The lesson? It doesn't matter how much intake, cam, carb jetting, timing, custom transmission work, rearend gearing, or trick tires you throw at a car with a tired engine. Do yourself a favor and test what you have first, then start planning. I should have talked to my buddy more about the changes as I made them. Seeing that I was determined to do it my way, he pointed me to quality equipment, letting me learn this tough one on my own. Oh well, at least the rest of the car is ready for the stroker now.
Rich Pedraza
Via e-mail
Readers' Pages
Lord, He Was Born a Rambler Man
Who: Dave Evangelist
Where: Roselle, IL
What: '64 Rambler 770
Why: It's a clean old Rambler with an engine swap that doesn't involve a Chevy
Goodies: The Ford 302 is rebuilt and fitted with a tunnel ram mounting a pair of Edelbrock 450-cfm carbs. The power channels through a Ford C-6 auto trans and back to what Dave refers to as an 831/44-inch rear, so we'll assume it was sourced from a Chrysler product. The bright red hue of the rollin' Rambler is Jalapena Red from an '86 Mustang.
Clean Machine
Who: Justin Olanin
Where: Reading, PA
What: '87 Camaro Z28
Why: This much restraint is not typically exercised when building a third-gen
Goodies: Justin tells us he bought the Camaro six years ago when he was 16. Back then he was satisfied with the car's stock LG4 305, until he found his father's stash of Car Craft issues. During his senior year, Justin and his dad built a 383 and installed it with a performance exhaust system. Later, as Justin's interest in car crafting grew, he got another car for daily driving and refinished the Camaro in white with a Harwood 4-inch cowl hood and ROH Sniper 17-inch wheels. We like the clean, tasteful look of the car-only the huge hood gives away that there's something going on here.
Vintage Racer for the Street
Who: Scott Sidelinger
Where: Gardiner, ME
What: '69 Sunoco Camaro Penske/Donohue clone
Why: We love vintage Trans Am stuff, and the Penske/Donohue cars are among the coolest.
Goodies: Scott built his Camaro to look like a Trans Am racer and built a small-block that's suited for roadcourse duty. The de-stroked 400 now displaces 325 cubes, which would have been too many for Trans Am's 5L limit, but creates a nice big-bore/short-stroke engine for high-rpm power. An Offenhauser cross-ram intake mounts a pair of 450-cfm Holleys and a GM "Off-Road" solid cam controls the valves in the aluminum Edelbrock Performer RPM heads. A Canton 7-quart oil pan controls the lube. The power goes through a Muncie M22 trans back to a set of 4.10 gears inside a 12-bolt housing. Master Power Brakes supplied the JL-8-style front disc brakes and Cadillac Seville-style rear discs. The wheels look like period-correct Minilites, but are actually Vintage Wheel Works 16-inchers shod with Pirelli rubber.
He says: "It's a fun, street-legal car to go out and beat on!"