While spy shots, info leaks, and all sorts of other information has been flowing across the internet for months, GM has now officially released more details on the new Camaro, including base engine specs, optional colors, weight specs, and other info we've all been dying to know.

Download the GM relased spec sheet pdf by clicking here:

Terry Woods and his brother Bob are true believers in superchargers. So much so that back in the early '60s, Terry stuffed a Paxton-supercharged 312ci Y-block Ford in a '56 Merc and terrorized the streets with a blow-through Holley carburetor. Today he and brother Bob are big Mopar fans, but they've lost none of their enthusiasm for centrifugal supercharging. Terry's background is in engineering, so he's always known that while Roots blowers are big on visual impact, they suffer a little in the efficiency department. When big centrifugals began bulging the marketplace, the brothers were thrilled. But none of the blower companies wanted to build specific drive kits for Mopars. That's when The Supercharger Store was created in Huachuca City, Arizona, with the brothers building supercharger kits for Mopars, big-block Fords, and big-block Buicks.

Using supercharger-induced pressure to push air and fuel into the cylinders is an easy way to make more power. But blowers also heat the air they pressurize, which not only reduces the air density, but also makes the engine prone to detonation. That's why blower motors need high-octane fuel. The problem with race gas is that it's a quickly consumable commodity at $6 or more per gallon. So when E85 (85 percent ethanol/alcohol mixed with 15 percent gasoline) arrived in Arizona, the brothers saw the light of a golden opportunity. This E85 stuff offered an octane rating of 105 at roughly half the price of race gas, since in southeastern Arizona the cost of E85 was a mere $2.43 per gallon.

So now we need to introduce the car. Terry found this Charger back in 1997 and eventually stuffed a low-compression 440 in it with the eventual plan of bolting on a centrifugal supercharger. It soon became the company's test mule for various accessory-drive configurations for ATI superchargers. After E85 appeared in Arizona, it just made sense to try this new fuel in the car. So now, all three of these concepts-the car, the supercharger, and the right fuel-came together to create a potential that just could not be ignored. The brothers bolted in a giant 32-gallon ATL E85 fuel cell in the trunk, plumbed it with a high-capacity MagnaFuel fuel pump and -10 feed lines, and then worked with their friends at Performance Carburetors to use a modified 750 annular-discharge carburetor that would accommodate E85's greater volume demands.

With the conversion complete, they took the Charger to Xact Dyno in Tempe, Arizona, to do a straight-up comparison using Xact's hydraulically loaded Dynapack, which bolts to the rear axles, eliminating tire slippage as a variable. The test consisted of running the Charger on both pump gasoline and E85 at the same boost level to compare the power output. The accompanying graph illustrates the difference in power especially along the torque curve, where differentials of 30 lb-ft of torque or more between 3,400 and 4,800 were the norm. Studying the air/fuel ratio curves later revealed that both the gasoline and E85 mixture levels were on the rich side, but the power differential was still clearly evident. Terry and Bob are confident that this amount of torque along with a conservative 25hp improvement at the top of the curve is due mainly to E85's ability to cool the incoming charge.

Terry believes that if the engine were optimized by bumping the static compression from 8.8:1 to 10.0:1 or more, the power curve would clearly benefit. Part of the reason for this is that in addition to the use of E85, the brothers also equipped this 440 with a complete water-injection system that includes a 5-gallon reservoir, a high-quality, high-pressure pump, and The Supercharger Store's own spray nozzle designed to inject the water as a fine mist directly into the inlet side of the supercharger. Doing so introduces the water as far upstream as possible to produce the most reduction of inlet-air temperature. This takes advantage of something called the latent heat of vaporization of water. When vaporized, water can remove roughly four to six times the amount of heat from the inlet-air temperature compared to gasoline, and when combined with E85, this inlet-air cooling improves even more. As an example, during the chassis dyno testing, the gasoline-fed and water-injected combination saw an inlet-air temperature of 173 degrees F at 15.8 psi of boost in the intake manifold, while the E85 combo registered a mere 109 degrees F at 15.5 psi. That's a huge difference, especially when you consider that there is a 1 percent potential power increase with every 10-degree decrease in temperature. This is probably where the power increase originated.

The reason that water injection works so well is because not only does it reduce the inlet air temperature, but the proper amount of water also reduces the peak cylinder pressures to prevent detonation. Terry feels that the combination of E85's strong octane rating along with a properly designed water-injection system could potentially sustain boost levels as high as 20 psi in their Mopar motor without having to compromise total ignition timing.

The final evaluation was a full dragstrip blast at Southwest International Raceway in Tucson, where the 4,300-plus-pound Charger ran a solid 11.20 pass. But because the Charger doesn't have a rollbar, the track wasn't thrilled with allowing more than one run. Think about that: Here's a massively heavy Mopar running low 11s at a track located in the high desert on pump gas ethanol with a little squirt of water mixed in. It puts a whole new perspective on the term "alcohol abuse," doesn't it?

Tech Notes
Who: Terry Woods, co-owner of The Supercharger Store (thesupercharger store.com)

What: '73 Dodge Charger

Where: Huachuca City, Arizona, where the average humidity hovers in the single digits most of the year.

Engine: The Charger originally had a 318 that got the boot when Terry ran across a Police Interceptor 440 out of a '72 cop car. Terry was living in Iowa at the time and had a Cedar Rapids machine shop rebuild the wedge with its original forged steel crank and Six-Pack rods, adding forged 8.8:1 compression TRW pistons and a Mopar Purple Stripe single-pattern cam with 284 advertised duration and 0.528 inch of valve lift. Terry also resurrected the stock iron heads with some simple pocket porting along with stainless steel 2.14/1.81-inch valves.

Induction: Terry chose a Mopar Performance single-plane M1 intake and a 750-cfm Performance Carburetors Stage II blow-through carb for the gasoline testing, and then switched to a similar PC Stage II carb modified for E85. Both gas and alcohol carbs use annular-discharge boosters that create a much better fuel curve under boost. ProCharger rates the F-1 blower at a maximum of 1,525 cfm and 38 psi, but Terry hasn't turned the wick up that high yet. Most of his testing has been at a more sedate 15 psi. The Extreme Velocity air hat is also worth some power. Big airflow numbers require a good fuel pump, so the nod went to a MagnaFuel ProStar 300 pump for the E85. For gasoline testing, Terry switched to a ProTuner 625 pump. The blow-through carb also requires a boost-referencing MagnaFuel pressure regulator.

Exhaust: The hot gases are directed through a 2.00-inch primary pipe-diameter set of TTI headers plumbed into a 3-inch exhaust system with DynoMax mufflers.

Powertrain: Behind all this power is a simple 727 TorqueFlite automatic with a Turbo Action Cheetah valvebody, a B&M shifter, a Mopar Performance torque converter, and a Mark Williams driveshaft connected to an 831/44 rearend assembly sporting a Sure Grip limited slip, a set of 3.91 gears, and Moser Engineering axles.

Suspension/Brakes: Terry did add a pair of Mopar Performance leaf springs, a pinion snubber, and extralong rear shocks. Otherwise, it's all stock '73-vintage stuff including the factory front disc brakes and rear drums.

Wheels/Tires: Did we mention the stock front wheels and tires? No? Good. In the rear Terry set up a pair of 275/60R15 BFGoodrich Drag Radials mounted on steel wheels.

Body: The main changes to the body are strictly for safety, with a Lakewood driveshaft loop and, of course, that massive 32-gallon fuel cell for E85 in the Mopar's trunk. Try that in a 'Cuda.

Interior: The less said about the interior, the better.

Power: On E85 with water injection, this iron-headed 440 has made 576 rwhp and 710 lb-ft of rear-wheel torque at a pinion tooth-bending 3,500 rpm.

Performance: Let's start with the fact that this Mopar weighs an Imperialistic 4,256 pounds. What makes the B-Body's 11.20-at 120-mph pass at Southwest International Raceway in Tucson even more amazing is that the track sits at an altitude of 3,075 feet above sea level.

Thanks: Bob and Terry want to thank Performance Carburetors (performance carburetors.com), MagnaFuel (magnafuel.com), Extreme Velocity (superiorairflow.com), and Xact Dyno (xactdyno.com) for their help in testing the E85 fuel on the Charger.

'We were crowded around the window of glass and chicken wire designed to separate us from flaming chunks of engine shrapnel when Westech's Steve Brul's hand crept toward the little red button on the console. With his left arm pumping the throttle lever, he touched the button, making the engine bark and twist hard to the left as the nitrous system was purged. On the way past 4,000 rpm, the solenoids were clicked open and the engine tried to leap off of the cradle, sounding a little too angry for just a 150-shot. When the engine settled back to an idle, it looked like the balancer was still attached and nothing was sticking out of the oil pan as the Superflow quietly downloaded the info from the cell. It was a unibody-bending 695 hp on our big tune-up.

'CC/Rambler>>>

If you haven't seen this engine before, we have been using it and the '67 Rambler American it belongs to for dragstrip testing and a few runs to Vegas and San Diego to prove its mettle as a real-world street/strip car. The engine was pulled from a wrecked '85 Jeep Grand Cherokee and assembled almost two years ago by JMS Racing Engines in Monrovia, California. The only trick part about it is a mild stroke on the rod journals to fit a set of Scat 6-inch Chevy rods and custom Lunati pistons. The rest is off-the-shelf parts from Edelbrock and Holley. In various states of tune, it's made from 425 to 480 hp and propelled the Rambler to a best uncorrected time of 12.06 at 112.28. Check out the complete specs in the engine sidebar.

Since there aren't too many people asking for AMC manifolds, we had to ship Tim Hogan our Performer RPM manifold for a template and give him our complete engine specs. It bolted on with no problem, although we were stumped by the use of a Chevy water neck mount.>>>

The car is fast, but we wanted more . . . a lot more. So instead of building a whole new engine or pumping the compression and cam to unstreetable levels (we'll do that later), we decided to go for the glory of a tunnel-ram and the juice in a bottle in a big way. Now it can be driven every day and fry tire at the track on the weekends, just like a street machine should.

The tunnel-ram has two parts. The upper half is designed to distance the carb from the runners to enhance the low-rpm signal without increasing the size of the plenum. Since our engine is not too radical by Hogan's standards, the plenum is relatively small. Larger plenums will stagnate the air, requiring a lot of rpm to get it moving. If we decide to add a solid roller and a steel crank to the AMC and rev it, we can add plenum volume with a spacer plate.>>>

The Baseline
465 hp at 6,100
431 lb-ft at 5,200
About a month before we went to press on this issue, the distributor and cam gears bumped heads, forcing a complete rebuild of the engine to clear out the metal shavings that flowed into the oil. After readers screamed for a rebuild, we used an Edelbrock Torker manifold with a Holley 750 HP carb and a set of off-the-shelf Edelbrock heads. We also slipped in a Voodoo hydraulic flat-tappet cam with 254/258 degrees at 0.050 and 0.555-inch lift and a matched set of cam and distributor gears from Bulltear Industries. It's as close to the original combo as we could get.

The Manifold
474 hp at 6,200
440 lb-ft at 5,100
The tunnel-ram is the ultimate head-turner for the street-machine guy. In terms of average torque, horsepower, and screaming power at the top, there is no beating it. We scoured the Internet for an Edelbrock AMC UR-18 tunnel-ram and found that they have become vintage collector's items and therefore crazy expensive. For you Chevy, Ford, and Mopar guys, there are a million tunnel-rams in catalogs, at swap meets, and on the Internet ripe for the choosin'. We had the ram made at Hogan's Racing Manifolds for the purposes of this test. The upside to a custom manifold is that it can be made specifically to suit your particular engine needs.

The idea behind the ram is simple: Increase torque by increasing the length of the intake runner and therefore the virtual length of the intake port on the cylinder head, creating a column of air that fills the cylinder when the intake valve is popped open. In theory, this should shove more air into the cylinder.

On the engine dyno, all of our pulls were from 4,000 rpm to redline, because that's where tunnel-ram power lives. The ram beat the single-plane Torker manifold and 750 carb by about 10 hp at the top, boosting the torque peak from 431 to 440 lb-ft and adding an average of 9 lb-ft of torque and 8 hp average from 4,000 to the power peak. Plugging that info into the Comp Cams DeskTop Dyno just sneaks the Rambler into the high 11s. The program has been within 0.10 or so against actual track times, so we tend to believe it.

The Carbs
We've been told that a pair of vacuum-secondary carbs on a tunnel-ram rarely open all the way on the street. We've also heard that this phenomenon is a good thing, because the engine will only use as much air and fuel as it needs. If you can tune the carbs for a smooth transition, a set of small vacuum-secondary carbs is perfect for a mild street machine. To test this theory, we installed a pair of 525-cfm vacuum-secondary Road Demons and strapped the Rambler to the chassis dyno. On the first pass there was a noticeable bog before full throttle as the secondaries snapped open against the secondary spring. After we installed a heavier spring and dropped the secondary jets to 72 to slightly lean out the fuel curve, the Rambler made 365 rwhp. Just to see what it would do, we then tied the secondaries open and ran it again. After a huge lean dip caused by the lack of a secondary accelerator pump, the Rambler made 390 rwhp, a gain of 25 hp. That's when we added a set of 650-cfm Race Demon carbs that were set up specifically for a tunnel-ram application. Using out-of-the-box jetting, the 650s made a peak of 391 hp with a noticeable improvement in the throttle response on the dyno.

Out on the street, the 525s felt a little crisper at low rpm but would bog slightly when the throttle was whacked open. The 650s were the opposite, as they sagged a bit at traffic lights and absolutely obliterated the tires when we went WOT.

We asked Steve Brul for some dirt. He's seen vacuum-secondary carbs mounted side by side on tunnel-rams lean out one bank of cylinders at full throttle. His reasoning was that the secondaries were only partially open or not open at all, starving the right bank of cylinders (as seen from the front) and causing the im-balance. And that was the situation here. For an everyday street machine guy who just cruises and blips the throttle once in a while, this likely won't make a difference. On a drag car that sits at full throttle, a lean condition can hurt it. For our nitrous application, it was out of the question.

The Kit
Now the fun begins. We've heard for years that the tunnel-ram trades bottom-end driveability and power for a good peak number. We say, so will a giant cam. To fix both problems, we bolted on the Nitrous Oxide Systems (NOS) Pro Fogger Kit. For absolute, stupid fun, you can't beat the Fogger. We briefly considered a pair of plates but discovered the extra inch the plates provided under the carburetor smashed the air cleaners into the top of the hoodscoop. Since we wanted to drive the car on the street with a hood, we opted for the low-profile, high-visibility charms of the system with the crazy plumbing.

NOS offers so many different complete systems that they've seemed to run out of names for them. What is important is the delivery system and the size of the solenoids. The Powershot and Cheater solenoids are for wet and dry systems and for simple plates that can deliver up to 250 hp. The largest fuel solenoid is the Cheater, but there are three more nitrous solenoids if you really want to get crazy. The Pro Shot, the Pro Race, and the Super Bigshot solenoids can be used to create up to 600 hp in a single stage, and by that they mean all at once.

The difference between a plate system and a port system like the Pro Fogger is the method of delivery. The plates simply bolt to the intake manifold directly below the carburetor, and the port system requires holes to be drilled in the intake runner directly above the intake port.

Since hood clearance and horsepower greed led us to use a fogger-style port system, we had to choose between the Sportsman Fogger and the Pro Shot Fogger. The primary difference between the two is the size of the solenoids and ultimately the amount of power the system is capable of delivering. The Sportsman uses Powershot solenoids and can deliver from 50 to 250 hp. The Pro Shot uses a Super Pro Shot nitrous solenoid and a Cheater fuel solenoid for 150-500 hp. You can also combine a fogger with a plate for a two-stage system, where a smaller first stage can be activated off the line to maintain traction; then the plate system will arm somewhere down the track to maximize midrange and top-end speed. Since we will be using a timing system to ease the nitrous on as traction permits, we decided to try the big Pro Shot in a single-stage arrangement. Oh, and we like the idea of an extra 500 hp too.

Little Hit
649 hp at 5,200
638 lb-ft at 5,500Nitrous doesn't provide a torque curve. It's true. Unlike other power adders, the heroism of nitrous is that you get the torque peak and the horsepower peak right after you hit the button. According to Mike Thermos, owner of Nitrous Supply, peak cylinder pressure usually occurs about 15 degrees ATDC using gasoline. When you add an oxidizer like nitrous, the increased speed of the fuel burn puts peak cylinder pressure earlier in the power stroke, sometimes too early, causing detonation. That's where the rule of thumb that says to retard the timing 2 degrees for every 50 hp worth of nitrous comes from. It puts the pressure peak back where it belongs.

For all the nitrous runs, we used the Race Demon 650TR carbs jetted with 71 primaries and 72 secondaries, dialed back the timing to 28 degrees total, and used NGK R5671A-8 51/48 long-reach plugs, the coldest range available from that brand. The Pro Fogger uses two jets for each nozzle, so there are a total of 16 jets in one system. With #22 nitrous and #24 fuel jets, Brul hit the button at a conservative 4,500 rpm to make the number. He says that you can initiate a 175-shot as low as 3,000 rpm as long as you are at full throttle.

Big Hit
695 hp at 6,100
667 lb-ft at 5,300That's closing on 700 hp from 370 inches with a cast crank. Nitrous is sick. At this level, we were creeping up on some safety issues. Our personal experience says that you can run up 175 hp with hypereutectic pistons if you use premium gas and a knock sensor to retard the timing. Brul uses what is called the brake mean effective pressure (BMEP) to eyeball the point where pump fuel is going to break down and race fuel is required. BMEP is a dyno calculation that multiplies torque times 150.8 divided by cubic inches, and the magic number that Brul has discovered through years of dyno testing is 225. If you go beyond that, you need to use race gas. For the record, we spiked at 271.

With a tank full of Rockett Brand 114-octane racing fuel, the same plugs, and a total of 28 degrees of advance, we hit the button again. For nitrous runs over 200 hp, Brul likes to hit the button at 4,000 rpm at WOT, right where the tunnel-ram starts making power. We installed #25 nitrous and #28 fuel and jetted the secondary side of the 650TRs to 78. This might seem like a lot of extra fuel, but we wanted to be safe. Since we are not gaining horsepower with a bunch of rpm, the only way to break stuff is by detonating or leaning out the mixture and turning the tops of the pistons into molten aluminum. Both Brul and Thermos think the safety margin is between 10.5 and 11.5 A/F ratio. At the very top, we even dipped into the upper 9s. This is on the too-fat side, but again, we were using a cast crank and detonation would snap it for sure.

After the pull, we had some choices to make. Should we try for the 700hp number? The temptation, especially on the dyno, is to take away a little bit of fuel jet and bring the A/F ratio into the 10s at the top. This would likely find the lost 5 hp but would also be risky. Instead, we should have added perhaps one jet to both the nitrous and the fuel jets and stepped the entire curve up. In reality, the big hit is something that is suited for race gas and a car with a 'cage since it will likely be deep in the 10s at the dragstrip. The 175 shot will be plenty for a pump-gas test-and-tune or a cruise to the local digs, so we left it there.

Safety
Somewhere out there, a traffic safety school instructor is frothing at the mouth. For his piece of mind, we offer some safety tips.

Consider a separate fuel system with a pressure-operated kill switch when you are running the 500hp hurricane the Pro Shot was designed for. If you lose fuel pressure at the top end, the nitrous solenoids will click off and likely save you a lot of cash.

Make sure your charging system is in proper working order. Don't skimp on the alternator and battery; get the good stuff because the solenoids become erratic when system voltage is low.

Run it fat like we did and you won't melt anything. If you pull a plug and see a little pepper on the porcelain, you are lean or detonating, and you are going to break parts. And finally, always use nitrous at an approved racing venue in an appropriate manner. We always do

Mega Power
Test 1 used an Edelbrock Torker single-plane manifold, a Holley 750 HP carb, a Lunati flat-tappet hydraulic cam, and , and 171/48-inch Hooker Super Comp headers

Test 2 consisted of the 370-inch AMC mill with two Race Demon 650TRs and the Hogan's manifold. Jetting was 71 in the primaries and 72 in the secondaries.

For Test 3 we added a shot of nitrous oxide with 22/24 nitrous/fuel jetting with 28 degrees of timing.

For Test 4 we added a bigger shot of nitrous with 25/28 nitrous/fuel and the same timing.

	TEST 1		TEST 2		TEST 3		TEST 4
RPM	TQ	HP	TQ	HP	TQ	HP	TQ	HP
4,000	413	316	425	324	420	320	421	320
4,100	414	323	425	332	420	328	419	327
4,200	414	331	426	341	421	337	419	335
4,300	418	342	428	351	423	347	421	345
4,400	420	352	433	363	426	357	425	356
4,500	424	363	436	373	429	367	429	368
4,600	426	373	436	382	427	374	426	373
4,700	426	383	438	392	427	382	427	382
4,800	427	390	438	400	427	390	427	390
4,900	428	400	438	408	427	398	427	399
5,000	430	409	439	418	427	406	433	412
5,100	431	418	440	427	432	420	433	421
5,200	431	427	438	433	639	632	450	445
5,300	429	433	436	440	635	641	668	674
5,400	428	440	434	446	631	649	656	675
5,500	424	444	429	450	613	642	646	676
5,600	421	449	424	452	594	633	638	680
5,700	415	450	420	456	581	630	629	683
5,800	411	454	417	460	569	628	621	686
5,900	408	458	415	466	557	625	614	690
6,000	402	460	412	471	547	625	605	692
6,100	400	465	408	474	538	625	598	695
6,200	393	464	402	474	528	623	585	690
6,300	386	463	394	473	517	620	573	687
6,400	380	463	388	473	506	617	562	685
6,500	372	461	379	469	495	613	393	487

NEW PARTS
DESCRIPTION	PN	SOURCE	PRICE
Sheetmetal intake	N/A	Hogan's Racing Manifolds	Call
Race Demon 650 carb	2282010TR	Barry Grant	792.99
Road Demon 525 carb	4282020GC	Barry Grant	356.99*
Tunnel-ram linkage	WND4032	Weiand	165.95**
Pro Shot Fogger	02462NOS	NOS	849.95**
Dist. and cam gear set	N/A	Bulltear	76.99
Hooker Super	Competition Headers	7103HKR	479.95**

Final compression: 10.5:1
Lunati Cam Specs
Part no.: 31799
Grind no.: 17-UH22-UH23
Ex. closes: 17.5 ATDC
Ex. opens: 61.5 BBDC
Int. opens: 23 BTDC
Int. closes: 51 ABDC
Lope separation: 108
Centerline: 104
Lift: 0.555
254/259 @ 0.050
310/318 advertised

AMC Engine Specs
Displacement: 370.36
Deck height: 9.198
Bore: 4.11
Stroke: 3.490
Rod journal: 2.00
Rod length: 6.00-inch small-journal Chevy
Piston compression height: 1.453
Distributor: MSD Ready to Run
Heads: Edelbrock Performer RPM
Combustion chamber: 54 cc
Valves: 2.02/1.60
Valve spacing: Stock 1.940
Valve angle: Stock 18 degrees

Wild Fire!
Fah-boom! That's the new word we invented to describe Alan Bradshaw's fireball in the Bill Miller Engineering/Okuma Top Fuel dragster at the ACDelco Las Vegas NHRA Nationals last October. It seems that an oil fitting broke as the car approached the finish line, creating a fine mist of flammable lubricant. At the same time, the engine hiccupped and tossed the blower belt into a fuel line, adding vaporized nitromethane to the mix. The engine leaned out and the entire thing went off. As the car wobbled through the lights, the parachute melted off and the right-side slick popped. Despite all that, Bradshaw still ran a 4.62 at 314 mph, but sadly failed to qualify for Sunday's race. Aren't Top Fuel cars fun? We think so. Bradshaw exited the car without injuries.

"What big teeth you have, grandmother!"

Little Red Riding Hood had no idea what she was getting into. Sleepersare like the predatory wolf wearing grandma's duds, disguised as abenign being. What is it about sleepers that we really like? Is it theability to sneak around under the radar without raising eyebrows? Or isit the shock produced by whipping high-profile cars at their own game?Whatever the reason, sleepers are just plain cool. Drive one and you'llbe noticed by only the most observant. Even the cops ignore you--whichin itself should be good enough reason to build one. Ron Lynch's '65 BelAir fits neatly into the sleeper category, from its unmodified exteriorto its 500-plus-inch Rat motor. What big teeth grandma has indeed.

Ron purchased the '65 in the spring of 2001 after answering a classifiedad on the internet. The ad stated falsely that the Bel Air had 20,000original miles. Turns out it had 22,000 miles! The body and interiorwere so good that they required minimal attention to perfect. Aside fromthe body side moldings and sill plates, the trim, emblems, grille, andbumpers are as they left the factory. Ron simply polished the stainlessand cleaned everything else. He then had the body resprayed at a localbody shop in its original hue--black. The interior was bolstered withaftermarket gauges, and the Sony CD player was hidden out of view as theBel Air is an original radio-delete car. Ron fabricated a shifter towork with the aftermarket manual trans.

Originally equipped with a 230-inch six-banger and a three-speed manualtrans (on the tree), Ron gave his Bel Air the heart of a giant in theform of a Gen VI 502-cube big-block Chevy that he had taking up space inthe corner of his garage. The slightly used short-block was freshenedwith new rings, a new hydraulic roller cam, and GMPP aluminum heads andintake, and he topped it off with an 850 Holley. The three-speed justwouldn't cut it in this day and age where five- and six-speedtransmissions are the norm, not to mention the fact that it would havebeen reduced to shrapnel the first time the clutch was dropped, so Ronacquired a Tremec TKO II to back the potent big-block. The 0.83Overdrive makes cruising a sheer pleasure. A 12-bolt out of a '68 wagonwas modified by Currie Enterprises to complete the bulletproofdrivetrain, with 3.31 gears backing the grunt of the big Rat.

Ron made sure the exterior screamed stock by avoiding the temptation ofaftermarket wheels and other performance indicators. Now that it's done,Ron plans on some serious seat time. Not many will notice him, but helikes it like that.

So, if you're out prowling the streets, beware of this stock-appearingblack Bel Air and the hungry wolf hiding underneath.

Car Craft Q&A

Car Craft: Ron, were you out looking for a '65 Bel Air?

Ron Lynch: Actually I was looking for a '65 through '69fullsize sedan, but when there was talk about the state reinstating smogrequirements on '66-and-newer cars, it narrowed my search.

CC: Did you set out to build a sleeper?

RL: Yes, I did. It's amazing, but people don't payattention to it until I pull up to a stoplight. It looks stock, it sitsstock, and I only wish it had the original black license plates sopeople would think that I'm a leftover from the '60s! I planned theentire project out to the last detail before I even touched it. I builtthis car exactly as I envisioned it with the steel wheels and the stockride height. Visually, the only giveaway is the wider rear tire I used.

CC: What do you intend to do with it now that the BelAir is completed?

RL: Drive it and look for another car to build. Ireally enjoy building cars. It's my hobby. When I finish a car, I havenothing to do.

CC: What are you looking to build next?

RL: I don't really know. I guess whatever strikes myfancy. I'll probably build a midsize convertible like a Chevelle, ormaybe even a Cutlass or Skylark.

The Details

Car: '65 Chevy Bel Air

Engine: Chevy 502ci Gen VI

Heads: Aluminum, GMPP oval-port 2.25/1.88intake/exhaust valves

Induction: GMPP aluminum dual-plane intake, 850-cfmHolley carb

Camshaft: GMPP hydraulic roller, 224/234 degreesduration at 0.050-inch lift, 0.527/0.544-inch lift

Power: 510 hp @ 5,200 rpm, 570 lb-ft @ 4,100 rpm

Transmission: Tremec TKO II five-speed, Centerforce11-inch clutch

Rearend: Chevrolet 12-bolt, 3.31:1 gears, Currie C-clipeliminator kit, Eaton posi unit, Currie axles

Front suspension: '68 Impala lower control arms, '70Impala spindles, PST 11/8-inch sway bar, PST polygraphite bushings,Eaton springs, Delco gas shocks

Rear suspension: Stock, Eaton springs, vintage finnedtube shocks, Airlift airbags, GM sway bar, PST polygraphite bushings

Brakes: '69 Caprice discs, front; Ford Explorer discs,rear

Wheels and tires: 15x7 GM Rally wheels with BFGoodrichP225/70R15 Radial TAs fronts; 15x8 GM Rally wheels with BFGoodrichP275/60R15 Radial TAs, rear

Body mods: Stock with all factory trim

Paint: Black DuPont Croma One, by Hanson's Auto Craft,La Habra, CA

Best e.t.: Never raced

Cost to build: $26,578.28

The slip of paper you get after an exhilarating quarter-mile dragstripride is much more than a license to brag (assuming it's a stellar run).All those numbers on that little piece of paper are important tuningtools that can help identify improvements or problems in your car'sperformance. But if you're like most of us, maybe you take a quickglance at the 60-foot time, e.t., and top-end mph then simply stash theslip away between the seats. If so, then it's time to find out whatyou've been missing.

Of course, having a pack of timeslips doesn't do you much good if youdon't have any detailed information about the conditions, tune-up, ordriving technique used on each of those runs. Make it a point to writedown all the details immediately after a run. Include any changes ormodifications to the vehicle, launch rpm, shift points, tire pressure,and weather and track conditions. Keep all your timeslipstogether--ideally in the logbook that you record these details in.

Knowing how to read a timeslip and keeping detailed notes on each runwill result in a valuable performance portfolio that can help determinewhat changes worked and what didn't, and keep you moving in the rightdirection. Above all, it's free. Let's take a closer look at what allthose numbers mean and how you can use them to your advantage.

Breaking Down the Digits

A timeslip is nothing more than a printout that records in detail how quickly you traversed the 1,320 feet from start to finish. These distances are measured in several individual increments.

Reaction: The time it takes you to get the car to move forward after the tree turns green.

60-foot (I1): The time it takes a vehicle to cover the first 60 feet of the track. The greatest indicator of traction.

330-Interval (I2): Secondary timers record the time it takes a vehicle to cover 330 feet; a good indicator of chassis setup.

1/8 e.t. (I3): Secondary timers record the time it takes to cover 660 feet.

1/8 mph (I3): Secondary timers record a vehicle's miles per hour.

1,000-Interval (I4, when given): Secondary timers record the time it takes a vehicle to cover 1,000 feet.

1/4 e.t.: Secondary timers record the time it takes a vehicle to cover the quarter-mile

1/4 mph: Secondary timers record a vehicle's miles per hour; also known as the speed trap, these timers are located 66 feet before the finish line. Between 1,254 feet and 1,320 feet, the average speed between the two lights produces the mph on your timeslip.

Driver's Round Table

Going fast doesn't happen overnight. To get an insider's perspective, weconvened a panel of seasoned heads-up veterans featuring NMCA Pro StreetChampion and former NHRA Pro Stock racer Pat Musi, NMCA Drag RadialEliminator racer Troy Pirez, and NMCA Real Street racer PatrickTopolinski from The School of Automotive Machinists, to find out howreading timeslips helps them stay at the top of their game.

Car Craft: How important is it to understand the numbers on a timeslip?

Pat Musi: Very important. When read properly, the timeslip can tell youexactly what the car is doing at any given moment of a pass.

Troy Pirez: Numbers are everything. Without them, you'll never knowwhat's going on, which is crucial considering we're trying to get to theend of the track as fast as we can.

Patrick Topolinski: Without the numbers, we would never know if ourtuning changes were working. More importantly, you need to know what thecar runs on a regular basis to effectively use the information.

CC: What numbers do you concentrate on most?

PM: We concentrate on all the numbers equally. There are so manyvariables in a car that runs over 200 mph in the quarter-mile andknowing every interval is vital for peak performance.

TP: My car usually runs the same after the 330 interval. Being ondrag radials, if I can optimize my 330 e.t.'s, then I know I'm on a goodrun.

PT: Mostly the 330 interval. If we run decent 330 times, then we knowthe chassis is right where we need it and we're just along for the rideat that point.

CC: Would you say the 60-foot times are any less valuable than the 330interval?

PM: All the numbers are important, but some people really get freakedout if the car won't 60-foot. Here's a tip--always compare your hometrack's starting-line rollout to every track you race at. You may besurprised at how well your car can 60-foot again once you know where tostage the car on the starting line.

TP: Not at all, but to me the 60-foot is more of a sign of torque andpower. A car can hook like crazy, but if he doesn't have power, he's notgoing to go anywhere anytime soon.

PT: It really depends on the car. If your car runs its fastest at acertain 60-foot, then being off by one hundredth can mean the differencebetween winning or losing by a full tenth.

CC: At the end of a pass, what are you looking for?

PM: Consistency. Since all tracks vary, we'll take the numbers from theintervals and plug them into our Auto Meter Data Logger to see how acurrent pass compares to another. If we abort a run, it'll then help uspredict what the pass would have been. Without all of the numbers, itwould make it much more difficult to be consistent and evaluate what thechassis and drivetrain are doing.

TP: As long as my 330 times are up to par, I know my chassis is dialedin and that numbers on the big end will produce some good times. If the330 intervals are great and I'm slowing down, then I'll check the airconditions or try to pinpoint a problem with the drivetrain.

PT: If the 60-foot and the 330 intervals look good, we'll look at thegains from the eighth-mile to the quarter-mile. Let's say if wetypically gain 28 to 30 mph and for some reason only managed to go 24mph faster, then we know there's a problem. It could have been the airquality, maybe we lost a cylinder, or it could even be a sign that ourtranny or converter is going south. By keeping records, we can diagnosethe situation quicker and try to get ready for the next round.

Rollout and Its Effects On Reaction Time

Rollout is the distance thefront tire must travel from the point the frontmost portion of the treadtriggers the stage beam until the rear portion clears it, which turnsoff the reaction timer and starts the e.t. timer. Deep staging--rollingforward enough to turn out the pre-stage bulb after staging--produces aslower e.t. because the car doesn't get as much of a running start atthe beam, but it can cut reaction time because there's less distance totravel before tripping the timing beam. If you generally tend to be slowoff the line, deep-staging may help produce consistently fasterlaunches. Heads-up racers who want the absolute maximum e.t. on everyrun will stage as shallow as possible. By barely tripping the secondbeam (stage light), you give yourself more of a rolling start before thee.t. clock begins. If you find yourself consistently slower or faster oncertain tracks (assuming air quality doesn't come into play), be sure tomeasure the rollout, since many tracks tend to vary slightly, in orderto help find where you and your car prefer to be staged. It's theattention to detail that makes championship-winning racers consistent.

Shallow Staging
Increased reaction time
Quicker elapsed time
Higher trap speed

Deep Staging
Decreased reaction time
Slower elapsed time
Slower trap speed

Absolute Air Pressure, Barometric Pressure, Humidity...Oh My!

There's more to racing than dumping the clutch or releasing the transbrake and holding on for dear life. A good drag racer also has to be an amateur weatherman. Since dragstrips are located at various elevations and regions all across the country, it's pretty rare for any two tracks to experience identical weather conditions, and it's not uncommon for the weather to change throughout a race day.

To better understand what constitutes good-air and bad-air conditions, we need to first get familiar with a few basic terms: absolute air pressure, barometric pressure, and humidity. Absolute air pressure (14.7 psi) is a constant indicating the weight of air at sea level. Barometric pressure measures the current atmospheric pressure (again rated in psi), and humidity tells us how much moisture is in the air.

Under ideal conditions, you'll have high barometric readings, low air temperatures, and low humidity. The higher barometric pressure helps force the air into the engine, while the low air temperature along with low humidity creates a much denser charge with a high oxygen content for greater combustion.

Poor conditions would be barometric readings lower than the atmosphere absolute air pressure of 14.7 psi, higher air temperatures, and higher humidity. In essence, the motor is starving for air. Top that off with a high-elevation track and you can forget about obtaining optimum performance from your combination.

So the next time you're at the track, don't be afraid to ask someone in the pits if they know the current weather conditions...it could explain why you're going faster or slower than you expected.

NHRA Correction Factors

We get a lot of letters and e-mails asking why some of our project vehicles are slower than readers think they should be. The straightforward answer is that killer e.t.'s and big mph on the top end require an abundant amount of air traction that our hometown track just doesn't offer. Los Angeles County Raceway (LACR) is located 2,700 feet above sea level, and most cars typically slow down by four tenths and three mph even on a good day. The NHRA conversion factor for this track is to multiply the observed e.t. by 0.9679 and mph by 1.0339 to "correct" to sea-level conditions. That means a 12.00 at 112 mph pass at LACR's high elevation would equate to an 11.62 (12.00 x 0.9679) at 115.80 (112 x 1.0339) pass at sea level.

We don't believe in fluff, and we tell it like it is. Our theory is to run what we brung. If we can post decent numbers at our track, rest assured you'll be flying anywhere else. On those rare occasions when we do use the correction factor, we don't neglect to print both the corrected and uncorrected numbers. We're proud of that. For a list of correction factors for other tracks and elevations, log on to www.carcraft.com.

Diagnosing the Numbers

The data below was generated by a small-block 408ci we dropped into an '85 Mustang for last year's street car shootout ("Chevy vs. Ford: Street Car Shootout," July '02). The timeslip on the left is from a Friday evening grudge night at LACR; the one on the right is from the following day at Carlsbad Raceway in Carlsbad, California. The air was decent for both days of testing, and the only difference was in the track elevation. Going from the LACR's 2,700-foot elevation to Carlsbad's much lower 300-foot elevation made the difference of 3.14 mph and almost two tenths!

We were surprised to find we had better traction at LACR, however, the lower elevation did allow us to run slightly quicker by the 330 marker. By the eighth-mile marker, the speed at the lower-elevation track had already jumped by almost 3 mph and finally propelled us across the finish line nearly two tenths faster. No tuning changes were made during individual testing days.

	LACR	Carlsbad
60-foot	1.555	1.758
330-foot	4.723	4.775
1/8-mile e.t.	7.290	7.247
1/8-mile mph	96.224	98.97
1,000-foot	9.522	N/A
1/4-mile e.t.	11.353	11.167
1/4-mile mph	120.35	123.49

Power for the Masses

Trying to determine your quarter-mile potential based solely on horsepower readings can be tricky. You'll also need to address several other variables, namely, how efficient your chassis and drivetrain are. Is the chassis dialed in for optimum weight transfer with drag-style suspension? Will you be running on street tires or drag slicks? And what type of transmission will you be using? A manual transmission may have a distinct advantage over a conventional factory automatic, but a transmission specifically built to handle the rigors of drag racing with a custom-built converter matched to the engine may be much more consistent. This chart from Mopar Performance predicts theoretical "optimum" performance from a car with a topnotch suspension setup.

Manual		Automatic
ET	MPH	ET	MPH
	15.0	87	15.2	85.5
	14.5	90.5	14.7	88.5
	14.0	93.5	14.2	92.0
	13.5	97.5	13.7	96.0
	13.0	100.0	13.2	99.5
	12.5	105.5	12.7	104.0
	12.0	109.5	12.2	108.0
	11.5	115.0	11.7	113.5
	11.0	121.0	11.2	119.0
	10.5	126.0	10.7	125.0
	10.0	134.5	10.2	132.5
	9.7	139.0	9.8	137.6
	9.4	144.3	9.5	141.6
	9.1	149.3	9.2	147.0
	8.8	154.9	8.8	154.1
	8.4	162.3	8.4	162.6

*Source: Mopar Performance's Direct Connection Performance book.

Dan Nickel of Marshall, Wisconsin, still remembers his first crush--itbegan the same day he got his driver's license. The object of hisaffection was a killer '69 Z/28, and he fantasized about driving it toand from school. Unfortunately, Dan and the Z/28 came from differentworlds, and he ended up spending his high school years with aclapped-out four-wheeler instead.

Dan never forgot that first Camaro. A few years after high school heeven briefly hooked up with an '80 Z28 just because it reminded him ofthe '69. That didn't work out, and Dan took a long break from carcrafting until 1999 when everything came together. Armed with asupportive wife and some hard-earned savings, Dan found a venerablefirst-gen Camaro and began building his version of the ultimate streetmachine.

Like most projects, what was supposed to be a simple paint job took on alife of its own and turned into a complete ground-up restoration. Afterthe body was stripped to its shell, Dan enlisted Musclecar Restorationsin Eau Claire, Wisconsin, to remove and replace all traces of canceroussheetmetal caused by years of exposure to Wisconsin's salty winterroads. Six months later, a mild small-block 350 was dropped between thefenderwells, and a Richmond five-speed was mounted for comfortablecruising.

Dan's still trying to decide whether to drop in a mega-horsepower cratemotor or to perform a fuel-injection conversion. What started out as ahigh school crush has bloomed into an ongoing love affair.

Car Craft Q&A

Car Craft: Some people find project cars in old barns.Where did you locate yours? Dan Nickel: Actually, itwas in the classifieds, but it might have been cheaper if I did find itin a barn.

CC: What condition was your Z/28 in when you bought it?DN: Let's just say I should have probably started withanother chassis. We had to replace the framerails, parts of thefirewall, the front frame supports, both doors, rear quarter-panels, thetrunk, and the floorpan.

CC: How difficult was it to transplant the Richmondfive-speed? DN: Really simple. I only had to relocatethe crossmember an inch and it bolted right in with the stockdriveshaft.

CC: Any foreseeable updates? DN: I'dlike to do a fuel-injection conversion or maybe drop in a 500hp cratemotor. Oh, and definitely redo the original seats!

CC: Why? The seats look great. DN:They may look great, but you'd feel differently after riding on them forfive hours from Marshall to St. Paul.

The Details

Car: Dan Nickel's '69 Chevy Camaro Z/28

Engine: 350ci small-block Chevy

Heads: Cast-iron GM double hump, 2.02/1.94 intake/exhaust valves

Induction: Edelbrock Performer RPM, Holley 650-cfm carb

Camshaft: GM LT-1, 205/207degrees duration at 0.050-inch lift, 0.447/0.459-inch lift

Power (est.): 300 hp

Transmission: Richmond five-speed, Centerforce clutch, Hurst shifter

Rearend: GM 12-bolt, 3.31:1 gears

Suspension: PST bushings, PST 2-inch drop springs, PST shocks, front; PST leaf springs, KYB shocks, rear

Brakes: GM 11-inch discs, front; GM 9.5-inch drums, rear

Wheels and tires: 16x7 American Racing Torq-Thrust II with Yokohama P205/55R16 radials front; 16x8 American Racing Torq-Thrust II with Yokohama P245/50R16 radials, rear

Paint: PPG Hugger Orange with black stripes by John Balow at Musclecar Restorations in Eau Claire, Wisconsin

Cost to build: Too much

Cover Section: Build a Better Daily Driver

25 Ways to Build a Better Daily Driver Tips and tricks to make your daily commuter more commutable

Special Section: 35th Anniversary Car Craft All-Star Drag Racing Team

35 Years of Drag Racing Machines We look back at the evolution of Top Fuel, Funny Car, and Pro Stock

Dominant Dixon Larry Dixon Jr. has set the Top Fuel world on fire this year driving the Miller Lite dragster

35th Anniversary Commemorative Poster

All-Star Team: The Early Years Drag racing pioneers look back at the impact the award had on their careers

Tech

Testing the StealthRAM Holley's new EFI system for small-block Chevys is super-trick

How to Rebuild a Posi Useful tech if you've wasted yours doing burnouts

Project SuperNova, Part IV Disc brakes stop good

Lashing for Power This dyno test is yet another compelling reason to step up to a solid-lifter cam

Buttoning Up the 'Bu Our '78 Malibu gets some final tweaks and an exhaust system and makes a trip to the chassis dyno

A Look at Gauges "Mechanical or electric?"--it's the burning question

Features

David's Slingshot Big power in a small package makes a giant-killing combination

GM's '03 New Car Preview The General's serving rice for dinner

Super Sport Redux A race car with street/strip roots

Departments

Point of View

Readers' Pages

Straight Scoop

Heads Up News

Speed Shop

Tech Talk

524ci Small-Block Chevy, 1,083 HP At 7,800 RPM
Sonny's Racing Engines, Lynchburg, VA
Not long ago, Bill "Grumpy" Jenkins made history building race engines out of cast-iron production blocks and heads because race-specific parts didn't exist. Today, with five-axis CNC machines spitting out designer cylinder blocks and heads, if you can imagine it there's somebody willing to build it. To that end, Sonny's Racing Engines built this wazoo 524ci small-block Chevy using the latest GM RO7-style NASCAR cylinder heads. Not only do these heads flow hurricane-like numbers, but they are based on a wider bore spacing than the production small-block Chevy's spec of 4.400 inches. The RO7 heads are designed for a 4.500-inch bore spacing, which means they won't fit on a typical Gen I-style cylinder block. This created a demand for a CN Enterprises custom billet block to match the heads, complete with water jackets, so this motor could be used in wild Southern-style match-race drag-racing applications. Just for the record, that four-digit horsepower figure is the normally aspirated power. At 1,083 hp, it computes to just over 2 hp/ci. The SpeedTech nitrous system isn't just for show, but they've not yet tried the squeeze. We are duly impressed.

'At 1,083 hp, this small-block is making 135 hp per cylinder! There are some four-cylinder production engines that don't make that much power from all four holes.

1.Nascar Stuff
The RO7 heads were originally developed for GM NASCAR applications and began appearing in competition at the end of the '07 season. This new RO7 engine is a complete clean-sheet-of-paper design that has basically nothing in common with any previous production engine. The bore spacing is wider, the distributor is located in the front of the engine like a Ford to eliminate cam-twist effects on ignition, and the cam has been raised in the block to allow shorter pushrods. This should make the GM engines more competitive than ever. Current NASCAR unrestricted power numbers are in the 850hp range . . . and climbing.

2.Block Party
It's rare that we put the spotlight on a cylinder block, but a foundation that is fully CNC-machined out of one large chunk of aluminum is newsworthy. CN Enterprises is the company responsible for creating a very large pile of aluminum chips. The block employs a Rat-sized 4.280-inch bore, along with 400 main-bore diameters, a 2.360-inch cam-journal diameter, and a monstrous 4.55-inch long-arm stroke. The stock deck height on a small-block Chevy is 9.025 inches, but this block is built on a 31/44-plus-inch taller 9.855 deck.

3.Roller Egos
Behind the beltdriven MSD distributor is a mechanical-roller LSM Systems Engineering cam with 286/310 degrees of duration at 0.050-inch tappet lift and an equally egotistical 0.525-inch lobe lift. With 1.85:1 rockers, this calc's out to a yardstick-like 0.971-inch valve-lift number. That, gentle readers, is just shy of 1-inch. Original-diameter lifters for a small-block are 0.842 inch, but these babies are a full 0.937 inch in diameter with a built-in keyway to make life a little easier on the roller tappets.

4.Do The Splits
Sonny's also built this sheetmetal intake that mounts a pair of Bo Laws Products (BLP) split Dominator carburetors. If that's not enough, look closely and you'll find three stages of SpeedTech nitrous plumbed into each individual runner in the manifold. With this much plumbing, the only limit on horsepower might be the owner's willingness to pill it up. Certainly a 500hp shot would probably not tax this system.

5.Heads Will Roll
The GM Performance Parts RO7 heads started out as semifinished castings from GM and were ported by Sonny's and outfitted with equally steroid-enhanced 2.330/1.650-inch titanium valves using spindly 0.311-inch-diameter valve stems. The stock chamber size on these heads is 40 cc, but these have been milled to bump the compression up to 13.3:1. The valvetrain includes a complete Jesel shaft-rocker system with 1.85:1 rockers and 11/42-inch-diameter Trend pushrods.

6.Lubrication
Moroso is in charge of all things regarding lubrication, including the four-stage dry-sump system, the oil pan, and even the vacuum pump sitting just underneath the Meziere electric water pump. For spark, the ATI balancer drives a complete MSD crank-trigger system including the beltdriven distributor. How long do you suppose it will be before racers start putting distributorless ignition systems in engines like these?

DYNO CHART
RPM	TQ	HP
6,600	823	1,034
6,800	808	1,046
7,000	792	1,055
7,200	775	1,063
7,400	763	1,076
7,600	747	1,080
7,800	729	1,083
8,000	704	1,073

Randy Walls got a good view of an unwanted fireball at the 16th annual California Hot Rod Reunion at Auto Club Famoso Raceway in qualifying on October 13, 2007, when a fuel system problem caused his '69 Chevy Nova Nostalgia Funny Car to burst into flames after what appeared to be a blower backfire. "We haven't looked at it yet, but I think maybe one of the welds on the fuel tank came apart," says Walls. "The car actually caught fire around 100 feet out because you can see the flames between the tires just past the 60-foot cone." With the chutes burned off, Walls used the hand brake to keep the car off the wall and out of the other lane that was occupied by Ron Capps. "I had to keep both hands on the steering wheel to keep the car straight. Since Funny Cars have a hand brake, I couldn't use the brakes until I got the car under control, and it sure was a handful." With a few minor burns and a few more serious ones, Randy Walls was seen in the pits signing autographs for the fans after the mishap.

There is a very long list of derogatory adjectives that could be used to describe the V-6 engines General Motors put in its third-gen F-cars.

We're being charitable calling them disappointing. They were terrible engines, really. They were crude, hated to rev, produced a guttural, droning exhaust note, and made no power-1989's 2.8 MFI sixer labored to produce 135 hp. The following year's 3.1 wasn't much of an improvement, either, upping the ante to 140.

So imagine driving around for a couple of years in this 135hp weakling and all of a sudden transforming it to a 400-plus-horsepower bruiser. Josh Kunkel is the owner of this fine-looking third-gen we spotted at the Car Craft Summer Nats in St. Paul, Minnesota. Josh's goal from the beginning was a V-8 swap, but it took two years of scrimping and saving before he could implement his plan. When he finally did, the end result justified the couple of years of V-6 hell he had to endure. "It took awhile to get used to the power, but I couldn't be happier. I drive the car as much as I can," he says.

Josh has been into cars for as long as he can remember. "I got it from my dad, I guess. He was always building and racing cars." He was a smart kid too, getting a job at 13 years old sweeping his uncle's shop floor so he could earn enough money to buy a car. By 15, an age when most of us waste our money on worthless teenage crap, Josh bought this Camaro for $5,500. "The body was in really good shape, and we were planning on building an engine anyway, so the fact that it was a V-6 didn't really matter that much," he says. Once he got his driver's license, he cruised the Camaro as is, all the while saving up for the next big step. "My dad and I planned a V-8 swap all along. We'd go to shows to look at different installs and talk about our options." They ultimately decided on an LS1 because it was unique and because of the potential of Chevrolet's Gen III powerplant.

Cash in hand, Josh searched the junkyards, found a complete drivetrain from a totaled '02 Camaro, and bought the engine, transmission, radiator, electric fans, and computer for $5,000. "The car had been rolled over, but it only had 8,000 miles on it. I didn't have to do anything to the engine."

Josh and his dad completed the swap in less than six months-the duration of a typical Minnesota winter. A V-6 drove the car into the garage as the temperatures plummeted, but a V-8 powered it out. The swap itself went very well, according to Josh. The engine and trans mounts are available as a kit, and he had his '89 harness adapted to work with the LS1.

While most of us California-jaded CC staffers shudder at the thought of a Minnesota winter, Josh and his dad look forward to them. "That's when we work on our cars." What else would you do? They plan and save all summer and build all winter. Josh performed a cam swap last winter that netted an additional 60 hp for his summer frolicking. That, plus some ECM fiddling during a chassis dyno-tuning session, means his Camaro is putting over 340 hp to the wheels and a big grin on Josh's face. That's 210 ponies more than his old engine made at the crank. How could you not like that?

Tech notes
Who: Josh Kunkel
What: '89 Chevrolet Camaro
Where: St. Cloud, Minnesota

Engine: It's an '02 LS1 from a totaled 35th Anniversary Camaro. After the swap, Josh ran the engine bone stock for a year. He's upgraded since then.

Valvetrain: Josh slid in a TPIS ZL-11 cam and added 1.7:1 LS6 rocker arms. The cam specs out at 215/220-degree duration and 0.559/0.557-inch lift on a 112-degree lobe separation angle, and was worth a substantial gain in power over stock.

Cylinder Heads: Stock for now, but Josh is planning some porting as this winter's project.

Induction: Josh tossed the stock intake for a higher-capacity LS6 intake. Internet rumors say that this manifold adds 15 hp to the wheels.

Transmission: It's an '02 4L60E with stock internals. Josh recently added a Yank SS 3,600 torque converter for neck-snapping launches.

Rearend: The stock 10-bolt is still out back. It's got 3.23:1 gears and a limited slip.

Suspension: Josh freshened up his suspension with new bushings and ball joints and strengthened up the rear with Lakewood trailing arms. Competition Engineering subframe connectors tie the front and rear together.

Brakes: Here's where things really get interesting. Josh and his dad, Roger, made a pair of Brembo calipers off a Caddy CTS-V fit on the front spindles. They cut off the old brackets, and Roger made new ones to fit the giant, four-piston calipers. They clamp down hard on C5 Corvette rotors. They made their own rear brakes too, replacing the stock drums with custom-mounted PBR calipers and 12-inch rotors.

Wheels and Tires: Josh rolls on Nitto 555 summer tires, size 235/40R18 and 275/40R18 front to rear. They're mounted on 18x8 and 18x10 Center Line Dagger wheels.

Paint and Body: The car was in surprisingly good shape when he bought it, so it didn't need any work. Augusta Autobody in St. Augusta added the rally stripes, Josh's first mod to the car.

Interior: Mostly stock, but that's a good thing as these cars are not a bad place to spend time while racking up the miles. Josh replaced the stock cluster with a Covan's Classics instrument panel and stuffed it with Auto Meter Ultralite gauges. His tunes come courtesy of an Alpine amp, Kicker sub, and Kenwood speakers.

Performance: He clicked off a 13.38 e.t. at 106 mph, but that was before the Yank converter was installed. He's hoping to whittle away at that time with some cylinder-head work soon.