Hello everyone. I've been a creeper for a long time on this site but I'm starting to finalize plans and order parts for the car so I figured I would start this. I have an 87 IROC and I plan to mad max it. Ive seen many posts about offroad and how camaros are just bad for it and to give up and yea, a few threads I've seen progress but they all have gone ghost since 2016. I plan to update regularly with pictures and questions. My General goal is 450whp and be able to rip it on dirt for events like the gambler 500. Currently the car is stock but I plan on buying the drop out LS1/T56 combo from hawks. Tubular K member. Detroit speed quadralink conversion kit. Front and rear coilover conversion kit and a ford 9" rear. I'll roll the fenders and put truck tires on it and last but not least weld in a 12 point cage with subframe connectors. I am currently deployed with the military but I will be back home this winter and plan to throw a bunch of money and time at this life long goal.

The infamous rally camaro. Sorta goals.

Aesthetic. Just with like 60% of the ridiculousness turned down.


This is my baby.

 

Is the car a rusty pile or something underneath ? Looks to good too hack up from the single picture. I would get a roller heap to butcher IMO.

 

If you go out and read about the cars used in the movie series, it's not too hard to find anecdotes about how poorly some of the modified cars worked out. Some worked out better than others, some turned out so difficult to drive that the car was barely in the movie. Undoubtedly there were cars built that didn't even work well enough to make it into the finished movie. To say nothing of good/bad taste, there's a risk of effectively destroying the car.

 

It's pretty rusty/old and tired. Almost everything in it is on borrowed time. No real rot but I'm gonna have to do a fair amount of prep on the body. And I have no plans of cutting it to shreds. Just minimal things here and there to be able to get it to drive it on/off road without destroying itself. Interior is shot so the plan is gut it and go for the mad max look which will free up money for parts. Kinda have my heart set on the frame rails like in the jegs chassis kit or the ones ed quay offers and a 4 link kit to allow some more travel (would just change out struts and springs for ride height so it could easily be converted back) and a front coilover kit would be installed to allow larger struts and springs for height in the front but could be converted back if needed or just dually adjustable to change setups. Most of the lift anyway would come from the larger tires. So I dont see this really destroying or ruining the car.

 

Thank you for your service, it's good to have something to look forward to when you come home. It sounds like you have put some thought into what you would like your car to be and are ready to make it happen. Good luck on your project and I hope you get home soon to start it.

 

I really don't know, but wouldn't it be easier to put that body on a truck chassis?

 

I like the idea of getting the 12 point cage and sub-frame connectors welded in there, that would make the body pretty much a full frame platform. Next best thing to a truck frame, without the headaches (and look) that comes with that approach. The more you can beef up the front the better, because it will most likely land nose first when flying over stuff. You'll want to transfer as much the impact to the cage as possible, to distribute energy. That's where I would start if I were building something like this.

Then I would thrash it, see what fails, and address those issue before going much further. Even if the motor is tired, if it can only get you up to 35mph - that's plenty fast off-road for testing a platform. But that's just me, and maybe that's not the most scientific way to go about it. Your build sound like a blast!

 

I dont want a camaro body on a truck frame because I dont want a truck feel. Would it be easier? Probably but I'm all for taking the hard route and going where no camaro has gone before! Haha. I also get that unibody is the opposite of what you want for offroad(especially with T tops) but the roll cage will dual purpose protection and stiffen everything up enough to support my goals. And let's face it, I know I'm not gonna win any rally championships with this but being able to have a car for on/offroad use will be enough to always bring a smile to my face. Look up the vetteclaw from tag team customs. It's a Corvette they rip off road and have a blast!

 

As long as you yell "FOR SCIENCE!" while pedal to the metal it will be great. I've also tossed the idea around to tube the whole front and weld it into the cage but if anything for now I would just go to the strut tower to brace it for the off roading. A lot of this is definitely gonna be new for me and most threads I've seen in here are torn apart for suggesting anything but lowering it throwing 48 inch wide Mickey T's on and sending it down the drag strip 🤣. So I'm already thankful for everyone being positive and wishing me the best. I still have a little time before I'm home and can start ordering stuff but I promise I'll update and give as much info as possible. Spent today researching how the coilovers will do(heard issues about them clearing larger tires) and found that wont be an issue for me and neither will mounting them with aftermarket caster/camber plates and tubular A arms. Also found a few companys that have adjustable A arms to dial everything in if needed(looking at PA Racings). Think I might go with these style coilovers. Gonna have to get a bunch done to get some measurements so I can get a recommendation from them. But that's that for now!

 

You should video this build as this sounds like it could be an episode on one of my favorite shows...Roadkill. Build it, beat it and put it away broke.

 

We have a guy a couple towns over, that built a '91 Z28 for desert racing. He's ran it in the Baja 1000.
I haven't talked to him recently, but he was considering selling the car to build something else.

 

My plan is to document everything thoroughly. I'll make a few videos and release them as I go or clip them all together at the end, but I feel like this could be a great contribution to this site and broaden the range that the ****** mobile is capable of! Also love roadkill and would love to have their knowledge! Trying to stay productive with this build(planning phase) anyone have any recommendations for a differential? I'm almost 100% set on a ford 9" and thinking 31 spline truetrac. Limited slip is probably the best option for me and clutch packs are a thing of the past so truetrac it is unless wavetrac is better or I'm just flat out wrong haha. My biggest challenge right now is I'm trying to eliminate future problems with as much planning as possible but I'm not with the car and some things I just dont know. Like I'll get a customizable ford 9" (either Moser or Currie as of now) but with my plan of the coilover conversion and 4 link I'm not even sure what exactly I would even need to have done. Once I'm ready to order (should start about as early as a month away) I'm sure a bunch of conversations over the phone to various manufacturers will have things line up perfectly. Again thank you all for being positive about this project it's been a very long time goal and if anyone can think of any holes in my plan or has any questions I gladly accept the challenge to answer it or figure out a way to make it work.

Some more inspiration from a fellow 3rd gen at the gambler 500! Messaged him about mods and he said 3" lift using spacers and 2" wheel spacers. Said everything went fine and he had a blast!

 

You might want to look into a Torsen differential ... wikipedia/Torsen



Any place that you have build a rearend will know all about these, straight forward installation and trouble free - IMHO
Just a comment from a Mustang site...
... and BTW - I'm not knocking TrueTrac, just offering another suggestion.

 

Isn't the TrueTrac a torsen differential ?

 

Yes - in principal both designs are the same, but things have evolved. I'm not an expert, I'm just sharing what little I know here.

I suggested looking into Torsen because of Ford's requirements for longevity in OEM parts, and Torsen supplies many other OEM programs (as listed on Wikipedia) including Hummer. The problem with the original Torsen design is that, if the rear axle becomes completely unloaded (eg: going over rumble strips at high speed on a race track) there is zero power supplied to either rear wheel momentarily until one or both wheels regains contact. The T2R comes with a preloaded clutch (not shown in the image I found online) that solves that problem.

If anyone has more, or better, information on this I would like to hear it. I plan using Torsen on my car, and so if there is more to story I would like to learn about too.

 

OP: I'm the guy who fitted the A/T 235/75R15 to the front of my gray '86 Camaro, there's a thread in the wheels and tires subforum.
I've owned several third gens and several 4x4s.
This is a really bad idea, especially with the long front overhang these cars have, and even more so with your IROC airdam. There's supposed to be a second airdam under the radiator, and it will overheat without that, even with a fan shroud.
If this is just for looks, great, have fun with it, but if this is for non-paved roads, go find an old AMC Eagle. Or an Astro AWD. I had one of those, it's good off road, rides better than my S-10s did, and has way more potential.
It's your car, do as you will, but it was well-engineered to be fun to drive up paved canyons, and it is. It's more fun to drive than to modify.
At the very least, do outer and inner SFCs. Top Down Solutions still offers the inners.
You really should start with a non-T-top version without ground effects.
The LS swap doesn't fit the Mad Max theme. LO5s are great off-road. I say that because 'I have one, and because my '95 Cherokee 4.0 HO that seemed barely adequate in city driving was way overpowered off-road, and the L05 offers more torque than that had.
If you are going off-road, it won't rock-crawl, so you don't need deep gears, so gear for best MPG. About 1800@65 MPH. An LO5 will top 25 MPG so geared.
BFG KO2 215/75R15s will fit up front with no mods, but you should get some 6" wheels for them. 235/75R15s will need minimal hammer work.
In back, 30x9.50R15s will clear easily, 31x10.50R15s will require clearancing work.
Don't do it.

 

I say do it and do it how you want. I built this rally car a few years ago and the nasa rules do not allow you to modify suspension points. I stuffed a slightly taller tire and just had spring spacers to lift it up a very small amount. It was definitely hard on front air dams! It was an absolute blast to drive. If I didn't have to follow rules for the class I wanted to run, it would have been nice to do a tube front half to get more travel.

 

I was naysaying cutting to fit 31s. At least not before trying everything imaginable to make 30s fit the theme.