[ZL1_1LE]

Originally Posted by kropscamaro16

had afe power tri y long tubes on my ss for years and never had any issues but gotta make sure you are tuned for them always got told my car was one of the best sounding cars at the track !

Umm I'm not sure the tune has much to do with the sound of the long tubes, unless you were referencing the long tubes, then it makes sense

[DeuceCam]

Originally Posted by AZIROC

Agreed, Dbs skyrocket when you add headers. The track closest to me i couldn't even pass stock, and of course the others tracks dont have sound so it didnt matter.

but for example, stock i was between 99-101 Db (a10) and after headers, no cats and borla s-types im around 120-122Db

Was this at AMP?

[AZIROC]

Originally Posted by DeuceCam

Was this at AMP?

Yeah. Which with AMP closing still makes me cry. My wife raced her 4th gen WS6 there recently alot... plus we lived 5 mins away.


But yeah, a 100% stock M6 ZL1 could pass if they payed attention and to where the sound meter was and went up a gear or 2. But the A10, unless you manually (paddle) shifted a few gears higher, or slowed WAY down, u would still fail.

[DeuceCam]

Originally Posted by AZIROC

Yeah. Which with AMP closing still makes me cry. My wife raced her 4th gen WS6 there recently alot... plus we lived 5 mins away.


But yeah, a 100% stock M6 ZL1 could pass if they payed attention and to where the sound meter was and went up a gear or 2. But the A10, unless you manually (paddle) shifted a few gears higher, or slowed WAY down, u would still fail.

Dang it's closing, too! Craziness. You'd think there'd be a couple road courses (open to public) in the PHX area, but it doesn't sound like there will any now. There is Apex in Maricopa, but it's private.

Sorry for thread jack.

[AZIROC]

Originally Posted by DeuceCam

Dang it's closing, too! Craziness. You'd think there'd be a couple road courses (open to public) in the PHX area, but it doesn't sound like there will any now. There is Apex in Maricopa, but it's private.

Sorry for thread jack.

Amp closed a few months back. You have firebird which isnt bad. Just extra busy now case those that went to amp go to firebird (or Podium in casa grande).

[TransamGTA350]

Originally Posted by Spaceman

If you re-read my OP, I was referring to the warranty through American Racing Headers if I were to ceramic coat the exhaust, not the GM Powertrain warranty.


I'm aware that if I add this exhaust upgrade and get a tune I'm voiding the GM warranty, which admittedly scares me a bit. However, what gives me confidence is that plenty before me have done this modification, and as long as I install everything correctly and go to a reputable tuner, I shouldn't have any issues ("shouldn't" being the key word there).


As the saying goes "Shit happens," would be nice if it does happen that I have a warranty. However, we're here for a good time, not a long time, and waiting for the powertrain warranty to tick down so I can add some horsepower and growl to my car seems too far away.
(that's pointed at myself)







While my funds aren't abundant, I plan to book 2 HPDE events next year. Could I do more if I saved the money I spent on headers, and used that for the HPDE fees/pads/tires etc...? Yup.


However, this is the first sports car I've ever owned, and in my humble opinion, part of the sports car ownership experience is taking a wrench to the car and learning about how it works by adding upgrades (and making some mistakes along the way).


I do all the maintenance on the car and even upgraded the SS brake lines, pads, and rotors myself. So while I'm sure I will be cussing like a sailor during the install, I'm actually looking forward to getting under the car.


Also, and please DO NOT interpret this as "I know everything already and I have nothing else to learn." I know I have a lot of learning ahead of me. However, prior to my first track day I spent countless hours in a my own sim rig (GT Sport, GT7, and iRacing) and made frequent trips to karting tracks. So while I have many aspects of my driving to improve upon, I did have some fundamentals to build off of going in.


Again, I still have a lot to learn, but I feel like I'm competent enough on track to start making upgrades to improve my on track experience. In fact the next upgrade after headers is harness bar, race seats, harnesses, and Hans. That came as a suggestion from my instructor who said both he and I were working too hard to stay in our seats.



^Here is a clip of from my most recent HPDE. This wasn't my fastest lap but one that felt good (I've been to lazy to upload my fastest). In the later sessions my instructor and I worked on being less aggressive on the brakes and trying to carry more speed through the corners and I managed to improve by a few tenths. I'm hoping next time out, with some better technique, to trim off another second.

Excellent advice from M Camarolina. I'm in the same camp. The car needs very little to go out on track. Brake fluid and track alignment. Then as you get a little faster, dedicated track wheels/tires, camber plates (for a little more front camber) and maybe upgraded brake pads (although the stock pads can take a lot of abuse). These minor mods will not affect the factory warranty and it takes a driver with a lot of experience to extract everything the car has setup like this.

I know you say the warranty isn't important to you, but what happens if/when it spins a bearing on track? Going to be a pretty big expense for a new motor out of pocket. It's not super common, but also not rare either.

It sounds like you're pretty set on doing LT headers though. I would advise against, maintain your warranty and put the money toward seat time (that will drop your laptimes much more than headers will). But, you asked about potential issues. I have not run LT headers on my Camaro on track, so I can't say anything specific regarding that, but have installed headers on other street cars. The headers are going to get really hot, so you need to make sure any wires or hoses nearby are protected from the heat. You may need to move things out of the way for clearance and use some of that silver foil wire wrap.

Regarding the safety gear upgrades, when you do, it needs to be all or nothing. I would not do a harness bar. If you're going to do it, I would do at minimum 1/2 cage for rollover protection, fixed back containment race seats and harnesses. It really needs to be a whole package or, leave it be.

I would however recommend in the meantime to get a Simpson hybrid S (which will also work with harnesses later on) and a fire extinguisher (if you don't already have one). A fire suit is also not a bad idea as you get faster and push harder. Regarding moving around in the seat, are you locking the seatbelt with the seat retracted back and then moving it forward into your driving position so that the seatbelt is very tight (to the point where it's uncomfortable)? That helps a lot. Also use your left leg on the dead pedal to push your upper body into the seat back.

[Patriot Motorsports USA]

Originally Posted by Spaceman

TLDR Version; If you have installed long tube headers and regularly attend HPDE events or track your car, have you had to deal with any unforeseen issues related to engine temperatures or issues within your engine bay?


My main concern is I don’t want to spend all this time and effort installing long tube headers and then miss sessions because I didn’t take certain precautions.

Any helpful advice or comments is greatly appreciated!

No matter what you do, running with the OEM cats will eventually get you one to fail if you are truly pushing the car hard in Texas Heat.

I have logged over 14K track miles and love my ARH headers even though they are uncoated as I did not want any of the corrosion issues due to moisture in the wrap, oil fire possibilities of wraps and the added heat being sent through the transmission tunnel due to wrapping or coating the headers.

Mine are just natural and I have zero issues, running flat out for 30 minutes at a time producing over 750whp. The ARH headers are the highest quality and thus why they get a higher price for their value!

[ZL1_1LE]

Originally Posted by Patriot Motorsports USA

No matter what you do, running with the OEM cats will eventually get you one to fail if you are truly pushing the car hard in Texas Heat.

I have logged over 14K track miles and love my ARH headers even though they are uncoated as I did not want any of the corrosion issues due to moisture in the wrap, oil fire possibilities of wraps and the added heat being sent through the transmission tunnel due to wrapping or coating the headers.

Mine are just natural and I have zero issues, running flat out for 30 minutes at a time producing over 750whp. The ARH headers are the highest quality and thus why they get a higher price for their value!

Soooooo can we get the price on the valved AWE exhaust you mentioned in your other thread orrrrrrrrr

[Dabjbr]

This will be controversial but I wanted to keep my plush Recaros. Therefore, I installed a 3pt- ASM Schroth Harness and am perfectly content.

However, if you want more, then I agree with ^Transam and say go all or nothing.

Finally, I've been tracking my Camaro nearly 5 years (12-15 events per) and I still find myself surprised what it can do in it's relatively stock form. In other words, seat time will be the biggest impact to your laptimes.

[Eric10905]

I track in central TX heat including summer with my ceramic coated headers with no issues. Same tracks you note including Harris and even few times at cota. I wrapped the wiring harness, and added heat cover on the wires.
Regarding sound, I have LTH with ‘high flow’ cats going into magnaflow x and then factory Npp. I have not hit any sound issues at track. But will say I regret doing headers. Damn expensive and I still feel car is too loud. Plus even on E it stinks (smells) when backing it into garage. But that is matter of opinion and just mine. Glw decision, and keep it on the black stuff.

[m6-lt1]

Agree with everyone saying to prioritize seat team. You’re not going to gain much benefit from the 25 whp headers add.

Take the 2500 bucks and use it on track time.

Also you should worry about warranty on the car. The post covid LT1’s seem to be hit or miss. And unusual amount of them have blown up.

[cdrptrks]

Originally Posted by Patriot Motorsports USA

No matter what you do, running with the OEM cats will eventually get you one to fail if you are truly pushing the car hard in Texas Heat.

Factory cats have an 8 year / 80k mile warranty. I think mine would have both lasted to my current ~70k miles except for the lifter that failed which probably sent unburned fuel into that cat causing premature failure the year after the lifter/cam issue was fixed under warranty but the cat was replaced under warranty too. I've probably averaged around 1 track day per month since I got the car 7 years ago.

Harris Hill has a sound limit that you will very likely exceed if you get headers. SCCA Track Night is usually the only group offering public events there (on weekdays); otherwise you'd have to become a member or have a member bring you as their guest and pay the guest fee for the day.

If you get headers, go for a coating not a wrap to prevent an oil leak from becoming a fire. Without a coating you're probably going to be hot inside the car waiting on grid to be released before each session even with the A/C blasting and of course you'll just get hotter once you're on track with the windows down and A/C off (or automatically disengaged whenever you're full throttle if you leave it on). It makes a big difference to me to start out the session cool during the hot months even if I'm wearing shorts and a t-shirt.

Unfortunately, the majority of Camaro SS 1LE owners I've met at tracks who track often for several years have had at least one engine issue/failure (myself included) so I'd highly recommend keeping your warranty. The car is already fast and enjoyable on track with the stock horsepower level.

[cdrptrks]

Also if you live in an emissions county in Texas (most of the counties near large cities), you will still legally need catalytic converters to pass the yearly inspection required to renew your registration.

In practice, they just plug into the OBD2 port to check for emissions codes so you might be able to get away with no cats if they don't do a visual inspection for cats underneath and they ignore the smell and your tuner tunes out the cat codes but not guaranteed and bad for the environment.

[ZL1_1LE]

Originally Posted by cdrptrks

Also if you live in an emissions county in Texas (most of the counties near large cities), you will still legally need catalytic converters to pass the yearly inspection required to renew your registration.

In practice, they just plug into the OBD2 port to check for emissions codes so you might be able to get away with no cats if they don't do a visual inspection for cats underneath and they ignore the smell and your tuner tunes out the cat codes but not guaranteed and bad for the environment.

Never mind I saw your location and now it makes even more sense.....did you move here from another state?