The Adventures of my Camaro in China

[rocknroll_jeph]

Originally Posted by Bigdumogre

Damn this makes me miss China so much. It’s the greatest country I ever traveled too and will be back once this whole pandemic is over in the USA.

How many other camaros do you ever see there? When I went I dident see any and only saw a mustang.

China is a nice place to be right now, things are pretty much back to normal.

As for cars on the street, I see current gen Mustangs pretty much daily, Camaros are rare but not unheard of. I see more Ferraris driving around than Camaros... There are more and more Challengers even though out of the current generation of muscle cars those are the only model that isn't officially imported.

[olblue75]

Just think what it would be like to have a V8 car there.

[rocknroll_jeph]

Originally Posted by olblue75

Just think what it would be like to have a V8 car there.

There are quite a few V8's, just not in Camaros.

Our insurance rates are based on the engine displacement and some other factors. A lot of the mustang guys buy turbo 4s and a crate engine to get around that. I haven't seen anyone do that in a Camaro.

As for me, I'm just a KG teacher, I couldn't afford to run a V8 here also they were not legally imported and I don't have that kind of skills, know the right people or have enough money to skirt rules and regulations.

[rocknroll_jeph]

Attended my first Cars and Coffee event yesterday! We saw some beautiful cars, met some amazing people and had very interesting conversations. Through those chats I learned some things that helped me to solidify some more life goals so it was a very positive event. I am very shy around strangers, but my girlfriend kept pushing me into crowds of people chatting forcing me to be social. I do need that push some times! And I’m happy she did that.

[rocknroll_jeph]

One of my fog lights started failing so I logged on to Taobao and did a quick search. For some reason I've really been into the European yellow lights so I thought I'd give it a try.

While I was looking at lights the smoked LED turn signals caught my eye too so I bought a set. I'm not sure what they cost in the US but I only paid about $15 for the turn signals.

They look pretty good to me and were one of the easiest things I've ever installed on my car. I always like to update the look to make it feel fresh and new and I'm feeling really pleased with my car now!

[rocknroll_jeph]

After looking on Taobao for replacement lights I came across a strut bar for 50% off. I deliberated for a few days because I used to have a Hotchkis strut bar that I drilled holes into the car to install, but after I added the iceolator under the intake there was fitment issues so I took it off.

I was really worried that this one would have similar issues but as my luck would have it the fit was perfect. It came to about $75 and went into the factory holes. I just needed to get 50cents worth of bolts and washers. I tried to install it myself but the fit was too tight so I took it to my friend's race shop and their mechanics installed it for free and gave me a coke to drink while waiting. Just another reason why I love living in China.

Driving it home with the strut bar firmly in place I could feel the difference immediately. I can't wait to get back on a familiar track to scientifically see if it really does a difference in stability.

I'm not too excited about the colors, but this company only makes their parts in this color scheme. Their build quality and welds seem to be pretty good as well. I'm please with it so far!

[rocknroll_jeph]

Not a mod, but I still think it is cute...

Lately, I've spent too much time browsing Taobao looking at random stuff. A few days ago and came across a seller that makes custom car key chains. They have some typical ordinary cars to choose from, but I sent in a picture of my car and they were able to make a little plastic key chain of my car. I was really pleased because I thought there were just going to use the China edition Camaro as a template and just stick my number plate on. But they really nailed the details. For example, I have the black spoiler, Camaros in China have one red fog light and one reverse light and amber colored turn signals. I've changed mine to look like the USDM person, and all of my changes were represented in my new little key chain. I also got one for my wife... but her car is stock so there was nothing they needed to do. I've noticed some drivers with stickers in the same style as well. Best of all they were only like $5 including shipping. I might ask if they can make key chains with US license plates to get on for my car back home too. Our cars are not stanced, but thats just they way they make all their products look.

[morepowerjoe]

Man I just read your entire thread. Lots of cool stories and I enjoyed it. Do you think that you'll ever move back to the states?

[rocknroll_jeph]

Originally Posted by morepowerjoe

Man I just read your entire thread. Lots of cool stories and I enjoyed it. Do you think that you'll ever move back to the states?

Thank you for taking the time to read all my long winded stories!

We often consider going back to the states, but we are making good money, cost of living is reasonable and life is very easy for us overseas at this time. I think the latest we'll move back is at retirement age!

[Ashen L99]

Holy cow Jeph, I read through your entire thread and I want to say first: the amount of hoops you had to jump through to purchase the car, I literally walked into the garage and gave mine a hug. I sat in the driver seat and read pages 2 through 8. Second: Your car looks better and more aggressive than most of the Camaro’s running around in my area and your overseas! Just curious, what does a crate LS3 cost over there? When you said the mustang boys are buying the eco boosts and swapping them out, that sounds like a pain. Also, because your fond of track days, can you get a 3.91 gear set over there? If you got a whole other carrier it’s not too bad to swap one out for inspections. Best wishes!

[rocknroll_jeph]

Originally Posted by Ashen L99

Holy cow Jeph, I read through your entire thread and I want to say first: the amount of hoops you had to jump through to purchase the car, I literally walked into the garage and gave mine a hug. I sat in the driver seat and read pages 2 through 8. Second: Your car looks better and more aggressive than most of the Camaro’s running around in my area and your overseas! Just curious, what does a crate LS3 cost over there? When you said the mustang boys are buying the eco boosts and swapping them out, that sounds like a pain. Also, because your fond of track days, can you get a 3.91 gear set over there? If you got a whole other carrier it’s not too bad to swap one out for inspections. Best wishes!

Thank you for your reply, and compliments, I'm glad that my writing can entertain others!

It's almost impossible to get crate LS3s, the taxes and legal loopholes are insane.

I am in a few different local Camaro and muscle car chat groups no one has swapped a Camaro engine that I know of.

As for the gearing, its kind of the same problem, getting car parts imported is really difficult. If customs decide to do a check they will most likely confiscate what car parts. I had a buddy who moved from England and the chair to his racing simulator rig was confiscated just because it looked like an aftermarket race seat. Thats why I buy so many parts from the US and carry them in my suitcase. That being said, I think that a rear-end swap won't effect the inspection, they care more about the car looking the same as the file picture, lights functioning and emissions. Its still on my wish list to swap in an LSD.

[rocknroll_jeph]

The Tale of Tailights.

I have been trying to make my Camaro perfect and tailor it to all my needs. A point of contention since I bought my car has been the taillights. If I was in the US and my car came with 4 red taillights I may be content and not traveled on such a long and twisting journey to find near perfection. Maybe I'm exaggerating a bit but this is my story and I'll write it however I want.

It starts in 2013 when I bought my Camaro from a second hand car lot in Beijing. It had been wrapped by the previous owner so the paint was nearly perfect, it had about 16000km on the odometer and a Borla exhaust and KN air intake. I loved everything about it from the beginning, but it was just too plain so modifications came soon. One of the first thing was to buy red taillights for the outside corners. China market requires amber taillights so from the factory it had red brake lights in the middle and amber markers on the outside. I always felt that there was too much going on and it looked fussy. On a Ferrari F40 it looks amazing, but not on the fifth gen Camaro.

Anyway, on my first trip back to the US after buying my car I picked up Oracle afterburners and extra taillights and while learning about wiring as I installed them at 2am while I had serious jet lag and needed to drive myself to work the next morning. At that time I used the afterburners as parking lights and the original bulbs as separate brake and turn signals, but at least there were all red.

Unfortunately the quality of the Afterburners were not too good and some of the elements starting failing after a few years, but I found a member selling some Technostolgia sequential lights. That set didn't last very long and I couldn't get them repaired, so I went back to the orignal set up for another year or so before buying a brand new set of Technostolgia. Because of the weird wiring that my car came with, the functionality didn't work well. If I was braking and using the turn signal it was very difficult to see the flashing of the turn signals so I just not to brake or turn while braking. That wasn't a good option and after contacting the company they suggested that I unplug some wires and that fixed the problem, but once again I was back to only one light turning and one for braking on each side. I loved the effect of the brake light because it had a kind of fade in and fade out . After watching footage of me on the track, I realized that it pulsed with the ABS under hard braking which I liked. The outside retained the sequential turn signal. It was pretty good but not perfect. Unfortunately earlier this year one of the brake lights stopped functioning properly. The build in afterburner effect was not effected. When I took it apart I noticed some scorching on the plugs and I couldn't get it repaired either, so once again I went back to the stock bulbs with oracle afterburners. However, after reinstalling one of the oracle afterburners was seriously malfunction and only putting out about 75% compared to the others.

I considered buying the new oracle afterbuners and taking everything apart once again, but I think those go for 200$ and shipping overseas is always a hassle. At that time, I had 2 sets of technostolgia taillights, 2 stock amber taillights that came with the car and 4 installed on the car with a total of 14 taillights in my possession. I may have a bit of a problem with collecting taillights.

I am also starting to think that the LED tailight are getting dated and cliché, but bulbs are also not as sleek. About a month ago, in the 5th Gen Camaro chat croup of China, I saw someone who had taillights modified and I reached out to him. He put me in touch with the guy who build his taillights and I really liked his work.

After sharing with the builder what I had and what I wanted he was able to do everything I asked. So now I have what I think are the most beautiful and unique taillights of any Camaro I have ever seen. He was to take my broken technostolgia taillights apart and add his own elements to the inside. Currently I have both sides working perfectly. All 4 lights turn and all 4 lights light up to brake, but have separate elements for each function. The turn signal is a strip on the top, where the build in reflectors are and the amazingly rich red afterburners are the parking/ brake lights. I finally the look I was hoping for all along. And his work cost less than 100$, all I had to do was install the taillights and plug them into the stock harness. By this time, I am an expert and installing Camaro taillights so I had them in and washed my car in less than an hour. I also put in smoked side markers to complete the tones in my color scheme and now I am beyond pleased with the look of my car. It was a long journey but I learned a lot along the way.

I don't know why I can't post some of the pictures, but I'll try again later. For now you will just have to imagine how nice my taillights look.

[rocknroll_jeph]

Finally uploaded pictures of the final product. Looks even better in person.

[rocknroll_jeph]

Sunday evening and night I spent at the track, Monday morning I was back in my kindergarten classroom teaching my lessons. It is such a strange transition to go from a track day and after party to be a calm and mature presence in my room.

This track day was totally different from what I have done in the past. The registration was in a posh center operated by Audi next to the track. Kind of like the Tire Rack track if you have even been there... As usual we had the forms and track insurance to sign, but it was sponsored by Audi so we all got a small Audi branded gift. Before the track opened there were simulators available for play and nice coffee, juice and some vitamin water that was also a co- sponsor of the event. We had a very good safety briefing. The instructor who delivered the briefing used to work for Chrysler and lived in Michigan so even though he said it all in Chinese it was pretty much like the briefing that we would get at the track days in the states.

There were only 16 drivers so they didn't have groups, we just went on track when we were ready and the track was open for an hour. There were two red flags, one because a dog entered the track and one just minutes before the hour was up when a Honda spun and hit a wall. The driver was ok but the bumper and rear quarter took some heavy damage. Other than that everything went well except for the drivers who didn't understand the point to pass rule and passing zones. That slowed me down some, but gave my car a chance to cool down.

Since my last track day I put on new discs which which worked amazingly. I wasn't actually ready for the increase in efficiency. They got up to temperature and didn't fade at all during the whole hour. I also re-installed a new strut bar and the car was so planted and I didn't feel any sense of understeer or oversteer. I finally found an excellent balance with tire pressure, suspension settings and weight balance. However, I didn't time any of my laps so I'm not sure if I improved at all. It was all about having fun, meeting some new people and making myself a better driver.

On track there was some typical cars such as the Fiesta ST, Miata, Mustang, Honda Civics, a 4cyl Cadillac and a few Audis but there was some eye candy too- McLaren, Jaguar F-type and our Camaro's.

This was the first time I've even had someone go with me to a track day. I met a Camaro driver in one of the chat groups and we met up at a Starbucks before the event. Meeting him made me feel so old. Just talking to him online I figured he was young but I was shocked when he told me he was only 19. Damn... Owning a car in China is a really hard thing to do and here is a teenage with a tastefully modified 6th gen. He was pretty mature for his age, but I work in education and have a lot of students his age so it wasn't awkward at all. It was his first time on a track and I think I got him hooked, so I am doing my job getting the next generation of drivers on the track and even more excited about cars.