I've had my Camaro for over 34 years - Purchased in '89 when I was 16. Two years ago I tried autocross and got hooked. Made a bunch of changes to the car to have more fun. I took the car back apart last fall to make more updates. I'll post about them as I make them.
In this first post - Fuel tank modifications. I bought a stock stainless tank and I'm adding baffles. The engine is an old school 383 SBC. The plan is to run one more year with the carb and next winter switch to injection (thinking Holley Sniper 2). Looking to see what you think of what I came up with for baffles. The sender has been modified to accept a 2.5" x 8" Holley Hydramat.
I'm also going to have the front corners cut and angled to clear 3 inch exhaust pipes.
__________________
Todd
1969 Camaro SS
1997 Camaro SS
2024 GMC Sierra AT4 www.hotrodsigns.net
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Some back story first - In the summer of 2022 I tried autocross for the first time. A friend since high school has been running his 914-6 with the local PCA. They invite non-members to get larger car counts - average about 30-35 cars at one of their events. I took my 97 Camaro SS and had a great time. I decided that to autocross in my '69 I had to fix/upgrade a few things. The lower rear frame rails and torque boxes were in OK shape but not what I considered good enough to autocross. I replaced them and added DSE leaf spring pocket kit. I had stock disc/drum brakes - these were replaced with Wilwood 12.19 discs, Front with 6 piston and rear with 4 piston - I went with this size brakes so I could still run my 15" wheels if I wanted. The stock front control arms were replaced with QA1's pro touring arms. I also replaced the shocks with adjustable QA1 F&R.
The engine is an old school 383 SBC... it's a ZZ4 block with eagle crank & rods, holley systmax heads, RPM intake, edelbrock 750 carb and MSD ignition - was built in 2004. Since new, car has always been an automatic, a TH350. I had one built with ATI's 2.75 first gear and their rebuild kit. This combo worked great on the street going to car shows but not so much autocrossing.
This was the car/engine/transmission combo I ran for all of 2023. The more events I attended, the more comfortable I got with driving and went from averaging in the bottom 10% in time to about the middle.
Upgrades for 2024:
Engine - Trick Flow's new DHC 200 heads - full CNC ported, Comp 1.6 ratio gold roller rockers, ATI Super Damper, melling shark tooth oil pump & Canton road racing oil pan. All new fuel system - Stainless tank with self made baffles, Edelbrock electric fuel pump, Cupro/NI hard lines and Fragola PTFE braided soft lines. Getting rid of the water pump mounted fan and going to dual Spal 11" fans with a PWM controller.
Transmission - Tremec TKX 5-speed - bought a full change over kit from Silver State.
Car - Complete all new wiring - American Auto Wire kit. Replace the stock 5 leaf rear springs with DSE 2" drop springs. DES 4 point roll bar so I can run 6 point harness belts... and a bunch of other small stuff.
I'm making these changes to be a little faster, safer and have a lot more fun. My plan is to run with the local PCA club again, try to get to about 1/2 of the Akron Sports Car club events and the local DriveAutoX event.
The fuel tank in my first post - I dropped off today at my Tig welder's place to be put back together. I'll post more pictures as he puts it together.
__________________
Todd
1969 Camaro SS
1997 Camaro SS
2024 GMC Sierra AT4 www.hotrodsigns.net
Last edited by HRS; 03-05-2024 at 09:53 PM.
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