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View Full Version : My Dad's 95 Camaro build



firebird_1995
10-31-2014, 10:33 PM
I figured since I'm constantly posting on my dad's car and what we're doing/done to it, I would make a build thread for it. Most work has already been done but I will do my best to give it's history along with what we've done, and what we're doing.
I bought it about 5 years ago with a crank that snapped in half. It was a 6 speed car with a 3.73 rear end. Had some nice zr1 knockoffs with eagle f1 tires. I paid $600 for it.
The engine I had to go into it came from my original 95 formula. Dad ended up buying it, drove it for a while then decided he wanted a th400 in it. So the mods began.
It is now:
357 CI (.040 over) 11:1 compression
Forged federal mogul flat top pistons
Stock rods with polished beams
Stock crank with smoothed edges
Fully balanced (after about $300 worth of heavy metal)
Standard volume oil pump and pan
Custom Nu-Tek (remember them??) cam that is basically a CC306 with a 114°LSA. It was marketed as a blower cam, however it's never been used as such.
Home ported heads with 2.00/1.56 valves, pretty much just removed the parting lines and polished the bowls and exhaust ports. Didn't hog anything out.
Proform 1.6 roller rockers
Crane double valve springs
Gasket matched stock intake
30# svo injectors
58mm BBK throttle body
MSD 8.5 spark plug wires
Ngk tr6 plugs
Double roller timing chain
CSR electric water pump
Jet hot long tubes
Flowmaster Outlaw "mufflers", dumped

Crane HI-6 ignition with 2 step

Th400 with brake and RMVB
Yank 3600 stall
Chromoly driveshaft

S60 with 3.73 gears and spool

Prostar skinnies in front
Summit prostar knock offs with 26x10x15 et drags

Summit adjustable shocks in rear

BMR conversion crossmember

So it was driven like that for a while before he decided he went too far for a street car and (after shearing off all 10 of the rear 12mm wheel studs, twice) pulled the license and insurance off it and made it a dedicated track car.

We have added:
Abs delete with line lock
B&M pro stick

Currently gutting the interior, adding aluminum seat, 5 point harness and adding an 8 point cage (for the time being, I have the remaining pieces to make it a 10 point but it's going to wait until we replace the dash with aluminum) and subframe connectors.

He has a nitrous plate kit for it but we've never had time to get it tuned and hooking on the track to where it's work adding.

After we get the cage installed we are going to work on getting it hooking up then throw the juice to it ot possibly stab my whipple engine in it.

We need to invest some money into a good set of adjustable lower control arms and torque arm.

I'll try to get some pics posted in the next few days....

popo8
11-01-2014, 05:49 AM
Wow... how/why did it sheer the wheel studs off?

shownomercy
11-01-2014, 08:56 AM
Wow... how/why did it sheer the wheel studs off?

Over torque, under torque, crappy bolts, or bad shanks. Etc.

If you let the wheel smack into em, they don't last long :lol:

Awaiting pics!

firebird_1995
11-01-2014, 09:11 AM
Wow... how/why did it sheer the wheel studs off?
I think we came to the conclusion that the Strange brand screw in studs and an acorn lugnut on oem wheels and a shit load of wheel hop did the trick. When i did a search for it I found several guys that did the same thing with the same setup.

Fastbird
11-01-2014, 09:12 AM
Wow. He said Nu-Tek. Talk about a shot from the past. IIRC I think I ordered the vented opti conversion kit from them for my old black car back in the early 00's.

firebird_1995
11-01-2014, 09:18 AM
This is all I have right now lol

http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/01/770e85b480ad06ed2392bf93b02b5ea8.jpg
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/01/29713374d298a90cb3954e51844f114e.jpg

dawdaw
11-01-2014, 09:49 AM
I see a monster tach :)


What color is the body?

firebird_1995
11-01-2014, 09:58 AM
Green. After we get the car hooking like it's supposed to the dash is coming out and I'll put an aluminum dash back in and finish the 10 point cage.

dawdaw
11-01-2014, 10:02 AM
Aluminum dash? Like a homemade one?

firebird_1995
11-01-2014, 10:11 AM
Yessir. Got that guy with the water jet, all I have to do is draw out how I want it made and I can get the gage holes switch holes in everything pre cut

Flyinz
11-02-2014, 12:12 PM
Sounds like fun. Thats funny, you guys mentioned Nu-Tek. They did my short block, back in 02' I think. And it's still there, never been back into the bottom end at all.

firebird_1995
11-02-2014, 03:08 PM
From what i can remember they did great work initially. Then, like most shops, more orders piled in and they found themselves at a crossroads. Make people wait, charge more, or hire help to keep up with orders. Well, any 3 of those options are fine as long as you
A) are upfront about lead time
B) use the money you're charging to build the engine your actually building and not a new truck, house, etc
And C) hire people that know the difference between their ass and applebutter...
Unfortunately I believe they went down all 3 paths.

firebird_1995
11-04-2014, 04:05 AM
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/04/7eb64e3b84c781fde8d5b44f873ade45.jpg
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/04/692d00dbe5b612c58d2bbc6ea77ffed1.jpg
http://tapatalk.imageshack.com/v2/14/11/04/9280a99459a5d74f3e3b21278d3efeb7.jpg
Back half of cage welded out and installed in the car. Dad's kinda short (and the aluminum seat must sit lower also) so I ended up raising it 2". I didn't consider what it was going to do with the placement of the door bars though. The NHRA guidelines say that the door bar should pass between the drivers shoulder and elbow. This puts the joint above the main hoop crossbrace and actually on the section angled inwards towards the roof. I don't see anything that says I can't weld it there, but it doesn't look like other ones I've seen. I'm going to have him sit in it again with the seat raised and adjusted where he'll be driving it and double check but I think that's where it's going to end up going. After those are in place and welded in, subframe connectors are next. I'm thinking about welding in a crossbrace between the subframe connectors to tie the other 2 points in rather than putting them on more 6x6 plate delicately welded to sheet metal.
FYI, the competition engineering kit is very much universal. Where it shows the rear bars attaching is on top of the fuel tank.... no thanks. He's not going to ever run a back seat anyway so I just dropped them right to the shock tower mount. It has its own reinforced area so I just cleaned the seam filler out of where it attached to the uni body and welded it in. Also, I'm pretty sure we are stripping the door panels off anyway but the door bars are not bent to clear the armrest like the similarly priced wolfe kit that we initially looked at. Only problem with it was the lead time. That was back when we thought we would try to have it ready by the shootout. So if you're in the market for a cage, don't be hasty.

popo8
11-04-2014, 06:16 AM
Get that practice in... mor cage work in ur future... lol

firebird_1995
11-04-2014, 08:26 AM
Is your vettes frame aluminum?

shownomercy
11-04-2014, 08:35 AM
Thats a CE 4th gen kit?

firebird_1995
11-04-2014, 08:39 AM
Yes it's the chromoly kit with struts. Good thing is I'll have plenty of material left over. If i would have known it wasn't as nicely bent as the other brands I would have just got a cheap mild steel kit and bent it where I needed it. I have a feeling CM isn't going to bend well and I don't feel like fighting it