TCI Engineering's '68 Camaro

[Sales-TCI-Eng]

We haven't really made any changes to this car in the last few years so I never made a thread. We just made a pretty major change to the car though so I thought we should share. For those that don't know the guy that has been building our shocks passed away last year at the NHRA race in Vegas. The family has been gracious enough to fulfill our current and backlogged orders but we had to begin shopping for a replacement manufacturer. After looking at many different avenues we came back to the obvious choice. The changeover won't officially happen until April so that will give us a chance to test them on a few different cars to make sure all is well.

I think that most of the people on the forum are familiar with the car but just in case here it is.




We never officially named the car but we do tend to call it the Perception Changer. That is due in part to a rather negative post made by Dave Pozzi (not knowing anything about our clip just generalizing) on the Camaro forums back in 2008. After the '09 Handling Challenge he had a different view of the parts we manufacture.


Anyway, onto the changes being made to the car before the Run to the Coast event next week. Thanks again Bret, James and ridetech.

Sal testing the spring rates


All layed out






Sal & Evan installing the rear shocks


Ed installing the front shocks






While we were at it we switched to the "E" pads from Wilwood.



-J

[Todd in Vancouver]

Very cool! This is the car I believe that convinced me to go with the TCI kit for my car. Is this the same car that Mary use to drive that I've read so much about?

[Sales-TCI-Eng]

Very cool! This is the car I believe that convinced me to go with the TCI kit for my car. Is this the same car that Mary use to drive that I've read so much about?

It is the village bicycle, everybody has had a turn. Even the Toyo Tires truck driver ran it at an autocross in Washington and won the event.

-J

[GrabberGT]

Just curious, what spring length and rate combo did you go with? Im thinking about upping the spring rate on my TCI rear from 250 to 375 to balance out my 11" 450 front.

[Sales-TCI-Eng]

We dropped the car off at Magnaflow this morning to have them make a new exhaust system for it. I hope this doesn't make us miss RTTC.

Just curious, what spring length and rate combo did you go with? Im thinking about upping the spring rate on my TCI rear from 250 to 375 to balance out my 11" 450 front.

How much weight do you have on the back axle?

10" springs
450# front & 300# rear

We are nearly out of adjustment on the front and it is still sitting too low. We had 11" 450# on it before so more than likely that is where we will end up. The back is perfect.

-J

[GrabberGT]

We dropped the car off at Magnaflow this morning to have them make a new exhaust system for it. I hope this doesn't make us miss RTTC.





How much weight do you have on the back axle?

10" springs
450# front & 300# rear

We are nearly out of adjustment on the front and it is still sitting too low. We had 11" 450# on it before so more than likely that is where we will end up. The back is perfect.

-J

I misspoke before, I have a 9" 450lb spring in front. According to the ridetech Spring Rate Calculator, that is about right for the "Race" category with my front end weight. 8" is 500 and 10" is 400. So split the 2 sizes and weights and I get 9" at 450.

My rear weight is 1616. Subtract 400 for unsprung weight. (9"rear, tires, wheels, brakes, torque arm suspension components...) using 250 lb coil springs that where shipped with the rear suspension.

Per the ridetech Spring Rate Calculator, My 8" rear spring should be 325 under the "Race" category. (I cant remember if its a 8 or 10 spring you send stock) If its a 10 inch spring then I should have a 275 under "Race" category.

[Sales-TCI-Eng]

I misspoke before, I have a 9" 450lb spring in front. According to the ridetech Spring Rate Calculator, that is about right for the "Race" category with my front end weight. 8" is 500 and 10" is 400. So split the 2 sizes and weights and I get 9" at 450.

My rear weight is 1616. Subtract 400 for unsprung weight. (9"rear, tires, wheels, brakes, torque arm suspension components...) using 250 lb coil springs that where shipped with the rear suspension.

Per the ridetech Spring Rate Calculator, My 8" rear spring should be 325 under the "Race" category. (I cant remember if its a 8 or 10 spring you send stock) If its a 10 inch spring then I should have a 275 under "Race" category.

I haven't played with their spring rate calulator but does it account for motion ratio? If your rear shocks are laid over at roughly 15-20 degrees then the 250 should be perfect. That rear weight is roughly 50 lbs lighter than the '66 Nova we took to the Handling Challenge in 2010 and it had 250's in the back. I would stick with the 250's until you get a good feel of how the car acts. You'll be real surprised how well the rear tracks and hooks up mid turn/on the gas. If it is too stiff it will rotate too easy and with your shorter wheelbase that'll be tough to control.

We had a 350# spring in the back of our Camaro for the Handling Challenge. It now has a 300# spring and is much more predictable and of course rides much better. That car tracks like an AWD car now (point & shoot). It truly is amazing how easy it is to go fast in it. Like I eluded to above, pretty much anyone can get in that car and go fast. It is very forgiving.

We supply 10" x 250#'s with both the Nova and Camaro kits.

-J

[Bryce]

I misspoke before, I have a 9" 450lb spring in front. According to the ridetech Spring Rate Calculator, that is about right for the "Race" category with my front end weight. 8" is 500 and 10" is 400. So split the 2 sizes and weights and I get 9" at 450.

My rear weight is 1616. Subtract 400 for unsprung weight. (9"rear, tires, wheels, brakes, torque arm suspension components...) using 250 lb coil springs that where shipped with the rear suspension.

Per the ridetech Spring Rate Calculator, My 8" rear spring should be 325 under the "Race" category. (I cant remember if its a 8 or 10 spring you send stock) If its a 10 inch spring then I should have a 275 under "Race" category.

Sorry for the thread jack, but your the rear of your car weighs 1616lbs? with you in it? Mine weighs 1400 with me. 1250 without me. I would check those weights?

[GrabberGT]

Sorry for the thread jack, but your the rear of your car weighs 1616lbs? with you in it? Mine weighs 1400 with me. 1250 without me. I would check those weights?

Been weighed on 3 separate occasions. each time its low 1600's. Fuel level and various mods being the only changes.

[Rick Dorion]

As I recall, Mary was very positive in her review. I read the writeup several times! Looking forward to your experiences!

[Bryce]

thanks for the response Chris, That just really surprised me. I was thinking the maverick would have been lighter than a falcon.

[Sales-TCI-Eng]

The sun has set on the old exhaust system.



The car is back from Magnaflow already so that is a huge weight lifted off our shoulders.

Here is what it looked like before. You can see that the location H-pipe in relation to the narrowed portion of the exhaust was making the cross flow pulses go backwards into the oncoming stream of exhaust.


This is what it looks like now.




-J

[RobNoLimit]

Looks like a good fit. I do like the bolt together nature of this car.

[bdahlg68]

Great looking car, Chris. Any chance you guys could help me out with the approximate height of the wheel openings / rockers? This is close the height I want to go for on my project.

Thanks!

[Sales-TCI-Eng]

Great looking car, Chris. Any chance you guys could help me out with the approximate height of the wheel openings / rockers? This is close the height I want to go for on my project.

Thanks!

25" up front and 26.5" out back

-J

[Sales-TCI-Eng]

We are finally getting around to installing the NEW clip into our Camaro. Customer's have been getting this wheelbase updated clip (for those running 5+ degrees of caster) for a few years now so we figured it was time to try and stuff a 285 up front.






-Jason

[ragz]

It's there any chance magna flow would make this exhaust in a kit, so all of us camaro tci guys could have it.

[Sales-TCI-Eng]

There is a very good chance that Magnaflow will mass reproduce this exhaust. We are scheduled to take it back to Magnaflow in a few weeks so I will discuss it in greater depth with Richard at that time .


-Jason

[ragz]

There is a very good chance that Magnaflow will mass reproduce this exhaust. We are scheduled to take it back to Magnaflow in a few weeks so I will discuss it in greater depth with Richard at that time .


-Jason

Was there any response to a exhaust kit posibility for the 68 camaro, getting to this stage of my build and am still very interested.Also what magna flow mufflers did you use?

[Sales-TCI-Eng]

Was there any response to a exhaust kit posibility for the 68 camaro, getting to this stage of my build and am still very interested.Also what magna flow mufflers did you use?

It doesn't look good for them to be making a kit. They've been really busy and even just broke ground on a new facility.

I am not sure what part # they used on Chad Ryker's car but it's a 3" offset inlet/center outlet with a 14" body.



-J