The Adventures of my Camaro in China

[rocknroll_jeph]

I've not been very careful recently and have used the splitter as a battering ram it seems, so I finally got around to getting it repaired. I first scratched it about 3 months after installing it, and after that just covered the gash with some vinyl. After about 3 years of the same vinyl covering and a few more bumps it was looking pretty ragged, so I took it over to a shop and had the hole sanded, filled in and new vinyl placed over it. I would have preferred it not to be damaged, but all things considered it doesn't look too bad now. Best part was with all the labor and installation and materials the cost for the whole thing came to about $20. I can't complain, but I will try to be more careful in the future.

[riozlander]

looks good as new

[rocknroll_jeph]

Late summer update-

Every summer I go back to the states and stock up on parts for my car. This year I got some technostolgia taillights which went in very easily and look amazing, and I bought some SS calipers from another member. If you feel like reading another of my long winded accounts check it out here http://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=507449.

Anyway to test the brakes and to get some exercise my wife and I took a drive to the mountains 100KM north east of Beijing city. When I was riding my Ducati, those were my favorite roads to go on- almost no traffic and the road was, and still is, as smooth as glass the entire trip. The curves are perfect, there are quite a few tunnels to be immature and noisy in, and the mountain region is stunning and breathtaking. Especially after being in the city for over a month, the change of scenery is very welcome.

The park we went to has a hiking path that goes up the mountain following a stream with many waterfalls and down the other side, near to where we entered. The whole hike is about 4KM and takes about 2 hours. It was hot and muggy with a bit of pollution but it was still a great day, especially with the drive there and the drive back. I try to take different roads to see new things both ways.

After all of the mods I have done to my car, I can say that it is nearing perfection for my needs. I feel confident and in tune with the car, the way it handles stops and accelerates is just the way I like it.

[kingz]

Daaaaang !!!!!!! Not enough time in the world to read all of that. Nice story so far though lol....

[pat_t]

Just read from start to finish. It's a great story and your writing style is great. Thanks for sharing!

I've been to China a few times for work (Chongqing and Hong Kong mainly) and always keep an eye out for the interesting imported cars.
I also know where you're coming from with the accidents, in my experience the driving standards in China are pretty horrendous, I've been picked up from airports/hotels in taxis which have then had accidents on more than one occasion!! Luckily the speeds are normally quite low due to traffic so hopefully injuries are rare?

An American Camaro is unusual and interesting in the UK/Europe, so I guess even more so in China! It's awesome to see the car in front of landmarks like the Great Wall where you wouldn't expect to see one.

I imported and registered my car into the UK myself, there was some waiting, paperwork and bureaucracy but nothing like what you've had to go through!

Please keep us updated with progress, especially interested in experience of trackdays in China!
all the best,
Patrick

[SSEssence]

Awesome write up, so cool to see a Camaro in a different country like China, do you get weird looks all the time while driving? Please keep posting pics and nice build!

[rocknroll_jeph]

Originally Posted by pat_t

Just read from start to finish. It's a great story and your writing style is great. Thanks for sharing!

I've been to China a few times for work (Chongqing and Hong Kong mainly) and always keep an eye out for the interesting imported cars.
I also know where you're coming from with the accidents, in my experience the driving standards in China are pretty horrendous, I've been picked up from airports/hotels in taxis which have then had accidents on more than one occasion!! Luckily the speeds are normally quite low due to traffic so hopefully injuries are rare?

An American Camaro is unusual and interesting in the UK/Europe, so I guess even more so in China! It's awesome to see the car in front of landmarks like the Great Wall where you wouldn't expect to see one.

I imported and registered my car into the UK myself, there was some waiting, paperwork and bureaucracy but nothing like what you've had to go through!

Please keep us updated with progress, especially interested in experience of trackdays in China!
all the best,
Patrick

Thanks for reading all the way through. Thats a commitment very few can manage. There are a couple thousand Camaro's across China and more and more each day! Congrats getting a Camaro in the UK. I also used to live in Hong Kong, I loved car spotting in HK. I'll keep updating when I do interesting things... I'm going in to get oil change Sunday, that may be too mundane to make a post though.

[rocknroll_jeph]

Originally Posted by SSEssence

Awesome write up, so cool to see a Camaro in a different country like China, do you get weird looks all the time while driving? Please keep posting pics and nice build!

Thanks for your reply too. It is so much fun driving my car in China. I get a lot of more surprised looks and its mostly children who are excited to see a Camaro drive by, I get a lot of thumbs up from the expat kids actually.

[rocknroll_jeph]

I am on vacation for a whole week thanks to Chinese holidays. My wife is with her friends in Korea so my good friend and I went on a day trip to the mountains and saw some of the most famous caves in Beijing. Traffic was pretty good and for most of the time we had the whole mountain to ourselves, even with the original tires on the car it performed amazing going faster than I should have up and then back down the mountain. I am so happy for the the mods i did to my car, they are working so well together- and most of the advice and choices I did were because of the other members here, so thanks to Camaro5 too.

As for the trip, I can't say enough how well Chinese roads are made, especially compared to the roads in southern Michigan where I grew up! Most of the roads here are smooth, well maintained and seemed well though out. They way it follows the curves of the land, offering great views as well as exciting turns. The road I took also really doesn't go anywhere but to a few villages so except for the people who live there there are only other enthusiasts on the road. It really is driving bliss and if it wasn't 3 hours away from my house I would be back there every day this week!

As for the cave, it literally looks like something from out of this world, it has so many different kinds of features I have never seen before anywhere. The hike in the caves takes about 1 1/2 hour and there is only about 15 minutes of back tracking involved. Another interesting think is that they use the cave's constant temperature to make some rice wine. I wish Halloween was widely celebrated here because a haunted cave would be pretty fun.

Thanks to my Camaro for getting me there and back safely and making me and my friend smile the entire trip.

[KYVOM1LE]

Thanks for your posts. I can relate as I have been to China many many times. I go to China once or twice a year. But normally do not make it above Qingdao. You are definitely in the minority driving the camaro. Good luck out there

[rocknroll_jeph]

This winter has been very eventful for me, but not very eventful for my Camaro, I got new P-Zero tires in December and they feel exactly the same as the old ones but it is really hard to get high performance tires in China, so I stuck with what I knew.

In December back to the states and drove my BMW Z4 in the snowfilled hellscape of southern Michigan for a few weeks in late December. (I also bought a house in Michigan last summer and that was the first time since buying it that I got to go in my new house.) While in the states, the failure of the entire ABS and stability control system on my second day back made it very exciting to drive on the ice and snow.

I'm sure those older than me wouldn't complain but I learned how to drive in the age of stability control and have gotten used to it saving me when I act stupid. In the end nothing bad happened and I had a lot of fun in my neighborhood streets at 5mph.

When I was back stateside I bought a few parts for the Camaro. The big purchase was an SLP harmonic balancer/ under drive pulley. As it was crazy cold this winter, and I spend a week in UAE during Chinese New Year break, I just finally got around to having it installed yesterday. I didn't take any pictures of the install, but I have a few things to write up.

First, they instructions say that it should take 1 1/2 hours to install. For my mechanic, it only took about 30 minutes to install, however, I was at the mechanics for over 3 hours. The original harmonic balancer is insanely difficult to remove. I bought a removal tool in the states, but the LLT's pulley doesn't have places for the screws for the pulley puller to go into, so we tried the kind with the hooks they had at the shop and ended up breaking off the outer rim of the original pulley.

Note to others- don't use the outer rim to pull the pulley.

Finally, the guys at the shop went off to buy a smaller puller that would fit inside of the pulley. With the correct pulley puller they got it off in a few minutes and after figuring out how to translate ft-lbs to n-m they had the new one on as fast as the old one came off.

My first reaction to driving with the under drive pulley is how the car seems lighter and the engine uses less effort to get up to speed. I feel like the car runs smoother too. I just drove it back from the mechanics last night- in pretty bad traffic and to work this morning- a five minute commute- so I haven't really had time for a proper shake down, but the butt dyno provided good results.

In my 20 minutes of driving, I have been watching the battery gauge and everything looks normal, I hope that the under drive doesn't effect any of the other systems. At this time I am very happy with the added performance and feel of the pulley, I feel like it is money well spent. I'll post some photos as evidence after work and start thinking about the next mod I can do.

[rocknroll_jeph]

As a man of my word, it is after work and I have taken some pictures. I wish I had taken a picture of both harmonic balancers side by side to see the difference in diameter. You can clearly see the damage that happened when pulling off the original pulley, but I also noticed that it has a lot of corrosion anyway.

I also got new hood pins when I was back in the states and replaced the slowly rusting metal scuff plates with polyurethane plates from Daystar. They may not be muscle car style, but I like it just the same. My father in law did all of the drilling and made it look better than before from the underside. Sorry about the dust, Beijing hasn't seen any precipitation since November so its cold, dry and dusty here.

[Vec]

read thru the whole thing, thanks for sharing and all the great photos.

[rocknroll_jeph]

Originally Posted by Vec

read thru the whole thing, thanks for sharing and all the great photos.

Wow, thanks for taking the time to read it all. I have a tendency to be long winded when I write! I'm happy to share my experiences with others.