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| It's got a truck motor, a 325 cubic inch plant, truck tranny. It doesn't have catalytic converters so it will run good on regular gas. |
The 1982 Camaro with the General Motors 5.3 Silverado/Sierra engine is truckin' with the Chevy Colorado 5-speed manual transmission and the FABbot adapter kit.
Got the shortened driveshaft back on Monday. The shop that did put the driveshaft under the knife said it had been altered before and wasn't sure how well balanced it would be. I guessed it wouldn't be that bad or at least not noticeable -- since all the carpet and interior panels were tossed, every clunk and rattle is amplified.
Chris bled the clutch and finally the car was back on the ground on Tuesday ready to roll. He took it around the block that morning and said everything seemed to be working OK. I took it out on my lunch break, got out on Route 50 to see how it was in fifth gear, and it drove great. No vibrations from the driveshaft.
As mentioned in part 1, the transmission came from a local salvage yard, but it didn't come with a shift knob, so Chris rigged up a temporary fix. It was better than what I found in the bling-bling aisle at the Auto Zone around the corner, but I still ended up ordering something else online.
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| Got wood? The super special Aisin AR5 custom wood grain shifter knob. |
One thing, maybe subconsciously, about wanting to replace the T10 was how clunky it felt. Watching a video drag racing the car at 75-80 several years ago, the gear changes are cumbersome. Not that there's anything wrong with the transmission, but it's old, notchy 1960s technology.
The AR5 is much smoother and feels like most modern manual transmissions. Granted I only have to worry about 1-2 shifts while autocrossing, but it should be nicer to drive on the road or if ever doing something on track where more than two gears are needed.
Also the old American Powertrain hydraulic setup wasn't really confidence inspiring. The clutch first took forever to bleed because a tiny O-ring in the slave cylinder wasn't sealing properly. So after chasing my tail on that, the hydraulic bearing failed while loading the car onto my trailer, then the replacement failed as well with, I don't know, two autocross runs and a few street miles. Hopefully the FABbot kit is the solution!
The car seems to be ready to mow some cones, but now it's the offseason. Plans are to put finishing touches on the Camaro while it's sitting in the garage with maybe a side trip to get some downfarce. Hopefully all the side projects are easy and don't generate more Project Whack-A-Mole issues.
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| The off-season checklist. |
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