TECH NOTES
What: '71 Chevrolet Camaro
Owner: Troy LaCrone, who also has a bitchin' Web site, enginecombination.com.
Hometown: St. Clair, Missouri, one of those little towns that has two exits off Interstate 44, just in case you miss the first one.
Techs: Troy is not shy about asking for help and is also willing to acknowledge guys like Tom Oermann at Meramec Automatics, Yank Racing, 10.5 tire racer Scott Lowery, Alan Casey, Tom Monehan, Brian Raymond, Roy Parmer, Mark Workman, J.T. Flora, Jason Sheets, and Patrick Meyers, along with his wife Tonya and his dad Mike.
Short-block: Motown iron block with an Ohio Crank 4340-steel forging and JE 10.6:1 forged pistons and Total Seal conventional rings.
Camshaft: Lunati RA1 mechanical-roller cam with 256/264 degrees of duration at 0.050-inch tappet lift and 0.624-inch valve lift for both.
Heads: Airflow Research 227cc partially CNC-ported heads with 2.10/1.60-inch stainless steel valves and Harland Sharp 0.050-offset intake rockers.
Induction: Edelbrock Super Victor with an 850-cfm Holley carb, but Troy is currently switching over to a Pro Systems 1,050-cfm carb based on a standard flange Holley.
Nitrous: Nitrous Oxide Systems Big Shot plate system with a current 225hp tune-up. Troy will now try a 350hp shot to get into the 8s. He also mixes race fuel in with the pump gas when he runs the big nitrous tune-up.
Fuel System: The plumbing is actually two separate systems, one Holley "black" 140 pump for both the engine and the nitrous system with a combination of Holley and Aeromotive regulators originating from a 12-gallon fuel cell in the trunk.
Headers: Troy and his friend Tom Monehan modified Hedman 134-inch headers.
Drivetrain: Meramac Automatics built the TH400 trans with a TCI reverse-manual valvebody controlled by a B&M MegaShifter.
Troy has just installed a new Yank Racing 9.5-inch nitrous converter that is much tighter with a 4,500-rpm on-nitrous stall speed intended to be used with the bigger 350hp shot. Driveshafts Unlimited supplied the steel driveshaft while there is now a Moser 9-inch with 3.89:1 gears and 35-spline Moser axles to take the abuse from the big nitrous loads.
Suspension: Don't look for ladder bars or coilover shocks on this 9-second beast, yet Troy can pull off a 1.33 60-foot time with stock leaf springs, Lakewood bolt-on traction bars, and adjustable Competition Engineering adjustable shocks. The chrome-moly 10-point 'cage helps tie the car together. For tires, Troy depends on a set of 28x11.5-15 M/T E.T. Drag slicks mounted on 15x10 Center Line Convo Pro wheels with skinnies up front.
Body and Paint: Along with his tuning prowess, Troy also does his own bodywork and paint with help from friends. The entire car is sprayed in pearl blue with white stripes that Wally Edlers helped apply. END