What I've been up to with my 68 Camaro

[Chad-1stgen]

This is to catch up those folks that were following my build thread on the old SoCal Terminator site.

I think when I left off there I hadn't yet fired the motor? In addition to the delays on my new wheels and the problems with Pomona Valley Customs, the additional hurdles I had to overcome were:
1) Low oil pressure in my brand new crate motor. I tested multiple oil pans, replaced the oil pick up tube o ring 3 times thinking it had to be that based on online help. Finally, I shipped the motor back to Mast Motorsports on my dime to have them look at it. They charged me labor to inspected it and re dyno it and sent it back claiming they never saw low oil pressure. Further diagnosis revealed that the oil temp was 250+ cruising down the freeway so it was thinning the oil quite a bit. I threw a large oil cooler on the car which dropped the oil temps to normal on the street and autocross. I still see 250* oil temps on the track though. Its a band-aid fix and Mast could never explain a cause for why this particular setup run the oil so hot.
2) I also ended up chasing higher than normal water temps for a while as the car would run 200* for most driving. It would get hot at idle and on the freeway in 6th gear putting. After over 1K of street miles breaking the motor in and messing with it (including getting the tune checked) I figured out that I had air in the system. It takes a lot whenever I refill the coolant to get my particular setup air free...
3) I had to have custom lower control arms made to resolve a geometry issue with my subframe. The manufacturer has since updated their design. I also had to do some mods to the rear end to get it to fit the way I wanted.

All of that stuff took me over a year between when I first fired the motor and when I could drive it in anger on a track.

[Chad-1stgen]

The first "event" I went to was the 2014 Super Chevy Handling Challenge in August 2014. I hadn't figured out the oil temps or water temps at this point but they only did a couple of short laps on the smallest part of the SOWS in addition to the slalom and skid pad tests.

Despite the car not being sorted AT ALL, the car came in 2nd in the challenge. They were pretty critical of the street manners but a lot of that is due to the fact that we didn't soften the shocks at all for their street evaluation phase. Its funny, because of all the cars tested I probably drive my car to more events than any of the others. It was cool getting some magazine coverage of the car which you can read here: http://www.superchevy.com/features/1503 ... 68-camaro/

A couple of pics from the article:




Also a video showing some on track footage and interview of TCI's GM Sal.

phpBB [video]

[Chad-1stgen]

Since then I've attended quite a few autocross events. I've won my class at 2 hotchkis events and came runner up 3 times. I've also won 2 San Diego regional SCCA autocross events and came in runner up twice. Also came in 2nd at the only LA regional SCCA autocross I ran earlier this month.

I posted the video of my first track day in the Fontana thread. A highlight of 2015 was attending the Optima Search for the Ultimate Street Car event in April at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Unlike most of the hardcore competitors in the GT Vintage (GTV) class I drove my car from SoCal to Vegas which gave me a chance to try out the wiper motor that had been installed in my car for years but I only wired up THAT MORNING! ha ha


here the car is getting stickered up.


More random pics of the event:






One of my favorite shots. Taken on the mandatory street drive / road rally portion of the event.


I had a pretty successfull outing at Optima and placed 4th in the GTV class and won the First Timer Award! So you might see me or the car on MavTV


Oh and the video of the 3 competitive events:

phpBB [video]

Finally, driving the car the long drive home from Vegas to SoCal on a Sunday night after two days of beating the snot out of it. The only casualty was my alternator which Tuff Stuff rebuilt for me no charge!



The Optima event solidified that I had to change the brake set up and the seat set up. So a few months ago I switched to manual brakes with a Wilwood master cylinder which gave a lot more consistent pedal. My old power assist was inconsistent due to the big cam motor. Also, manual is easier to threshold brake with IMO. I also installed a Sparco fixed back seat.

[Chad-1stgen]

The new master cylinder setup is installed.


The new fixed back seat is installed.


These changes made the car a lot better to drive on the road course and autocross though I still get pad knock back.

Here is some cool footage of this past Saturday at SOWS. I ran down most of the cars in the red run group with extreme speed. Ran a best laptime of 1:27:86 running CCW

phpBB [video]

Also, a quick video showing my best lap running SOWS CCW with v2.0 of my car (the old setup) and v3.0 from two weekends ago.

phpBB [video]

[jhwalker]

Cool. You have given me something to do tonight or tomorrow when I recover from this 5 day quick trip to the USA.

James

[SonicVenum]

That's a pretty cool journey, Chad! The car looks and sounds great! Nice work!

[03_SONIC_BLUR]

I am always thrilled when someone invests that much time, heartache and money into a car and then actually drives it. And then fiddles with it some more because driving it pointed out things that didn't go as planned

The car is beautiful Chad. Have fun with it

(Still driving my 13year old Terminator with 99.5K miles)

[Chad-1stgen]

That's a pretty cool journey, Chad! The car looks and sounds great! Nice work!

Thanks! Its been a lot more fun driving it than working on it

I am always thrilled when someone invests that much time, heartache and money into a car and then actually drives it. And then fiddles with it some more because driving it pointed out things that didn't go as planned

The car is beautiful Chad. Have fun with it

(Still driving my 13year old Terminator with 99.5K miles)

I hear you. I do have a little more appreciation for guys that spend so much time and money building a car and don't use it as hard as I do. But at the same time that isn't for me. I did all that work so I could drive it like this!!

More upgrades and sorting issues are on the to do list whenever I can get around to them.

1 - Just discovered an electrolysis issues with my radiator that I need to chase and fix.
2 - I want to do a vented hood for heat extraction with a little side benefit of improved aero.
3 - Roll bar with possibly door bards and 5 or 6 point belts. I will lose the back seat and some of the street-ability if I do door bars.
4 - With a roll bar setup I will do a fire suppression system too.
5 - Need to get my AC rewired and plumbed to make those long hot drives a little more pleasant

Lots of other little misc items.

[jhwalker]

great project. Sweet car (although I hate Chebbies, there is always room for an exception).

I had wondered how the engine heat was working out. always a challenge.