Pete's Camaro

Show us yours....
pjs65
Posts: 442
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2009 7:08 pm
Location: recovering from a My Bloody Valentine gig

Re: Pete's Camaro

Post by pjs65 »

A little bit overdue for an up date so here goes .
18 months ago at my last trackday i managed to overheat the engine oil and knacker the motor so a new engine was needed . As with most rebuilds it usually means finding other things that also need updating , so instead of waffling on i will just list what's been done .
1) New engine , from 5.0 to the original size of 5.7 litres . I retained the old heads( new valve springs fitted) and intake but everything else is new including a 280 deg cam .
2) New electric fuel pump , Aeromotive regulator and filter .
£) replaced most of the engine bay wiring and added missing relays and added another fuse panel.
4)New diff gears , down from 3.08 to 3.42 .
5)New exhaust system , not really finished as i would like so its more a work in progress .
6) front suspension geometry change with tall ball joints and rewelded pickup points , at the moment it has 8deg castor and 2deg camber.
7)refitted the old brake servo along with a scooby master cylinder and a pro valve . I must be getting on a bit as i found the manual setup hard work .
8) And finally new wheels and tyres , 9.5 x 18 Rota's with 265 /35/18 track tyres .

The car now has an MOT and iam driving about plenty trying to run the engine in . A couple of things that i noticed straight away is how little throttle it needs to go and how quickly the engine heats up , i get to 110deg on the engine oil just cruising about so i reckon that it will need an oil cooler . Also the grip the the tracktyres have over the old road rubber .
Enough waffle here are some pictures.

Iam not much off a wheel whore but i did like the Rota GTR rims although i let the mrs talk me into getting silver rims instead of my choice of the black ones.

Image

Image

I have some more pictures which i will put up when i find them . Pete

User avatar
pablo
Posts: 4896
Joined: Thu Nov 09, 2006 10:37 pm

Re: Pete's Camaro

Post by pablo »

A lot of work there Pete but looking at those pics, wow it was totally worth it that car is just stunning.
Tntracing
http://www.facebook.com/Tntracing.uk

2015 - MSA Classic & Retro UK Time Attack Champions

User avatar
Monster
Posts: 1150
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:35 am
Location: In the pub, err, I mean working late....

Re: Pete's Camaro

Post by Monster »

ooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooh! that is all!

User avatar
Monster
Posts: 1150
Joined: Fri Jun 20, 2008 11:35 am
Location: In the pub, err, I mean working late....

Re: Pete's Camaro

Post by Monster »

actually it's not, looks great and loving the new rimmage. The rest of it sounds a proper job too, bet you'll notice a world of difference, bet you can't wait till it's run in

User avatar
evildave
Posts: 274
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2008 12:55 pm

Re: Pete's Camaro

Post by evildave »

Looks great Pete, we really should get the camaros together

pjs65
Posts: 442
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2009 7:08 pm
Location: recovering from a My Bloody Valentine gig

Re: Pete's Camaro

Post by pjs65 »

pablo wrote:A lot of work there Pete but looking at those pics, wow it was totally worth it that car is just stunning.
Thanks Paul it sure has been a lot of work , not sure if i will get it on track this year but i might wait till next year . I still have to run the engine in and get used to driving it again as i forgot what a handful it is . Pete
Monster wrote:actually it's not, looks great and loving the new rimmage. The rest of it sounds a proper job too, bet you'll notice a world of difference, bet you can't wait till it's run in
I have been putting off getting the Rota's for a while but as i really should get some track rubber i thought it an ideal time to change the rims . Most of the yanks run Camaro's on track have 18s on their cars and they look not to bad plus there is a good choice of rubber . Hopefully will see you and the mighty GTR on track sometime , i have a plan B if not in the Camaro's not ready .

This is the plan B
Image
evildave wrote:Looks great Pete, we really should get the camaros together
Sounds like a good idea , maybe at Snetterton or at APT .

Having not driven the Camaro for 18 months the manual brakes felt hard to work than i remember plus the cam made more vacuum than i thought it would so i decided to refit the servo . I had left the old mounting holes in just for this reason and i hadn't junked the servo so there was little work to refit it . I did bin the old cast iron master cylinder but did have a 1 1/16 Scooby one which only needed the mount holes filed out a couple of millimeters it fit . Also needed a 3mm spacer between the cylinder and servo as the servo push rod was just pushing on the cylinder piston . I also fitted a bias valve for the rear brakes and mounted it under the dash so i can turn it while in the seat . The Camaro brake pipe had some metal spiral covering it which i couldn't find anywhere so i used some 5mm wiring split conduit , which worked well and looks quite good . The brakes feel pretty good now and don't feel as overservo'ed as with the old cast iron master cylinder . The front calipers were from a 2000 Camaro and are similar to the calipers on Corvette ,but the Corvette's have extra ribs and are pressure cast instead of gravity cast and are much stiffer . I read on one of the stateside forums that the Camaro ones flex so they aren't ideal for use with a manual small bore master cylinder ,but they do work well with the bigger Scooby one .
A dodgy phone pic of the Scooby master cylinder on the Camaro servo
Image

I can reach the bias valve from the seat as its just by my left knee .
Image
Pete .

User avatar
maff
Posts: 2382
Joined: Fri Oct 06, 2006 2:03 pm
Location: Norfolk, UK
Contact:

Re: Pete's Camaro

Post by maff »

That looks the nuts, the Mrs was right.... they always are.

:) Great stuff.

User avatar
russ979
Posts: 2356
Joined: Sun Apr 13, 2008 8:21 pm
Location: Lost!

Re: Pete's Camaro

Post by russ979 »

Top choice Pete! That is really looking quite awesome. :drool5:

pjs65
Posts: 442
Joined: Sat Oct 10, 2009 7:08 pm
Location: recovering from a My Bloody Valentine gig

Re: Pete's Camaro

Post by pjs65 »

maff wrote:That looks the nuts, the Mrs was right.... they always are.

:) Great stuff.
True and she never moans about how i spend money on the car although i do have to do a bit of diy now and again , which is fair enough .
russ979 wrote:Top choice Pete! That is really looking quite awesome. :drool5:
Thanks Russ , iam looking foward to doing some TD's with it . Only 400 miles of running in needed first , yawn .

User avatar
evildave
Posts: 274
Joined: Sat Apr 19, 2008 12:55 pm

Re: Pete's Camaro

Post by evildave »

Thats some good work on the brakes Pete!
I just got back from the USA and managed to bring a disc conversion kit with me, got one side fitted last night, also bought a big master cylinder and new proportioning valve so hopefully that'll help me slow down as the drums were not ideal to say the least.

Image
Image

Post Reply