Loosecannon's 1967 Camaro RS build

The new Flowmaster mufflers came in and this weekend I tackled welding them in. It was not as easy as expected. First I had to convert 3 inch round inlet/outlet to 3 inch oval and it was difficult to make the transitions pretty (I failed). The new mufflers are also a lot longer than the old ones so they didn't match up with the tailpipes. After getting both mufflers welded on, I started the car and felt that the tone could be improved. I pulled the whole thing off and made an H pipe. Total time was 9 hours! But it worked, the car is a lot quieter and actually sounds great now. Short Video Here

The Penske 8300 coil overs and Speedtech inner fenders have arrived! The coil overs were custom valved to specifications by Sam Strano of Www.stranoparts.com and he has a ton of National championships to his name so I trust his judgment. They were fairly straightforward to bolt on but the inner fenders were not. To be fair, Speedtech didn't want to sell them to me because I'm not using their subframe and ultimately, they didn't require much modifications but they were difficult to get in and out each time I had to test fit. 

I did a nut/bolt/fluid check on the car then went for a 30 minute drive around the neighborhood, and wow, I couldn't be happier. The first thing I did was test out all 6  gears and it shifts beautifully and even in 6th gear at idle rpm, it will pull away smooth and strong. Then I did some hard back and forths to get a feel for the steering and was surprised how rapidly it turned and with great steering feel. Obviously the rack and pinion steering and suspension geometry are working in great harmony because it felt more like a Porsche than a Camaro. I'm not sure about the brakes yet, I locked up a couple of them when I jammed on the brakes but I don't know which and I haven't figured out the brake bias bar yet. Then there's the noise. I drove through a park with deer on the side of the road and they didn't even flinch when I rolled by so I'll take that as a sign that I will not be over the sound limit. Finally, the power, Oh God, the power. I'm used to high hp/weight cars-the Pink Panther carries only 3.7 lbs per hp, but the sudden tire spinning that this car has just makes me giggle. I still have never, not once given this car 100% throttle and I can't even imagine what will happen when I do. In 1st, 2nd and 3rd gears I just rolled on the throttle to maybe 60% and it effortlessly lights up the rear tires. I can't believe I'm saying this but I need to soften the initial throttle tip in or it's going to be too much of a handful on an autocross course.

Beautiful work, I love seeing the latest updates. 

A big LS tuber/racer in my area Danny Popp always said to tune the built LS like a Honda and push the power band up in the RPM range to address the issue.  Or simply, add an enormous amount of Hoosier.  Not sure there is much more tire that will fit your beast though.

What a sexy beast you have created! Looking forward to videos 

In reply to loosecannon :

Awesome!

I am planning on doing a shake down run of the car at a local autocross this weekend and want some way to know what the engine is doing. My Dakota Digital gauges won't be here until May so I took the Holley dash out of the race car and plugged it into the OBD2 port. LATEST VIDEO-INCLUDING FIRST DRIVE!

Video coming soon but I raced it this last weekend. Wasn't without drama. The Camaro is longer than the Panther so I had to move stuff around in the trailer to get it to fit and the floor tie downs didn't work at all. Anyways, unloaded the car and immediately had a crowd around it asking questions. 1st run, rolled up to line and did my usual launch like I would in the MGB. This only resulted in a ton of wheelspin. The car felt great through the slalom but it had a little understeer that I hope to dial out with some Panhard bar adjustment. I did some hard braking into the hairpin and felt a lockup but don't know which end. When I mashed the gas for the first time coming out of the hairpin, it went right to redline and the steering became very heavy-the serpentine belt had come off. We wrestled with the belt to get it back on just in time for a second run. This time the belt stayed on until I came into the finish but I called it a day after that. I think there's real potential with the car but I need more testing. It has way too much power, I will be driving with the right foot

Overall, this was a quick build for such a big project.

Pete

It was clear that I needed tow hooks so I took some 3"x3/8" aluminum, drilled holes in it and bolted to the frame. I'm pleased with the looks. I am disappointed with lack of adjustments with the Speedway Motors sway bars. When I ordered the kit, there were a number of different stiffness bars that could be swapped in and out but they no longer appear on the website. 

In reply to loosecannon :

I have the Speedway front bar on my Camaro.  I have been getting different splined bars from Karcepts.  If you know what you want, he can order it up for you - https://karcepts.com/

Gimp (Forum Supporter) said:

In reply to loosecannon :

I have the Speedway front bar on my Camaro.  I have been getting different splined bars from Karcepts.  If you know what you want, he can order it up for you - https://karcepts.com/

It appears that Ron Sutton Race technology has different stiffness bars already in the right length and spline for only $150.

Finally! The video is ready High RPM Fail!

Congrats on the first outing! Huge milestone. Unfortunate the belt issue kept you from doing more runs. Is the car registered & plated such that you can do a more extended shakedown on the street before future events? 
 

Also, speedway engineering (not speedway motors) is a good source for splined bars. I've bought them through Hoerr Racing Products.

In reply to JMcD :

No, the car is not registered for road use yet. I'm missing windows,headlights,taillights and heater. I made a discovery about the sway bars and I go over that in the latest video Click for video and tomorrow I will be going back to a local autocross to see if the changes worked

Will you let Briget behind the "wheeL"?

759NRNG said:

Will you let Briget behind the "wheeL"?

I've been trying to get her to drive it but she won't-she wants to wait until the car is more sorted

Some pics from the first autocross for the Camaro 

Briget saw this too......so until this is addressed she wont be behind the wheel.....nor would I or you for that matter.....late as i wander off putting an inner fender well in the DMaxx 

In reply to 759NRNG :

What are you seeing in that picture that you don't like?

loosecannon said:

In reply to 759NRNG :

What are you seeing in that picture that you don't like?

I'm wondering the same thing.

In reply to loosecannon :

From the angle the picture was taken, it looks as if the coilover is bolted to the upper end of a slot. I suspect that's not actually the case, but I could see it confusing someone.

In reply to Recon1342 :

It looks like there are two separate mounting holes to me.

Edit: And apparently I can't spell.