[DeuceCam]

I've been a Japanese car guy all my life. Mostly low powered light cars, e.g., '93 Civic SI with an Integra Type R engine swap, and a couple AE86 Corolla GTS'. I also had a 2006 WRX STI that I purchased new.

Anyhoo, I wanted to try something different. My criteria: rwd, lots of power, and something relatively comfortable for a performance car. After a few test drives, I ended up with an LTI; it's my first American performance car and first V8.

Out with the old battle axe, and in with the new hotness.

[Slip3Kid]

I love that color, welcome to the V8 world.

[DeuceCam]

Originally Posted by Slip3Kid

I love that color, welcome to the V8 world.

Thx, Slip3Kid. I love the color; it's really grown on me.

A couple details about car, when I acquired it from Chevy:

• CPO with 47XX miles
• RS Package
• NPP Exaust
• Blade spoiler kit in carbon flash metallic
• 5-spoke carbon flash metallic wheels
• Window tint

It's a good-looking spec. The carbon flash metallic bits look great against the WTC.

First mod:

[DeuceCam]

My account wasn't fully activated until recently, so I couldn't post in the forum. I have a little catching up to do regarding progress on the car since I acquired it last March.

I added an OSC air/oil separator and GM accessory strut bar last summer.

I would have preferred to piece together my own a/o setup, so I could pick the can, as they're not all created equal, but there is very little room in the engine bay for custom mounting a can. OSC seemed decent for an off-the-shelf solution with regards to fitment, placement, and function. However, I wish the can had a perforated internal baffle that would help keep stored oil from sloshing up to the outlet, and would also provide more surface area for oil separation (most competitor cans of this style have a baffle). Oh well. So far I've noticed it catches between a teaspoon and tablespoon of oil/condensation every 500 miles, which is better than nothing. I should also note that I was able to orient the can so the screws that hold it to the bracket are not obstructed by the strut bar. This is nice because the strut bar doesn't need to be removed to access the can for service.

I'm a sucker for a good looking one piece strut bar. IMO the bar makes the steering a tad heavier and improves the on-center steering feel. Tiny difference overall; it might be more noticeable if the bar was installed properly with the chassis on stands and suspension at full drop (will try later).

[DeuceCam]

Considering I own an LT1 model, and actually like driving my car as it's intended, it wasn't long before I was searching for an appropriate wheel/tire package for the car. Don't get me wrong, I loved the look of the OEM CFM five spoke wheels, but an 8.5" wheel on a performance V8 car is a joke.

After much research on this forum, I settled on a setup similar to the SS-1LE wheel specs. Variant Alloys is located in the same city as me and I wanted to support them. It didn't hurt that they had a B2G2 promotion at the time. One also has the luxury of spec'ing the wheel offsets, within reason, which is nice.

I ended up with a set semi-gloss black Helium wheels in the following specs:

19x10 +20
19x11 +40

They took around 1 week for machining and I was able to pick them up. Good customer service. Of course, I test fitted them before mounting tires.

I tried to stay as close as possible to the OEM LT1 tire diameter to limit deviation on my speedometer. There's very few options available, so the Nitto NT555 G2 was an easy choice (specs, below).

285/35/19
305/35/19

(I may try the NT555 R2 out back next time.)

After getting the tires mounted I proceeded to ceramic coat the wheels with a wheel ceramic coat kit I bought from Adam's (great kit which included everything needed).

Edit: failed miserably at uploading pics from my phone...

[DeuceCam]

...

[DeuceCam]

Black Friday purchases started arriving and it was a productive weekend with the car. Changes are listed below.

Installed a Raceseng shift knob adapter, 1.8” shift knob extender, and Slammer shift knob. I wasn’t a fan of the OEM shifting feel and these changes made an improvement. The increased height and weight of the Raceseng components reduced the shifting effort and notchy(ness). Plus, the shifting experience feels more solid overall (hard to explain).

Moved an underdash wiring harness that is located directly above the clutch pedal. This was a big deal for me. I have a size 16 shoe, and the toe end of my shoe was always hitting the harness when I went to press the clutch pedal, which was a big distraction and made the driving experience uncomfortable, but it's not a problem anymore. To do this, I had to remove a retention clip for the wiring harness, remove the hood release cable/cable sheath retainer from the lever mechanism, and unclip the OBD2 port from dash trim; then I was able to push the harness to the left of the OBD2 port. After relocating the harness, I reinstalled the OBD2 port and hood release cable/cable sheath in their respective locations.

Installed a skip-shift eliminator. Huge improvement to driving experience! This mod will be hard to beat in terms of bang-for-the-buck.

Installed Morimoto smoked side markers. These cleaned up the look and match the OEM smoked taillights.

Installed Wildhammer Motorsports smoked rear bumper reflectors. These also clean up the look and match the OEM smoked taillights.

[RallyRunner]

Originally Posted by DeuceCam

I've been a Japanese car guy all my life. Mostly low powered light cars, e.g., '93 Civic SI with an Integra Type R engine swap, and a couple AE86 Corolla GTS'. I also had a 2006 WRX STI that I purchased new.

wow, i came from a really familiar background and ended up going down the almost identical path you did with my LT1 being my first V8/American car too! 20 years of driving small AWD/FWD low powered cars like a 2.5RS, Civic Si, A4 turbo, etc. your AE86 looks gorgeous, i hope you got a lot for it considering how their value has gone insane over the last decade or so! i think a lot of us Japanese/Euro guys have converted in the last couple years as the muscle cars have become more like legit sports cars compared to being bloated straight line specialists a couple generations ago.

the day i traded the old Si in:


i ended up finding the LT1 to be the Just Right Porridge as well, in CPO M6 flavor too (mine is a stripper aside from NPP and a sunroof). i did the 3D mats too but need to get my ass in gear and upgrade the wheels/tires when i can free up a little fun money. for now i just treat it like an overgrown GR86...real easy to find the limit and just letting the rear hang out when i can with a big dumb grin.

great color, looking forward to seeing what you do with it next!

[DeuceCam]

Nice to see another member with a similar background.

The ae86 paid for a good chunk of the Camaro.

I envisioned buying a gr86 for a year after they were released, but a new M6 model was hard to find without a markup. I actually test drove a used one 30 mins before test driving my Camaro, but was underwhelmed; not necessarily by the lower power output, but because I didn't like the throttle/clutch feel, the engine didn't sound good, and the turn signal operation was maddening.

The Camaro blew me away: sound, power, low driving position (I'm tall), good throttle/clutch/steering feel, plus these things handle/turn in (even the LT1).

The 1le size wheels/tires transform the car. Way more confidence inspiring. That said, surprisingly, it's still really easy to overpower the tires.

I've got a few Chevy exterior accessories to install yet. I'm also compiling some suspension bits to lower and tighten things up. I have a bad knee now, unfortunately, so can't roll around on the concrete as much as I used to. Need to find a good local shop to (properly!) install my suspension bits and set everything up.

[RallyRunner]

Originally Posted by DeuceCam

Nice to see another member with a similar background.

The ae86 paid for a good chunk of the Camaro.

I envisioned buying a gr86 for a year after they were released, but a new M6 model was hard to find without a markup. I actually test drove a used one 30 mins before test driving my Camaro, but was underwhelmed; not necessarily by the lower power output, but because I didn't like the throttle/clutch feel, the engine didn't sound good, and the turn signal operation was maddening.

The Camaro blew me away: sound, power, low driving position (I'm tall), good throttle/clutch/steering feel, plus these things handle/turn in (even the LT1).

The 1le size wheels/tires transform the car. Way more confidence inspiring. That said, surprisingly, it's still really easy to overpower the tires.

I've got a few Chevy exterior accessories to install yet. I'm also compiling some suspension bits to lower and tighten things up. I have a bad knee now, unfortunately, so can't roll around on the concrete as much as I used to. Need to find a good local shop to (properly!) install my suspension bits and set everything up.

i cross shopped the GR86 as well but took it off the list for the same reason i couldn't fall in love with the ND2 miata (which i test drove), the engine just felt uninspired and soulless especially after the buzzsaw K20 in my civic, on top of the fact i had already done 10 years with a pancake engine in my 2.5RS and needed a change. not to mention their respective powertrain issues - loose sealant and oil starvation with the GR and all the failed trannys with the ND. i loved the chassis in both cars though, for sure.

you hit all the high points with the camaro experience. i'll never forget that test drive. i think i was sold before the car even came off the lot.

thanks for the feedback about the wider tires. ironically one of my fears was pushing the grip to such a point it wouldn't be playful on the street anymore...i like to feel the car move around and dance on the edge a bit.

[arpad_m]

Thanks a lot for the writeup, DeuceCam, and your part of the story, RallyRunner, great reads.

Originally Posted by RallyRunner

thanks for the feedback about the wider tires. ironically one of my fears was pushing the grip to such a point it wouldn't be playful on the street anymore...i like to feel the car move around and dance on the edge a bit.

The LT1 still has all the 455 hp and torque, plus you can always add more power in so many different ways. I agree that 1LE sized wheels and proper tires are a must.

[DeuceCam]

Coming from a past Subaru life, I also wasn't confident about the gr86's boxer engine reliability.

I thought there was a chance the Camaro would loose it's playfulness as well and be really gripped up after the wheel/tire swap, but that's not exactly the case. Go WOT from a dig or rolling start and the car will still spin the tires and rotate a bit; one still needs to wheel-it. Car still easily breaks loose under throttle in a turn.

Don't get me wrong, the car has a lot more grip, e.g., TCS/ESC engages less in the top half of first gear. With stock tires, I had to shift at 6k rpm as I would often hit the rev limiter if I revved higher, because the tires would briefly loose traction at or above 6k rpm. (With the new tires I can rev it out all the way and not loose traction.) Driving spiritedly is also now more approachable with TCS/ESC fully turned off.

Edit: I did notice an interesting change using launch control after the new tires - I get a concerning amount of wheel hop, enough for me to not want to use it. Not sure why. Maybe it's because the LT1's TCS/ECS is tuned specifically for the puny tires? Maybe it's because the added tire grip is putting a lot more stress on the cradle/diff/suspension bushings? Who knows... (I should point out that the launch control goes to 4k rpm on the 2022 models, while the pre-'22 models' launch control goes to 2k rpm (from my understanding.))

[SSEssence]

Love the hachi! Congrats on the LT1!

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by DeuceCam

Coming from a past Subaru life, I also wasn't confident about the gr86's boxer engine reliability.

I thought there was a chance the Camaro would loose it's playfulness as well and be really gripped up after the wheel/tire swap, but that's not exactly the case. Go WOT from a dig or rolling start and the car will still spin the tires and rotate a bit; one still needs to wheel-it. Car still easily breaks loose under throttle in a turn.

Don't get me wrong, the car has a lot more grip, e.g., TCS/ESC engages less in the top half of first gear. With stock tires, I had to shift at 6k rpm as I would often hit the rev limiter if I revved higher, because the tires would briefly loose traction at or above 6k rpm. (With the new tires I can rev it out all the way and not loose traction.) Driving spiritedly is also now more approachable with TCS/ESC fully turned off.

Edit: I did notice an interesting change using launch control after the new tires - I get a concerning amount of wheel hop, enough for me to not want to use it. Not sure why. Maybe it's because the LT1's TCS/ECS is tuned specifically for the puny tires? Maybe it's because the added tire grip is putting a lot more stress on the cradle/diff/suspension bushings? Who knows... (I should point out that the launch control goes to 4k rpm on the 2022 models, while the pre-'22 models' launch control goes to 2k rpm (from my understanding.))

You may be able to reduce wheel hop with this rear cradle lockout kit, I have it on my car and it noticeably improved rear stability and perceived grip.

I'm not sure about the LT1, but the 2019+ SS has configurable launch control just like the ZL1, you can set the rpm target in a fairly wide range.

It's possible that GM nerfed the LT1 down in this area as well, though... they love to screw us over with little things like no shift lights on the normal SS, only when you get the 1LE package, or no auto dimming on the passenger side mirror when you get it on the driver side and rearview... these things save them a couple dollars per car and leave a very sour aftertaste.