pig and was done by 4000rpm.

Also you may get some Megasquirt hate, but fuck em, it's a fully programmable ECM that costs $500 - I put an MS2 on my 400 many years ago but just recently upgraded it to the MS3 for V8 seq fuel and spark. Seq fuel side is done, LS1 coil packs will be going on shortly.

[Jim]

i have an early megasquirt im happy to sell cheap if you need it.

[Speedyblue]

Where'd you get the TPI set-up from? It's on the list of things to do with my chev too. You can buy larger runners for them. It's a rather common mod many people do. There is a guy in brisbane that sells tpi set-ups and hot up parts on ebay.

As my 400 small block won't be revving much anyway the whole running out of puff thing shouldn't be an issue but the added torque is what I'm keen on.

My old man's 87 transam has tpi and with a 4 speed auto and lock-up converter he was getting very decent fuel economy when he drove it most of the way around the US.

Much respect for the whole daily driven classic

[6000SUX]

i have an early megasquirt im happy to sell cheap if you need it.

I'll keep that in mind thanks Jim!

Where'd you get the TPI set-up from? It's on the list of things to do with my chev too. You can buy larger runners for them. It's a rather common mod many people do. There is a guy in brisbane that sells tpi set-ups and hot up parts on ebay.

As my 400 small block won't be revving much anyway the whole running out of puff thing shouldn't be an issue but the added torque is what I'm keen on.

My old man's 87 transam has tpi and with a 4 speed auto and lock-up converter he was getting very decent fuel economy when he drove it most of the way around the US.

Much respect for the whole daily driven classic

My TPI has a 58 mm throttle body, ported plenum, and wide mouth base plate so it should flow a little better than standard. I'm like you as I don't rev my 350 SBC too much anyway, so I was more interested in better drivability and torque. I'm hoping that the ECM will make the idle a bit more even when the AC compressor kicks in too. It annoys me that I have to up the idle speed by 200 rpm or so to get a nice idle when the AC is on, and then it has a fast idle when the AC stops and will sometimes run on when you shut it down if the AC is off.

I got mine from the guy you mentioned in Brisbane. He's the goto dude for TPI. He has a garage full of them that he refurbishes and sells. He's really easy to deal with and knows his stuff.

[bahaimus]

Pretty sure I saw this at Glenfords at the Gabba yesterday afternoon?

Is it fuel injected yet?

[6000SUX]

Pretty sure I saw this at Glenfords at the Gabba yesterday afternoon?

Is it fuel injected yet?

Yeah that was me. I was after a tap and I didn't realise Glenfords had gone bust!

I had planned to do the EFI conversion over Christmas but ended up having shoulder surgery instead. I found it really awkward to work on the car as I couldn't really use my left arm well at all. I'm 8 weeks post-op now and it's starting to come good.


I've decided to change the cam before doing the EFI swap. The TPI runs out of puff at about 5500 rpm due to the long runners, and I've worked out that I enjoy driving cars with torque low down rather than power up top, so I've ordered a Lunati Voodoo 60101 cam kit that's supposed to be good for 1000 - 5500 rpm.

I also got myself a big brake kit from Kore3 Industries that I'm fitting tomorrow. It has 325 mm DBA 4000 series rotors and C6 Corvette calipers on a custom billet hub. I'll take some photos tomorrow and update this thread. Hopefully it will stop a bit better than the current set up with single piston caliper and 11" disc.

[richzx]

Nice brakes! WHat did you have done to your shoulder? It looks similar to mine but you have been opened up more, I had a subacormial athroscopic decompression.

[bahaimus]

I had no idea Glenfords had gone bust either!

It's a mean looking car Glen. These changes should make it an awesome thing!

[6000SUX]

Nice brakes! WHat did you have done to your shoulder? It looks similar to mine but you have been opened up more, I had a subacormial athroscopic decompression.

I had two labral tears repaired and some spurs removed from the back of the acromium.

I'm starting to think I've got shit quality cartilage. In the last two years I've had arthroscopes on both shoulders and both knees to repair tears.

[Gammaboy]

I had no idea Glenfords had gone bust either!

Bugger. Trekking to trade tools it is then.

[6000SUX]

The new brakes are on and it actually stops well now. I was really impressed with the quality of the kit. I was happy I chose to do the conversion at my friend's engineering workshop as he was able to do the modification on the standard spindles for me.

The kit basically grafts Corvette C6 front brakes onto a GM tall spindle that my Camaro has. I liked the idea of this as it means it's easy to source parts, and in a way is still GM so it sort of remains factory if you get my drift. I ordered the rotors and pads from Greg at GSL Rallysport, but the rest came from the States. All up it ended up being a $1400 conversion.

The new rotors are 325 mm.


Here's the hub bolted up. It uses the stock spindle but the standard calliper mounts were cut off with a plasma torch and then linished up. You then had to tap two bolt holes to a larger size to mount the dog bone. This is the right front.


The calipers are alloy C6 Corvette 2 piston by PBR. This is the left front.

[6000SUX]

The new brakes fill out the wheel nicely.

[darwinschops]

...

[irsa76]

Nice.
Much better then the factory CHP Camaro/Nova 9C1 upgrade as well.

[spiller]

that brake upgrade looks qual. Are you running drums on the rear? I wonder if that would work on 1st Gen Camaros (probably different hub), the old man needs something to replace his shitty drums up front.

[Coffin]

That brake kit looks good, ..... will do something similar to mine if im still alive after the blower goes in

[6000SUX]

that brake upgrade looks qual. Are you running drums on the rear? I wonder if that would work on 1st Gen Camaros (probably different hub), the old man needs something to replace his shitty drums up front.

I still have drums on the rear. Maybe I'll change to discs later on but it's a lot more expensive and difficult as I'd want to retain the parking brake.

Kore 3 make a kit for 1967-9 Camaros. Here's the link. Just make sure that you double check that you have to forged spindle as they don't make a kit for the cast spindle. You also need a minimum of 17" wheel size for the 325 mm rotor like mine.

[6000SUX]

That brake kit looks good, ..... will do something similar to mine if im still alive after the blower goes in

LOL.... maybe putting some big brakes on it BEFORE you fit the blower might be wise!

[6000SUX]

I've recently installed a new set of gauges and I couldn't be happier. The original gauges had pretty much stopped working.... the tacho was erratic, the volt meter never moved, the speedo was out, and half of the dash had no lights. A friend of mine from my gym needed some work done, so I did a contra deal with her. She got a root canal treatment and I got a new set of gauges.

I went with a VHX set up from Dakota Digital. It's a pretty trick system. It has a "central" box that you send all of the wires to, and then this connects to the gauge cluster with a Cat 5 cable. The gauge cluster is direct retro-fit for my instrument bezel. The speedo is programmable, so you can calibrate it no matter what gearbox, diff, or tyre combo you are running. I cheated a little and programmed it so that MPH reads as KM/HR. I know it's soft, but when I glance at the speedo 60 is actually 60 km/hr now.

The gauges have two multi-function LCD displays that can bring up the odometer, 2 trip meters, clock, rpm, max rpm, speed, max speed, oil pressure, water temp, voltage etc. There's two momentary switches that let you toggle through the displays. I hid these under the lower lip of the dash so they are easy to get to but you can't see them.

I know it sounds a little silly, but I actually like the car a lot more now that I know what is happening! Another neat feature of the VHX gauges is that you can expand the functions with add-on boxes. There's currently boxes for pressure (fuel, air, boost etc), temp (gearbox, diff, oil, water), wide-band etc. All of the data from these expansions boxes can be displayed through the LCD's.

Fitting the gauges was piss easy. I found a guide to the standard wiring loom to the standard gauge cluster, so most of the inputs for the VHX basically involved cutting the old wire from the loom and redirecting it to the VHC box. It comes with a 4000 ppm speedo convertor that screws into the original location for the speedo cable.

I think the gauges have "brightened" up the dash a lot as they have alloy faces and are back lit.

I can't be bothered taking a photo at the moment, but here's a few from the manufacturer's site








Here's a youtube clip of the gauge system which gives you an idea of how they work.

[spiller]

Dentist!?

Gauges look sick!

[6000SUX]

Oh... the new cam is in too. I went for a Lunati Voodoo 60101. I realised that I enjoyed the torque, and the TPI I will be fitting soon will run out of puff around 5500 rpm. It's made the car much nicer as a daily drive. It pulls really well from idle, and it's even improved the brakes due to extra vacuum at idle. Win win!

[Gammaboy]

Saw this on Bennett's road on Thursday morning - as always, looks great!