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GPz11
GPz11 Reader
1/9/17 11:07 a.m.

I'm just commenting here but I can't believe any manufacture would sell a old race car as a street car.

I'd have to think there be some lawyers just drooling at that.

Koopsy
Koopsy New Reader
1/9/17 11:24 a.m.

In reply to GPz11:

When they were first produced they weren't available to the public, only registered racers could purchase them. After the teams were done with them, the decals were removed, open exhaust removed, cages removed etc. making the cars basically 1LE equipped Z28 Camaros with a few other upgraded bits. It was a showroom stock series, the rules stated that the cars had to be insured and registered and were encouraged to drive them around on the street.

GPz11
GPz11 Reader
1/9/17 11:32 a.m.

So GM didn't resell them, the racers did?

Koopsy
Koopsy New Reader
1/9/17 11:59 a.m.

In reply to GPz11:

Correct. The race teams purchased, owned, and maintained their own cars. They found their own sponsors as well only being required to display the Players, Mohawk/Sunoco, and GM parts to go decals. At the end of the season they were required to hand back the special race PROM to GM in all years except 1991-1992. Also in 1992 teams were allowed to run a 1991 model car as long as the engine was replaced.

BA5
BA5 New Reader
1/9/17 12:30 p.m.

Totally awesome.

Also, someone else already said it, but I agree that you should get it white wheels again.

SilverFleet
SilverFleet UberDork
1/9/17 2:56 p.m.

That is one of the coolest 3rd Gen Camaros I have ever seen, and I've seen a lot of cool 3rd Gen Camaros. Wow! I had no idea that the Showroom Stock cars were full interior cars. I guess it's not just a clever name.

Also, thanks to this, I want a 3rd gen again. Wish I kept my 1983 Z28.

Koopsy
Koopsy New Reader
1/9/17 3:39 p.m.

In reply to BA5:

Oh ya, I love the look of the white wheels! Those are definitely going to be it's racing shoes

Koopsy
Koopsy New Reader
1/9/17 3:42 p.m.

In reply to SilverFleet:

Ya I think other than the roll cage and racing seat, they were all stock. Electric windows because you couldn't use a hand crank with the roll cage in the way haha

Koopsy
Koopsy New Reader
1/9/17 6:41 p.m.

I insured it for a day to take it for a drive and see what I needed to do over the winter. A few things I noticed were very sloppy steering, very few of the gauges actually work, erratic oil pressure, and a inconsistent check engine light. A few minutes later while driving over a bridge It stared to stutter and then totally lost power... coasted a bit and it fired back up but only for a few blocks before stalling in the middle of an intersection downtown. It would start again but only for a few seconds. It wouldn't be so bad in a regular car, but a Camaro covered in bright stickers... it drew some attention.

After trailering the car home and playing around I've narrowed the problem down to the fuel pump. Of course getting at the pump is not easy having to take the whole rear suspension apart to take the fuel tank out. I then came down with a case of the 'May as wells'. If I have to take the suspension off may as well clean all the parts up and paint them, if I'm cleaning them up may as well replace the bushings, if I have to take brake lines off may as well replace them, and so on and so on...

The plan is to do some autox and track days this year while cruising to some car shows. Next year will be a full tear down and preparations for road racing, new paint, roll cage, etc.

As of right now the to do list looks something like this: -Fix rear end leak -Replace steering linkages -All new brakes -Braided brake hoses and replace hard lines -Get rid of awful rear window tint -Koni Yellow Shocks all around -Replace fuel pump of course -Clean up and paint some engine compartment items -Get the engine reliable and do a tune up. Spark plugs, wires, cap and rotor etc. -Clean up and paint suspension components -Poly bushings all around

My goal is to be ready for the first track day in Spokane, WA at the beginning of April.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid
SyntheticBlinkerFluid UltimaDork
1/9/17 9:03 p.m.

Why am I only now seeing this?

Oh you only posted this yesterday.

Super awesome. I love everything about this.

NGTD
NGTD UberDork
1/9/17 10:02 p.m.
fasted58 wrote: Did this series/ these cars race at Mosport in that era? Might have seen them in a support race there back in the day. Damn, might even have pictures yet. Nice score!

Yes they did and the Eastern Series featured many of the Driver's that also ran the Porsche 944 series like Richard Spenard, Scott Goodyear and Ron Fellows.

fasted58
fasted58 UltimaDork
1/10/17 8:08 a.m.
NGTD wrote:
fasted58 wrote: Did this series/ these cars race at Mosport in that era? Might have seen them in a support race there back in the day. Damn, might even have pictures yet. Nice score!
Yes they did and the Eastern Series featured many of the Driver's that also ran the Porsche 944 series like Richard Spenard, Scott Goodyear and Ron Fellows.

I'll look for the pictures then and might have a race program as well, I tend to keep stuff like that. Ya know, important.

Koopsy
Koopsy New Reader
1/10/17 8:12 p.m.
fasted58 wrote:
NGTD wrote:
fasted58 wrote: Did this series/ these cars race at Mosport in that era? Might have seen them in a support race there back in the day. Damn, might even have pictures yet. Nice score!
Yes they did and the Eastern Series featured many of the Driver's that also ran the Porsche 944 series like Richard Spenard, Scott Goodyear and Ron Fellows.
I'll look for the pictures then and might have a race program as well, I tend to keep stuff like that. Ya know, important.

A program would be cool to see!

RoddyMac17
RoddyMac17 New Reader
1/11/17 9:41 a.m.

Its nice to see another one of these cars, I remember watching them at the Molson Indy Vancouver. I never did get to see them at Westwood, the only races I saw there were historic racing.

A friend has one here in Vancouver, and actually gets to historic race it, though I think that he's in the "catch all" class.

Koopsy
Koopsy New Reader
1/13/17 5:14 p.m.

The car has its original race engine from its second season in 1992. I don't want to mess with it too much this year and save the rebuild for next year. Just a basic tune up for now.

I stripped the front and rear suspensions, used a wire wheel and a lot degreaser to clean everything up, and primed and sprayed them black.

TurboFocus
TurboFocus New Reader
1/13/17 6:37 p.m.

youre going to get rid of the cool bright stickers and paint?!

petegossett
petegossett UltimaDork
1/13/17 9:37 p.m.

In reply to Koopsy:

If you happen to want/need a spare TPI setup I just removed the one from my '85 Vette and will be selling it soon.

Koopsy
Koopsy New Reader
1/14/17 7:46 a.m.

In reply to TurboFocus:

The decals are reproductions and not applied perfectly anyways, the person that originally made them for the series still makes them so I'll try to get some of those.

Koopsy
Koopsy New Reader
1/14/17 7:48 a.m.

In reply to petegossett:

Hmm... I am looking for a complete 1991-1992 305 TPI motor for a spare and some single stripe third gen wheels though

TurboFocus
TurboFocus New Reader
1/14/17 8:57 a.m.

i think it'd kinda stink to see all the decals and such leave. your car though, ill leave it alone now

Koopsy
Koopsy New Reader
1/14/17 10:03 a.m.

In reply to TurboFocus:

No no, decals are staying for now They will be removed next year, car painted, and then reapplied.

Koopsy
Koopsy New Reader
1/21/17 9:55 a.m.

New parts!

This week I put the gas tank back in, installed some bushings, mostly got the rear suspension together, brake lines in, and painted front suspension parts.

I made 'covers' for the spindles and bolts through the strut mounts to protect them when sand blasting

Next is working on installing ball joints to get the front suspension and steering together.

Koopsy
Koopsy New Reader
1/29/17 4:40 p.m.

This week I focused on the engine bay. I put back the freshly painted brake booster and heater fan box, new master cylinder, and hooked everything else up. New coolant and window washer reservoirs really helped to clean it up. After the compression test showed everything good I installed new plugs, wires, rotor, and cap. After hooking up the battery and turning the key I could hear the fuel pump and it fired right up! Phew!

After that I moved on to the front suspension. First I made my own bearing race installation tools for the rotors/hubs

Then over the course of the afternoon everything went together very smoothly. New steering linkage, Koni dampers, control arms with new bushings and low friction ball joints, springs, spindles and track bar.

Koopsy
Koopsy New Reader
3/13/21 12:20 p.m.

Well my last post on this car was 2017 and a lot has happened since then... I will give a brief summary as I’m sure a lot more has been done to the car in these 4 years but then you’ll be up to speed...

First off, I was invited to the grand opening of the new Area 27 racetrack in Oliver B.C. where there was a healthy group of original Players series cars and drivers in attendance and we were able to take to the track and use these cars the way they were meant to be! The president of the track and designer/builder were both former drivers of the series. 

Of course my Camaro was the only one to break on track with the clutch linkage coming loose... but it did work out in my favour as they left me on the side of the track and I got a front row seat to F1 driver Jacques Villeneuve muscling a new Mclaren P1 around the track.

 

Koopsy
Koopsy New Reader
3/13/21 12:27 p.m.

The racers were provided with a special modified exhaust from GM that created dual uninterrupted exhaust dumps in front of each rear wheel. They were sent with caps so when the cars were driven on the street it would utilize the stock system. It was designed purely for the fans in the stands for the extra sound and probably hurt performance of the cars with the extra weight and poor flow characteristics. 

The system on my car was long gone so I decided to exactly replicate what the original system would have been from old pictures and help from others who had recovered original pipes. 

 

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