Duramax Camaro

OneofWon

New member
Nov 18, 2015
16
0
0
St Cloud MN
Already sent you a PM back a couple days ago right away after you sent the last one?? Did you not get it?

I only received the one message from you that I responded to and didn't hear back... Perhaps I failed at responding correctly? Nonetheless you can get ahold of me at 320 309 2260 via call or text to discuss further.

Thank you very much for responding again.
 

bluessmax

Tabasco Injected!
Nov 4, 2010
1,143
6
38
Lake Charles, la
Very cool thread and great info! I love coming here and learning!

Also- Lmk if you ever decide to sell this car, I would be very interested.


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OneofWon

New member
Nov 18, 2015
16
0
0
St Cloud MN
If you want me to build you one or anything for that fact pm me. I am pretty well versed in these crazy transplants and spend a lot of time doing things the right way.
 

56taskforce

Well-known member
Mar 30, 2014
1,081
56
48
Very cool thread and great info! I love coming here and learning!

Also- Lmk if you ever decide to sell this car, I would be very interested.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

If you want me to build you one or anything for that fact pm me. I am pretty well versed in these crazy transplants and spend a lot of time doing things the right way.

I see an all new blue-max :D
 

bluessmax

Tabasco Injected!
Nov 4, 2010
1,143
6
38
Lake Charles, la
If you want me to build you one or anything for that fact pm me. I am pretty well versed in these crazy transplants and spend a lot of time doing things the right way.


I have been looking for a wrecked SS for a minute. I'm hoping to find something this year and get it fixed up... Then we can drop something in it! I'll keep you in mind when the time comes!


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OneofWon

New member
Nov 18, 2015
16
0
0
St Cloud MN
Sounds good, I've spent countless hours on expirimenting, building, and rebuilding to get this thing right haha. The next one will be a breeze.

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OneofWon

New member
Nov 18, 2015
16
0
0
St Cloud MN
Projected maiden voyage in January?

So I have been busy with multiple things and tending to forum updates is a tall order but here is some info and pics for you.

Steering: I managed to keep the steering rack in its stock location(which was a big hurdle as previously explained, the only modification done to steering was lengthening the shaft from the column 2" since the sub frame was lowered, it fits snugly passed the oil cooler with barely any clearance. Yes, I managed to make this happen with the stock oil cooler/filter setup which I couldn't believe and was making preparations to delete. it has about .5" of clearance from the body(the oil filter).

Exhaust Manifolds: I ended up using exhaust manifolds from a GMC Kodiak as the up pipe flange is located behind the head rather than next to it which made valuable clearance for the engine to fit where it needs to be. I got rid of the heat shields and had them Ceramic coated for a better look as well as better performance. Also the Kodiak exhaust manifolds/up pipes/down pipe are much less restrictive and do not have the flattened tubes like you may be used to.

Intake Bridge: I had to chop off the 2 bolt flange and fabricate a 2.5" hose coupler so I could run a 90 degree silicone hose right out of its place as there is no room for a fancy egr delete pipe under this hood.

Thermostat Housing: The thermostat housing was modified to allow for the coolant hose to be routed easier

Radiator: I purchased a Mishimoto performance direct replacement aluminum radiator for the Camaro which is 2.5 times thicker than stock. I removed and capped the stock inlet and outlet and capped them off and installed larger inlet and outlets to accommodate more flow for the engine, also the placement was changed on both to accommodate the engine.

Intercooler: I am not sure what brand it is but I hit the jackpot on ebay when I through a $60 bid on this one thinking it was some cheap garbage(was intending on using it for mock up). it has to way over 50 lbs and is built extremely well with very thick aluminum cores and tanks. it fits the location perfectly with the tubes clearing around each end of the radiator.

I also had to cut the mount for radiator and move it back up to stock height since the sub frame was dropped 3 inches.

Drive Shaft: I obviously had to build a custom drive shaft for it which was pretty straightforward except for the adapter I made to get rid of the GWEBO joint(rubber flange type joints that all newer cars run). You can see the adapter in the pictures, it pretty much adapts the 3 bolt gwebo pattern to a 4 bolt drive shaft flange, I had to do the same thing on the Charger.

At this point the engine and transmission are mounted, the radiator and inter cooler are mounted most the piping is complete, drive shaft is installed the main fabrication is complete.

What I am waiting on is the wiring harness which I sent down to a great guy named Ken in Florida, he does standalone Duramax harnesses on the side and I believe he works for GE as an electrical engineer. He is very fair priced and his communication is excellent. He is very intelligent and can explain things to someone with little knowledge on the subject. You wont find anyone cheaper and he may give you a discount if you mention my build as he was excited to be a part of it. Note: I searched near and far for this service and have high standards.

Also, he has a few low cost connections on getting the ecm reprogrammed to work with the harness and further more to function without the EGR system.

Here is his Website - http://www.standaloneharness.com/duramax.html

So once the wiring is back in my hands and installed along with the ecm hopefully it will go smoothly and we will see how a 6.6 duramax powered Camaro performs! Then I can start ironing out all the kinks such as gauges(I will run an edge CTS2 for the time being), fuel tank, exhaust system, cleaning up the odds and ends, etc...

As for the gauges functioning, Ken said that they may all function perfectly or they may not function at all once the can bus wires are connected between the engine computer and the body computer. I'm hoping things go smoothly as far as the gauges but am prepared for the challenge if they do not function.

Photos:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/136055991@N05/shares/pKe5yu
 

Awenta

Active member
Sep 28, 2014
4,090
2
38
CT
That's awesome. Can't wait to see it come to life!

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DAVe3283

Heavy & Slow
Sep 3, 2009
3,727
296
83
Boise, ID, USA
That's looking great! Hopefully you can get the stock gauges working too, as that would be really slick. Either way, it is going to be a really cool car. Thanks for the update!

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Burn Down

Hotrodder
Sep 14, 2008
7,092
28
48
Boise Idaho
Well you might be an "Ass" but your pretty handy in a shop:rofl: Sweet build. Something tells me your going to have a heck of a time finding any traction what so ever:D
 

duratothemax

<--- slippery roads
Aug 28, 2006
7,139
10
0
Wyoming
Wish I had more time and wasnt backed up a dozen+ harnesses right now. :( I would have loved to make the harness for you, but it just wasnt going to work timeframe wise.

The way I was planning on doing it was to totally marry and integrate the Duramax harness and camaro harness together. That means use the factory camaro fuse block, relays, and stock underhood wiring, so it would be just like if GM made it from the factory, not two separate harnesses with the duramax running on a cheap aftermarket fuse block. Im extremely particular with doing harnesses, so thats why, admittedly, Im not the cheapest and Im not the fastest.

Im not sure what Ken's background is in reverse engineering GM powertrain-to-platform electrical systems and the GMLAN bus, but if he cant figure out the gauges, I would be glad to provide some extra advice. I have probably 1,000 hours reverse engineering and breaking down the GMLAN high speed bus, GMLAN low speed bus, and J1850 Class 2 bus, so Im pretty confident I could help make it work. Sometimes it requires more than "hooking up the CAN wires".

The potential issues I saw was with the crank-request. Sure you could just wire up a push-button switch to the starter...but then you dont have park/neutral interlock safety, none of the other modules in the car know that engine crank has been requested (so they dont shut off to conserve electrical power, and set low voltage codes), and several other issues. Will it prevent it from starting and running, no of course not....but like I said Im just super particular with detail and making things factory.

Also, you have issues with things in the car that might only work when the modules see an ERF (Engine Run Flag) on the bus. In most GM's, that means heated seats and rear defrost, among other things.

That crank request data message might not be allowed to be sent from the BCM with anti-theft stuff. Yes I know you can "turn it off" with EFILive, but there is so much more to it on the platform (body) side that cant be disabled with EFILive.

Be sure to check with Ken as to what operating system he's planning on using too, some LMM OS's will never work with cruise control and stuff the way he is doing the standalone harness.

Keep us updated with pics!

Ben
 

OneofWon

New member
Nov 18, 2015
16
0
0
St Cloud MN
Last edited:

DAVe3283

Heavy & Slow
Sep 3, 2009
3,727
296
83
Boise, ID, USA
Sweet! Glad it got finished. It looks like the Camaro runs a lot cleaner than the Charger, which I am glad to see. Though both cars are quite impressive, don't get me wrong. I'm just partial to the Duramax, for obvious reasons :D

Do you have any plans to take it down the 1/4 mile and see what it does, or is this purely a street machine?