Ok guys, this car is a few years in the making so far. I bought this car all original about 5 years ago. 305 TBI, 700R4, peg-leg, rear drums. I have the build sheet from the factory somewhere, Ill scan it when I find it. Well, after 150k miles the head gaskets threw in the towel. Time for some upgrades. Ill spare you the long story of how all the parts were aquired, but just know it involved a lot of long nights, selling stuff I didnt need, and eating Top Ramen for dinner waaaay too often. I am also using this car to do promotional work for my garage based shop (for now), Olson Kustom Works.
A few years ago, I updated the brakes to Corvette C5 Z06 disc/disc. Please ignore the rims, they were all we had at the shop that would fit the new brakes (16's wouldnt clear). The stock master was actually very well sized for the system, and under very hard braking, the rears locked up right after the fronts, and did nice controlled slides when needed. Im very happy with this brake setup, but after you see my engine/trans combo, I might be upgrading to 2010 CTS-V brakes.
heres a pic after the brakes, before all the big work started.
OK now to the most current stuff. First thing, pulled the 305 and trans out. what an ugly outdated mess!!
aww such a sad little 305
Next, I made a call to BMR, who helped me out and I got basically every part they make for the Third-Gen F-bodies. Heres a quick list:
Tubular K-Member
Tubular Control Arms
Front Coilover Conversion
Trans Crossmember
Front and Rear Sway bars
Torque Arm
Trailing Arms
Rear Coils
Panhard Rod and Relocater
Also, ProForge hooked me up with an all new steering setup.
Heres just a few of the pics (im going to go easy on your internet service)
I did this rear frame mods way before the suspension, but its still in progress, so in order of completion, its after the suspension. I never liked the way the rear area of the Camaros were, plus I wanted center exhaust, and to run a fuel cell. The new floor will have a heat shield under it, with 2 mufflers transverse, like a Vette. Fuel cell will go on the top side, with a blast cover over it, and blast venting downward out of the floor. Now I know most of you guys might oppose to the fuel cell in the inside of the car, but its not something im just throwing in the trunk of a Civic and going driving. I wanted to get the fuel away from the rear axle and exhaust heat, and run a remote filler to the b-pillar as well. I also did the mod to get directly to the subframe for the rollcage, which will come later. there is a piece of sheet metal on top of the bracing now, just dont have a pic of it yet.
Just a few pics::
Next, I think Ill show you the cage. I had a nice Mittler Bros bender and notcher at my old work, but now I have a JD2 and a Bridgeport at home to do more cage work. I went a little nuts on the cage. 1.75" Mild Steel, .125" wall. 1-piece main hoop and front hoop. All TIG welded. All frame plates are welded directly to subframes and suspension points on the car, not just the floor sheet metal. See pics for details. I wanted to make sure this car is suuuuper rigid.
Next up is engine. I bought a blown up LS3 from a company I worked for. EVAP lines were hooked up wrong, and dumped raw gas into manifold, which made the engine run rich during tuning, then after tuning it was done, it ran lean 1/2 the time. Ka-Boom. So a nice complete, blown up LS3 is waiting for a rebuild. I also bought a Harrop TVS2300 off a GTO. Its for the cathedral port heads, but I plan on using a set of LS6 heads to make it all work.
Just ordered my trans from a guy on the forum. Excited!!!!!! I bought a TR6060, ACT Twin Disc, and all the parts to make it work.
I build custom headers and stainless exhaust in the home shop, so once I get started on that I will post up some pics. Lemme know what you guys think!! Try not to be too harsh :-)
Oh, BTW, Im putting a 5th Gen dash in it :-) Just needs some trimming.
