1974 Camaro Z28
Discussion
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? Rogue86 said:
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 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.
Rogue86 said:
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? Rogue86 said:
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
Fair enough!
900bhp does sound fun... I think you are right though, it would make it less usable.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.Rogue86 said:
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.Rogue86 said:
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? 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!
Jhonno said:
That red should look decent!
Out of interest, what camera do you use? I assume you have some form of fill lighting as well? I like the tone of the images!
Thank you - predominantly I shoot on a Nikon D800 with 24-70, it's a bit of an old work-horse by modern standards but it's not great with video. Out of interest, what camera do you use? I assume you have some form of fill lighting as well? I like the tone of the images!
These later shots are taken on a Canon EOS-R (mirrorless) with a 24-70 and it's very obviously a much more user-friendly camera, plus a lot better at shooting video. The shots of me are taken by Rick who is (by his own definition) very much not a creative
While I did have the camera setup for him to use, he didn't miss any of the shots and I guarantee he would have missed on the D800. I hate to say it, but modern mirrorless cameras are finally moving the conversation away from the 'it's not the camera, it's the photographer' mindset in much the same way smart phones started to. The lighting in these shots in particular is genuinely just workshop lighting. Occasionally I'll use the workshops portable led work-light to fill but I haven't used it in any of these.
Rogue86 said:
Thank you - predominantly I shoot on a Nikon D800 with 24-70, it's a bit of an old work-horse by modern standards but it's not great with video.
These later shots are taken on a Canon EOS-R (mirrorless) with a 24-70 and it's very obviously a much more user-friendly camera, plus a lot better at shooting video. The shots of me are taken by Rick who is (by his own definition) very much not a creative While I did have the camera setup for him to use, he didn't miss any of the shots and I guarantee he would have missed on the D800. I hate to say it, but modern mirrorless cameras are finally moving the conversation away from the 'it's not the camera, it's the photographer' mindset in much the same way smart phones started to.
The lighting in these shots in particular is genuinely just workshop lighting. Occasionally I'll use the workshops portable led work-light to fill but I haven't used it in any of these.
These later shots are taken on a Canon EOS-R (mirrorless) with a 24-70 and it's very obviously a much more user-friendly camera, plus a lot better at shooting video. The shots of me are taken by Rick who is (by his own definition) very much not a creative
While I did have the camera setup for him to use, he didn't miss any of the shots and I guarantee he would have missed on the D800. I hate to say it, but modern mirrorless cameras are finally moving the conversation away from the 'it's not the camera, it's the photographer' mindset in much the same way smart phones started to. The lighting in these shots in particular is genuinely just workshop lighting. Occasionally I'll use the workshops portable led work-light to fill but I haven't used it in any of these.
I've not actually tried a mirrorless, I still use a an old 7D I bought about 8yrs ago. Are they really that much better?! Yeah, smart phone cameras.. Probably part of the reason I don't use my camera as much as I'd like!
Ah, just falling in convenient places. I can see that they could be lit from the workshop lights like that, but some looked like it was deliberate fill!
Jhonno said:
I've not actually tried a mirrorless, I still use a an old 7D I bought about 8yrs ago. Are they really that much better?! Yeah, smart phone cameras.. Probably part of the reason I don't use my camera as much as I'd like!
Ah, just falling in convenient places. I can see that they could be lit from the workshop lights like that, but some looked like it was deliberate fill!
It's more a mix of moving the subjects into areas that are already lit and then a bit of selective editing to make them 'pop' a little more.
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