New Caprice - Discussion forums

After much deliberation, and reading, all of your opinions and what not, I believe that I am going to go ahead and do the LS6 cam instead of the LS3. I still haven't decided on what to do with my rockers though.. Considering the SDPC kit or CHE kit. Valve springs, retainers and keepers are here. Waiting to see if the Jegs Chevrolet Performance Cam install kit goes on a sale for Christmas, and I am waiting on one last thread chaser... So what is everyone's thoughts on Rocker upgrades since aparantely as I'm also finding out through the G8, LS and Vette forums too, Comps' sucks. CHE seems popular, but this isn't going to be a high rpm track car..... Yet....

I went with the Engine Pro trunnion upgrade which I've posted in another cam swap thread here. They are pretty much all the same as most companies rebrand the units from only a couple of manufacturers.

Everything I've learned about the bronze bushing upgrade and their ability to take abuse makes sense. What people won't tell you though is that the life expectancy compared to hardened needle bearing won't be as high. At least no-one has claimed 100,000 mile durability from the bronze bushings. However, to me the failure mode of the bronze bushing is preferable to that of the needle bearings and they are quick and cheap to swap out.

Here are mine...

xcidmigs wrote:PPV manifolds are the same on any car LS based platform, the part number interchanges even to a LSA motor I believe? They all have the same 2 1/4" ID for the exit where the vehicle specific cat pipe bolts onto, the PPV and G8 have the worst of those with the strange flex pipe neck down to 1 7/8" I believe... Camaro SS M6 cat pipes match up at 2 1/4" and are semi worthless on clist etc. Hard to see the justification in $600 solo or other brand "hi flow" cats. There are replacement shorty headers out there also some look very nice ceramic coated etc, I would think you get a slight bonus on them although it may be at the cost of noise and exhaust leaks later down the road.

Did you have to modify the Camaro cats? I saw Pursuit used the Camaro SS DOD exhaust, and had to lengthen some stuff but didn't mention anything about the cats in his post

The camaro SS OEM cat pipes will bolt right onto the stock PPV manifold because they are the same parts on both. The Camaro cats come in 2 versions, one for the auto trans car has a similar flex pipe section like the PPV, the version used on a M6 car does not. On the PPV where the Cat pipe attaches to the rest of the "Catback" portion of each cars exhaust the PPV is like a G8 and has a bolt on connection with a flange, the Camaro ones use a slip fit with a large clamp that encircles both ends of the 2 connecting pipes. Those connecting pipes are not bent the same and one cannot be cut there and attached to the other easily. I used the Camaro SSm6 stock catback which i then ran back towards the rear of the PPV cutting the OEM PPV pipes before they start to turn around the rear dif and had the 2 welded together there. only issue is the size of the actual pipe diameters are not the same. PPV is using 2 1/4" Camaro is 2 1/2"

The comp and BTR trunion upgrade is trash, the design keeps the bearings from falling out but also keeps oil from properly lubing the bearings.

I assembled mine and it was very notchy, and I just didn't like the design, then after researching it more they went in the trash.

Straub trunion is what I ended up with
Bronze bushing style is the best in my opinion

So if the bronze trunion kits only last about 100k, why is everybody replacing the stock ones if they can go 2-300k without issues?

Mooseman wrote:So if the bronze trunion kits only last about 100k, why is everybody replacing the stock ones if they can go 2-300k without issues?

Because:

A) They have been proven to not last even 50k miles, and;

B) When they fail, they send steel shrapnel throughout your engine that you'll never get out unless you do a complete tear down and rebuild.