Chad's 68 Camaro V3.0 build. LS3 & TCI goodies
 

Been trying to make my way over to this site more often so I figured I'd throw up my build here too.

Version 1.0 of my 68 Camaro was a great car. In fact between V1.0 and 3.0 your average person looking at the car won't notice a huge difference. On the street there won't be a huge difference. However, like many on this site I can't leave well enough alone and after owning the car for 5 years I'm doing an even bigger upgrade than V2.0 was.

V1.0 had the equivalent of a Hotchkis TVS kit with 16 TTII wheels, EFI, 6 speed and was a great street car. Here is a pic.
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...0112_large.jpg

However, after attending my first track day in 2009 I wanted MORE. So Version 2.0 consisted of ATS AFX spindles, SPC upper and lower control arms, C6 Z51 front brakes, 18" wheels with better rubber and eventually an adjustable rear bar to give me better handling. I did a post on that round of upgrades over on PT.com

Here is one of my favorite shots V2.0 in action:

http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...4016_large.jpgSo

After getting more and more into track days I've embarked on Version 3.0 of my car. Current planned upgrades are:

MORE POWA!!! In the form of:
- Mast Motorsports LS3 427. Have already picked this up off of craigslist, never installed.

Better Handling!!!! In the form of:
- TCI engineering front subframe with double adjustable coil overs and 13" 6 piston willwoods.
- TCI engineering rear torque arm with double adjustable coil overs and 13" 4 piston willwoods.
At the same time I will be swapping out my 8.5" 10 bolt to a 12 bolt but keeping the 3.73 ratio and posi.

I really wanted to run more tire up front and already had some slight rubbing issues with my V2.0 set up. I've seen TCI kick but with their car at a variety of autocrosses and RTTC and appreciate the bang for the buck of that set up. And since I'm swapping out the rear and suspension now was the time if ever to mini tub. So that is what I'm doing. Target is to run 275 front tire and 315 rear tire on 18" rims. Because I also am upgrading to FIKSE Profil 5S wheels I did a 9.5" front and 11.5" rear rim to allow me to go 285 up front evenutally and switch between 315 and 335 out back.

I wasn't exactly suffering traction problems in the rear, rather I continued to suffer from too much understear for my tastes. However, with the addition of another 250 horsepower from the engine upgrade the mini tub seemed like a good idea.

I will hopefully be posting lots of pics as the build progresses.

As I mentioned above I've decided to do a Mini Tub. However, I somewhat agonized over this decision and figuring out the logistics for it took a lot longer than I expected. The cost of the Mini Tub is very high in relation to the overall project budget and handling wise my most important goal was to get larger rubber up front, not necessarily in the back lol.

But the decision was made and after a quick trip to Classic Industries to pick up a set of DSE mini tubs I dropped the car off at Pomona Valley Customs. These guys were recommended by TCI and are close to the TCI shop so I am hoping to pick up the car and suspension parts at the same time lol.

Quick tip. Anyone else in SoCal who wants to get their hands on DSE mini tubs in a quick period of time classic industries stocks them and did price mach the $350 advertised price of DSE for me (otherwise they are $389).

So PVC sent me some progress pics today which is why I decided to finally start my project thread. I don't have the fab skills or desire to try on a car as clean as mine (not to mention no welder...) so I knew from the beginning I'd be hiriing this part of the job out.

Here is my trunk after 5 years under the trunk mat. Still nice and clean though :)
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...4093_large.jpg

This is them starting on the 2nd tub. Looks like a plasma cutter.
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...4088_large.jpg

Cutting out the passenger side tub and part of the trunk pan. Goodbye shock mounts!
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...4089_large.jpg

Frame rail narrowed:
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...4090_large.jpg

DSE wheel tub going in:
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...4091_large.jpg

http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...4092_large.jpg

Shot of the new tub against the frame rail:
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...4087_large.jpg

I'm looking forward to seeing the finished product including what the welds look like. I'm also tempted to pay for the sub frame and torque arm install. Even though I can do that work myself it's going to be tough in my tiny garage and I've been having chronic back pain since January. I can throw my back out putting on shoes :/

Nice work!

Btw, that's a spot weld drill bit, not a plasma cutter in his hand, I believe :)

Nice upgrades, seems like alot of people are upgrading thier already done rides including me with DSE mini-tubs and suspension changes.

Keep us posted, I love threads like this. :cheers:

EDIT: We just need Payton King to post in this thread and that makes 4 for 4 on guys doing this :lol:

Chad,
Who's the hottie posing on your car on your Cardomain page? :unibrow:

Nice list of upgrades their Chad! Looking forward to the progress..

You will find her at many open track days like at Willow Springs :unibrow:

She made many a Mustang owner jealous when we were out there with our Chivies :D

http://i236.photobucket.com/albums/f...8/DSC00561.jpg

Ha ha. Well like Dave said, she attends a lot of track days with Extreme Speed Track Events.

Her name is Nicole Rayburn. She is a model and actress. Here is a pic for the viewing masses...

http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...4085_large.jpg

I have never wanted to be a rocker panel more in life than today!

Very Nice, both the car and Nicole! Your doing some nice up grades.

:lol:

did you ever end up fixing your suspension issue?, i remember you had started a post on pro-touring about understeer issues with suspension.

I guess it would be 4 for 4
 

Nothing like taking a running and driving car and making it non-driveable. LOL

Fix? No. The addition of an adjustable rear sway bar did help. It didn't make me significantly faster or significantly reduce pushing in slower speed tight corners like you find on an autocross. However, higher speed corners it made a signifcant difference and overall made the car a lot more fun on the road course.

I really wanted to pursue fitting a larger tire up front which led me down the path of the TCI camaro subframe. Things kind of snowballed from there...

Don't remind me :(

I got to drive it one last time yesterday. I picked the car up from Pomona Valley Customs who did the tub work. Rather than trailer it home I decided to get my redneck on and drove it with no rear shocks. Actually wasn't a big deal to drive without shocks but I'd never want to do a lot of cornering that way.

TCI parts are supposed to be ready the end of this week I think. I may start further disassembling the car this weekend.

Like all projects this is moving slower than I'd like. I've made a little bit of progress thanks to help from friends this weekend. Thanks Doug!

Here are a couple more pics of the finished tubs from the trunk. Still haven't gotten under the car to take pics of the frame mods yet.
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...4098_large.jpg

Shot in the pic makes the paint look a lot rougher than reality.
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...4099_large.jpg

Pulling the perfectly good running fuel injected ZZ4...
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...4101_large.jpg

Doug, hardcore motor man. Notice we are pulling the motor in the alley behind my house (no room in garage). Go redneck style!
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...4102_large.jpg

My buddy Jason isn't a car guy but always willing to help me out.
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...4103_large.jpg

Engine bay starting to look lonely
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...4095_large.jpg

And the motor is out. Still need to get it ready for the new buyer. You can see the bottom of it's replacement peaking in the background.
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...4094_large.jpg

TCI has my front subframe ready to be picked up so I need to get back out there and take the subframe out once I get the old motor out of the garage.

Here is the champ pan I'm throwing on my new mast motor. if anyone needs an LH8 pan let me know.
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...4097_large.jpg

Hoping to modify a brand new rock valley tank for use with Carl's vaporworx system. The rockvalley tank will probably need a new tray and it has a cylindrical baffle 360* around the fuel pump assembly that will need to be cut out.
http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...4096_large.jpg

Hey Chad - Are you running exhaust dumps? With your mini tub, the new rear suspension and that unnotched tank can you route exhaust over your axle?

Good question. I have no idea yet. I'd prefer not to use dumps after experiencing them. I'd rather have tail pipes.

Does the notched tank make a big difference even if no longer running leaf springs and instead using a coil over set up?

I really cant speak to the TCI Torque arm, but call 'em tomorrow and see what they say? You could always get your tank modified a la James' 'Pozzi tuned' tank, while youre already doing the other mods....

I've never heard of Pomona valley customs. Did they do good work? Would you go back?

Let me guess, Renner showed up for a photo op and will be in touch with a small project. :D :unibrow:

Not sure how you are going to proceed
 

But I would leave the sheet metal bolted up and drop the subframe out the bottom. Assemble the other with the motor and headers and roll it back in. I have done a few this way and it is much easier.

Nice progress!

I still need to inspect the frame rails. Howeve,r from the trunk view they did a great job. Yea I would go back. I actually was/am tempted to use them for the TCI parts install too. While I was there they had quite a few cool projects in the shop. A Nova II with a TCI front clip. A Nissan Z with an LS install, some 50's Buick getting bagged and dropped with a C notch in the rear frame rails. A few other cars I didn't ask about.

I planned to leave the sheet metal intact. However I'm open to advice on how to do it. I would love to be able to roll the new clip with motor and trans bolted up but am not sure how I'd lift the body high enough to clear it while supporting everything properly? Any ideas? Without the motor it will be easy enough. It's the with motor part that is tougher.

Haha good guess but not what happened. Doug saved my bacon. I originally was going to do the work with just me and my buddy Jason bu after he was 3+ hours late I started get g worried and Doug answered my call for help. Ended up going a lot smoother with 3 people. Well except the part where we dropped the trans down with the shifter and ball still attached...

Take the front clip off as a unit (the sheet metal). Much easier that way.
Roll the old frame out,roll the new frame in, bolt the front clip back on. No lifting of the body,less chance for accidents or damage and its only a little extra work.

cool car, and cool updates. :thumbsup:

Get a hold of Scott (XcYZ), thats exactly how he did it. He has a build thread on it also so you may want to dig it up.

Nice work Chad. I'm sure some of your neighbors are impressed. :D

You called that a Champ pan.... does Autokraft just "rebadge" them?

I will keep this in mind. Due to space limiations it may be easier to keep the clip bolted up to the car so I don't have to find a place to set it for any length of time.

Thanks! Appreciate that.

Cool. I will do some searches to see what I can find.

Thanks Dave. Yeah Autokraft and others (such as Prodigy) just rebadges the champ pan. Advantage of buying an autocraft or prodigy pan is ease of ordering and the fact they include the correct pick up and oil filter adapter without making you search for the part numbers and buy them individually (the way Champ sells them).

I would not recommend this, it's very hard to re-align the front sheet metal.

Otherwise it looks good Chad :thumbsup:

I would drop the sub-frame from underneth the car..

Chad,

Any updates?

I've got LOTS of parts in my garage and house. Picked up most of the parts from TCI last Saturday which got me motivated. Disconnected most of the things I need to unbold the subframe and drop it.

However, in the meantime I can share this very timely video. My car will be on the 2011 October issue of Popular Hotrodding.

Pay attention to the last thing I say in this video lol!

http://www.popularhotrodding.com/car...SlNFYEUB5LPpv9

I was supposed to join my Dad and Brother at the Reno Air Races this weekend as I'm there most years. However, after the horrific crash I cancelled my flight and may work on the car or head out to Buttonwillow instead. I'm super super thankfull my family is ok. My Dad and Brother were about 150 feet from the crash. When the plane came down both of them dove for cover and banged themselves up pretty good diving for cover. Bro was shaking for about 30 minutes as he thought for sure he was dead. I still can't believe it. Both of them have seen fatal wrecks at Reno but never anything like this let alone almost being injured/killed as well.

EDIT: Found a pic of the cover. Sadly it doesn't exactly feature my car a whole lot but I guess that is what happens when you car is used for a cover picture but not featured in the mag. Still, it was a neat experience.

http://covers.magazine-agent.com/ima...8568.jpg&h=650

Here's the version I wished they used for the final cover :(

http://carphotos.cardomain.com/ride_...4104_large.jpg

Your hair looks GREAT!!!!!! you are a natural.:thumbsup: :cheers:

There's something wrong in that picture... the shop is like REALLY clean, but there is no woman there.

Chad first tihing I'm glad your family is ok, I saw pictures of the crash it was unbelievable. The car looks great on that cover maybe next time they'll use it.

Glad your family is ok! Your car looks awesome man. Congrats on PHR! I'm eager to see more of your update. Thanks for the build thread.

I meant the video, I know your not the cover dude. Would have been better with Nicole!