Hi from victory_red_SS

[victory_red_SS]

could always leave the lip off for track and stick it back on for street.

Sometimes the obvious solution is so simple that it takes someone else to see it. Thank You.

It looks amazing

Thanks, it has been a long time in the making.

 

[cobalt123]

woot for update

 

[victory_red_SS]

Okay, I have been waiting a while to get the time to do a couple of updates but work/overtime has been really killing me lately. That is the price I have to pay to keep the wife happy which keeps the project rolling forward.

One of the biggest concerns that has plagued the project has been the front suspension and cross member. There has been considerable time spent looking at how this car was going to track correctly whether it be on the race track or on the street. Keep in mind that originally this project was going to have a 4 cyl Ecotec and it is easier to see where the concerns come from. While the Ecotec was parts of the plan there were still issues with the front suspension/steering and at one point I was told that that I had to choose, either track or street. As most of you know, I chose option C; street & track.

Largely due to the many years of Resnick's racing experience, I have been benefitting from his large resources of contacts and knowledge. With Resnick knowing many places to get certain components, he found the cross member/double wishbone suspension that we are now using in the car. These parts were in no way designed with my project in mind so while Resnick chose the kit, he knew that he would have to make this kit fit. I have some pictures with the new parts before and after install, as well as pictures of what the front suspension/cross member looked like before Resnick started cutting and changing things.

While the pictures show the differences it is hard to see all of the technical components of changing the front end. The car has been squared within .01 of an inch. Resnick was only able to get 104.5"s for the wheel base. Anything longer would have required redoing the front end style extension similar to the FWD Race Cobalts. That expense isn't an option so I will live with the 104.5"s. The dual wishbone suspension will allow me to drive this on the street and not struggle with turning. The new cross member also allows for a positive number scrub level, which is needed to pass a government inspection.

I believe I have already mentioned that because I bought skinnier Weld Racing Prostars for the front and a set of Prostars with a larger back space for the back, I will now use the originally purchased Prostars for my street wheels. Considering that I am old as dirt, these style wheels will do me just fine for the street use. Heck, while the wife and I watched the Rock in Faster last night I told her that the wheels on his Chevelle SS looked just like mine.

Anyways enough jammering, here are the pictures. The pics that have the Paint lines are the original parts that Resnick cut out and replaced. The other pics are the new parts installed. The install isn't complete yet as Resnick figures another 2-3 days to have it all working seemlessly.

Thanks for caring enough to keep following along with me,

Rod











Today I was dropping off the 4.5" skinnies for the front of the car. These tires are narrower and 1" taller than the ones I had before. These differences make a big difference in how the car sits as well as in how it will track on the drag strip.

While I was at the shop I saw a few more items that were done and some being worked on. The frame cross member is completely installed and all of the suspension parts are installed. The steering rack had to to be changed as the Mustang 2 didn't properly. Instead we are using the steering rack from the 79-93 Mustang. Everything looks clean and very strong. The workmanship is great and the complete setup looks as if it belongs there. The suspension geometry is dead on and the car is all squared up. The suspension's articulation is also spot on and this car truly will be able to be streeted. We have a minimum 5.5"s of clearance under the car so it will easily pass government inspection.

The stock dash has been fitted into the car and is almost complete. We do have the issue of the dash being moved further back into the passenger area but Resnick has a plan to deal with it. By the time we are done, I will have as stock of a look/feel as possible considering all of the modifications done to the interior.

Resnick is now working on getting the windsheild wipers and the emergency break mounted. It won't be too long before we are ready to start wiring and doing the body work.

Today was really positive as Resnick and Grant (the other mechanic) were both talking about having this on the track soon as race season is fast approaching. Finally I am becomeng more hopefull of driving this car soon. :nuts:

 

[YelloEye]

Yummy....Can't wait to see her under her own power man.

 

[victory_red_SS]

Yummy....Can't wait to see her under her own power man.

Isn't that going to be an awesome sight, one which is way over due.

 

[YelloEye]

What is your estimated date right now?

 

[victory_red_SS]

What is your estimated date right now?

We are expecting to be on the track the early part of May.

 

[victory_red_SS]

THE CAR IS NOW HOME!!!

Finally I have the car sitting in my garage and I can finally start my part of the work. The engine will be ready to assemble in 10 days so the faster I accomplish my tasks, the faster I get to the track/street.

 

[Cobalt Tom]

noice!!!! let us know if you need any help with anything I will be going to get my enhanced DL soon so I can come up and see her

 

[06CobaltLS]

Sweet, can't wait till shes done.

 

[victory_red_SS]

noice!!!! let us know if you need any help with anything I will be going to get my enhanced DL soon so I can come up and see her

Body work experts, metal shaping experts and wiring experts please call out.

You are sure dragging your feet on that ID aren't you?

Sweet, can't wait till shes done.

Like so many of us at this point.

 

[victory_red_SS]

Okay, after having my hard drive crash plus all of the issues I had with my spray equipment, I am now able to post up an update. This work is being done in my garage and much of this is new to me so I am learning as I go. I have done more than I needed to in some areas and that was mainly so I could practice spraying automotive paint (another first for me).

I had hoped to be farther along than I am but circumstances have slowed me down. As you can see from the pictures I am moving forward and once I finish doing the Dynamat I will mask off the car again and start the bit of body work that I can do and then put the car into high build primer. Once that is done the wiring happens as well as doing the interior.

When you look at the new pics you will see the look I am working towards. I will be doing more of the same with the interior panels.

I won't get much done for about 2 weeks as I need to give my wife some attention so we are heading to Orlando to spend a couple of weeks in the sunshine at/around Disney World. This is a much needed time for us to spend together and one positive thing about getting away, she has told me to hurry up and finish the car when we get back home.

The block has had all the machining done and Resnick is waiting on me now (what a novell idea) before he assembles the engine.

Well onto the pictures.

 

[Jmesl8er]

thats some tough shit, been following you on css, badass man

 

[RjION]

Welcome

 

[06CobaltLS]

Welcome

he's been here longer than you know.

 

[victory_red_SS]

I know it has been a very long time since I have posted any news about my project. I also suspect that many of the people who were following this project have moved on and away from the Cobalt platform. While progress has been at a snail’s pace over the years it is getting exciting again. I have a bit of an update that skips a few things but gets me to where I am at as of today. If there is anyone here who is keen on the project, I will take the time doing regular updates going forward from now on.

During the last year I have been working lots of overtime and accumulating parts as well as planning what I can do to keep moving forward as I wait for those parts. Just a heads up, this is just a final mock up with a dummy block, this is not my LSX motor, more news on that later on.



I have had many one step forward and then wait for new/missing/correct parts. One of the parts that I needed to change was the drysump pump from ARE. This new pump is a 4-stage pump that still uses the LS1 pan that I previously bought from ARE. The pump uses an HTD system (cog style belt) with a collet for tightening on the pump shaft. From there I had an issue getting the ATI Damper hub for the Vortech to line up to the pulley on the drysump pump. ARE didn’t have a solution, ATI didn’t have a solution and ATI was way to busy to make me a custom hub. I finally managed to get the right hub from another customer of my engine builder, the same guy who built a LS motor with the same supercharger. The only thing I need now is a slightly longer belt for the pulley.

I ordered the alternator with bracket/pulleys/tensioner/bolts that were on the 2013 Camaro because it didn’t use a power steering pump, just like my setup. The problem was it wasn’t lining up with my water pump. I ended up exchanging the Corvette style water pump for Meziere’s electric water pump. When the pump arrived, I was stoked, so after a long day at work I went to install the Meziere pump. Guess what it didn’t line up either. I needed to get the 1.75” spacers from Meziere so I placed my order. When it arrived back down stairs to do the install and guess what I discovered? Meziere sells me 1.75” spacers but they don’t ship the longer bolts needed. In fact, they don’t even sell the longer bolts period. Off to a hardware store the next day and buy some bolts. Went home and installed the pump and then it was time for the serpentine belt to go on. AND GUESS WHAT FREAKING HAPPENED?

It fit. After all of the waiting and then some more waiting, watching it all line up was a sweet thing.







Next up, installing the custom motor mount to see if the new drysump pump fit, it didn’t. While one area was close there was still the issue of a proper fit and having the fitting’s all line up. So, I thought let’s see how close it was. Here is how close it was.







Here is my slight butchering mod to see what I needed to do. At this point I thought I was looking at getting front/rear engine plates to use as motor mounts.











The surprise came yesterday when the owner of a fabrication shop came to the house to look over the project and he said he can make the mount work with some enhancement to the remaining supports. I admit I liked hearing that.

After I had that all done, I needed to find out the burning question, will the S/C fit in my engine bay because I don’t quite have the same space as a 2013 Camaro. So, I mounted this beauty…



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Keep in mind I am mounting all of these components using minimal bolts, so I don’t have to dismantle everything when something doesn’t work out. I mean, it’s not like things ever go sideways for me, right? Here is the modified motor mount waiting for the engine to be put in place.



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[victory_red_SS]

Here was my first sideways issue, the anchor point, for part of the body parts. Good thing that was designed to be moved and it was two small bolts.







Next issue, this looks a bit tight from this angle!







Crap, it looks tight from this angle too.







It looks even worse from this angle as neither the water pump or S/C are clearing.







Lesson learnt that day was the engine can’t be dressed before I lower it into the engine bay, so I started to remove the water pump and S/C. The upside is the fabricator is going to modify the front support area so that it is removable to allow the engine to be re & re’ed without undressing everything. I am glad I didn’t use all the bolts for the install. Another part of the problem is where the engine sits, which is far back as the firewall Lesson was pushed back. Here is the engine now being lower into the engine bay.











The engine is almost in place but now I have a clearance issue with the shaft on the steering rack. Keep in mind that I chose the stock alternator and bracket from the 2013 Camaro to keep everything lined up with the Vortech kit that I bought.







The good news is the fabricator has several ideas that he’s going to try, and he is confident that he can make it work.

Now that the engine is almost set on the motor mount, I need to answer that burning question, will the S/C clear the tube for the roll cage…









No, it doesn’t fit so I’m thinking, this sucks. So, I talked to Jim at Richmond engines and he said that it’s simple cut the tube, the fabricator will deal with it. Jim didn’t have to tell me twice.



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[victory_red_SS]

The next step was to mount the S/C so I could see how the charge tubing was going to fit in the space I have. It turns out that it didn’t like being at 3 o’clock because the tubing was to close to the wheel and steering was going to be completely compromised, so I had to re-clock the S/C. I can’t say I was too thrilled, with taking apart the S/C but, after a call to Vortech and talking to a technician I was ready to do what he told me to do. It turns out that it is really easy to clock this S/C. This picture gives you a close up of the impeller of this S/C and I think it looks like a work of art. There is also a picture of where the tube needs to sit to clear the tire.



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Here is a picture of the clearance between my water pump/S/C and my radiator. Plenty of room for my electric fan(s) but not enough room for my drysump oil tank which will be remotely mounted in the backseat area of my car.







Next is the air to air cooler from Vortech which has big 3” outlets. Because of the space between the intercooler and the radiator I am considering another, fan(s) for the intercooler. I will consult with people who have more knowledge than I do.



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[victory_red_SS]

Next up is a few pictures of some of the supporting components for the HP this car will make. There is the Wilson LS7 intake, the Brodix BR 7 BS 300-B cylinder heads (there is a pic of the valve train specs too) and the Holley 105mm throttle body. On top of the heads I have GM Performance LSX valve covers (the victory red LSX was my doing) which are no longer sold by GM. Looking at the pictures and you can get a good idea of how far back the engine sits. You can also see why I chose the Wilson intake because it fits the space that I have, and it is rated for 1500HP+.



















There are also a couple of pictures of the charge piping, but I still need to buy some additional piping to get everything to line up in my engine bay.



















The next couple of pictures I took yesterday. I still have to solder the connections. I am going to use the weather pack connections that I scavenged from the original wiring from my car. I am not very experienced doing the soldering so if any of you have good advice/instructions, I am all ears.











I have many other parts that I haven’t add to my picture files. I have all of the wiring harnesses needed to complete the Holley Dominator EFI system. I also have nearly 95% of all parts that bolt to the engine. All internal parts are being bought by the engine builder. At this point I have pre-paid Jim $18,000. for building the engine Including all of my time painting his shop at the beginning of the year and this doesn’t include all of those external components that I have bought from JEGS. I have had people ask me why I would ‘pre-pay’ when everyone else ripped me off in the past. The answer is simple, Richmond Racing Engines is a reputable shop and I have seen his work from the engines being built as well as when they are run on the engine dyno. All, of his work is top notch and he has a long reputation for being honest. Jim evens supports street legal racing by paying the top prize at the 604 Street Legal drag racing series. That means a lot to me. Jim has also referred me to Dwain from Kremyr Racing, the fabrication shop that is going to do the many things that I do not have the skills to do. That work includes the engine mount, the steering rack issues, completing the headers the last guy started, mounting the radiator and intercooler, making a new fuel cell to fit in conjunction with the wheelie bars, the parachute mount, the front support modification and the funny cage bars to allow for a 7.5 second certification. We talked about possibly doing the funny cage bars later and his opinion was that if the car can run that time then we do the bars now not later. Dwain also has a body shop that can deal with my front fenders/body kit that needs to be adjusted to make up for changing the wheel base from 103” to 104.5” which was an issue. I have a certain amount $$ set aside and I will be working my ass off so I will have the rest when it’s time to pay. The good/bad news is that Dwain can’t start until the beginning of July. Bad news because of the delay, good news because it allows me to do the work that I can perform so that we are (fingers crossed) ready to have this car make it to the race track this year. I have worked long hours this past year and I’m going further into debt to finish this project because I am too stupid/stubborn to quit, you choose which one it is.

 

[Shaggy]

Next up is a few pictures of some of the supporting components for the HP this car will make. There is the Wilson LS7 intake, the Brodix BR 7 BS 300-B cylinder heads (there is a pic of the valve train specs too) and the Holley 105mm throttle body. On top of the heads I have GM Performance LSX valve covers (the victory red LSX was my doing) which are no longer sold by GM. Looking at the pictures and you can get a good idea of how far back the engine sits. You can also see why I chose the Wilson intake because it fits the space that I have, and it is rated for 1500HP+.



















There are also a couple of pictures of the charge piping, but I still need to buy some additional piping to get everything to line up in my engine bay.



















The next couple of pictures I took yesterday. I still have to solder the connections. I am going to use the weather pack connections that I scavenged from the original wiring from my car. I am not very experienced doing the soldering so if any of you have good advice/instructions, I am all ears.











I have many other parts that I haven’t add to my picture files. I have all of the wiring harnesses needed to complete the Holley Dominator EFI system. I also have nearly 95% of all parts that bolt to the engine. All internal parts are being bought by the engine builder. At this point I have pre-paid Jim $18,000. for building the engine Including all of my time painting his shop at the beginning of the year and this doesn’t include all of those external components that I have bought from JEGS. I have had people ask me why I would ‘pre-pay’ when everyone else ripped me off in the past. The answer is simple, Richmond Racing Engines is a reputable shop and I have seen his work from the engines being built as well as when they are run on the engine dyno. All, of his work is top notch and he has a long reputation for being honest. Jim evens supports street legal racing by paying the top prize at the 604 Street Legal drag racing series. That means a lot to me. Jim has also referred me to Dwain from Kremyr Racing, the fabrication shop that is going to do the many things that I do not have the skills to do. That work includes the engine mount, the steering rack issues, completing the headers the last guy started, mounting the radiator and intercooler, making a new fuel cell to fit in conjunction with the wheelie bars, the parachute mount, the front support modification and the funny cage bars to allow for a 7.5 second certification. We talked about possibly doing the funny cage bars later and his opinion was that if the car can run that time then we do the bars now not later. Dwain also has a body shop that can deal with my front fenders/body kit that needs to be adjusted to make up for changing the wheel base from 103” to 104.5” which was an issue. I have a certain amount $$ set aside and I will be working my ass off so I will have the rest when it’s time to pay. The good/bad news is that Dwain can’t start until the beginning of July. Bad news because of the delay, good news because it allows me to do the work that I can perform so that we are (fingers crossed) ready to have this car make it to the race track this year. I have worked long hours this past year and I’m going further into debt to finish this project because I am too stupid/stubborn to quit, you choose which one it is.

So awesome of you to come back to this and update the thread. Great write up on your build and really liking the detailed pics!