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

[Beach Cruiser]

Yeah, if Jake and Mike would have stayed out of NOLA I would have, along with a bunch of other scenerios that could have played out. In the end it was my average score of 54 in D&E that killed me. If you figure in the forth even in NCM it's more like 49, hard to make that up on the track.

I plan to do NJMP for sure, bummed there is no Charlotte next year. I hope Jimi can find another location not brutally far from the east coast. I may do One Lap of America, depends on if the route I saw is true.

I have some good help coming on board next year, we'll see where the money runs out. Being the "everyman's Underdog car" has a lot of appeal to a lot of people and therefore sponsor help.

[Chad-1stGen]

Oooo One Lap, I've been day dreaming about doing that one!

[Flash68]

Originally Posted by Chad-1stGen

Oooo One Lap, I've been day dreaming about doing that one!

Chad you have a great setup for it now. Go win the Vintage class!

[Chad-1stGen]

I've been so behind on updating this thread for all of the events I did in 2016 that I decided to start a blog and turn my race season update into a blog post.

https://www.autoxandtrack.com/2016-a...-season-recap/

I competed in four major series that have season championships
1) Optima Ultimate Street Car (2 overall event podium finishes, 4th overall in GTV, and invited to the OUSCI)
2) NMCA West Hotchkis Autocross (a few podium finishes and overall Classic Muscle Hotchkis cup winner)
3) Cal Club SCCA Autocross (lots of first place finishes and 2nd for season championships)
4) SDR SCCA Autocross (lots of first place finishes but attend enough events to qualify for the season championship)

Overall it was an amazing year for me and the Camaro!

Pretty long blog post mostly focused on my racing but I appreciate any feedback.

[Sonar Chief]

Originally Posted by Chad-1stGen

I've been eyeballing hood vents for quite a while and was stoked when Trackspec released a set of vents specifically designed for the 67-69 Camaro cowl hood.
http://trackspe.nextmp.net/1st-gener...d-louvers.html

I just installed a set on my painted steel cowl hood and wanted to share the install.

Here is the hood off the car with the supplied templates taped down. The template is the same outer diameter as the vent and has "cut line" cutouts where you need to cut. Trackspec recommended using a grinder with a "thin cut" cutoff wheel.



I decided on hood vent placement based on three variables. 1) I wanted the vents placed inboard towards the center of the hood to avoid cutting the strength rib running down the sides of the hood.
Chad, I have an AMD SS hood and there seems to be another brace running from the front to the back for bolting on the SS trim stuff, and this brace is between the inner structure and the hood skin, the R and L relief/bracing of the hood looks exactly like your cowl hood. SO there is THREE layers of metal on a SS hood ... and should the vent rivets go through all of these?? Seems thick? Should be ok cutting into this brace for the short distance needed??
See this pic for the rib:


2) Placing the vents closer to the front of the hood but behind the radiator fan shroud opening and 3) far enough foward so that the inside front rivet would not have to pass through the small bump in the below circled area and instead be flat.


The angle grinder worked well. The paint about 1/8" from the cut line was burned in spots but is easily covered by the hood vent. I did some basic edge prep and taped off the cut openings about 1/8" back on top and bottom and hit it with touch up spray paint to keep it from rusting. Also, because my hood understructure was body color this helped pain some of the now exposed understrcuture so it would be red when looking though the vent from the top of the hood.

Following the template means you have about at least 1/4" larger hole than the louver part of the vent. This gives you room to position just right. We then taped it down and proceeded to drill and rivet the louver. My louvers matched the slop of the hood perfectly side to side. However front to back the vent was slightly bowed more than my hood. Therefore, when drilling and riveting I started at one end and installed one at a time so that as the vent laid down and conformed to the hood I didn't have to worry about the last set of holes getting out of alignment which might have happened if you drilled all the holes and then installed the rivets. Drill slow and apply light pressure! Will help minimize any jagged metal on the hole exit.That is a very good tip and I'll definetly use it. Didn't I see somewhere some black rivets someone ordered from a vendor instead of the supplied rivets, do you have a p/n?
Again, does the rivets attach through the vent, hood skin and the bracing metal, seems thick no?


Here are some pics of the finished product.

Chad, wanted to get my Track Spec extractor kit installed and came across some differences with the cowl and an SS hood. Please see comments in RED.

Michael

[Chad-1stGen]

Originally Posted by Sonar Chief

Chad, wanted to get my Track Spec extractor kit installed and came across some differences with the cowl and an SS hood. Please see comments in RED.
Michael

Originally Posted by Sonar Chief

Chad, I have an AMD SS hood and there seems to be another brace running from the front to the back for bolting on the SS trim stuff, and this brace is between the inner structure and the hood skin, the R and L relief/bracing of the hood looks exactly like your cowl hood. SO there is THREE layers of metal on a SS hood ... and should the vent rivets go through all of these?? Seems thick? Should be ok cutting into this brace for the short distance needed??

In my amateur opinion there is no problem cutting into that third layer of metal specific to the SS hoods given that flat hoods and cowl hoods don't have this and are plenty strong. As long as the ribs along the perimeter aren't cut you should be fine. See below for discussion of rivets.

Originally Posted by Sonar Chief

That is a very good tip and I'll definitely use it. Didn't I see somewhere some black rivets someone ordered from a vendor instead of the supplied rivets, do you have a p/n?
Again, does the rivets attach through the vent, hood skin and the bracing metal, seems thick no?

Trackspec will supply either raw or black rivets, you just need to specify. My kit also came with a mix of short and long rivets. You need both. There will be areas of the hood where the rivet needs to go through both the hood skin and bracing and spots where it will go through just the hood skin. The long rivets should be long enough to do 3 layers of sheet metal as long as they are all laying flush. Its not too thick as long as you have the correct rivets.

Happy to answer any other questions.

[Sonar Chief]

Originally Posted by Chad-1stGen

In my amateur opinion there is no problem cutting into that third layer of metal specific to the SS hoods given that flat hoods and cowl hoods don't have this and are plenty strong. As long as the ribs along the perimeter aren't cut you should be fine. See below for discussion of rivets.



Trackspec will supply either raw or black rivets, you just need to specify. My kit also came with a mix of short and long rivets. You need both. There will be areas of the hood where the rivet needs to go through both the hood skin and bracing and spots where it will go through just the hood skin. The long rivets should be long enough to do 3 layers of sheet metal as long as they are all laying flush. Its not too thick as long as you have the correct rivets.

Happy to answer any other questions.

Chad, thanks for the insight! I didn't realize TrackSpec would offer black rivets, guess I didn't ask ...

As far as the three layers going on I was worried about pulling all three together and distorting the surface layer, guess I'll have to make sure there are no gaps between layers before riveting them together.

Chad thanks for helping I appreciate your wisdom, pics to follow ...

Michael

[Sonar Chief]

Chad, one more question ... went back and read your tuff testing on the hood and you mentioned that the position directly behind the radiator was best for the cowl hood and the sides were the next best.


This position is 8.5" from the front ... doable but efficient??


Do you have the measurements from the front of the hood to just behind the shroud? I don't have a reference on the car and wondered if that was doable? The SS hood is flatter going down the center and these vents would work if they were in front of the SS louvers.

Thanks for doing the hard work for us ...

Michael

[Chad-1stGen]

I can measure my set up tonight when I get home. Though it may vary based on the size of your shroud. I vaguely recall it being about 14" but let me double check.

[Sonar Chief]

Thanks Chad, I measured Art's 67 SS last nite with the shroud it's around 13" from the peak of the hood. So I decided to delete the SS tray on the hood (more body work, grrr!) and move the vents further back than shown, 13" or 14"

Got some work to do now ...

Michael