History

My 73 Z-28 Camaro

My camaro is a 1973 Z-28 that I traded a pickup truck for in '94. The car had a wimpy 305 cid engine and the interior was trashed. After driving it around the rest of the summer, taking it to shows and cruises, it was time to get it in shape. I pulled the 305 in favor of a 396 and recovered the front buckets and replaced the carpet.

I started taking it to the drag strip and made some passes. Much to my dismay the results were a mid 13sec time slip. A new solid lifter cam, 3500 converter, M/T Sportsman tires and a 4.10 posi turned it into a high 12sec car. For the next season I added a N.O.S Super Powershot System and with some tuning ran a 11.00 pass at the N.M.C.A. Fastest Street Car Shoot-Out in Memphis Tenn. But this was a full second away from the Top Dog in the EZ-Street class.

Over the winter I found a '70 Z-28 that was going to be raced in '78, but never seemed to get finished, for sale sitting in a little garage near my home town. After talking to the owner we got together to look at the car. Well needless to say the car was in need of a good cleaning, but was intact and was parked in running order. The guy told me it was an L-88 427 but that the aluminum heads had been broken and replaced with '70 LS-6 heads when they had the engine in a '55 Chevy that he raced before. He produced a folder and said that all the receipts for the car, motor, transmission and parts were in it.

When I opened the folder I got the shock of my life. There staring back at me was the original bill of sale for the motor from Nickey Chevrolet. A receipt for the B&M racing transmission from the Ramchargers speed shop. And all the receipts for the suspension, carbs tunnel ram, engine work, pistons were all in this folder. Right then I haggled the guy down a few bucks and brought the car home. After some careful inspection the beast roared to life, wow what a Heartbeat. Well the camaro was about to get an infusion of horsepower. Over the rest of the winter I spent many long nights swapping motors and everything else needed to get the car together.

April '97, N.M.C.A. season opener in St.Louis, IL maiden voyage. The first pass is on motor (no NOS) it runs a 12.07. Put a 150 hp NOS tune on and go up to make a pass, halfway down on what seems to be a great run, fuel pressure drops on fuel side of NOS system and I shut it off. To late, the heat has tuliped the valves in #2 and a crack between the intake and exhaust seats in the head. I backed off the valves and got 60% of the compression back and fixed the fuel problem and the car ran 11.60's the rest of the weekend.

Back home, I pull the head and take it to Tim at Performance Motorsports for repair. Tim and I discuss what my needs were and we decided to increase the hp and try to be one of the Big Dogs. It paid off, in Memphis I qualified with a 10.04@134mph with no track time on the new combination. I went three rounds going out to Bob Joysey's beautifully fast '71 Z-28 (9.82 to10.07) by .01. The next week out with the feedback from the passes, I ran the car at Cordova Dragway and ran a 9.88@136mph. The next pass I ran a 9.85@137mph, this is on a safe 275 hp NOS tune and in real need of some chassis tuning. People have told me that the car leaps off the starting line so hard that they have seen air under all four tires, I thought they were crazy, but after looking at the video shots taken it does actually lift the rear tires as the fronts touch back down. Actually it is unloading the rear tires as the weight shifts back to the front.

It's Official, this car is now a BIG DOG !!!

Over the winter I plan on some chassis modifications at Rick's Racecraft. Rick will install a chrome moly rollcage and do the chassis tuning needed to get this heavy (3750 lbs) car off the line in the 1.35 60'ft range.

More Later

Well I got the car back from Rick's, what craftsmanship!! The moly cage is the best I have seen. Rick and I decided to try traction bars with some other changes (top-secret). First trial run the car leaves the line great but pushes to the right. A respectable 60' of 1.45 and 10.36@ 134 getting in & out of NOS. Checking the suspension shows too much preload so we readjust the snubber. The next pass not much better the car still going to the right, 60' 1.44 & 10.35 in & out again. The springs are bending due to age (the originals) and need replacing. Back to Rick's and some new de-arched springs installed I find the right side traction bar mounting pad is bent. We decide to switch back to SSM lift bars.

It's Friday night, Route 66 raceway the night before the Hot-Rod race. Bring the car out to try the new stuff again. Stage the car, the green light flashes, I nail the throttle and the car hooks harder than ever. Big BANG, result the street series gear goes away ripping half the teeth off the ring gear. Try to find a new gear to make the race but nobody seems to have one, Bummer. Two weeks later with a new Pro gear installed I pull into 66 again and this time no problems. The car launches with the wheels up and goes 9.88 @ 134 with a 1.40 sixty. Track personnel get on me about a license so spend the next two weeks making my passes to get my N.H.R.A. license. Get my license just in time to make it to the N.S.C.A. World Finals at Columbus.

Columbus-Pull in to Columbus Friday around noon. Get car teched in, around 5:00 they call first round qualifying. Car leaves hard and runs a 9.86 @ 135 with a 1.39 sixty. Second pass car leaves even better, 1.38 sixty, but I have a brain fade at the 1000' mark watching the other car I see the marker and think I'm at the end and lift. Third qualifying pass 1.39 sixty 9.87 @ 134. I'm feeling really good about the cars performance and keep tweaking the suspension per Rick's instructions. I get matched with Jim Craig's 442 Olds first round, he qualified with a 9.2*. I try to get him to jump by moving from stage to deep but that backfires and he cuts a 401 light and I leave late handing him an easy win. Next time.

Back home the next week I go to 66 for the last weekend of racing and the car runs it's best run yet with a 9.693 @ 137 mph. All in all a good season even though I only made one race, I accomplished a lot. Motor is coming out and making a trip back to Tim at Performance Motorsports for a little more power and Rick is trying to talk me into ladder bars with floaters.

Update-06/01/99

During the winter months I pulled the motor to install aluminum rods and a slightly bigger camshaft. Once the motor is at Performance Motorsports, Tim checks everything and finds the valves had been floating and have tore up 6 stems around the keepers. Tim reassembles the motor and then makes the trip to FastTimes for a round with the Dyno. Chuck dyno's the motor and finds some more power. Get it back home and install it and take it out for a couple of shakedown passes. Everything seems OK so I turn on the spray, at weight it runs a 9.90 @ 136, a little disappointed, but this is with 50hp less NOS. Next pass nets a 9.81 @ 137, little better.

Miss first NSCA race in Shreveport. Car done in time to make StLouis. Car runs well and qualifies with a 9.83, still not what I was expecting. Tune on the chassis a little and have to run Bob D'Andrea first round. Well step the NOS back up and the car hooks incredible but keeps coming up, I lift, back in the throttle and back up it goes again, Lift again. This time I wasn't quite so lucky and came down hard. Bent motor mounts, flattened headers a bit and ripped up fan shroud.

At home I fix the damage and change converters and install a progressive controller. Take the car to Rte 66 and again no real ET gain but mph comes up to 139. Time for Memphis, put new NOS plate and solenoid on and head out. First pass a 9.80 @ 139, once again light on spray checking out the tune up trying to be safe. Up the spray a bit for second round, blow the tires off and spin a lot for a 10.27 pass. Third round car leaves good and runs a best ever at weight (3750) and runs a 9.53 @ 142, now that is the way it is supposed to run.

Well am I lucky or what, I get to race Rohe first round. He spanks me but the car runs a good number, a 9.48 @ 143.78 to his 9.09. I'm still happy, motor still shows fat on the tune-up and nothing is hurt. I'll just go back and get ready for Bristol, maybe a "little" more juice. After Bristol car is going to Rick's for the Ladder Bars, if I could get this thing to hook better than 1.39 it might get where I want it to be......9.2's @ 148.