1968 Camaro (projekt 1sickT8)

[rickpaw]

Hi Rod,
Quick question. Where did you get the front spoiler? From spoilersbyrandy.com?

Tu

[Rod]

Hi Rod,
Quick question. Where did you get the front spoiler? From spoilersbyrandy.com?

Tu

yes sir! its the shorter style that Randy made, being lowered it just clears (most) parking blocks and being steel and painting the spoiler body color updates the front end (IMO)

[rickpaw]

Thanks Rod. Been enjoy reading your build thread.

[Rod]

just an update, I basically buttoned up the car on Sunday and test drove it for 3 days to work and then packed my Camaro Plain Jane up with tools, folding chairs a few extra parts and drove my 68 camaro 547 miles on Thursday to the rttc event I met up with Rich from Road Touring Customs in Gilroy followed their convoy, to Ironworks to meet up with Roger and have lunch, The Newman Clan from Newman Car Creations were already there having lunch and the I drove into LA with the Kyle and Paul Newman and their great looking tri 5s, about 3 miles from the hotel an exhaust flange came loose and was making a ton of noise that last mile to the hotel, once there I let the motor cool and with Kyle Newmans help (i used his jack and stands) I crawled under the car and put in new flange bolts, on Friday morning, after the drivers meeting my first event was the larger 2 mile road track, and after 3 laps my engine temp had become very hot so I pulled of the track and did a quick once over and the cooling fan wasn't running (burned out) back to the pits and install a new fan, but I got 3 good laps in

placed#27 car11 Rodney Prouty time 01:51.8




but I missed the autocross event, and had to go to the Speed Stop/Slalom event, the car ran great!!

placed#20 Prouty Rodney 68 Chevy Camaro car11 Time 23.030



and during the fun runs I went to the autocross and after 4 runs I threw a belt, back to the pits days over



Saturday was great! not a single failure, Plain Jane ran awesome layed down a decent autocross time
Placed# 24 car11 Rodney Prouty 68 Chevy Camaro Time 43.600




on the drive home Sunday I had my favorite so-cal radio station playing on the radio and there they were right in front of me, Go KROQ!!



and I had to stop at in-n-out Burger on the way home to get dinner and use the parking lot curb behind the store as a jack to fix the other exhaust flange!!

[MrQuick]

Nice job Rod, So, how would you rate the performance of the new power plant over the old? No more oil leaks for sure. Did you feel your balance change?

[Rod]

Nice job Rod, So, how would you rate the performance of the new power plant over the old? No more oil leaks for sure. Did you feel your balance change?

the 6.0L dosn't come as hard as the old motor (softer outta the hole) and comes to life at 2200 rpms and pulls from there on to redline, the engine is quieter, and yes the front end did set lower with the new motor (i should have weighed the 2 motors) I had to add a 1/2 coil spring pocket spacer(lift) and change the damping on the shock a little

[Rod]

The Del Mar goodguys event was great! plain Jane ran fast laying down a weekend best for her at 32.505, that would have put me around 5 place, but I was running the fun runs because of tire, I still have 180 treadwear on the front and the new rules are 200 treadwear, and I didnt have the extra cash to change the tires before the event, the suspension was DIALED!! I pulled the car off the trailer and never changed a setting, Hothckis springs F/R, and 30lbs of tire pressure, Bret over at ride tech put plain jane on the corner scales so I could have a working target, shes pretty balanced right now

[Flash68]

That's awesome Rod... you really got that sucker workin!

[makoshark]

Nice weight distribution on and old first gen. Why is there more weight in RR opposed to LR? Rear mount battery?

[Rod]

Nice weight distribution on and old first gen. Why is there more weight in RR opposed to LR? Rear mount battery?

yes, Battery, fuel pump, and filters on that side, it will balance more with a new differential cooler and pump going on the left side during the summer, (getting ready to run the one lap next year maybe opps did that slip out)

[Rod]

I was looking to keep the old school look so I made or modded brackets for my LS install and here is the power steering one below


original truck PS and alt bracket



cut the bracket with a band saw or sawzall



smooth out the cuts with grinder or flapper wheel



OK heres the cool part! the original pump casing just bolts in you might have to grind the bracket a little around the pump cap and then bolts right to the block



just add paint and it will look awesome

[Rod]

LQ4 power steering modified bracket

[ryanleiker]

LQ4 power steering modified bracket

Great innovation on this. Very sleek.

[Rod]

Plain Jane (1sickT8) my 1968 Camaro goes under knife for just touch ups, I haven't updated here in a while its been very busy. I have been tuning and tweaking the suspension and the car has done very well at the last couple of events, HOW WELL YOU ASK? enough that John Hotchkis ask me to Join their H-Team (awesomeness) since I was friends with some of those drivers anyways, now I have one more excuse to hang with them

It comes at the same time I have some time now to finish some loose suspension ends. before some more big events that are coming up, one of them tweaksI want is a spherical rear leaf spring bearing upgrade I picked this up a few months back about the same time I blew up the old motor, but the cars running great now so time to update

you can see it comes packed very well and after talking to both David Pozzi and Keith Smith at the last few events this is one of those little add-ons that helps improve traction, and roll control around corners

[srh3trinity]

Great looking parts and I like that engine bay.

[Rod]

I know, I know, I know, this one of the first mods many do, but I waited to get the car as dialed as possible before doing it, and for no real reason other than just being stubborn, I have done it to others cars and there cars just worked great, but I held out for 3 years of racing and now that I have the car well tuned, I have added the Guldstrand mod to the front, Awhile back I ordered the templates from **** Guldstrand he tossed in some decals and a copy of a magazine article all about the mod

stuff from **** <----I guess I cant use Mr Guldstrands name the forum blocks it out immediately!! lets try this
D I C K Guldstrand


Templates on the car


Pilot holes drilled


Knocked out the old bolts and replaced them with new GM (NOS) bolts I purchased a few years back


heres my home made knock tool I have installed all kinds of crap with this gizmo


bolts out


new ones in, arm in location and new bolts in place


suspension back together


another Driveway job!

[5spd540]

Nice build make me want to go work on my car now

[Rod]

I see alot of people ask should I do the Guldstrand mod or not, and many reason that they wont be racing so they dont need it, but I will tell you there are a few ways to improve the front suspension camber gains on your front double A-arm suspension.

#1) You can shorten the upper control arms = money
#2) You can install a taller spindle or Ball Joint = money
#3) You can change the pivot points of your control arms = time

#3 is the cheapest option (since you can't pay less than zero) simply drilling 4 holes and by using the template designed by Guldstrand it will lower the upper control arm pivot points by .75 inch. there are many of the templates avalible for free on the net or you can order yours from Guldstrand directly but they will charge you (well worth it youre getting a little peice of history) I waited to do this Mod till I already added tall Ball joints, tube arms, fat 255 front tires, Hotchkis Handle bars, the car was very dialed and has done well at many events, so doing the mod to the car now will show me what the results really are

After the Guldstrand mod even during just daily driving over the last few days (to and from work 10 miles each way), large bumps and dips are less jaring to the front suspension, the nose of the car dips less when braking and raise about the same under acceleration and on top of that there's some bump steer reduction(a little bonus)
I would highly recommend this simple procedure for any camaro even in stock form or as a race car the mod makes a safer driving car, in the next few weeks i will get some track time to really test it, after the first track day I will add the new Proforged tall Tie rod ends and see how those work

[evostilo]

I see alot of people ask should I do the Guldstrand mod or not, and many reason that they wont be racing so they dont need it, but I will tell you there are a few ways to improve the front suspension camber gains on your front double A-arm suspension.

#1) You can shorten the upper control arms = money
#2) You can install a taller spindle or Ball Joint = money
#3) You can change the pivot points of your control arms = time

#3 is the cheapest option (since you can't pay less than zero) simply drilling 4 holes and by using the template designed by Guldstrand it will lower the upper control arm pivot points by .75 inch. there are many of the templates avalible for free on the net or you can order yours from Guldstrand directly but they will charge you (well worth it youre getting a little peice of history) I waited to do this Mod till I already added tall Ball joints, tube arms, fat 255 front tires, Hotchkis Handle bars, the car was very dialed and has done well at many events, so doing the mod to the car now will show me what the results really are

After the Guldstrand mod even during just daily driving over the last few days (to and from work 10 miles each way), large bumps and dips are less jaring to the front suspension, the nose of the car dips less when braking and raise about the same under acceleration and on top of that there's some bump steer reduction(a little bonus)
I would highly recommend this simple procedure for any camaro even in stock form or as a race car the mod makes a safer driving car, in the next few weeks i will get some track time to really test it, after the first track day I will add the new Proforged tall Tie rod ends and see how those work

How much dose this lower or raise the front of you camaro? if at all

[Rod]

How much dose this lower or raise the front of you camaro? if at all

I didn't do any measurements before the Guldstrand but it did drop the car about about 1/2inch from the tire to fender clearance