My 5th's Belated Journal
 

After almost 2 1/2 years (now 6 years) of ownership I finally decided to create a journal about my 2010 2SS/RS. There's not really much ego involved with this journal, because I recognize there are a lot of cars on this site with much more into mods, performance and appearance than mine, but a journal is a good place to archive your photos to an off site location.

I lost many photos of my car to a hard disk crash a while back, and it's taken me a while to gather selected photos from some web sites--this one included--to include in this journal. I hope you'll enjoy reviewing my Camaro mods journey even half as much as I have so far.

After driving a Honda Passport for 14 years, and dumping money into repairs and maintenance virtually every month, I was finally able to convince my Overseer I needed a new car. We have had many Hondas over the years and have liked them as dependable and generally economical to own and operate.

But this time I knew I had to have something different. Having owned 4 other Camaros in the past--a 68, 72 SS, 78 Z28, and a 79 Z28 I was naturally gravitating toward a Camaro. I had narrowed my choices down to Black or CGM, and it had to have a stick, plus I wasn't going to pay sticker or sticker plus, so I had to have a discount. In February of 2010 that was a pretty tall order.

I finally found what I wanted, including a $1,500 discount, at Murdoch Chevrolet in Bountiful, Utah. Here she is in all her 100% stock glory. I tried to get the GFX painted black, but the dealer wanted $1,300 to paint them, and I felt that was way too much. About a year or so later I found another dealer who painted them for half that.

Mods List:

SS side emblems Now de-badged
Window tint and Clear Bra New clear bra
Billet “SS” door sill plates
Billet “SS” rear license plate frame Temporarily on the shelf
GMPP axle-back exhaust w/ oval tips--REPLACED WITH MAGNAFLOW 3" CAT-BACK SYSTEM
Billet brake, clutch, gas and footrest pedals
Airaid CAI--REPLACED WITH CAI BLACK
Elite Engineering billet oil catch can
Powder Coated Brembo calipers dark metallic grey w/Brembo decals Now with CTS V big-brake kit
Hawk ceramic brake pads Now with Hawk HPS pads
Pedders Xa coilovers, bushing inserts, Solution B sway bars, braided brake lines After 50,000 miles replaced with 1LE struts and shocks and BMR 1" drop springs and Pfadt sways, ZL1 LCA's
Spohn rear control arms, toe links Replaced with DSE arms/links
AAC P13W LED DRL’s (upgraded to plasma model)
Magnaflow 16483 3” cat-back exhaust
MBRP square exhaust tips
Lloyd’s SS logo Lux floor and trunk mats
Forgeline MD3P 3-piece forged wheels, 9 ½” X 20” front; 11” X 20” rear Replaced with Forgeline CF3C-SL 10 X 20 front 11 X 20 rear
Continental Extreme Contact DWS tires, 275/40 and 315/35 Replaces with Michelin Pilot Super Sports 295's up front 315's in the rear
Kooks 1 7/8” LT headers, hi-flow cats, HP tune: 411 RWHP dyno run
Heritage Grille, Sparks Restoration billet SS insert
Painted GFX black-REPLACED WITH SEIBON CARBON FIBER Replaced stock front clip with ZL1 fascia and Seibon Carbon Fiber splitter
MGW short-throw shifter w/ retro shift lever and “SS” shift ball
Removed engine cover, fuel rail invert and wire clean-up
Holley valve covers, powder coated Carbon Flash Metallic, painted coils Gunmetal Metallic
MSD red spark plug wires--replaced with Taylor wires and heat socks
Showstoppers engine compartment box covers, Carbon Flash Metallic w/matte black inserts
Billet SS engine bay caps, radiator, overflow, power steering, master cylinder, WW washer
SLP billet strut tower caps Replaced with Pegasus camber plates
Roto-Fab radiator cover powder coated satin black
Replaced Airaid with Cold Air Inductions CAI, powder coated black
Sparks Restorations rear SS trunk badge
Plasti-dip taillight bezels and billet license plate frame
ADDED--Anvil Carbon Fiber rear spoiler

Future and hoped-for mods:
Forged 416 or 427 long block w/tweaked heads, blower cam
Whipple supercharger
ZR1 clutch, one-piece aluminum driveshaft, 1400 hp axles, JRE posi upgrade

Major upgrades:
JDP Motorsports Fully forged 427 with Manley internals, Big-bore LS3 heads by West Coast Cylinder heads, Fast 102 intake, ATI 12% under drive balancer--530 rwhp 498 TQ ZR1 dual disc clutch and aluminum flywheel, RPM Transmissions Level 5 TR6060, DSS aluminum driveshaft, DSS 1,000 hp axles, 3.91 rear gears. See recent pics at end of journal.

My first mod was the simple addition of SS logos underneath the CAMARO badging. I recall that my 72 SS had the SS logos on the side, so in homage to my long departed SS I added these. Shortly after this I added the GMPP axle back exhaust. I thought it sounded pretty good, but eventually the GMPP gave way to a Magnaflow 3" catback system. In these pics the car is Pre-Pedderized and at stock ride height. I had added a clear bra and window tint during this time.

Next up was the installation of the Pedders Xa coilovers, bushing inserts and their sway bars. Also added Spohn trailing arms and control links. Thanks to JDP Motorsports I now had a better handling Camaro. I also had the Brembos powder coated. A big improvement IMHO. The first ride height was almost slammed, and after scraping my fron spoiler on my driveway I had Jordan at JDP raise it up about 3/4".

Here's a couple more pics of the initial ride height. The second shot shows my AAC LED DRL's on with the halos. I've since replaced their first product with the plasma version, which are holding up much better.

This shot shows the cheap oval tips I had on the GMPP axle back. With the addition of the Magnaflow 3" catback I added MBRP square tips. Also a closeup of the powder coated Brembo caliper.

Headers in now
 

Time for some performance improvements. Added an Airaid CAI and Kooks LT's along with the 3" catback. since I anticipated--and still do--getting a supercharger I had the headers ceramic coated in the high-temp coating. I liked the appearance of the shiny silver finish better, but Jordan at JDP assured me it wouldn't hold up to the higher temps a supercharger would put through the headers.

The second shot shows my Continental DWS's on my Forgeline 20 X 11 MD3P wheels--but I'm getting ahead of myself

Heritage Grille
 

Up next, I added the Heritage Grille with the Sparks Restoration emblem. This is the original version which is slightly smaller than their current version. I think I may upgrade to the bigger one because after all...size matters!

After months or researching wheels on this forum I decided on the Forgeline MD3P 3-piece forged wheels. Nineball helped me through the process and I finally had a Camaro that set itself apart--at least a little bit--from the rest.

It took a month or more to get the custom center caps from Forgeline. As far as I know I was the first to order the SS caps. I think they now offer these to SS owners. So it looks like I was a pioneer.

One more side shot with the painted GFX.

Engine bling was recently added. I removed the engine cover and had JDP Motorsports install the Holley valve covers, powder coated in Carbon Flash Metallic, and clean up the wiring some. I still need to clean up a few things, but it's looking better. Added the Showstopper covers, also in Carbon Flash Metallic, and changed to a CAI CAI. The Airaid performed well, but I was going for a subdued black-out look and thought the CAI would look better. Also added the Roto-Fab radiator cover which I had JDP powder coat satin black. Got the billet caps from Chevy Mall, and the strut caps from SLP

Also added the MSD spark plug wires to add a little color. There's nothing wrong with the stock wires performance wise, but with the MSD I could arguably say I add some HP (LOL). Painted the coils a Gunmetal metallic grey using Duplicolor ratttle can. The third pic was taken while the coils were "stock".

Last shot for tonight is a rear view of the newly added Sparks Restoration SS badge. Also you can see the MBRP tips and the blacked out (with Pasti-dip) taillight bezels and billet license plate frame.

The second pic shows my billet pedals, billet sill plates, Lloyd's mats and the MGW retro shifter. Closeups will follow later.

Future plans include replacing the black GFX with carbon fiber, a cam, and either a forged motor followed by a supercharger. It never ends!

Alpine Loop road trip pics
 

Took a a little road trip this week on the local Alpine Loop. Just a coouple of pics to update things. Maybe next time I'll spice it up a little and get some hot chicks across the hood.

New Photos
 

Just updating for some pictures taken yesterday. Closeup of the MGW retro shifter ball and shaft and a couple of shots taken at sunset. There were no naked, hot chicks nearby so I couldn't include them--maybe next time.

Nice car man! Youve done alot, I like it.