Twist Camaro Update

[Steve Chryssos]

Sorry boys and girls, I'm feeling wordy tonight!

Owned since 1981, the current iteration of my car was started in 1999 and "finished" in 2002. New York winters suck, so the car receives tweaks each year when the weather gets too cold and the plow trucks wreck the roads. So just picture if most every winter, your car looked like this:


That picture is from the Bullrun Contest upgrade in 2007. Engine, drivetrain, rear suspension and cockpit were all pulled to allow for a number of reliability improvements as well as a new rear cage structure and fuel cell. What a fiasco! Two months worth of work crammed into 10 days for a contest that we only "might" have won. We didn't. The shoe-in seemed to be a bisexual swimsuit model with size XL bolt ons who also wrenches and races. Given that this was the Bullrun, she seemed like the perfect candidate. We didn't stand a chance. Instead, some gomer with a Datsun 240 Z wearing a Ferrari body kit won. Sweet car, but he pathetically referred to it as a Ferrari--non stop! Very annoying. His win was beyond mysterious. In the end, all we had was an upgraded car and a new friendship. And that's plenty.

Anyway, after 28 years of ownership, this car is chock full of stories like that. Theft and recovery, a near fatal wreck, Power Tour and countless "What seems to be the problem, officer?" stories--the list goes on and on. Wrenching on that car even spawned a business--Twist Machine. The American Dream. All the while, we'd put it together and take it apart. Rinse and repeat. Buddies and I.

The 2007 redo sparked a unique friendship. Jake Parrott shut down his then body shop business to help me prep the car for a contest with no guarantees. Looking back, we were practically strangers. Just fellow members of internet message boards called Lateral-g.net and pro-touring.com? Who does that? Bust ass to help a long distance acquaintance? That takes some character. Jake's effort and skills as a fabricator leave me forever in debt. Thanks Jake.

This years winter upgrades are a little late. I waved goodbye to the car last September after RTH4. I only saw it once when Jimmy Mulvey and I went up to Maine to work on THE NEW CAR. ;) In two years, Jake's body shop business has evolved into Jake's Rod Shop . There's a wait list if you want in. We've both been too busy to work on my car and too busy to care.

But spring is in the air. Leaf springs, that is. They gotta go. Jake's Rod Shop will be installing a Jake's Rod Shop Torque Arm rear suspension system and shocks. The gi-normously humungous stainless steel fuel cell, custom built by another good friend John Parsons, will be replaced with a normal sized cell. Gotta make room for the panhard bar. We'll also replace the eight year old, rock hard Nitto NT555 tires, with some Toyo R888's.

The upgrades will be short and sweet. I'll chronicle the suspension swap here. Don't expect any wow-wee show car stuff, this car has always been rough around the edges. I like it that way. At a time when our country seems to be run by slick barbarians (congress), I thought I'd share a little humanity--car guy style--while bragging on a guy who won't brag about himself. Here's some teardown pix. Keep that camera handy Jake!!



The DSE 3" leaf springs sit perfect. But you give up some ride quality to get the stance. With the torque arm, I'll have it all.


Little by little I get rid of almost 30 years of amateur mods. These muffler hangers are an embarrassment. Somehow they never failed.


Jake has removed the Competition Engineering upper shock crossmember and the front brace of my custom cell mount. The CE shock crossmember has been in place since the late 80's--long before DSE made a much better design. Exhaust clearance was never quite right with this crossmember. And the 9" would just kiss it on bump. Not enough to do damage, but enough to make a loud noise. BANG! More than anything, I will be glad to get rid of this crossmember. It simply was never designed for lowered cars. BANG!


The Moser 9" rear will stay. So will the Baer 12" brakes with PBR calipers. Hey! In Y2K, these were the hot setup! Yes, my brake line tabs are hose clamped in place. Hopefully my welding fairy will tack them in place.
Thanks for looking,
/Steevo

[Joey_H]

Very cool! I'm looking forward to seeing the new updates!

[arai]

great story behind the updates! I enjoyed reading that and it made me chuckle!!

[srh3trinity]

Looking forward to watching the updates happen. This car pretty much defined pro-touring to me. The torque arm is just going to make it better.

[Mr.VENGEANCE]

word up Steveo

now get them lights finished too!

hahaha

[JEFFTATE]

Nice upgrades Steevo .
Jake is good guy.
He does good work.

The torque-arm rear suspension from Jake and the Apex Pro front suspension from Jake are the ..."shizzle".
Jake does need somebody to brag on him , because he won't do it himself.
He deserves it..

[David Sloan]

Looking good Steveo
Jake http://www.jakesrodshop.com/ has been great to work with for me as well. I have his front an rear suspension going in our shop car.
Could not be happier!
Thanks for sharing, Keep them pics coming!!

[1969CamaroRS]

Love seeing the updates Keep the pics and background story coming!

[slowcamaro]

Careful with those aluminum floor jacks, If they're the craftsman variety they have a tendency to fail out of warranty(1 year). Mine just started leaking fluid like crazy, it lasted almost 3 years.

[jackfrost]

This car pretty much defined pro-touring to me.

same here.

this car has one of the best paint schemes of all time. thanks for the updates.

[Steve68]

Careful with those aluminum floor jacks, If they're the craftsman variety they have a tendency to fail out of warranty(1 year). Mine just started leaking fluid like crazy, it lasted almost 3 years.

Threw mine away 4 months ago, wouldn't hold pressure, another fine Craftsman Chinese product,


Steevo kept the updates coming,

[Damn True]

Maybe they used to be made better. I have a craftsman jack that is 15yrs old and it just recently began to seep.

[Ralph LoGrasso]

Very cool, Steevo! I can't wait to see the lastest iteration out on the road.

[Chad-1stGen]

Sweet. You should get "wordy" more often. These kinds of stories make fun build up threads awesome!

[XLexusTech]

I think their are a few Jakes projects going on. I had mine in Queue before the layoff.....Anyone know what color Destroyer is going to be...?

Look out competition here comes the Pain from Maine....

[Ron S]

I think that car faired amazingly well with time.Its still not really outdated,it goes to show that good taste never goes out of style.Some upgrades are probably in order,but I don't think I would ever change the paint scheme.Its nice to see you showing the old girl some love,look forward to watching the upgrades.Ron

[neki67]

Sweet. You should get "wordy" more often. These kinds of stories make fun build up threads awesome!

I totally agree. And thank God for being down to earth!

[CliffS]

LOVE that car!!!

[zbugger]

Awesome Steve. I can't wait to see it on the road again and what you think of it.

[Steve Chryssos]

Ralph's back! Ralph's back! What's up? How'z things? Call me sometime.