My Wife's 67 LS7 Camaro

[winfield69]

I wanted to formally introduce my wife’s 1967 RS-SS Camaro. I’ve been working on this project for a while now. It is almost finished, so this will be more of a history of the build rather than progress updates.

I purchased the car 4 years ago in Kentucky. The car had been in the owner’s family since 1973 and had mostly been used for racing and more recently cruising. The body was almost perfect original sheet metal and only had about 65k miles on it.

The car was a pro street build with a methanol burning blown 427. The owner kept the engine since I had other plans for the car. Without the blower, it looked like the “Better Off Dead” car (one of my favorite movies).

About a year after I bought the car, I gave it to my wife as a wedding gift. I knew it was true love when she said her dream car was a 1st gen Camaro. I have an original 67 Pace Car, so we would have his and her Camaros. The car sat another year while I came up with a plan for the car. I pulled the trigger about two years ago after taking car of some debts and required home improvements that came with the marriage.

Here is the car when I picked it up in Kentucky.

[winfield69]

The Plan

I wanted to build a car that could run with my friend’s 911 at the road course at the old Texas World Speedway in College Station. Since it was my wife’s car, she had to be able to drive it around town also. In hindsight, that is a pretty tall order and I’m not sure if I will be successful on either count.

The engine was pretty easy. I definitely wanted an LS series engine and they just came out with the LS7 crate motor when I started. It was expensive, but if a little (hp) is good, a lot is better.

The chassis was a little tougher to choose. I did not want to cut such a pristine original body. Just doing a front clip would have been pretty easy, but 25 years and several destroyed rear ends and transmissions from wheel hop on my original 67 Pace Car taught me I had to do something with the rear suspension also. At the time, there were not the number of choices there are now for rear suspensions and most of the ones today require some cutting or welding on the body shell.

Then I saw an article for a new bolt on chassis for A-bodies, and they also made them for F-bodies. Sweet… a complete package from one vendor. After some discussions, he could also set me up with an LS7, harness (not yet available from GM) and accessory package. I pulled the trigger about April 2007.

Delivery was a little slow, but I was pretty happy when everything arrived. The chassis was a pretty nice package.

[winfield69]

The Build

I started assembling the car in the fall of 2007. I thought it would be a pretty simple bolt-on affair. The chassis bolted to the front subframe locations without an issue, but the rear mounting locations on the frame seemed to be an afterthought. The concept was simple, just drill some holes in the rear unibody “framerails” just bolt to the tabs provided on the frame. After one hole through the unibody framerails, it was apparent they were not up to supporting the back half of the car in that manner. After some thought, I modified the frame to support the body from the front leaf spring pockets and built some brackets to extend up to the rear leaf spring shackle locations.

After doing some calculations (I knew that engineering degree was good for something useful), I decided I needed another mount location in between the two leaf spring attachment points, so I welded a mounting bracket on the unibody framerail and the frame that utilized a regular body bushing to connect the two. I did not want to weld to the unibody, but I ran out of options, and the bracket is designed to be easily removed if the car was ever to be restored back to original.

I got the engine and transmission installed, all the wiring hooked up, and most of the fuel and oil system (dry sump) plumbing installed. It was time for exhaust so I could start the car.

After checking around, I was put in touch with John at American Race Components (www.americanracecomponents.com) in Dallas. He put together a really nice set of stainless headers and exhaust system and (at the request of my wife) installed the 6 point roll bar.

He also did some preliminary suspension setup. We found that the frame needed some modifications to fit exhaust and to increase clearance. There were also some clearance issues around the rear differential. The whole rear chassis geometry was set up to run the rear end about 2” HIGHER than stock. We could not get the final ride height until the front clip was back together, so John did as much as he could and I brought the car back to Houston for final assembly. John had the car May and June of 2008. Pics of the car at his shop can be found here.

http://www.americanracecomponents.com/prca.html

I got the car back home and assembled the front clip, installed the Rick’s Hot Rod Shop fuel tank and started the car up. Nothing subtle about an LS7 with 3” exhaust through the Magnaflow mufflers. This thing will wake the dead (or at least make small children cry).

These are videos from the first startup of the car on 7/14/08. The bang you hear in the second video is the front steering rack bracket crashing into a dip in the street. I still had some ride height issues at this point (and still do).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vah5o6XQjZg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5vipjLY7q8&feature=channel

[Draginutz]

Nice. Sounds like its been an adventure, but what fun would it be if it all just fit perfectly together?

[winfield69]

Nice. Sounds like its been an adventure, but what fun would it be if it all just fit perfectly together?

I'll agree to some point. If was easy, anyone could do it. Wait until I get to the engine saga.

[winfield69]

Here are the vital specs and some pictures of the state of the car today:

Engine – LS7 crate motor, but the engine story is the subject of another post.

Transmission – 2002 Camaro T56. We will see how long it survives.

Chassis – Full frame, but the chassis is also the subject of later posts.

Body – All original sheetmetal except a new driver front floorpan and a patch on the passenger side. The car was kept indoors but must have sat with water in it.

Exhaust – Custom stainless headers built by American Race Components, 3” stainless exhaust, Magnaflow mufflers

Shifter – Stock 2002 Camaro adapted to a modified Muncie shifter handle. I wanted to use the stock console in the original location and have it look like an old school Munice shifter.

Interior – Original except for the roll bar, Corbeau front seats and 5 point Simpson harnesses. The original simulated rosewood steering wheel is a little big, so I might get a smaller one for track days.

Gauges – Original except some of the internals are being modified with modern electronics. The original mechanical oil pressure gauge is being converted to an electric gauge.

Wiring – Original except for the harness for the engine and AC. I even got the RS hidden headlights to work with the original set of relays.

AC – Vintage air unit

Fuel tank – Rick’s Hot Rod Shop

Brake master cylinder and booster – Detroit Speed

Clutch cylinder – American Touring Specialties

Radiator – Ron Davis from ATS

Reproduction Camaro parts – Camaro Concepts in Houston

[Code Red]

awesome man

[6'9"Witha69]

Looks good!

[winfield69]

Finshing Touches

The car was about 95% complete a year ago. Other than building the exhaust system and the previously mentioned chassis mods at American Race Components, I had done all the work in my back yard workshop.

I decided to get some baseline dyno numbers on the car. I brought the car to a local shop specializing in LS engines. It put down 430hp at the rear wheels. I was told that was about right for the engine in stock trim.

For the final setup on the chassis, I brought the car to Kenny Bumbera’s shop (http://www.bumberas.com/index.html) in Houston. He found some additional minor issues with the chassis. There was some binding in the rear suspension where the coilovers were hitting their upper brackets and preventing smooth compression of the chassis. While test driving the car, the steering locked up. Under cornering load the steering shaft came in contact with the frame and prevented it from moving. Kenny coped out a piece of the offending frame member to provide adequate clearance.

When the car went to Bumbera’s it looked like the photo. It is actually taller than my bone stock 67. This photo was posted elsewhere on this forum and someone said it looked like a 4x4. Since my 4x4 Suburban is 8’ tall, I did not think much of the height, but now that someone mentioned it, it is reminiscent of an early 80’s all wheel drive AMC Eagle.

The ride height was better after the trip to Kenny’s shop, but it was still not quite what I wanted. Since then I have changed out the front springs, rear springs and rear coilovers. I also had to do some more surgery to the frame to get rid of a clash between the rear axle and the frame. This resulted in the ride height I have today shown in my previous post. It is about what I want and will not drag on speedbumps.

It became obvious that the chassis supplier had not actually put together a Camaro with this chassis. It was a starting point, but far from a bolt-on affair.

Kenny also discovered a problem with the engine. It would throw a code that the cam and crank were not synchronized. I don’t know why the dyno shop never picked up on this. It would been throwing the code then also. It also had a terrible miss, but I already discovered that. The problem was beyond Kenny’s shop’s abilities to diagnose so I brought the car back home and started looking for another shop to work on the engine.

[Patrick]

Very nice. So how does it handle? Is it well mannered around town?

[winfield69]

The Engine Saga

I started working on a project in Brazil, so I did not have a lot of time at home. The car sat for a couple months until I found another local shop specializing in LS motors Icon Autosports. They were a little slow at first without a clear scope of work. “Find the problem with the motor” was not clear enough direction, and I was not in town enough to keep bugging them. They finally concluded that we needed to remove the timing chain cover. All the obvious problems had been eliminated.

“By the way, have you thought about a cam swap?”

If a little (hp) is good, a lot is better. Now they had clear direction. I got an email with the attached photo while in Brazil. What’s wrong with this photo? How could GM’s premier engine building facility make this mistake? It turns out they didn’t.

The engine was reassembled with the new cam and it ran fine. Now I had 515hp at the rear wheels. There was still a tiny hint of a miss, but Icon could not find anything wrong. They had felt a similar miss when adding a cold air intake to a Z06, so I figured it was just something I was going to have to live with. That was March and it was still nice and cool in Houston.

I was out of the country most of the first half of the year, so I did not have time to play with the car. When I was home, I was mostly taking care of a pregnant wife on bed rest. After she had our son, (would you believe she picked the name Camaron?) I was able to get back to work on the car.

The temperature in Houston was now 90+ and the car was starting to run worse and worse. At times it is almost undrivable. That is where I am today with the engine. More details can be found in the following thread:

https://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=57948

I tried to get some answers from the engine supplier, but got nothing. Shouldn’t this engine be under warranty? Apparently not. After some research, I found someone else who got an engine from the same batch as mine. The engines were destined for some sort of truck racing series that was cancelled. The engines had been disassembled and reassembled with forged pistons. Mine was reassembled by someone who did not know what they were doing. My engine supplier bought a lot of 30 of them, and I was unlucky. I should have bought from a local GM dealer. I would have gotten a 2 year warranty and a correctly assembled engine (albeit without forged pistons) for the same price.

More updates on the engine saga when I get back home. I need to do a compression test to make sure there is not something internal. Then I need to have someone drive it and log data to get a better idea of what is going on.

[winfield69]

Very nice. So how does it handle? Is it well mannered around town?

It sicks to the road, but I have not had a chance to push it yet. It is not really well mannered around town. My wife needs an athletic bra to ride in it (and remember it is supposed to be her car). It is getting better with the spring changes, but still has a way to go. I want to get the engine sorted first, then I will tackle the final chassis tuning.

I found a guy who sets up cars for a lot of the Porsche club guys for track days. He sets up the 911 of one coworker and the Z06 of another. He is a driver/mechanic so he should be able to help out, and he can run it at one of the local tracks.

I'm not sure if the final result will be something my wife can drive around town or if her breasts would survive the Power Tour in the car.

[winfield69]

Sorry, it sticks to the road.

[1971CHEVELLE]

very nice car

[popindamos]

":?>

[icebird84]

very nice car

indeed

[SDS MACHINING]

I feel for you... spending that kind of money and get the shaft on the motor! seems like the "engine supplier" should have some responsibility to help you out. Very unethical and not very professional. Hope it all works out..

[winfield69]

I think I finally have the engine problems sorted. Besides the previous problem with the cam being out of sync, the engine was supplied with the wrong MAF. It was an 85mm one out of an '05 Z06 and needed a stock one that I think is 100mm. It was causing the engine to lean out and run funny above about 5000rpm. It also fouled the plugs really bad.

When it went on the dyno it was making 466rwhp and is now making 505. The hp curve has been smoothed above 5000rpm.

My brother is supposed to pick up the car tomorrow and check it out. I am out of state for another 12 days. I'll check it out when I get back.

Next step is to get the chassis sorted.

[winfield69]

Scott - I drove up to Yakima from Boise yesterday but did not have time to come by and take a look at your Camaro. I had climbing (Rainier) on the brain and not hot rods.

Same thing happend a few weeks ago. We were 40 miles away from Bonneville during speed week and were too busy climbing to go.

[winfield69]

I think I finally have the engine problems sorted. Besides the previous problem with the cam being out of sync, the engine was supplied with the wrong MAF. It was an 85mm one out of an '05 Z06 and needed a stock one that I think is 100mm. It was causing the engine to lean out and run funny above about 5000rpm. It also fouled the plugs really bad.

When it went on the dyno it was making 466rwhp and is now making 505. The hp curve has been smoothed above 5000rpm.

My brother is supposed to pick up the car tomorrow and check it out. I am out of state for another 12 days. I'll check it out when I get back.

Next step is to get the chassis sorted.

My brother drove the Camaro home this morning. He said it runs like a dream now. I can't wait to get home and try it out.