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This is my 1996 Camaro Z28 SS #1655

I bought this car kinda on a whim :)  I had my 95 Trans Am as a daily driver and it was doing just great for me.  Then, my buddy Charlie ended up treating himself to a 1993 40th Anniversary Corvette.  We were talking one day a couple weeks after he purchased his Corvette and he said "I've always wanted a newer Vette, so I got one."  And I replied back... "Yeah, I've always wanted an SS but never ended up getting one."  Well, it just so happened that the next day I saw a post on alt.autos.camaro.firebird about a 1996 SS Camaro for sale.  For the heck of it, I clicked on it to read a little about it.   It was MUCH more than I had expected as this SS was about as modded as you can get without installing a supercharger or nitrous.  I got to thinking a little :)   Even though the Trans Am has about 300 hp and looks great, I was missing driving a "fast car" as my daily driver.  (If you've already looked at my 94 Z28 page you'll see that I don't drive that car often)  I decided to look more into this SS and checked out the guy's (Bryan Cope) web page.  Well, I was shocked to see many names there I recognized from the F-Body mailing list!  This gave me a "good feeling" about the car because I've been around the mailing list for a few years and, for some reason, one always feels "better" dealing with somebody off the mailing list... at least I do.  To make a long story short, Bryan and I emailed each other back and forth for about a week and before you knew it, I had arranged to make the 1100 mile round trip to go pick up the car!  My buddy Charlie and I left Central Florida around 6:00pm one night on our way up to North Carolina to check out the car.  We arrived at a hotel around 4:00am just a few miles from Bryan's place.  We got up early that morning and went to check out the car.  Sure enough, it was in the condition that Bryan had described it.  That was MUCH appreciated since it would have been terrible to drive all that way to find a ragged out Camaro.  Anyway, we ended up doing the deal and my buddy Charlie and I were back on our way to Florida before lunch time!  We swapped cars a couple times during the journey back and the drive wasn't too bad at all.  We got some unbelievable gas mileage too!  The Trans Am got 31-32 mpg and the 450 hp SS got 25 mpg... even with 4.10 gearing!!!  I was impressed :)

Anyway, Bryan and a number of list members put a lot of hard work into the car and I don't want that to be "lost" so most of what you'll see now is Bryan's experiences during the modding process.

OK... now the Good Stuff!

1996 Camaro Z28 SS #1655 out of 2410 built that year by
SLP Engineering

I bought this car from Bryan on May 5th, 1999.
The car came equipped from Chevrolet with the following options:

In addition to the above, SLP received the car and added the following modifications:

Base SS Package including:

SLP Options:

That makes for over $7,000 worth of SLP options on top of an already loaded Z so you could say it pretty much came with all the toys :)

Bryan couldn't leave well enough alone, so he added the following :)

With all the above, Bryan still wasn't happy so he did the following:

After much research, he stumbled upon Rocky Varicola from Rocky's Performance in Charlotte, NC. Bryan spent about 8 hours on the phone with him over the course of 2 weeks, and he really helped him with his final selection of parts for the car. Bryan had originally planned to purchase a set of LT4 heads and the TPiS ZZ9 camshaft, with various other assorted parts... However, Rocky really turned Bryan on to his engine package which had achieved 350-360 rear wheel horsepower on several cars. This is the list of what was purchased for the SS from Rocky:

Here is what Bryan had to say about the package he purchased from Rocky "All I can say is, WOW!!! What a difference! This package is incredible, and gave me exactly what I was looking for from the car. I have dynoed the car before and after all the work, and you can see the results here. How does 450 engine horsepower sound? It's enough to propel the car down the quarter at 12.95 @ 109.5 on street tires. I honestly believe I will have a mid-12 second car when I get a decent set of racing tires to find some traction! :) "

In March of 1998, Bryan did the following mods:

The reason for the above new mods was an attempt to track down some ignition/knock problems. Bryan discovered after making these changes that the optispark was bad. The Voltblaster was one of those just for the heck of it things to try. The 300+ was chosen because of its smaller size to allow the FIPK to fit (the 6AL was too large to fit in the spot beside the fuse box with the SS hood).

With some more tuning, a new optispark, and the above mods, Bryan managed to get down to a 12.41 @ 115.2 1/4 mile time!!! WOW!!! The addition of a set of Mickey Thompson ET Streets helped a lot with launching the car.

Bryan did nearly all the modifications to the car himself... with the help of some f-body list members.  If you'd like to check out pictures of the rebuild as well as the 'saga' behind it, click on "The Rebuild Saga" below!  Bryan said it was a lot of fun, but a lot of frustration along the way as well...

The Rebuild Saga

Finally, time for the last mod that Bryan did before I bought the car from him so he could purchase a new C5 Corvette!  The last mod Bryan did was BRAKES!  This is the Baer 13" Track brake kit with cross-drilled rotors and stainless steel brake lines.  Bryan installed 13" Baer brakes to help slow this monster down :)  Click on "Baer Brakes" below for details...

Baer Brakes

Click below to hear the SS with its 2-on-the-left SLP upgraded exhaust and the LT4 HOT cam.

Here are a few more pics of the SS

OK, from here on out will be my own trials and tribulations with the car!

June 10, 1999
The cam surge has been driving me nuts lately.  I had heard that others have had success with unplugging the EGR sensing line going to the intake manifold then plugging the port in the manifold.  I tried this and it seemed to help a little but I still have some significant cam surge around 2000rpm.  Oh well, I guess that's the price one pays for performance! :)

June 18, 1999
I've been experiencing about 10 degrees of knock retard during ALL times of WOT.  In an effort to reduce this I installed the LT4 knock module.  Some history on the LT4 knock module:  The LT1 F-Bodies are known for their overly sensitive knock sensors causing the PCM to unnecessarily retard the timing and thus reducing hp... a very bad thing!  For the longest time people were using Mike Channey's knock desensitizing circuit (see my 94Z page for details on this!).  This worked very good for most and eliminated much of the false knock people were seeing.   Then, one day somebody (sorry, I forgot the name) on the F-Body mailing list came up with the idea to look at the part number of the LT4 knock module.  Low and behold, the LT4 knock module had a different part number!  It was presumed that since the LT4 comes from the factory with roller rockers and other performance "goodies" that maybe, just maybe the engineers at GM slightly detuned the LT4 knock module.  Well, after a few tests of the LT4 knock module in the LT1, it was evident that something was different because people that were seeing a lot of false knock ended up having this false knock either eliminated or greatly reduced!  Another thing that was seen was those who were experiencing possibly real detonation still had about the same amount of knock retard which showed that the LT4 knock module would still be effective in detecting detonation in the LT1.  Then the LT4 knock module craze started and the USA went into a national shortage of LT4 knock modules :)  The F-Body mailing lists and other such forums are powerful "machines!" :)  Now, just a note, running the LT4 knock module isn't without some amount of small risk.  By essentially detuning the detonation sensing capabilities of the LT1 PCM, you'll be running a little further away from the "safe zone."  Not necessarily in the danger zone though :)   Similar to reducing fuel pressure to decrease O2 voltages for more hp.    You can do this without causing damage but you're putting yourself further away from the designed safe zone.

OK, now that you know what I'm talking about I can "talk" about the LT4 knock module!  These can be bought at your local dealer for around $50 or you can purchase them from Dal at VanDevere Olds for less than $30 (similar savings on other GM parts too!).  And YES! I have his phone number :)   1-800-362-9494   The part number for the LT4 knock module is 16214681.   FWIW, the number of the LT1 module that came out of the SS (with the 94 PCM) is 16177700.  Here's a pic of what the LT4 knock module looks like (yeah, yeah, I know, this is actually my LT1 knock module) and is located in the PCM under the cover that is held in place by two Torx screws.

While I had the PCM out I went ahead and disabled C.A.G.S. (Computer Aided Gear Selection) and the shift light on the dash.  I disabled the Skip Shift feature via the PCM method since the skip shift eliminator Bryan had installed burnt up.  Even though the SS is a 96, I was able to disable the skip shift via the PCM because the car has a 94 custom programmed PCM :)   For details on how to disable the skip shift via the PCM and without a resistor, click here.

July 2, 1999
I received the Holley 58mm throttle body today!  What a work of art!  Now all I have to do is find some time to port my intake to 58mm and install it :-)  In the meantime, here are a few shots of the Holley throttle body from a couple different angles :)

July 17, 1999
Finally got around to installing the Holley 58mm throttle body today!  As some of you may know, the stock intake is only ported to 52mm.  The installation of a 58mm throttle body requires porting the aluminum intake manifold to match.  I did this on the car and took a few pictures while doing the porting process.  I made a detailed web page describing exactly how to port the intake on the car.  You can see it here...

Installing Holley 58mm TB & Porting Intake

July 22, 1999
On the way home from work this afternoon I heard an occasional metal on metal grinding noise coming from the rear of the car.  When I got home I got out and took a look.  Somehow the passenger side rear brake pad had completely gone away and the rotor was starting to get chewed up!  ARRGGHH!!  There was no warning type "squealing" indications or anything.  Because I've got the Baer brake setup on this car and the rear also has cross drilled rotors, I didn't want to let this go.  Also, the fronts had been squeaking a bit due to them being "race" pads and this was annoying me slightly :)  So, I went inside and gave Baer a quick call before they closed to find out what pad I would need for the front.  They told me a late model ZR1 front pad is what I'd need.  A quick call to the local AutoZone verified that they could turn that rotor for me and they had both my front and rear pads in stock.  I went to AutoZone and had just that one rotor turned (yep, just one!) and bought me a set of front and rear pads.  They gave me a lot of options.  (The front pads on the Baer 13" Track kit are the same as a 95 ZR1 Corvette)  For both the front and rear I could get four different types of pads ranging anywhere from $20 a pair to $65 a pair.  I ended up getting the Performance Friction Semi-metallic pads for both the front and rear.  $55 for the front (Part #4124) and $50 for the rear (Part #4134).  The rears are a stock replacement.

Well, I ended up finishing the job with lights since I didn't start until about 7:00pm... oh well :)  Brakes are all better now and, honestly, my butt-o-meter can't tell a difference between the "race" pads that were on there and the pads I replaced them with.  Also, I have no pulling to one side... car drives just fine.  I was told that if I didn't turn both rotors, I'd have problems... well, no problems :-)

August 2, 1999
Bought a couple items I can use on both this car and my 94 Z28!  Since my daily driver, the SS,  is also somewhat of a fast and modified car, I thought it would be a good idea if I picked up a Modern Musclecar ScanMaster.  This device is a continuous diagnostic scanner that monitors all kinds of engine parameters.  It is VERY useful for diagnosing problems or just monitoring "things" to make sure everything is working properly.  I plan on doing a special type install that will allow me to also use the ScanMaster in my 94Z!  I picked this up for a good price from another f-body mailing list member who couldn't use it due to a DFI install.  The f-body mailing lists  are a great source for excellent "stuff." :-)   Click HERE for an excellent page on the Scan Master monitoring parameters and their descriptions (from Kelly's Project Trans Am).

Since this car will pretty much obliterate the tires, I thought it would be a good idea to pick up a set of drag radials.  I found some Mickey Thompson Sportsman Pro tires used with about 15 passes on them already mounted on white 97 Camaro Z28 wheels.  They might look a bit funny on the SS but I got a good deal on them and if they'll improve my traction at the track, they'll be worth it!

August 16, 1999
I liked the RK Sport rear hatch CAMARO letter inserts so much on my 94Z that I decided to add some pizzazz to the rear of the SS!  I've always like the red on black combination (when I was in high school I used to dream about getting a brand new black 85 IROC with red lettering and stripes!) so I decided to pick up some red letters.  The RK Sport letters are not cheap!  They cost about $55 but are A LOT different than just slapping in some vinyl letters or painting these indentations.  These are urethane letters and actually have "shape."   Take a look at the before and after pics below... I'm quite pleased!

And here is a picture to give you a better idea of what they look like.

Since I do try to think of others :) and realizing that not everyone wants to spend that much on "letters" I made some scans of these letters prior to installing them.  I scanned them from both the front side an back side.  What you can do is take the following file(s) to a local sign shop and have them cut you out a set on their computerized vinyl machine because these letters are the perfect size!  This might upset some of the places on the Web that sell these vinyl letters for $20+ but oh well :)  I scanned the following at 300 dpi so the files might take a while to download.  You'll have to ask the sign guy which ones will be best to use.

CAMARO Letters #1
CAMARO Letters #2

August 31, 1999
Well, I finally got around to installing my ScanMaster!  I ended up installing it in the air conditioning vent right above the air conditioning controls :-)  I think it came out pretty darn good!  And guess what... I even made up an installation page for those of you wanting to tackle this yourself.  I bet you weren't expecting me to do anything like that, were you? :)  Anyway, here is a quick picture of the finished product.  For full details of the install, click here...   Camaro ScanMaster Install