Did you know there are two Car of the Month events this month?
You can also vote for your favorite COTM first timer here, https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/auto...ml#post6520921

vinny R | 1991 Camaro Z28 convertible



cdoyle | 1984 Camaro



soloc4 | 1984 Camaro Z28



dagwood | 1986 Camaro



IROCThe5.7L | 1988 Camaro IROC



Neil350 | 1989 Trans Am GTA

 

Voting will begin tomorrow to give people time to share pictures and stories before votes are cast.

 

INSANE

It’s been said that a nickname is not chosen, but is given or earned and this car’s came from the responses it received during its inaugural show season. “This car is insane”, “That is an insane amount of fabrication“, and “Who puts this much work into a 3rd gen Camaro, that’s insane” are just a few reactions. This project began with a challenge from my brother while attending a swap meet and we came across the rolling chassis of a’92 Corvette and he said “I bet you can’t put this under your Camaro”. That was in 2004, it took me 19 years, but I did it and it turned out amazing. I hope you enjoy it.

The powertrain consists of a 600+ hp 408 ci LS2, a close ratio Magnum F, and a TruTrac differential in the DANA 44 IRS.

The suspension is from a C4 Corvette SLA/IRS and has Baer 14” 6P brakes with hydra boost assist and 4 channel ABS.



The above drivetrain and suspension are all aluminum.

The exhaust is custom built dual 3” stainless steel with X-pipe and two Magnaflow “mufflers”. Yes, it is loud!

The body modifications were extensive, but I tried to make them subtle. The roof, right quarter panel, and the hatch are the only pieces that are unmodified. The front nose is a heavy reworked Stinger Fiberglass piece, the tail panel is a one of a kind handmade fiberglass piece of my own design with a custom fabricated aluminum diffuser, the IROC hood is from a recycle yard with extractor ducts formed and welded in, the front marker light openings were filled, Kingit door handles were installed, and a motorcycle gas cap replaced the flip door in the left quarter panel.



The interior is relatively stock with the exception of Vintage Air HVAC, modified console, Corbeau RRX seats, custom door panels, rear seat delete, and a custom built harness bar.


The car was repainted in the original blue and a set of Forgeline wheels complete the build.

 

Here's my 1986 Drag Car. The car started life as a 305, digital dash Berlinetta. A lot has changed....

383 stroker on 98% Ethanol
11.5 to 1 compression
GM Bowtie angle plug D port aluminum heads
GM Bowtie single plane high rise intake
Quick Fuel E85 850DP carb
Quick Fuel fuel pump
Eagle stroker crank
Eagle H beam rods
Flat top pistons
​​​.585 lift solid roller cam
1.6 and 1.5 roller rockers
Gear Drive timing set
MSD ignition
Moroso vacuum pump
TH400 transmission with reverse manual valve body
Trans brake
B&M Pro Ratchet Shifter
5,000 rpm stall converter
Currie 9 inch rear end, full spool and 3.90 gears
Drive shaft loop
Koni adjustable drag shocks
Drag springs
28x10.5x15 Mickey Thompson Slicks out back
6 point cage
Frame connectors
Corbeau seats with harnesses
Trunk mounted battery
Line lock
S10 manual steering box
Car weighs 3,120 pounds

All lights are functional. No windshield wiper parts at all. In its current configuration, it is running open headers and slicks, otherwise it is titled and insured, and could be street driven with exhaust and street tires....if you wanted to feed it fuel. I drove it on the street a few times last year, and it gets around 2 mpg.

It's going to get a gear change before next season, and a fuel cell. I'm going to run somewhere around a 5.00 gear

I was plagued with engine trouble in 2022, so it got a new engine block in 2023 and everything freshened up. It was mid June before I got the car to the track in 2023, and was IMMEDIATELY making it to final rounds!!!

It took me until September before I got my first win, and it was at the biggest race of the year at my local track. I then backed it up with another win the following weekend!

I made a couple more final round appearances before the end of the racing season. I ended up 6th in points. I was super happy with that considering I missed the first 2 months of racing.

My quickest 8th mile time so far was a 7.34 @ 90mph. I'm hoping the gear change will get me in the 6's. The day it ran the 7.34 it actually ran a 7.34 FOUR times!

It's a Super consistent car, and im having the time of my life with it. Its soooo much fun! My local track will let us give rides during test and tune, and this summer i even gave my 83 year old Dad a ride down the track, as well as my 79 year old Mom! My 2 daughters have each had a rip down the track, too!

Anyways, here's the Hot Rod....

 

I am the second owner of this 84 Camaro I have owned it since High School, she was the first car that I had ever purchased. She was originally a no option, V6 Sport Coupe. I daily drove this car for many years to work, over 100 miles a day. I did this until the little V6 said no more, and then I parked it for a several years. I had 2 options with this car, sell it or restore it. I chose to restore it!

This is how she looked back then, my tastes have changed a lot since then. Those wheels are long gone!



V6 is gone, and replaced with the 5.7 TPI.



Now that she's been restored, she is my cruising car. I look forward to every Spring when all the cruises start back up and I get to take her out. She much more fun to drive now.












At a car show August 2023



The interior was also completely replaced, and upgraded. I replaced the dash with the more modern looking 91/91 style, also I'm one of the few who actually liked the look of the air bag wheels. I had this recovered in Alcantara and perforated leather with red stitching. The seats were also replaced with those from a 2015 Camaro. These seats are so much more comfortable compared to the 3rd and 4th gen seats I had before. You can also see my audio upgrades, custom made kickpods and my 7 inch touch screen being run off of a Raspberry PI.




Speaking of Car Audio, can't have a system without subwoofers! I made a custom fiberglass box for 2 12s.



My custom made LED tail lights, I made these 15 years ago. Still going strong. I would like to make a V2 someday, but I would need a new set of tail lights. You used to be able to buy a set for like $50, not anymore.
If I ever find a cheap set again, I want to try building a new version with addressable LEDs where I can program the LEDs for special affects.

 

Neat! Here's some info on mine. Started off as a bone stock car. Ran a 14.8@93mph. Bolt ons, full exhaust, bumped up timing, AFPR, ran a 14.0@98MPH. That's with a 2.77 9 bolt rear. No times with the new setup.

The car now has:
427 SBC (Dart SHP block)
AFR 220 heads
Large Comp Cam
HSR intake
32lb injectors
Hooker long tubes to a true dual 3" exhaust
Moser 12 bolt with 3.73's and a truetrac
Rebuilt 700R4 with a kit from Dana at ProBuilt. 3600 Vigilante torque convertor
Spohn SFC's
Full Spohn/UMI suspension
KONI Adjustable shocks all around
Corvette C6 front brake upgrade










https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qjStE1-dfzE

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pWXwDUeOTX4

 

Hello everyone and welcome back to COTM. Quick TY to QWK for putting this all together...Happy new year all!
Below are pics of my 91 vert I picked up a little over 8 yrs ago. It's a FL car originally and has spent all but 2 yrs of its life in the FL sun. Paint is mostly original outside the plastics. I did a full color correction a few years back and that brought all the shine back. It hadall the TPI problems and the guy I bought it from did not know anything about TPI but hey neither did I !The car was rough but the bones were solid including the original top. It was the perfect start for me and my capabilities. It took a large dose of me to get her where she is now with a few years and a few $$$ along the way. I have done my best to upgrade the suspension to the usual aftermarket stuff. Went through all the engine systems, fully upgraded the intake system and got a computer tune. Full exhaust upgrade also. The interior is mostly original, seats and door panels where all in great shape, just really dirty. I cleaned, painted, polished everything I touched including the nuts and bolts.

Hope you"ll like her as much as I do...

 

Voting is open.

 

Pretty cool car Darin. If I am ever in Iowa I would love to go for a ride down the track in that beast! My 1st exposure to racing was when I was 7 and I went for a run in a Camaro at English Town NJ. One of my dad's friends car. I don't remember much except it was a red 1st gen Camaro and I was hooked on cars ever since.
Did you beat that red Mustang Grande in the video?

 

Thanks Vinny! Come on up and I'll give you rip down the track!


Yes, i did beat the red Mustang in that video. Theres a green win light that comes on at the end of the track on my side. That was the final round of the first race that i won. Its bracket racing, so i had to run him down the entire track. It's my daughters that were doing all of the screaming at the end of the video

I'm soooo anxious for next season!!

 

Want to give this thread a little BUMP in the final week of voting

When I had a Stache, I was told I look like Dale, so I went with it.






we have a neighborhood that goes off the chain @ Xmas so the wife and I decided to take the sleigh out and take a cruise.

 

Wow really tough choices here, all of these cars are incredible!! thanks for bumping the thread it did not pop up on the feed until today!

Great job everyone!

 

Be sure to get your votes in before Friday!
We surely have more than 25 people looking at this thread!

 

Voting ends tomorrow.... last chance to get your votes in!

 

Why are these always so hard to choose 1? They're all worthy

 

WHAT!
Only 37 voters and it ends today, lets step that up to 100.
Is TGO slackin like that.

 

Vinny got a ? on the STB, i like it being adjustable and is that a separate mounting plate or a custom tower plate. Thx.

 

Vinny’s STB looks to be a UMI piece with custom colored hardware:
https://www.umiperformance.com/home/...t-tower-brace/

 

You are correct battmann. I painted the ends and the nuts black.

 

Cool thx for info.

 

beautiful build. you should look into making a mold of the rear bumper/ diffuser. i for one would buy it if you made copies. also i have a question about your kendigit handles... i have a set too and they are very stiff to move. are yours hard to push/grasp to open the door?? mine are and i was wondering why/if there is something i can do to make mine easier to use. thanks in advance... you have an awesome car sir!

 

I posted detailed build threads for the rear bumper, diffuser, and door handles in the “body” forum. I had made a mold for the rear bumper with the intention of making duplicates, but unfortunately I had to break the mold to get the part out, so it remains a one off piece. The diffuser was fabricated on the fly, so no patterns exist. As for the door handles. Mine operate smoothly now, but there were issues when I got the car back from paint. I had to clean the paint from the hinges, the pad where the handle bolts to the hinges, and a little bit around the backing plate to make them sit flush and open smoothly. Unfortunately in your situation you will have to remove the handles in order to fix this issue.

 

oh cool ill have to go check those posts out. It sucks that you had to break the mold to get the part out. I really like the diffuser, and i hope that you'd consider making a mold for it now that you have one fully functional on your car. i know you said it was made on the fly, but still i would love to have that peice to try to fit it to a standard rear bumper area underneath. it looks so cool on your car. like it should have came there from the factory. well done.

yeah see i have the same issue that the handles were painted and now are stickey. so ive got the time now, and the car is torn apart door wise right now as i'm re-wiring the entire dash and doors. I basically want to put factory power windows and locks in my car cause it didnt coem with it. so i bought factory wiring harness dash harness and the windows and door lock and mirrors and now have to route the wires into the doors, so while i take apart the inner doors,m i may try to take apart my kendig handles and clean them up real well hoping that i can get them to operate a good bit smoother and not be so sticky/ difficult to operate. thanks for the hints on those tips there about it. i hadn't thought about the paint causing the issues.