1974 Camaro Z28
Discussion
simmye36 said:
Sunday Morning spent reading this thread G. Didn't realise how much work has gone into the Camaro.
Might actually have a look at it and forgive you for selling the rx7 haha
Thanks mate - crashing it made that decision considerably more straight-forward Might actually have a look at it and forgive you for selling the rx7 haha
It's been a busy weekend with the car. On Friday, the very talented Cam and Harry from Pistonheads came up North to do a bit of filming. I'm not the most comfortable person on-camera so we'll see how it turns out but the guys were very good, making the process as comfortable as possible. Here are a few behind-the-scenes shots from the day:
It was great to showcase a bit more of the club too which really is what the car is all about. Hopefully they'll be on here soon with more build threads of their own, although I might show some of them in here.
Speaking of the club, we held a summer meet yesterday. We weren't sure that anyone would turn up with the weather being terrible, but surprisingly it was packed all day.
Everyone (apart from me!) made the most of the private road outside the shop too
Don't worry - in truth these are all low-speed affairs; the slow shutter speed makes it look more dramatic than it really is.
Everyone (apart from me!) made the most of the private road outside the shop too
Don't worry - in truth these are all low-speed affairs; the slow shutter speed makes it look more dramatic than it really is.
I've just commented on the other thread but wanted to reply here too - a genuine thanks from all of us for the positive reaction the video seems to have had so far. It's been a far-reaching thing that has led to conversations around the world with regards mental health, cars and community, so thank you. Tip of the hat to PH too for accommodating all of this. I'm sure the next conversations we'll be having about the future of RW will involve the idea of more content like this, even if we don't have anyone as skilled as Harry or Cam to facilitate it!
Thank you again for the kind words, I really have taken the time to read all of them and I do genuinely appreciate them all.
And I genuinely did drive past it on my way home from work:
This is how the engine looked:
The mess behind the clocks:
Thanks again everyone!
V12GT said:
can you repost a picture of the car when you first got it so we can see how far it has come?
Absolutely! As mentioned in the video, this is the car as I went to see it - sat in a rainy unit in Derby:And I genuinely did drive past it on my way home from work:
This is how the engine looked:
The mess behind the clocks:
V12GT said:
I should have mentioned that you take great pictures too.
That's very kind - I should probably mention my full-time job for the last 17 or so years has been as a photographer although the stuff I post here tends to just be grabs off my phone or natural light shots from the camera that don't take much tweaking. The stuff I shoot for a living is a bit more involved!JapanRed said:
Imagine my surprise when I realise I drive past that place most days and live about 3 miles away, yet I’ve never known it existed! Might have to pop in to see them at some point as I’ve always fancied some American Muscle myself.
Small world, by all means call down! The lads are always happy to talk cars and theres some cool metal outside the shop at the moment.Thanks again everyone!
I designed a stand for MAP a few months ago that they could take to trade shows with my images on them, but I haven't managed to see it in person yet. The guys from MAP very kindly asked me to put the Camaro on their stand at a local event so it was a perfect excuse to get some photos of it:
I know it doesn't mean much to most people, but its nice for me to see the sort of fruits of my labour in both the car and the imagery on the stand.
I know it doesn't mean much to most people, but its nice for me to see the sort of fruits of my labour in both the car and the imagery on the stand.
Alan140266 said:
How’s the car OP no postings for a while
Sorry, completely missed this! In terms of build progress there isn't a great deal to report - I've had too much work on to think much about the car so all I've done really is drive it. Ive ordered some traction bars and a new hub/steering wheel so I'm waiting on some bits to arrive, but the plan in the new year is to whip the engine out and clean it all up/replace some seals.For now though, here's a few random pics of the car.
We also had a club drive out for something to eat. A Police van turned up 'randomly' while we were out in the middle of nowhere but he was a great bloke and enjoyed having a look around the cars.
The car was faultless even with multiple pulls against the other cars which was a great laugh. If you do want a more 'live' and up-to-date update of the cars progress, I tend to put a lot of it on my instagram stories (@gtphot).
Cheers guys.
Not sure why I had to wait, but as with the wheel I paid 3 or 4 different suppliers and ended up having all the orders refunded. It was Driftworks that came through in the end and ordered it from the factory.
My traction bars arrived yesterday but I think it's almost certain they're going to foul the side-pipes.
I'll offer them up and then powdercoat them regardless, either to sell or to get the side-pipes adjusted and fitted.
Not sure why I had to wait, but as with the wheel I paid 3 or 4 different suppliers and ended up having all the orders refunded. It was Driftworks that came through in the end and ordered it from the factory.
My traction bars arrived yesterday but I think it's almost certain they're going to foul the side-pipes.
I'll offer them up and then powdercoat them regardless, either to sell or to get the side-pipes adjusted and fitted.
Rare occasion at the weekend that I took the camera out with me to scout a new location. Having been devoid of any Z28-related content for a while I decided to shoot a few stills and film a (very) short walk-around video to show the idle noise with the valves open.
Also shot a couple of friends cars while I was there:
The RX8 is owned by Habbo of Motorsport and Performance. I know I occasionally get asked about the photographs I take for work in here; he recently shot a behind-the-scenes of our latest set for anyone interested. It's a lot more involved than the photos above which are largely single-frames on-location, but you can see it here:
Also shot a couple of friends cars while I was there:
The RX8 is owned by Habbo of Motorsport and Performance. I know I occasionally get asked about the photographs I take for work in here; he recently shot a behind-the-scenes of our latest set for anyone interested. It's a lot more involved than the photos above which are largely single-frames on-location, but you can see it here:
Shnozz said:
f
king love your car man. Keep a keen eye out for it around leeds. Achingly cool and would dearly love one for my Spanish pad.
Thank you! It's a shame they've massacred the road network in Leeds in the aim of 'progression', I used to really enjoy driving round the centre. I'm taking the Suzuki next time we go to Spain but I'm hoping to get the Cam to the stage I'd trust it to drive down there.king love your car man. Keep a keen eye out for it around leeds. Achingly cool and would dearly love one for my Spanish pad. A couple of photographers approached me through instagram and asked if they could shoot the car so I obliged. They're not as retouch-heavy as me so you ca see all the cars battle scars and imperfections, but it's great to watch other people work. Here's a set from one of the guys, haven't seen the others yet:
A friend of ours came down with his video camera and put together this little clip. The keen eyed will spot that I suddenly sprout an afro behind the wheel and that it's actually Josh peddling the car - it only felt right that he was the first to pop its burnout cherry after all the blood and tears he has put into it
Finally managed to make the time to do something I've had pencilled in for months now - getting the engine out.
There's been a fair amount of oil pooling under the car for a while now, but other than that she's been running absolutely faultlessly. This is an opportunity to take the whole thing apart, replace all the seals and tidy the whole thing up before putting it back together. The main suspected culprits for the leaks were the rear-main seal and sump (although we replaced the sump, we did it with the engine in the car, on the drive in pretty grim British weather). Now the engine is out, it's obvious there are a fair few other small leaks too.
We've managed to turn Ravenworks into a bit of a beast lately so fitting this in around their other projects has been tricky, but given their ability to not only do the work I need but elevate the standard of the car by coating ancillaries, coupled with our relationships with both EDA (who have very kindly donated the seals) and STG (who will be relocating the exhaust to accommodate the traction bars) made the wait to get the car in absolutely worth it.
There are some other plans while the engine is out, including (hopefully) some time with EDA, but also to ceramic coat these:
As well as tidying up the majority of this:
Genuinely really excited to be at this stage with the car. Hopefully Ben will give the engine the all-clear and this thing will run for many miles to come. Or this will be about how I set up an only-fans to pay for an EDA-built 350. I hope for all of us that it doesn't go down like that.
Ironically, the other big project sharing the shop at the moment is this 3100 which has having (among other things) its 6-pot replaced with one of Bens 350s. I'm sure I can make it disappear.
There's been a fair amount of oil pooling under the car for a while now, but other than that she's been running absolutely faultlessly. This is an opportunity to take the whole thing apart, replace all the seals and tidy the whole thing up before putting it back together. The main suspected culprits for the leaks were the rear-main seal and sump (although we replaced the sump, we did it with the engine in the car, on the drive in pretty grim British weather
). Now the engine is out, it's obvious there are a fair few other small leaks too.We've managed to turn Ravenworks into a bit of a beast lately so fitting this in around their other projects has been tricky, but given their ability to not only do the work I need but elevate the standard of the car by coating ancillaries, coupled with our relationships with both EDA (who have very kindly donated the seals) and STG (who will be relocating the exhaust to accommodate the traction bars) made the wait to get the car in absolutely worth it.
There are some other plans while the engine is out, including (hopefully) some time with EDA, but also to ceramic coat these:
As well as tidying up the majority of this:
Genuinely really excited to be at this stage with the car. Hopefully Ben will give the engine the all-clear and this thing will run for many miles to come. Or this will be about how I set up an only-fans to pay for an EDA-built 350. I hope for all of us that it doesn't go down like that.
Ironically, the other big project sharing the shop at the moment is this 3100 which has having (among other things) its 6-pot replaced with one of Bens 350s. I'm sure I can make it disappear.
Edited by Rogue86 on Tuesday 21st February 20:44
Jhonno said:
No new heads or anything fruity "whilst it is apart"...?
No, not yet. Truth be told I'm not the sort of person that chases power arbitrarily - the only reason I want the engine dyno'd is to really see what the engine is doing under load so I can get the most out of driving it. The car has plenty of power as it stands and I think it's really easy to ruin the balance of a car by adding more horses. Rick is finding that out the hard way at the moment with his Mustang that has tried a few times now to kill him LeighW said:
Great stuff. Hadn't seen the burnout video, I'm pretty sure my Firebird couldn't light the tyres up like that.
Thank you - it's really a punchy thing to drive. What engine is in the bird? Jhonno said:
What power is he running?
Tbf I didn't just mean chasing power, but it's a nice little boost.. Plus significant nose weigh saving. I know my Mustang is something like 54/46 weight distribution. I was thinking 350bhp would be a nice balanced number for one, pokey but not too much of a handful - Camero or Mustang.
Rick's Mustang is 430bhp, but it's a 65 so it was built for much less than half of that and it shows Tbf I didn't just mean chasing power, but it's a nice little boost.. Plus significant nose weigh saving. I know my Mustang is something like 54/46 weight distribution. I was thinking 350bhp would be a nice balanced number for one, pokey but not too much of a handful - Camero or Mustang.
All of our cars are driven in all weather's enthusiastically, so it's a lot of power to put down mechanically against similar powered Japanese cars in the club (MKV Supra, Evo 6 and FD RX7) which all deliver the power in a more driver-friendly way. I'd be surprised if mine is much more than 250bhp but for the way I drive and the places I tend to drive it that's perfect for me. I would fit heads just so the carb wasn't having such a hard time but it's not a priority for me unless a deal comes up I cant refuse. Ben would happily talk me into a remortgage and 900bhp if I let him though
LeighW said:
A Chevy 350 of unknown origin. Probably from a 70s C20 truck going by the numbers stamped on it. It's not fast, but it is fast enough for the brakes... 
Haha, that's a great way of putting it! Have you checked the codes to see what it marries up with? Jhonno said:
A bit of an OT, but has he done much to the chassis to cope? Or just chasing power? I think the chassis is as much the issue as the delivery.
Fair enough! 900bhp does sound fun... I think you are right though, it would make it less usable.
Definitely not as much as he needs to - but for me this is half the issue of chasing power. The more you have, the more you have to accommodate it with supporting mods and then ultimately you make it unusable for the way you drive it. The Camaro is at a healthy, balanced stage at the minute where I can drive it somewhat unsympathetically which makes an awesome point/shoot street car. The more power I add, the more the chassis (and most importantly, brakes/tyres) I need and it's not long before I need to run a heat cycle through both to get them to work properly which makes it useless as a street car, especially on a rainy November night in Yorkshire.Fair enough!
900bhp does sound fun... I think you are right though, it would make it less usable.Small bit of progress from tonight. Block taken out back and washed/dried:
Good to see what state it's in in terms of paint so that we can start to prep it.
The paint I've had mixed for the block is Chevrolet 'Victory red', a much deeper red than is common on these blocks and a step away from the factory orange.
On with the prep!
Rick doing most of the work (as usual):
Me taking over for a little bit so I feel like I'm involved:
Steady progress but you can see on the heads here how much of a difference it's making:
Rick stayed with it long after I'd gone and he's text me a couple of photos with the block now the ancillaries are off. I'll update with those next time!
Good to see what state it's in in terms of paint so that we can start to prep it.
The paint I've had mixed for the block is Chevrolet 'Victory red', a much deeper red than is common on these blocks and a step away from the factory orange.
On with the prep!
Rick doing most of the work (as usual):
Me taking over for a little bit so I feel like I'm involved:
Steady progress but you can see on the heads here how much of a difference it's making:
Rick stayed with it long after I'd gone and he's text me a couple of photos with the block now the ancillaries are off. I'll update with those next time!
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