Hirevsjoe

Hi guy. I posted on here back in April of last year asking for some tech help on the Camaro that we are building for my son. Its taken a bit of time to get it really going, but we are making good progress on it now. We are trying to have the car done for Super Chevy this year @ Maple Grove. Here's a quick run down of what we've done so far and what the plans are. My brother & I own a restoration shop so the car was stripped down and placed on our rotisserie, sandblasted and primed. We then took it to a family friend who builds chassis and roll cages, where he bent a full chrome moly cage for it. We clearnanced the front of the rear wheelwells and removed the bumpstops. Filled I the firewall and removed the beams inside the doors. After all the body work was finished the car & cage were painted Hugger orange. A 12 bolt rear out of a 69 Camaro was converted to take a torque arm, all the suspension was blasted, primed and painter. The car will start out with a 11 to 1 383 sb w/ 150 shot for now, Th350, 4500 converter and 4.56's. We are leaving all the interior panels in and the stock dash, only removing the back seat. Let me know what you guys think and if you have any insight or helpful info, I'd love to hear it. Here are some pics.

skinny z

Looks very nice. Do you have a race weight target in mind?
I'd also like to know how the 12 bolt was converted for a torque arm application.

DIGGLER

iTrader: (1)

great looking welds, somebody did a really nice job there! everything else looks nice so far, too.
i would run less gear than that, unless you plan on 30" tires or buzzing some big rpms, and i would go ahead and do a th400 instead of the 350.

Hirevsjoe

Hirevsjoe

Hirevsjoe

The doors and fenders are just hanging on the car for now. The whole thing still needs to be wet sanded and polished. Skinny Z, I'll see what pics I have. I think I only have pics after we painted it. The gentlemen who did the cage (Van Horn Brothers Racing) did the modification to the rear. We bought new brackets and he took all the measurement and angles off the stock 7.5. DIGGLER, the engine and trans combo is out of my old Monte SS. I ran it with 4.56's & 28x10.5 MT, crossing around 6800-6900 rpm. It was right were my engine builder wanted it. Car ran 10.80's-10.90's. If we ever spray it, we'll switch to a 30". The Th350 is a TCI piece that has been freshened.

Hirevsjoe

Skinny Z, here are the pics of the rear. Sorry you can't see how nice the welds are.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

nice craftsmanship for sure. i have a few questions though:

-the bars that go from the harness cross bar to the floor in the rear seat area, will those cert? they should be diagnoling the other direction and coming from the main hoop towards the tunnel should they not?

-Why didn't you take the foward engine bay bars all the way out around the strut mount? this would allow you to cut out a lot of material in front of the struts if you so chose to later.

-what are the extra bars/brackets that are bolted to the floor there around the front seat area?

Hirevsjoe

He had talked to a NHRA tech several times when building it and he stopped by to look at it and said it would cert to 8.50. We only ran the bars to there because after my first thread asking for help, AlkyIROC had given me advise on where to run them. Plus if we ever ever want to go that far it won't be that hard to change. The bars bolted down low are seat mounts. He made the to help with seat placement as my son gets older and grows.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

fair enough. it looks awesome man. i do have one other question. have you ran the VIN? i do not believe the car is an 86. it looks like an 82-84 z28 with an 85-90 front bumper cover and gfx. the side skirts and rear bumper cover, along with the taillights indicate it's an earlier year model car. not that that matters for anything other than knowing what you have, lol. i'd love to see the period correct 82-84 z28 nose/gfx go back on...don't see too many of them at the track in nice shape.

skinny z

Thanks for that. It opens up another avenue for putting another axle under the car without having to resort to an aftermarket assembly.

Hirevsjoe

Matt good job noticing that. I questioned the same thing when we first go the car. We had gotten the in exchange for helping someone move some cars around. At first we thought there was no title for the car, but a few weeks later he showed up with the title. It is an 86. It was bumped in the nose years ago and they changed the nose. When the car was repainted white they changed all the ground effects and rear bumper. We thought about changing them when we picked up a 87 parts car, but my son and I like these better. Unfortunately I was never a fan of the year front bumper. I always liked the early taillights.

Skinny. He had to machine the top rip back for the bracket he made. He has the use of a water jet so it was easier for him to make all the brackets. He is doing another rear for a friend of mine using a 8.5 out of a 76 camaro. For welding on the stock perches and making the torque arm bracket he was charging $600-$700 dollars.

skinny z

Thanks for that Joe.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

hmmm...wonder if it was a sport coupe originally? seems i've never seen anyone put the early gfx on a later car that had gfx already.

is your friend that's going to make the bracket for the 8.5 interested in making more? i have a car right now that is begging for a budget 8.5 build.

Hirevsjoe

Yeah,I know what you mean, I was wondering that also. The gentleman I got the car from said the man he got it from said the car was pretty well wooped when he had it repainted. That's why he switched it. I checked the VIN and it seemed to be right. Here's a pic, maybe someone can double check it for me to make sure I'm not reading it wrong.

Hirevsjoe

As for the rear conversion, I can ask. My friend had the rear already out of his 76 with a spool, gears and good axles. The man doing the work is in the top of New Jersey. I will talk to him and find out.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

G is the check digit for the year, which is a 1986 so it's right.

I'd love to see what he comes up with, even if he isn't interested in making more. the GTA budget bracket build we're doing has a 7.5 in it and we don't intend to ever go any faster than maybe 10.0. an 8.5 would fit the bill perfectly.

Hirevsjoe

Yeah I agree on the rear. We are most likely only gonna run the car down to 9.50 or so, but that will be further down the road. The cage was more to make his mother feel better lol. My son is turning 16 in June and has been running a junior dragster since he was 9. We had the 12 bolt lying around, but I would have been just as happy with a 8.5.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

i got ya. sounds like he's got a good father. hope you're making him work for the car a bit though

DIGGLER

iTrader: (1)

Change converters and gears and it will go 9.50 with a 150 shot as it sits now.

Hirevsjoe

Matt, yeah he's a good kid and he is putting his fair amount of time and money in the car.

DIGGLER, what gear and converter combo are you thinking would help the car run better? Always happy to hear suggestions.

DIGGLER

iTrader: (1)

on the juice, you'll want a tighter converter and something more like a 3.73-3.90 gear with a 28" tire. give greg at FTI or one of the other well known converter shops a call. a good converter will run you around $8-900. a cheapie won't last long before self destructing. the car will be slow off the bottle and fly when its turned on, but the first time you turn it on, you will no longer be interested in running it n/a. heh.
that will make a really sharp car when your done. i like it!

Hirevsjoe

The converter that I used for the combo in my Monte was the same ATI 4500 I was going to use here. It would only foot brake to 3300-3400, but it worked well. I agree on having a good converter. I had used cheap ones before and wasn't thrilled. I was nervous dropping 900 on this on but was very pleased.

Hirevsjoe

Well spent some time working on the car the past few nights. Got all the brake lines, line lock, proportioning valve all run and mounted. Got engine, trans and headers mocked up and mounted. Headers are OBX Stainless
1 3/4 I picked up from another member. Modified the stock trans crossmember to take the Th350. We got the painted the front and rear bumpers, as well as the front and rear spoilers and lower door moldings. Rear is now mounted on the car and the front is just sitting there till we wet sand it. Still a lot to do, but things are going well. Sorry about some of the quality of the pictures. Matt, if you look close in the last pic you can see I'm respecting the purple!

86iroc2try

Looks nice. It's bright....but looks good

redneckjoe

coming along real good! awsome work!

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

the car is turning out fantastic joe! can't wait to see this thing in person. maybe sometime this summer we can hit some stuff up together.

thank you for respecting the purple i love my AED throttle cable bracket.

Hirevsjoe

Yeah she is bright. The boy likes Orange, so he got Orange. Spent today mounting the fuel pump, regulator and some other odds and ends. Used some left over old AN line to mock up how and were to run the feed and return line.-10 feed and -8 return with a A1000 pump. Car will have a plate now, but possible a fogger down the road. Still want to run an alternator, so not sure if we'll use the electric water pump. The last pic is my son taking a break from helping and daydreaming about making passes. He's short, but the seat is set for me at the moment and I'm 6'3.

DIGGLER

iTrader: (1)

clean as a whistle!

Hirevsjoe

So we got a care package from Jegs today. Axles, new ring & pinion, c clip eliminations, a install kit all for the 12 bolt. Most importantly a new crank for motor. Tomorrow off to have it all balanced. Hopefully I'll start to tackle the wiring.

http://

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

car is looking great joe! when are you guys trying to get to the track by?

Barlow8869

iTrader: (1)

looks quite nice

Hirevsjoe

Thanks guys. Matt, our goal is to have the car tested and ready for Super Chevy at Maple Grove. Rotating assembly us out being balanced now and I started on the wiring today. My assisted (son) took the weekend off to work on the top end of his dirt bike, so didn't get as much done as I hoped. At least I wasn't stuck trying to install a QuickTime bell in front of a T56, that had to suck!

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

It was brutal man.

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

They let you weld the cage to the floor pan?

I thought the rulebook said on unibody cars you had to nut and bolt 6x6 plates ?

"
4:10 ROLL BAR:

Unibody cars with stock floor and firewall (wheeltubs permitted) may attach roll bar with 6-inch x 6-inch x 0.125-inch (1/8") steel plates on top and bottom of floor bolted together with at least four 3/8-inch (0.375") diameter bolts and nuts"


-- Joe

Jonesyfxr

iTrader: (2)

Looking great!

Nice welds too!

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

I had to look this up to be sure, but it looks like you can either weld the plates or bolt them in.

"Unibody cars with stock floor and firewall (wheeltubs permitted) may attach roll bar with 6-inch x 6-inch x .125-inch steel plates on top and bottom of floor bolted together with at least four 3/8-inch bolts and nuts, or weld main hoop to rocker sill area with .125-inch reinforcing plates, with plates welded completely."

It may have changed, I have last years rule book. I think that like many other things, it's up to the interpretation of the guy reading it.

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

This was paragraph 4:11 for a roll cage, my last post was from 4:10 for a roll bar.

On unibody cars with stock floor and firewall (wheel tubs permitted), the roll cage may be bolted or welded to the floor/rocker box via 6-inch x 6-inch x .125-inch steel plates similar to the roll-bar attachment requirements of paragraph 4:10 in this section.

anesthes

iTrader: (12)

That's how I read it as well, but it says "main hoop". It doesn't say the struts can be installed that way. ?

Image from handbook:




I'm confused... I'd rather weld mine as well.

-- Joe



-- Joe

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

Honestly, if mine ever gets to the point that I need a bar, I think that I'll weld it to the plates and see if it passes tech.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

i've never seen one bolted....and i've been in a bunch of these cars with roll bars...

khulsebus

iTrader: (2)

The only one that I can recall seeing bolted in was the fox body from Drag Race High.

KWIK84

iTrader: (5)

Mine is welded plates as well, and has always passed tech.

90camaro355rs

nice build!

articwhiteZ

iTrader: (56)

you can weld. or bolt it in. in the 3rd gen.

we tack upper plate in place.drill 4 small holes. shape the lower (underside) plate. tack it in place.. then drill out to the 3/8 bolts down in and out of the 2 plates.

i use a press brake and hammer to shape the plates..easy easy.. they dont have to be flate...just fit the floor under the car nice.

1gary

Joe-some constructive criticism.Not a big fan of center counsels in race cars.Best case in a crash you walk away pretty banged up from it,worst case,you end up with broken bones from it.

DIGGLER

iTrader: (1)

in terms of flailing arms, you've got the shifter, steering wheel, door/glass, roof, and rollbar to bang into. a padded plastic console isnt such a big deal, imo. and, it covers up some of the sharp points on the parking brake and shifter.

Hirevsjoe

Gary, I can understand your point on the console. Decided to leave it in the car because he will most likely use it on the street some and I didn't really feel it was a safety hazerd.

Jonesyfxr

iTrader: (2)

I love how this car is coming!

Great work!

PhoenixFirebird

iTrader: (2)

Do I see "Dart Iron Eagle 200" on that head? If so, I've got the same heads on my 385!