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    1. #1
      Join Date
      May 2012
      Location
      St. Louis
      Posts
      110
      Country Flag: United States

      LSA Powered 69 Camaro - "Lou's Change"

      Well, its been a long time but my son Dan and I finally decided to build the car we've been talking about and planning for years.

      This dream started back in 1998 when Dan and I bought our 1969 Camaro as a Father and Son project. Within 24 hours of bringing it home we had it all torn apart. We put it back together to our liking at the time. It sported a mild 327 motor, Muncie M21 transmission and a 12 bolt rear end.

      In 2003 we took it all apart and put it back together again. That round we installed a totally rebuilt subframe, built and installed a very strong 383 stroker motor, rebuilt and installed a Muncie M20 transmission and added lots of chrome glitter under the hood. Hey, stop laughing, all that chrome was really cool back then and pro-touring wasn't even born yet!!



      Well, now Dan is a bonafied, professional designer and we've decided it's time for us to take our little Camaro to yet the next level. He converted our discussions and dreams into renderings of our vision for the next version of our car which we have named "Lou's Change", (a play on my first name and the fact that we can't seem to leave well enough alone)

      Sharp eyes will notice the rendering includes design cues that serve as tributes to the new ZL1 Camaro including its modified LSA crate motor, striping and other subtle hints.

      We're throwing everything the Detroit Speed catalogue has to offer a 69 Camaro at this build since their stuff looks so cool and they are continuously pounding on their products to make them better. For example, their headers play the part of beautiful sculpture every bit as well as that of performance parts.

      We selected the LSA crate motor from GM performance parts. We're still evaluating which tuner to send it to for a boost in horsepower once we finish our mock up work. The goal is to get it up well over 700HP. We will be running a ZL1 top hat on the supercharger to get the intercooler lines facing forward and to stay with our ZL1 inspiration/theme.

      We've ordered a complete T56 Magnum set up including scatter shield, dual disc clutch and hydraulics.

      Braking will take place via Wilwood's 6 piston calipers grabbing 14" discs up front and their 12" floating caliper system in the rear.

      Forgeline's brand new DE3C Concave wheel design was our obvious choice because of its combination of concave center along with a smooth outer rim sans any steps.

      The interior will "look" pretty much stock but it will have Vintage Air A/C and Dakota Digital's brand new 1969 Camaro specific gauges.

      We still have lots of design details to figure out now that the build has started. I am sure I will continue to post lots of questions during the build to tap into your collective wisdom. Thank you very much in advance for your advice. It's been amazing to see how everyone here is so anxious and willing to help one another.

      In the past, Dan and I did our own builds but this one deserves craftsmanship beyond our current skills.

      We decided the right builder for us is V8TVshow. We had watched lots of their videos in which they describe their build philosophies and then show you how to do it yourself. We were able to crawl all over their most recent build at the SEMA show last October. Finally, once we met them, we could tell they would be really good people to work with.

      Here is a picture of the car and the "future state" rendering, both of which were recently delivered to V8TVshow for the build:
      Attached Images Attached Images    


    2. #2
      Join Date
      Jul 2011
      Posts
      39
      Sounds like an awesome project!

    3. #3
      Join Date
      Jul 2010
      Location
      OREGON
      Posts
      365
      Country Flag: United States
      Looks great cant wait for the project to start..

    4. #4
      Join Date
      May 2012
      Location
      St. Louis
      Posts
      110
      Country Flag: United States
      The cool new parts are arriving and mock up has begun!
      Detroit Speed hydroformed subframe



      The Detroit Speed parts just look so nice don't they?



      Even their welding looks cool







      Subframe epoxy coated and assembled




      The 383 was reliable and fun but its time to make room for the more modern LSA






    5. #5
      Join Date
      Apr 2004
      Location
      OKC, OK
      Posts
      3,739
      Country Flag: United States
      Kevin, Kellie, and crew do nice work. You will not be disappointed.
      Mike Redpath
      Musclerodz & Customz
      405-288-0189
      pro-touring parts specialists
      Musclerodz.com

      facebook page
      http://www.facebook.com/#!/pages/Mus...73054649402015
      instagram
      Musclerodz

    6. #6
      Join Date
      Sep 2004
      Location
      Metamora, Illinois
      Posts
      1,614
      Awesome project! Keep the update coming!

    7. #7
      Join Date
      May 2012
      Location
      St. Louis
      Posts
      110
      Country Flag: United States
      The build plan is to first install the new subframe and LSA drivetrain and actually get it running. Then everything will be disassembled and the bodywork will start. While the bodywork is underway, the engine will be sent out to a tuner to increase its output to north of 700. Doing the build this way will minimize scratches and headaches during final assembly.

      The T56 Magnum transmission, along with all the required installation goodies has been ordered from Modern Driveline.

      Here is the LSA crate motor. We also ordered the GM control module and front accessory drive components.






      To clear the 14 inch rotors ordered from Wilwood, we are using 2012 Camaro steelies for rollers. Forgeline's new DE3C concave design wheels are on order.



      GM's LSA crate motor is identical to the one that comes in the Cadillac CTS-V. It has supercharger intercooler lines coming out the rear.
      The LSA used in the new ZL-1 Camaro has a different top hat on the supercharger that has the intercooler lines located in the front.
      Since we want this motor to be more of a tribute to the Camaro ZL-1 than to the CTS-V, we ordered the top hat from the ZL-1 and it will replace the one seen here. We also suspected there may not be enough room between the engine and firewall for the rear exit intercooler lines.



      This flywheel and clutch will be replaced with beefier units to withstand 700+ HP.



      Notice how meticulous the V8TV crew is to tape off all potential openings in the engine and how they place padding between all painted surfaces and lift points? I like that. To me, it's an indication of how much they respect their work.



      It looks like the rear exit intercooler lines might have worked but we're still going to use the ZL-1 top hat. Looks like our plan to use the stock SS hood is going to be fine too!

    8. #8
      Join Date
      Aug 2008
      Posts
      1
      Thank you for the kind words Mike. This project is going to be so fun to build!

    9. #9
      Join Date
      Nov 2005
      Location
      St.Petersburg, FL
      Posts
      194
      Country Flag: United States
      I love it when you guys start a new build! Subscribing for sure.

      What are the plans to upgrade the motor? New cam, or just more boost or both?
      '69 Camaro Coupe, Full Ridetech stage 3 suspension, moser wavetrac 12bolt, Forgelines, Ls3 T56 Magnum and once again tuned by Ed!

      '69 Camaro Convertible, all DSE Stuff, LME 430 LS7, tuned by Ed Hutchings and built by http://www.gforcedesignconcepts.com/

    10. #10
      Join Date
      May 2012
      Location
      St. Louis
      Posts
      110
      Country Flag: United States
      We are planning Heads, Cam, pulleys, inlet porting, upgraded heat exchanger and tune right now. That seems to be the combination being used to get over 700HP which is our goal.
      We thought about beefing up the bottom end but it looks like the CTS-V crowd has proven we will be ok without that added expense.
      There has been some talk about polishing the inside of the intercooler area and perhaps adding a spacer under the hat. We need to research that a little more and evaluate hood clearances relative to the spacer option.
      For fuel supply, we ordered the DSE fuel tank system rated for 1000 HP. That seemed like the right way to go for a pre engineered system that would be compatible with their mini tubs and quadralink rear.
      Right now figuring out the best way to achieve a wiring harness to connect all the goodies is one of the tallest poles in the tent so to speak.
      Lou

    11. #11
      Join Date
      Dec 2004
      Location
      Midwest
      Posts
      2,261
      Country Flag: United States
      Thanks Lou for posting up the pics and commentary! We're all really excited about putting this car together, and so far things have been going very well. Lou is the kind of guy who obviously wants to be involved in the build, and we're happy to have the opportunity to build another car that has a high level of personal significance. He and his son Dan logged a lot of time working on this one, and we're honored to take it up a few notches with them.

      On a side note, Dan is an extremely talented designer. We have another project starting soon that features his work. You may have seen this one at SEMA, a Camaro he worked on for GM with Jimmy Shine:



      You can see more from Dan at www.steinhauserdesign.com.

      We'll be posting the first video of the Lou's Change project here soon!
      Kevin Oeste
      V8 Speed and Resto Shop
      V8TV
      Muscle Car Of The Week
      V8 Radio Podcast

      All about us:
      https://www.v8speedshop.com


    12. #12
      Join Date
      Nov 2006
      Location
      Ma.
      Posts
      5,567
      Country Flag: United States
      Awesome project, I'll definitely keep an eye on this one. It will be fun watching Kevin, Kellie and the guys put this together.
      Wayne
      Car FINALLY home !!!!!! lol
      Project FNQUIK https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ghlight=FNQUIK

    13. #13
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Burnaby, BC, Canada
      Posts
      1,388
      Very nice project and choice of parts.
      1969 CAMARO RS

      2002 LS1-T56 Dyno results: 452 rwhp, 425 rwtq
      Project pics of my '69
      Lateral-G Feature Page
      Camaro Performers Magazine Feature

    14. #14
      Join Date
      Jan 2012
      Location
      BROOKLYN , NY
      Posts
      84
      Country Flag: United States
      i like it already

    15. #15
      Join Date
      Sep 2006
      Location
      Greenwood SC
      Posts
      439
      Country Flag: United States
      Cool build....subscribed

    16. #16
      Join Date
      Nov 2010
      Location
      Fresno Ca
      Posts
      66
      Country Flag: United States
      Great Looking Build

    17. #17
      Join Date
      May 2012
      Location
      St. Louis
      Posts
      110
      Country Flag: United States
      We plan to keep the interior looking pretty much stock so it will be more timeless and not look dated as soon as today's popular 69 Camaro interior modifications get replaced with something new. However, we do want to upgrade the safety, comfort and modern technology aspects behind the scenes including things like a Vintage Air A/C system and modern gauges.

      Here are pics of the newest VHX gauges from Dakota Digital made specifically for the 69 Camaro. They fit the stock dash but bring their modern VHX technology to the mix. It is a fully digital system with gauges that look like they are just analog devices. Dakota Digital's VHX system uses an electronic module that you mount in a convenient location and wire all your sensors to. A simple multi-conductor ribbon then runs from that module and plugs into the rear of these gauges.

      Besides the obvious gauges, the digital readout areas can display clock, hour meter, service odometer, 0-60 time, quarter mile elapsed time, quarter mile top speed, max speed, max rpm, etc.

      I'm not sure yet, but I think Kevin even ordered an option so they will also be able to display the supercharger boost level.

      We ordered their carbon fiber face with red backlighting color option.




    18. #18
      Join Date
      Dec 2004
      Location
      Midwest
      Posts
      2,261
      Country Flag: United States
      Mmm.... loves me some R888s... in this pic, the 335/30 ZR 18 looks like it's floating in space! These are some huge Toyos.

      Kevin Oeste
      V8 Speed and Resto Shop
      V8TV
      Muscle Car Of The Week
      V8 Radio Podcast

      All about us:
      https://www.v8speedshop.com


    19. #19
      Join Date
      Sep 2011
      Posts
      55
      Quote Originally Posted by oestek View Post
      Mmm.... loves me some R888s... in this pic, the 335/30 ZR 18 looks like it's floating in space! These are some huge Toyos.


      Money shot

    20. #20
      Join Date
      Aug 2004
      Location
      Burnaby, BC, Canada
      Posts
      1,388
      Quote Originally Posted by oestek View Post
      Mmm.... loves me some R888s... in this pic, the 335/30 ZR 18 looks like it's floating in space! These are some huge Toyos.

      It's a great tire, your customer will be very happy with them. He may even want more power :D
      1969 CAMARO RS

      2002 LS1-T56 Dyno results: 452 rwhp, 425 rwtq
      Project pics of my '69
      Lateral-G Feature Page
      Camaro Performers Magazine Feature

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