Car of the Week: 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 | Old Cars Weekly

Car of the Week: 1969 Chevrolet Camaro Z/28 | Old Cars Weekly.

 

 

 

 

Ford Shelby GT500 vs Chevrolet Camaro ZL1! – Head 2 Head Episode 11

Here is another compare between the cars.

Breaking seems to be the main issue.

Funny they differ on which car would be better on the street.

Quarter mile was a blow out.


Thanks for reading.

Tim

2012 Chevrolet Camaro ZL1 vs. 2013 Ford

 

Some great info on these two cars. Not sure they should be compared together.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

Demise of Olds – What Happened to GM?

Often a comment sparks an entire blog entry.  Nothing gets me going more than a discussion about US auto makers, especially if I can lay out my thoughts about “what’s happened to (insert brand here)”.

In a comment to my Auto Factoids for the Week of Aug 19, 2012 (http://wp.me/pKHNM-1fG) Bill wrote:

“If I were in charge of GM, I would not have left Oldsmobile for death. I liked the idea of ‘Saturn-izing’ Olds into a Lexus level car. There might have been only one, or two models under the Olds badge, but I would not have left the world’s oldest car company for dead.

Oldsmobile was GM’s ‘experimental’ division both in terms of engineering and product marketing. Many automotive firsts such as automatic transmission (Hydramatic), OHV V8s, and even the ‘self winding’ car clock……….Which brings me to the time I find myself saying in many of my comments in your BLOG:
“What happend to GM????””

I’ve mentioned this before,  it never really made any sense to me why you would have so many divisions in a car company as GM did. Some say, it was to offer different levels of options that were affordable on up to expensive.  But lets take the Chevrolet for instance. At one time they had the Biscayne, Belair, Impala and Caprice (and I think that was the correct order from lowest optioned to the highest) as option levels and pricing to reach everyone. This doesn’t seem too bad. But now add in  the other divisions with Chevy being the lowest, then there’s Pontiac, Buick, Olds, and Caddy and I think that would be the correct order for options and pricing as well.  A further break down in what as suppose to be different classes of automobile for different classes of society was the norm for those divisions as well.  For example the Tempest and La Mans, GTO were basically  the same car with different options.

I understand brand/model loyalty, especially at the initial merging/acquisition of a brand, but at some point that stopped being the only valid reason for keeping them separate.  By the time the ’70s and ’80s rolled around they all started looking the same.  For example take the Chevy Monte Carlo for 1978 and compare with the Buick and Olds of the same year:

78 Buick Regal

78 Chevy Monte Carlo

1978 Olds Cutlass

Minus the big tires on the Olds, tell me why I should purchase one over the other or purchase one at all (beside the fact they were fairly ugly)?

Frankly, I would have kept Pontiac over Olds any day but then again the difference between a Camaro and a Firebird in 2000 wasn’t much -but they are both gone now.

2000 Firebird

2000 Camaro

There just wasn’t much different.  They diluted the brand and it became impossible to find any major differences – unless you were a gear head and most consumers were not.

The necessity to cut cost and share parts made it nearly mandatory to have them all made from the same cookie cutter.

Now don’t get me started on the purchase of oversea brands and becoming a finance/mortgage company to defray cost.  (Did you know that at one time GM did more business in home/real estate loans then they did with their core car brands?

I rest my case.

 

Thanks for reading.

Tim

1991 Camaro

 

What We Drive – Jon’s ’91 Camaro

from:  Prestolite Performance   http://info.prestoliteperformance.com/111-what-we-drive-jon-s-91-camaro.html?utm_source=MailingList&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Automotive+Newsletter+7_26_12
Published on Thursday, 26 July 2012 14:55

What We Drive Volume 1, Jon's CamaroMeet Jon, one of our engineers here at Prestolite Performance. He is the focus of our first installment of What We Drive, our series of stories about the cars of Prestolite Performance employees. Jon got into cars when he was about 13 years old. His first car was a 1986 Ford Tempo that he worked on, but never got it to the road. His college car was a 1989 Chevy S10, which he beefed up by replacing the original 4 cylinder with a V8.

How Jon’s Camaro Went From 230 hp to Over 700 hp

Jon had been looking for a ’91 Camaro for some time, finding it difficult to locate one that wasn’t a rust bucket. In 2000, his search paid off and he purchased a nearly bone stock ’91 Camaro with only about 57,000 miles. The only performance upgrade on the car was a Flowmaster exhaust. Originally, the car made about 230 hp and 300 ft. lbs of torque.

The LB9 305 small block Chevy engine that was stock in Jon’s Camaro was removed to make way for a 355 small block. He hand ported aluminum Corvette heads and installed a Holley Stealth Ram intake with Mr. Gasket Ultra-Seal intake gaskets. Jon also made sure his engine was sealed for higher horsepower with Multi-Layered Steel head gaskets from Mr. Gasket. He made the engine even tougher with a forged ZZ4 crank, SRP forged pistons and a Comp camshaft.

Beefing up the drivetrain was also a priority so Jon installed a 4L80E transmission (built to handle 1000hp), Transgo shift kit, Lakewood transmission mount, SPOHN driveshaft, Detroit locker and Lakewood U-joints.

With twin 60mm Garret Turbos and his ACCEL 1000cfm throttle body and ACCEL Gen7 engine management system, Jon needed a hefty fuel delivery. His 5160FI fuel pump (now under Mallory) along with Mallory filters and high performance regulator provides the elite system needed for such a setup. For ignition, Jon used an ACCEL 300+ box with an ACCEL ultra coil and Extreme 9000 ceramic boot wires.

Now that Jon’s Camaro had been beefed up, he needed to harness the power with Lakewood 90/10 drag struts, panhard bar and control arms. He also needed better braking, so he installed 2002 SS Camaro brakes on all 4 corners.

All said and done, Jon’s beefed up ’91 Camaro now makes 700 hp and 800 ft. lbs of torque. That’s quite the improvement from stock.

See more Pictures

Beautiful Car!

Now that’s some plumbing!!!

Complete List of Improvements to Jon’s Camaro

Engine

Drivetrain

Power Adder

  • Twin 60mm Garret Turbos
  • Custom stainless headers

Fuel system

Engine management

Ignition

Exhaust

  • Custom 2-1/2″ down pipes
  • 4″ y-pipe back single exhaust
  • Dynatech muffler
  • Mr. Gasket ultra seal gaskets

Suspension

Brakes

  • 2002 SS Camaro brakes on all 4 corners
 Thanks for reading.
Tim

 

Transitioning to Modern Transmissions Prt 2

Posted By John Katz, June 25, 2012 in E-News, Engine & Drivetrain

From www.hotrodandrestoration.com

Stick Shifting

Meanwhile, manual-shift enthusiasts are upgrading to modern units packing more heavy-duty horsepower capacity—and more gear ratios.

“The generation that is now in their 60s can afford to build the cars that they wanted to build when they were in high school,” said Dick Hill, sales manager for Centerforce Clutches in Prescott, Arizona. And while those folks are not usually looking to build a race car, “they do want a four- or five-speed manual transmission,” he said.

More surprisingly, the trend extends beyond muscle cars and into traditional hot rods as well.

“I have friends who are building Deuce roadsters and they are putting LS motors in them, with a five- or six-speed manual transmission,” Hill said. “There are people who put Cadillac V-8s in 1949–1951 Mercs, and they want a stick. They want a three-pedal car. So that, too, is contributing to the growth of the high-performance clutch market.”

Hot rodders who already own or have owned multiple cars are now looking for something different.

“It’s like the people who buy their first Harley, they want it with every doo-dad they can get, where older bikers are turning back to the Knucklehead or even Flathead motors,” Hill said. “It’s the same with the hot rodder who already has two or three or four toys in the garage. The newest toy is going to be a stick car. And it’s for the same reason that someone will buy a brand-new Camaro, put 1,000 horsepower in it, and drive it on the street while blowing cold air and playing tunes. They want a manual not because they’re going to race it, but because they can have it. That’s what we hear all the time: ‘Because I can.’”

Rating the Ratios

American Powertrain of Cookeville, Tennessee, sells a broad range of high-performance drivetrain components, from complete crate engines to driveshafts and pedals. The company also distributes Tremec transmissions.

“The hot market right now is for the Magnum six-speed in a classic muscle car,” said Gray Frederick. “The Magnum is Tremec’s replacement for the T-56 is the aftermarket version of what you would get in a new Shelby GT500 or Camaro SS.” Frederick added that people are putting them into classic Mustangs Cougars, Camaros Firebirds, Barracudas and Challengers.

“The cars that people spend the most money on are the cars that [are] getting Magnum six-speeds,” Frederick added.

The Magnum is available with two sets of ratios, with the closer-ratio unit being the more popular of the two.

“The wide-ratio box has a 0.5 overdrive, which is very tall; a lot of engines can’t pull that much overdrive,” Frederick said.

But when it comes to overdrive, isn’t more better?

“That’s a myth,” Frederick said. “You can say, ‘Alright, I’m at the ragged edge of my cam, where if I’m on flat ground I can hold 70 mph all day.’ In a perfect world, that would be great. [I]n the real world, at some point you’re going to have to slow down for construction, and then speed up again; or you’re going to hit a rise, or something else that causes your engine to run out of breath. [T]hen you’re going to have to shift and that’s what you’re trying to avoid.

“You want to put it in sixth gear and leave it sixth gear,” he continued. “You don’t want to run down the highway at your cam’s peak performance, which would be 3,000–4,000 rpm. But you do want an rpm where your engine can pull your car up hills, and pass without dropping a gear. If every time you put your foot in the gas the engine lugs and you have to shift, that becomes very inefficient. We’re helping the customer understand that, even on the highway, you want to stay in your powerband. Otherwise the overdrive doesn’t do you any good.”

Frederick recommends the wide-ratio unit mostly for torquey big blocks.

“A Pontiac 455 will pull a stump out of the ground at 800 rpm; it doesn’t have trouble pulling a car at whatever rpm you’re running,” he said. “A Mopar 440 and some other big blocks with a lot of low-end grunt can usually handle the taller overdrive, too. And of course we’re dealing with a lot of electronically fuel-injected (EFI) engines now, and most of them have computers that can cope with low rpm very well.

They can retard the spark, they can meter the fuel differently, they can do all kinds of things.

“We help the customer choose a rearend ratio and a gear set that’s going to give them the best performance, from top to bottom,” Frederick said.

Pedal Pressure Another concern, according to Hill of Centerforce Clutches, is the physical effort once associated with a high-performance clutch.

“Our customers all ask, ‘How stiff is the pedal?’” he said. “That’s why we’ve been very successful, whether it’s a single-disc clutch for mild upgrade vehicle, or dual-disc unit that can hold 1,300 lbs./ft. of torque, we’ve been very successful in making them streetable.”

The average consumer, Hill said, could climb into a car with a Centerforce dual-disc clutch, push the pedal to the floor, and not realize that the car was modified.

“[T]he person who has a $75,000 Camaro or Corvette wants race-car performance without the race-car effort, so this is pretty significant,” he said.

Still, selecting the optimal clutch for any particular application is a complex task best left to experts.

“There are different linings and different friction materials on the pressure plate,” Hill said. “Heat is a factor. The first thing you have to know is how the vehicle is going to be used. Drag racers realize they are going to drive their car until they break it, where hot rodders don’t beat their cars up as bad. They are very proud of their cars and they want to drive them, not break them. And unless the car has been tubbed, a street machine generally runs smaller tires, so you want to tune the clutch for that.”

McLeod Racing of Placentia, California, offers its RST and RXT Street Twin clutches, both double-disc units that hold up to 1,000 horsepower, with the pedal pressure of a stock clutch, said President Paul Lee. Contributing to this low effort—and to easier installation—are McLeod’s hydraulic release bearings, “which fit most applications, replacing worn and/or outdated mechanical linkages,” he said.

“We’re selling more clutches for vehicles from the 1960s and 1970s, and installing a new hydraulic clutch in one of these cars can significantly reduce pedal effort,” said Rich Barsamian, national sales manager for Advanced Clutch Technology (ACT) in Lancaster, California. The company also offers a wide range of clutches for GM, Ford and Mopar applications, each rated for torque at the crankshaft.

When installing an aftermarket clutch, Barsamian suggested, “be sure to use the right amount of lube on the input shaft—it is possible to use too much. Be sure parts are free from dirt and oil, and washed in a non-petroleum-based cleaner such as acetone, alcohol or brake cleaner. Be sure to follow the correct torque and tightening sequence when installing the clutch cover—and do not use impact tools.”

Thanks for reading Part 3 coming up.

Car Show in – Rothrist, Switzerland

Remember a few post ago that covered MOPAR’s in Sweden? (Short Link:  http://wp.me/pKHNM-174)  I wrote how interesting it was to see US sheet metal in other countries.

Well check out this car show in Rothrist, Switzerland.  This is from Andres Palomares who lives in Bern, Switzerland.  There are some great examples of US car history in this show.

Switzerland is beautiful and visited Interlaken several times while living in Europe.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

1998 Camaro Z28 – NICE!!! Update!

You are gonna to love this car.

It is a one owner Camaro Z28.

ONLY 78,700 miles on this V8 with automatic transmission

Black & White with white leather interior (in perfect condition)

T-tops and ground effects

Fully loaded including:

power door locks, power windows, tilt wheel, fog lights, power remote mirrors, power seat, AM-FM  6 speaker  stereo with CD player,

theft deterrent alarm system, cruise control, anti-lock brakes, rear window defogger.

I know the owner and this car has had the best care.  It is an AZ car and is always garaged or covered when it’s not moving and it DOES move.

What’s under the hood?

GM’s Generation III V-8 engine as configured in the Corvette.  It is the all-aluminum 5.7-liter (350-cubic-inch)  produce up to 350 horsepower in the two-seat sports car.

 100% Stock.   More Pics To come.

Interested?    Call me at 520-405-5314 or email me at timsweet@cox.net.

Asking $9k. That’s a steal in this condition. This isn’t my car, but if you buy and don’t like, I’ll buy it from you!!!!…Actually, I ought to buy it myself!!! I”m going to think about that some.

She looks great with the T’s off!!!!

 

Engine Pic1 – SOOOO CLEAN!!!

 

Engine Pic 2. Nicely Maintained!!!

 

Perfect Stock Interior!!!

 

Room for 2 in the back. Although it doesn’t look like anyone has ever sat back there!!!!

Interested?    Call me at 520-405-5314 or email me at timsweet@cox.net.

Thanks for reading.

Tim

ZL1 You Are Gonna Want This Car!!

I was very impressed by this car and the numbers.  Yeah…and I drive a Corvette!!!

 

[vodpod id=Video.16057895&w=425&h=350&fv=%26rel%3D0%26border%3D0%26]

, posted with vodpod

Rockford Files: James Garner’s Grabber ’70 Olds 4-4-2

You loved the Camaro  Firebird he drove on the show, but in real life James Garner was a car guy!!!  (Corrected – As Bill points out in the comments – the car in The Rock Files was actually a Firebird!  — Thanks Bill.)
by on March 7, 20

American muscle cars and Hollywood royalty have long had a close relationship. While just about every star from A-to-D list celebrities has some sort of muscle car in their garage, back in the day actors like Steve McQueen and Paul Newman did more than collect these cars; they raced them in serious races, from Trans Am to the Baja 1000.

Having film and television star James Garner piloting his Goodyear Grabber 4-4-2 was publicity boon for the tire maker.

Yes, it might be strange to think of American muscle cars racing across the desert of the Baja peninsula, but back in the 60’s what else would you have raced? There were all sorts of shops that specialized in converting American muscle into crazy off-road competitors.

Among the many Hollywood stars who would drive in these off-road desert races was one James Garner, a television actor who became so enamored with car racing that he raced an Oldsmobile 4-4-2 in the 1969 Mexican 1000 (a pre-cursor to the Baja 1000).

The star of the Western-comedy show Maverick, detective show The Rockford Files, and racing-packed Grand Prix, Garner rose to fame as an actor. But he was a more than competent racer as well, and among his many rides was a rather unique 1970 Oldsmobile 4-4-2 modified for the NORRA Meixcan 1000 off-road race.

This car was lost for decades before being found, restored, and brought back to racing condition for the 21st century. Now this unique, star-touched car is up for auction on eBay, of all places.

Getting The Grabber To Go

Garner first got involved with the world of motorsports during filming of the 1966 flick Grand Prix, in which he plays a race car driver who falls for his teammate’s estranged wife. In 1969, Garner grabbed a sponsorship from Goodyear tires.

Garner suffered a virtual Rube Goldberg-level breakdown that robbed him and the Goodyear Grabber 4-4-2 of their 45-minute lead, landing them a 2nd Place win during the 1969 Baja 1000.

Thanks for reading

Tim