School me on these cars!

[762SPR]

Alright to start with, assume I have little to no knowledge about the camaro. I've always thought the Gen5 looked sweet and sat in one at a dealer once (My head touched to ceiling lol) That's about it... Currently, I'm a truck guy. I have a big, lifted duramax that I have put lots of time and money into making it my own. I love to work on it, but I'm about done with it so I need something else to waste money on!

A few weeks ago in the middle of a long drive I passed a black camaro on the road and the idea came to me for my next project. I want to get one and turn it into a car I can take to the track but still has some street manners. Maybe go full track car, not sure yet... I had always thought I would get a STI or something like that to wrench on all the time, but the more I think of the camaro concept the more I love it!

The rough plan is to get one as cheap as possible. Either high miles or minor body damage, and then gut it! Put in a cage, and all the required suspension mods, race seats, etc. I'm fine with a pretty spartan interior, I think I could make it look pretty cool having it stripped down like a race car BUT still have things to reduce the sound and make it comfortable inside... No unnecessary frills, but comfortable in a practical way. AC, Radio, cup holders, racing seat roll cage, sound dampening material. A mashup.

For Power, I want to build a LS7 and supercharge it. More power = better, but at the same time I don't want to run it on race gas 24/7... I think the best idea would be to buy a cheap V6 with manual transmission and then pull and sell the V6 and build a motor to put in it. How much power can the stock 6 speed transmission hold? What sort of mods should I be looking at for it.

I can do almost all of the work myself. I've built motors and transmissions before. I am a fairly skilled welder and fabricator. I also work a lot with CAD and CNC machining steel, aluminum, and titanium so I should be set for a lot of custom parts from the motor to the interior to the suspension. And along the way to provide a little funds for the project if there's a part I make for it that people want to buy, that's an option too.

I want to have a project car that is really fun to build, and I can learn/expand my skills as far as making parts goes, and at the end of the day have a really custom really FUN to drive car that I can use to showcase my creative abilities for custom parts.

Of course this is all an idea now, even though I want to start NOW, realistically I'm quite a few months from even getting the base car. But I figure while I get everything else in order I can do research into what I want to or need to do and get people's opinions on the project as a whole (other than you're crazy... yeah I know that already) So what's everyone's thoughts? Ideas? This would be cool or that would be cool. X is a really good transmission, or Y is going to blow up in your face if you put any kind of power through it. Anything you got, I'm here to learn!

[Norm Peterson]

Either start with a car that has the FE4 suspension or plan from the get-go on upgrading some of the rear suspension bits to FE4 configuration. The rear sta-bar won't interchange between FE3 and FE4, and the little sta-bar endlink tabs on the rear LCAs can and will break from increased sta-bar loadings.


Norm

[Eddiefuzz]

Start reading! All the knowledge that you want is in here, already written. Some people have Amazing cars, others have them just the way they want them. Nobody is going to say you're Crazy. Good Luck with your ride!

[Spec]

If you're doing an engine swap, get the V8... either SS, 1LE, ZL1, Z28 etc... though with the later two, I'd be hard pressed to do so.

I've read horror stories about putting a V8 in a V6, at least trying to put an LS3 and keep all the functionality of a street ride.

Concur, search your butt off... so much info out there and this place is a great place to start!

I've stayed on the conservative side with my mods... just the typical headers, cai, tb, catback and hfcs, tune, some suspension work, body mods etc... next step up from here would be turbo's or sc for me. I wouldn't want to get it cammed. I don't track this car, but love what I have done to it so far.

[KaBoom1701]

Grab a used SS (V8) or 1LE (V8 + factory track suspension) model....this will be your best bet for what you want to do.

[Zslash28]

Dont dream too big here. Your going to waste your time and money going the V6 route. As stated, get an SS or 1LE, manual trans, and then gut and mod. With the new gen 6, a used SS with the LS3/T56 combo is easy and cheap to get. Post all of the stuff you pull on the forum, then build your race car.

Go with a built LS7, keep it N/A, otherwise your asking for trouble modding a stock LS7. Heck, you dont need a 427, the LS3 with heads, cam, intake, headers would be enough to handle you tracking it. Add extra cooling for the oil, rear, steering and yer set.

[102SS]

The V6 trans will not bolt up to the V8 engine.

[KaBoom1701]

Originally Posted by Zslash28

Dont dream too big here. Your going to waste your time and money going the V6 route. As stated, get an SS or 1LE, manual trans, and then gut and mod. With the new gen 6, a used SS with the LS3/T56 combo is easy and cheap to get. Post all of the stuff you pull on the forum, then build your race car.

Go with a built LS7, keep it N/A, otherwise your asking for trouble modding a stock LS7. Heck, you dont need a 427, the LS3 with heads, cam, intake, headers would be enough to handle you tracking it. Add extra cooling for the oil, rear, steering and yer set.

Ya but that LS7 does sound great though!

[Zslash28]

Originally Posted by KaBoom1701

Ya but that LS7 does sound great though!

Tell me about it, i need to video this car starting up and use it as my ring tone.

[Shark72]

Originally Posted by Zslash28

Dont dream too big here. Your going to waste your time and money going the V6 route. As stated, get an SS or 1LE, manual trans, and then gut and mod. With the new gen 6, a used SS with the LS3/T56 combo is easy and cheap to get. Post all of the stuff you pull on the forum, then build your race car.

Go with a built LS7, keep it N/A, otherwise your asking for trouble modding a stock LS7. Heck, you dont need a 427, the LS3 with heads, cam, intake, headers would be enough to handle you tracking it. Add extra cooling for the oil, rear, steering and yer set.

good advice.
I would just add that modding any car to the level you may be after, may be more expensive than just buying what you really want.

[MikosV6]

Except for the S/C and cage, it sounds like you want a Z28. The local Chevy dealer around here has them for $53K during the black Friday sales event. Consider this, after you are all said and done with what you want to do, you'd be nearly 75% (or even more) of the way there in mod costs. I say pony up the extra $15K and use that as a down payment on one. Then, you'll be making regular SS payments on a very special and capable track car ready-made straight from the factory.

[762SPR]

Thanks for the input! This is exactly the info I'm looking for! I didn't know the v8 swap would be such a heart ache I figured that if I was ripping everything out that I could just plop a v8 and all its supplementary components right in. I figured I'd have to swap out the bell housing to get it to mate to the transmission but I guess that's a no go. Should have thought it through more though it's probably geared different too? Whatever a little extra cash for the v8 models probably won't be a huge deal in the long run especially if it means putting in a new motor will be easier!

I kind of have my heart set on a supercharger. I've always wanted to build a supercharged motor but never have...

There's no way I'd just buy a pre-built car! It's all about the build for me. It keeps me occupied, and I learn and refine my skills while I'm at it. I love having something that's truly custom at the end of the day and being able to say I built it. It doesn't really save any money, and definitely takes more time but it's still worth it for me. There's so many parts on my truck that I could have bought but I decided to make anyway.

Thanks for the input so far, keep the discussion going!

[762SPR]

Oh and for the record, I'm real good about dreaming big! Haha. I'm all about diving into a project when I know nothing about it and people calling me insane as I try to figure it out and learn as I go along! May not be the smartest thing but hey you guys will probably witness some interesting results!

[christianchevell]

Yes the thing is the v-6 is not the thing to do its been tried badly... took the guy forever and it was not a success in many areas and the whole of the Camaro is in its ability to have all the control modules and the ECU, there are specific different ecu and wiring harnesses available for what you want to do to the regular ss and its been done before I wish I had a ls7, the thing is for many of us its daily driver and so street strip and keeping all the bells and whistles is a given. Its very nice to have aback up camera, nice to have comfortable heated seats and etc etc.... It does sound like you should get a Z28 ..... The thing is stuff gets expensive and most want to research the parts they buy more than some who go in more blind. You should read up on the ls7 and good luck!!!!