Well, its been a long time but my son Dan and I finally decided to build the car we've been talking about and planning for years.
This dream started back in 1998 when Dan and I bought our 1969 Camaro as a Father and Son project. Within 24 hours of bringing it home we had it all torn apart. We put it back together to our liking at the time. It sported a mild 327 motor, Muncie M21 transmission and a 12 bolt rear end.
In 2003 we took it all apart and put it back together again. That round we installed a totally rebuilt subframe, built and installed a very strong 383 stroker motor, rebuilt and installed a Muncie M20 transmission and added lots of chrome glitter under the hood. Hey, stop laughing, all that chrome was really cool back then and pro-touring wasn't even born yet!!
Today Dan is a professional automotive designer and we've decided it's time for us to take our little Camaro to yet the next level. He converted our discussions and dreams into renderings of our vision for the next version of our car which we have named "Lou's Change", (a play on my first name and the fact that we can't seem to leave well enough alone)
Sharp eyes will notice the rendering includes design cues that serve as tributes to the new ZL1 Camaro including its modified LSA crate motor, striping and other subtle hints.
We're throwing everything the Detroit Speed catalogue has to offer a 69 Camaro at this build since their stuff looks so cool and they are continuously pounding on their products to make them better. For example, their headers play the part of beautiful sculpture every bit as well as that of performance parts.
We selected the LSA crate motor from GM performance parts. After initial mock up, we're sending the motor to Lingenfelter for a boost in horsepower. The goal is to get it up well over 700HP. We will be running a ZL1 top hat on the supercharger to get the intercooler lines facing forward and to stay with our ZL1 inspiration/theme.
We've going with a complete T56 Magnum set up including scatter shield, dual disc clutch and hydraulics.
Braking will take place via Wilwood's 6 piston calipers grabbing 14" discs up front and their 12" floating caliper system in the rear.
Forgeline's brand new DE3C Concave wheel design was our obvious choice because of its combination of concave center along with a smooth outer rim sans any steps.
The interior will "look" pretty much stock but it will have Vintage Air A/C and Dakota Digital's brand new 1969 Camaro specific gauges.
We still have lots of design details to figure out now that the build has started. I am sure I will continue to post lots of questions during the build to tap into your collective wisdom. Thank you very much in advance for your advice. It's been amazing to see how everyone here is so anxious and willing to help one another.
In the past, Dan and I did our own builds but this one deserves craftsmanship beyond our current skills.
We decided the right builder for us is V8TVshow. We had watched lots of their videos in which they describe their build philosophies and then show you how to do it yourself. We were able to crawl all over their most recent build, "Reloaded", at SEMA last October. Finally, once we met them, we could tell they would be really good people to work with.
Here's a link to the kick off video V8TV put together:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature...&v=fXe-9WjvkK0
Brian Hobaugh SCCA National Tour June 2014
First Hemi 'Cuda Convertible Ever Built
Short clips: Goodguys Pleasanton autocross and pit videos
LSA Powered 69 Camaro -"Lou's Change"
Hybrid Mode
