The car is driven on the street primarily, but it's also raced a lot. "I'd like it to be good at both, but it's a compromise," says Brian. "It goes to car shows 150 miles one way, and it cruises at 75 mph at 2,400 rpm." Is he satisfied with 10-second quarters and driveability on the street? "I want it to go faster," he says.
Tech Notes
Who: Brian Fiers
What: '69 Chevy Camaro
Where: Onalaska, Wisconsin. Brrrrr! Cold!
Engine: The block is an iron Merlin II with a 4.5-inch bore. Brian added a set of 6.385-inch Eagle H-beam rods and a Scat 4340 crank with a 4.25-inch stroke for 540 inches. The cam is a Comp solid roller with 254/260 degrees of lift at 0.050 and 0.660/0.666-inch lift.
Heads: The heads are Pro Topline (now RHS) 320s with polished combustion chambers.
Induction: The intake is a rectangle-port Edelbrock Victor Jr. with a BG Speed Demon 850-cfm carb with down-leg boosters. This combo made 525 hp and 525 lb-ft at the wheels during the '07 Car Craft Nationals.
Exhaust: Hooker made the Competition headers with 2-inch primaries. Brian made the 3-inch tubes and welded them to a set of Flowmaster 40-series Delta Flow mufflers.
Ignition: The 540 uses the standard MSD Pro Billet distributor with an MSD 6AL box, Super Conductor wires, and a Blaster II coil.
Swap: To switch a small-block to a big-block, you need to change the frame mounts on the crossmember and corresponding engine mounts. Brian's are from Energy Suspension. He also changed the heater core so the valve covers don't hit the hoses and added a big-block radiator and fan shroud. The master cylinder booster was changed to a smaller one to clear.
Transmission: To go from a TH350 to a Tremec, Brian had to drill and tap the hole for the Z-bar linkage that he scored at a swap meet. The crossmember was moved back an inch or so, and the mounting pad had to be cut and rewelded.
Rearend: Originally the rearend had an 8.5-inch 10-bolt. Brian planned on running 10-second e.t.'s and was contemplating a 9-inch until he read about a Camaro in Car Craft with a Dana 60 swap from Strange engineering with 4.10:1 gears and a Detroit Locker, so he used one of that combo.
Wheels/Tires: For the track he uses 15 x 10 Weld Pro Stars in the rear with 4.5-inch backspacing and 29.5 x 9 ET Drag tires. He still had to have the Dana narrowed 1 inch on each end, and there was a little trimming to do on the inner fender. On the street Brian uses a set of 15x8 Stars with 275/60R 15 ET Street Radials. On the front is a set of 15x5 Weld Pro Stars with 205/70R15 Cooper tires.
Trunk: The battery location is to save room to haul stuff, tools, and extra parts in case something should happen.