Chad's 68 Camaro V3.0 build. LS3 & TCI goodies

[Chad-1stGen]

Fun pic from one of my videos this past weekend. I was employing the Cars movie strategy. Tun left to go right!

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/turn%20left%20to%20go%20right_zpszhik67mb.png

[Chad-1stGen]

Had another great weekend!

Ran the autocross Saturday at the NMCA West Hotchkis autocross event. These are always fun events because they bring out a great group of folks with a very diverse set of cars. The course is built and hosted by the Byrds and for the final Hotchkis autocross of the season they really stepped it up. The course had more variety than past events as well as being much longer. Average run times were in the low 50's compared to low 30's of other events. So more than 50% longer in lap time and that is with a straightaway that I was hitting up to 80 mph on! For Saturday they went the extra mile to ensure everyone got 9 runs on this fantastic course too. The last run group finished at the beginning of dusk and our awards ceremony was pretty much in the dark so props to the event host for keeping it going literally all day long.

Of course I was stoked to win the classic muscle class! Evan from TCI was swapping first place with me all day in his 63 Nova. After the beating I received at his hands in Del Mar this year I was anxious to return the favor :)

https://scontent.cdninstagram.com/hphotos-xaf1/t51.2885-15/e35/11349307_1654948851456911_739722597_n.jpg

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/NMCA%20Camaro%201%2010-17-15_zpsy1t4uiww.jpg

And my biggest rival for the day
http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/NMCA%20Nova%201%2010-17-15_zpsln1ds3uy.jpg

Evan on his last run looped it and kept the loud pedal full depressed...
http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/NMCA%20Nova%202%2010-17-15_zpskq1wzxqw.jpg

Finally, here is video of my best lap of the day.
9shUKwiJWwI

[SSLance]

So, check out what I stumbled across this morning...

http://www.apexjunky.com/featured/garage-files-domestic/pavement-pounding-68-camaro-done-right/#.VmatKsq1B0w.facebook

Congrats on the great write up Chad!

[Chad-1stGen]

So, check out what I stumbled across this morning...

http://www.apexjunky.com/featured/garage-files-domestic/pavement-pounding-68-camaro-done-right/#.VmatKsq1B0w.facebook

Congrats on the great write up Chad!

Thanks Lance! I just realized I've been neglecting this thread. Lots of events attended and at least one mod since my last update. Will have to get busy!

[Jr]

1 mod?... Where's the update?

[Flash68]

1 mod?... Where's the update?

Hopefully it was the driver mod. :peepwall:

[Chad-1stGen]

1 mod?... Where's the update?

A minor one. I changed the wheel centers from polished aluminum to gold using Plasti dip. Results weren't amazing but it is easy to remove it and go back to polished centers. I'll post up more about it when I get some free time.

Hopefully it was the driver mod. :peepwall:

ha ha ha. The driver may have seen some modification but needs a whole lot MORE!!

[Flash68]

ha ha ha. The driver may have seen some modification but needs a whole lot MORE!!

Don't we all. :sieg:

I thought I noticed those gold centers -- looks great man.

[Jr]

i saw an Instagram pic with gold centers... Looked good

[Chad-1stGen]

Don't we all. :sieg:

I thought I noticed those gold centers -- looks great man.

i saw an Instagram pic with gold centers... Looked good

Thanks guys. I really like the gold center look and if I had ordered my wheels about 6 months after I did that is what they would of been. I also, liked the plasti dip look when fresh but it isn't as shiny or bright of a gold color as I wanted however, the biggest issue is that when you use the glossifier or metalizer top coats like I did it attracts brake dust like nobody's business. I've had to scrub so hard in trying to get the brake dust off that I have started to remove some of the gold coating already.

Will due a full post on how I did it and the results when I get some extra time.

[Chad-1stGen]

So I haven't been updating this thread as much but I've still been doing a ton of events and continuing to tweak little things on the car. Mostly maintenance related.

As I mentioned I've now painted the wheel centers gold. I used Plastidip vintage gold with gold metalizer which is temporary and supposed to be easily removed as long as you apply it thick enough.

The one issue is that gold metalizer uses the Plasti dip glossifier with gold metal flakes and glossifier leaves a more noticeably rubbery finish rather than smooth. This stuff is a magnet for brake dust. Like crazy bad. It comes off but requires some elbow grease and I've read that if you leave it on it will stain the dip.

First pic shows the before, after painting, and after a track day at Laguna Seca.

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/208D5C07-33EB-47E0-8C6E-5DC2A1630897_zpsuuvfptvn.jpg

Here is a shot of them on the car with about 500 miles of driving on them.
http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/1FB96D5F-40B7-42A8-B8A8-9E1F7E28E2EE_zpsfrxrgfhz.jpg

[Chad-1stGen]

And for posterity sake here is the Laguna Report I posted in Greg's thread.

I planned to be in the bay area for Thanksgiving already when I originally saw this post by Greg back in September. A quick look up on google maps showed that Laguna Seca was just over 80 miles from my Grandma's house so it became game on! I signed up comforted that I could cancel my attendance right up to the 20th and still get a full refund as I was worried about getting rained out. I will put my car though a lot of different abuse and risk but having been on track during the rain its above my own comfort level.

Using my Grandma's house as a base of operations I put 1,039 miles on the Camaro between Wednesday night and Sunday while knocking down about 18mpg. Wednesday night was a midnight run up the state, while Sunday was lots of stop and go driving. Through all of this and getting flogged pretty hard on the track the only tool I pulled out on the trip was a tire pressure gauge. Winning!

Some of my favorite pics from the event.
http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/Shadow%20pic_zps1vi0ugs5.jpg

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/CH2A0330_zpsdemsqfbn.jpg

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/CH2A0433_zpsmtfzc7ri.jpg

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/CH2A1381_zpswdhx1lco.jpg

Lots of good pictures of the variety of cars on the Shelby Club's facebook page here too: https://www.facebook.com/NorCalSAAC/posts/712315592203978 including an original GT350 used at the Shelby School back in the day.

This is the second Shelby Club event I've attended and its the only track day events I've been to outside of the RTTC and Optima events that draw a large attendance of classic muscle. Lots and lots of mustangs (old and new), cobras and even a Daytona coupe!

It was a super cold day (morning temps in the low 30's) and I was inititally really worried about tire temps but after my first session I got comfortable with the level of grip available. I think street tires like the Falkens were a little less susceptible to the super cold temps than all the race oriented slicks I saw in the paddock.

The Shelby club has a strict no lap time policy so I didn't push myself as hard as I might have if I knew every lap time but I still pushed pretty good and had a lot of fun. After coming home and reviewing the data and video I saw a number of places I left a lot of time on the table. As it was, without a roll bar I was limited to the intermediate group and was quite a bit faster than most of the folks in my run group.

Here is video of my shortest session (the longer ones are giving me editing trouble). Lots of passing, especially the second half of the video.

sXLggEvB4fk

It was great meeting up with everyone from the forums and bench racing and getting some driving tips. Best "Black Friday" I've ever had!

[Chad-1stGen]

Aaaand for the second time this year I did track days two weekends in a row (back to back), though this time the first one involved a 1,000+ mile round trip and the 2nd one was 400+ miles round trip! I'm racking up the miles on this car!

This past Sunday I hit Buttonwillow. This is the first time I've been on this track since 2011 and personally is the track I've been MOST looking forward to running V3.0 of my car. Buttonwillow is one of the more varied tracks in SoCal IMO and offers a fantastic comparison of my new and old setups.

Sadly, I only got a couple of traffic free laps but I managed to run a best lap time of 2:05 which was about 9 seconds faster than my old best. In reviewing the video of my best lap there is at least a few seconds available just cleaning up my driving so I think I might be able to run a 2:02 or 2:03 on my 200TW Falken street tires!

Here is the video of my best lap. I had gopro malfunctions so this is just my iphone's camera set to 480 resolution.
Bjgtue5E_lk

I did manage to capture a cool shot of my first ever off track excursion on Truck Stop.
http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/offroad%202_zpswf3w0ky0.jpg

This track day was also impacted by two negative experiences. One huge one. There was a serious wreck coming out of the esses towards sunrise corner which resulted in one fatality and one person with major injuries being air lifted. It was a very sobering reminder of how dangerous track days can be. Especially since the car involved was was fully caged, fixed back seats, 5 point harnesses, and was being driven by a "professional" driver who has operated a tuner and builder shop since 1995. Due to the violent passenger side impact against a concrete wall (corner worker station), speculation is that due to lack of a containment seat the driver suffered a lethal sideways injury to his neck/head while the passenger who was in the impact zone had a passenger airbag / door to stop the helmet movement.

The second negative which is totally minor in light of the accident was that I lost my dash, marker, and tail lights and despite playing with a multimeter and fuses for a few hours I wasn't able to figure out until I got home that the Horn fuse was the culprit. Painless wiring runs the power for the driving lights (not headlights) through the horn fuse!!

[Sonar Chief]

You don't ever want to hear about a death on a race track ... safety is paramount is these street cars! My heart goes out to their families!!!

[GregWeld]

The Buttonwillow death (let's call it what it was rather than downplaying it to an "incident" or "accident") is something ALL of us should be thinking about when deciding whether or not our cars are truly track worthy.

We've already seen cars on fire on a couple cars that hang around here.... These drivers were only lucky that they were okay and could get out of the cars. I'm always reminded of the "what if" that fire came after a bad crash where I couldn't help myself to get out - or if the door was jammed etc....

The horsepower and tires that are being built into ordinary street cars gives them the ability to carry some serious speed.... in most cases - far exceeding the drivers ability and the safety equipment required in many of these events. The speeds we're able to obtain at the end of some of the longer straights is astounding! Therefore - the likelihood of an "off" - or a brake failure - or a spin etc go up accordingly.

Some "incident" might have absolutely nothing to do with our own equipment - preparation - or skills. They might simply be because someone in front of us had an engine let go - or spilled the guts of their radiator....

Like I always told my kids -- "it's all a lot of fun.... right up 'til the time you get hurt". While that was more about football and soccer, and jumping bikes, etc.... it still rings true in our adult activities.

[Tomswheels]

After reading about what happened, it seems the passenger side of the vehicle impacted, but the Passenger survived and the Driver did not. Makes me reconsider choice of seat, and HANS device usage on ANY track larger than Autocross...

[CurtiSS 69]

Aaaand for the second time this year I did track days two weekends in a row (back to back), though this time the first one involved a 1,000+ mile round trip and the 2nd one was 400+ miles round trip! I'm racking up the miles on this car!

This past Sunday I hit Buttonwillow. This is the first time I've been on this track since 2011 and personally is the track I've been MOST looking forward to running V3.0 of my car. Buttonwillow is one of the more varied tracks in SoCal IMO and offers a fantastic comparison of my new and old setups.

Sadly, I only got a couple of traffic free laps but I managed to run a best lap time of 2:05 which was about 9 seconds faster than my old best. In reviewing the video of my best lap there is at least a few seconds available just cleaning up my driving so I think I might be able to run a 2:02 or 2:03 on my 200TW Falken street tires!

Here is the video of my best lap. I had gopro malfunctions so this is just my iphone's camera set to 480 resolution.
Bjgtue5E_lk

I did manage to capture a cool shot of my first ever off track excursion on Truck Stop.
http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/offroad%202_zpswf3w0ky0.jpg

This track day was also impacted by two negative experiences. One huge one. There was a serious wreck coming out of the esses towards sunrise corner which resulted in one fatality and one person with major injuries being air lifted. It was a very sobering reminder of how dangerous track days can be. Especially since the car involved was was fully caged, fixed back seats, 5 point harnesses, and was being driven by a "professional" driver who has operated a tuner and builder shop since 1995. Due to the violent passenger side impact against a concrete wall (corner worker station), speculation is that due to lack of a containment seat the driver suffered a lethal sideways injury to his neck/head while the passenger who was in the impact zone had a passenger airbag / door to stop the helmet movement.

The second negative which is totally minor in light of the accident was that I lost my dash, marker, and tail lights and despite playing with a multimeter and fuses for a few hours I wasn't able to figure out until I got home that the Horn fuse was the culprit. Painless wiring runs the power for the driving lights (not headlights) through the horn fuse!!

Hello Chad,

Thanks for sharing the footage: ) It seems like the car and the driver have out grown standard HPDE events... Go on to NASA TT as you were talking about before. I think you will really like it. It's easier to grow and have fun when you have the carrot in front of you rather than being held up by traffic.

Regards

CurtiSS 69

[Spiffav8]

Chad that was a great post on the event and I really enjoyed the video! That looks like so much fun and really motivates me to get my car finished.

The death at the track is a serious bummer. As Greg and others have stated...No One our ranks Major Safety.

[Chad-1stGen]

You don't ever want to hear about a death on a race track ... safety is paramount is these street cars! My heart goes out to their families!!!

It is a really unfortunate occurrence for sure. Some interesting threads spawned by this accident that really makes you think twice about how you approach these events.

The Buttonwillow death (let's call it what it was rather than downplaying it to an "incident" or "accident") is something ALL of us should be thinking about when deciding whether or not our cars are truly track worthy.

We've already seen cars on fire on a couple cars that hang around here.... These drivers were only lucky that they were okay and could get out of the cars. I'm always reminded of the "what if" that fire came after a bad crash where I couldn't help myself to get out - or if the door was jammed etc....

The horsepower and tires that are being built into ordinary street cars gives them the ability to carry some serious speed.... in most cases - far exceeding the drivers ability and the safety equipment required in many of these events. The speeds we're able to obtain at the end of some of the longer straights is astounding! Therefore - the likelihood of an "off" - or a brake failure - or a spin etc go up accordingly.

Some "incident" might have absolutely nothing to do with our own equipment - preparation - or skills. They might simply be because someone in front of us had an engine let go - or spilled the guts of their radiator....

Like I always told my kids -- "it's all a lot of fun.... right up 'til the time you get hurt". While that was more about football and soccer, and jumping bikes, etc.... it still rings true in our adult activities.

Those are good points Greg. The level of safety preparation on this car was higher than my own (currently not hard to do) and higher than 90% of the cars I see on road course tracks at these types of events but it still wasn't enough.

After reading about what happened, it seems the passenger side of the vehicle impacted, but the Passenger survived and the Driver did not. Makes me reconsider choice of seat, and HANS device usage on ANY track larger than Autocross...

I've been researching seats and hans devices again myself.

Hello Chad,

Thanks for sharing the footage: ) It seems like the car and the driver have out grown standard HPDE events... Go on to NASA TT as you were talking about before. I think you will really like it. It's easier to grow and have fun when you have the carrot in front of you rather than being held up by traffic.

Regards

CurtiSS 69

Thanks Curtiss. I've done more research on the Nasa TT events. Looks like a fun time but I'd never be competitive in most of the classes. I still think it might be worth trying and I've got my eye on the 2016 schedule.

Chad that was a great post on the event and I really enjoyed the video! That looks like so much fun and really motivates me to get my car finished.

The death at the track is a serious bummer. As Greg and others have stated...No One our ranks Major Safety.

Too true. Glad you enjoyed the video.

[CurtiSS 69]

Hello Chad,

It is true that it would be tough to be competitive in TT on an individual event basis, but the car & driver development are priceless and fun. One other thing. You have a very reliable car, and look promising on the track. If you compete in most of the events you could be surprised at season closing. The cars in the higher classes commonly break; ) There's your first Ace. Keep your momentum going. We are all sorry Ivo is gone, but sometimes it just happens. Luckily these are not common occurances.

Regards

DEC

[WSSix]

The gold paint on the wheel centers was a good choice. Glad the car is performing well for you, Chad

[Chad-1stGen]

I was reflecting back on the past 13 months since I got my 68 Camaro back on the road with all of the v3.0 upgrades sorted out and realized just how many events I was able to attend, how the car performed and it really got me stoked.

Between late October 2014 and the beginning of December 2015 I:
- put over 9,000 miles the car
- attended 6 Open track days
- attended two Optima USCA events
- attended my first SCCA autocross
- attended around 25 different days of autocross total
- all done without trailering the car to the events

I embarked on the upgrade path to make the car more fun to drive at the track and autocross which was a 100% success. The car is indeed so much more fun to drive now and also so much faster. Four of the road coarse tracks I attended this year, I had attended in previous years and at each of them I dropped my lap times considerably. I won my first autocross and went on to win a few of them and even more top 3 / podium finishes.

I can't wait for some events in 2016!!

[Tomswheels]

Will you start on Sunday? There is a new CAM title up for grabs...

[Flash68]

Chad that's awesome man. And inspiring to the Jackstand Class in 2016!

[califconstruct]

Cool stuff.. much respect to driving to the events!... :clap:

Just don't know how you do it on that upright seat.

[Flash68]

Cool stuff.. much respect to driving to the events!... :clap:

Just don't know how you do it on that upright seat.

Art, this ain't Lowrider-G.net :lol:

[califconstruct]

Art, this ain't Lowrider-G.net :lol:


http://i477.photobucket.com/albums/rr131/califconstruct/Warhawk/135-degree-seated-posture.gif

ok.. I'm sure sitting up right gets a bit difficult after 4 - 5 hours in the hot seat.

Not to mention trying to eat, and text on your phone!.

My beer belly can handle only so much pressure!.. :lol:


.

[Chad-1stGen]

ha ha you guys crack me up. Maybe my ability to handle the "upright" seat is the fact its a fairly comfortable seat. Compared to some of the seats I sat in and especially the aluminum seats I probably wouldn't of been able.

Tom, I like your photo choice. Gee I wonder why you picked those two cars ha ha. I'd like to start the season off strong but Sunday will be a game time decision. I should know for sure Saturday but I won't know before then :/

[markaaron80]

nice build

[Chad-1stGen]

So it has been a while since I updated this thread so I thought I would catch it up on two events I've attended in 2016.

First up I attended the Vintage Auto Racing (VARA) University in January. I heard through the grapevine this was a great event and for $400 to take a two day school in my own car i was pretty pumped. I was really looking forward to honing my driving skills. Sadly, I didn't do more research and the event itself left me with mixed impressions. On the positive side, the classroom and in car instructors were all super friendly and VARA goes out of its way to make things safe.

The biggest con for me was that these instructors really only teach very basic fundamentals. If you have the basic line down and aren't a mess behind the wheel there isn't a lot they will teach you. My class instructor finally hooked me up with my 4th incar instructor who really could provide some solid feedback on driving and gave me an area to really focus on (braking zones and some trail braking advise). This has sent me in search of a way to make toe heel shifting possible again. Since moving to manual brakes and changing to a DBW throttle pedal it hasn't been possible.

The other nits I have about the VARA U is that they had a record turn out of 120+ cars and the off track drills were way overcrowded. The on track wouldn't of been too crowded but between period correct (i.e. slow) vintage cars and drivers with zero track experience I was held up in lap traffic all weekend.

The format of the event is:
Saturday
- 5 cone slalom (similar speeds and spacing) to a standard slalom at an SCCA autocross.
- Skid pad exercise where you are supposed to exceed cornering grip and get a feel for what it feels like.
- Braking exercise. Very similar to an Optima USCA speed stop challenge but on a shorter course.
- 2 sessions on the road course
Sunday
- 3 or 4 sessions on the road course
- a couple of practice race starts if you have a race prepped car

Due to the crowds I only got two attempts at the slalom and a single attempt on the skid pad. The brake challenge I could of done more but I only did it 2 or 3 times to dial in my rear brake bias.

If you are new to track driving and are looking to get a solid understanding of the basic fundamentals then the class might be a good fit for you.

Here is video of some laps from the event.
zmyeCnDZ5is

Oh and one other negative, is that I now want to try vintage racing :D which my pocket book and current storage capacity don't need...

[Chad-1stGen]

This past weekend I attended my first autocross of 2016 and first autocross in 3 months. Of course it was at one of my new favorite events, the San Diego SCCA. There are a great group of CAM compeititors that battle it out each event as well as for the season's points. In fact I think this past Sunday may have been a record with 16 CAM T drivers and it for sure is the first time I've seen 3 first gen camaros show up (myself included).

I was actually quite rusty the first lap or two out but put down a 4th lap that I was happy with and was good enough for 2nd place overall in CAM T. As another competitor said I need to point out that I lost to a guy wearing pink corduroy driving a mustang II. In my defense Alcino can drive is consistently a contender for first in any given Sunday.

Here is a video of my best run and what the San Diego Autocross courses can be like.
u3QML0zIbHY

[slow4dr]

Congrats again on the win at the NMCA event Chad!

I finally got around to editing all the videos from NMCA and Del Mar. I chose a cleaner run than the pitched sideways full opposite lock video.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRvqZmGGVaw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zRvqZmGGVaw

[Chad-1stGen]

Man I've super neglected my poor thread. However, a post by USCA reminded me that one of the things I'm most proud of this year is back to back podium finishes in overall GTV class at the two Optima USCA events I've attended. I've had first place finishes in NMCA autocross and local SCCA autocross events in 2016 but the USCA series is such a harder test on car and driver that getting on the podium at one of those events is an amazing feeling.

At the February USCA event at Thunderhill I placed second overall and at the April Vegas event I placed third overall. Given the level of competition at these series and the seriousness of the cars I feel pretty damn good to be in that company. Especially, since my car is truly a street car that I drove all the way to each Optima event and back home and continue to rack up a ton of miles a year!

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/6-20-2016%20GTV%20season%20points_zpsw3otizx4.jpg

[glassman]

Especially, since my car is truly a street car that I drove all the way to each Optima event and back home and continue to rack up a ton of miles a year!
]


Bingo!!! I was just gonna comment on that before i read it the whole way thru. You DRIVE to the events and DRIVE home, that alone should be worth extra points, you have a STREET car, ultimately. You inspire me to have bigger Kohenes driving mine too and fro at more events....now thats is finally running.

Cheers, mike

[Flash68]

Stoked to see you doing so well Chad and kickin butt out there and having a great time. Keep it up bro :thumbsup:

[hackster]

The car is awesome, but you are an amazing driver Chad, and one top notch guy. Highlights of my Optima experience so far is meeting great guys like you.

Congrats on your success this year, you totally deserve it.

Sean

[Chad-1stGen]

Bingo!!! I was just gonna comment on that before i read it the whole way thru. You DRIVE to the events and DRIVE home, that alone should be worth extra points, you have a STREET car, ultimately. You inspire me to have bigger Kohenes driving mine too and fro at more events....now thats is finally running.

Cheers, mike

Thanks Mike. I certainly don't blame anyone for trailering or hold it against them but just because trailering might be a prudent choice it doesn't mean I can't take a little pride in my Camaro competing and not needing the trailer :) Hope to see you again at another event.

Stoked to see you doing so well Chad and kickin butt out there and having a great time. Keep it up bro :thumbsup:

Thanks Dave! I can't wait for you to get your race car finished :p I've had more fun with my car and attended more events than I can count (6 autocross events in the month of June alone lol) since getting it mostly sorted at the end of 2014. It sure makes the painful build up a distant memory. I'm looking forward to the day you can say the same. Its great to see some real progress pics in your thread on a somewhat consistent basis too!

The car is awesome, but you are an amazing driver Chad, and one top notch guy. Highlights of my Optima experience so far is meeting great guys like you.

Congrats on your success this year, you totally deserve it.

Sean

It was great meeting you Sean and you are no slouch in the driver's seat either! You started off strong and have only improved since that first event. I totally dig seeing all the track days you have been attending in your truck. It's fun when I attend a track day in the Camaro and can raise some eyebrows with the car's performance so I can just imagine how much surprise you and your truck create at a typical track day where it is all modern cars.

[Jr]

Chad,
Are you running the mast or autokraft oil pan?

[Chad-1stGen]

Chad,
Are you running the mast or autokraft oil pan?

I'm running the autokraft pan (made by champ FYI). I debated between the Mast pan and the Autokraft pan but decided on the Autokraft pan because it uses trap doors while the Mast ban uses baffles. I've had no oil starvation issues in any of the tracks I've run. Though on street tires I see a maximum g load of about 1.2.

[Chad-1stGen]

I've been eyeballing hood vents for quite a while and was stoked when Trackspec released a set of vents specifically designed for the 67-69 Camaro cowl hood.
http://trackspe.nextmp.net/1st-generation-camaro-t1-hood-louvers.html

I just installed a set on my painted steel cowl hood and wanted to share the install. Detaolils beliw and a howto on my blog. Trackspec Motorsports 1stgen Camaro hood vents (https://www.autoxandtrack.com/trackspec-motorsports-1967-1969-camaro-hood-louvers-install/).

Here is the hood off the car with the supplied templates taped down. The template is the same outer diameter as the vent and has "cut line" cutouts where you need to cut. Trackspec recommended using a grinder with a "thin cut" cutoff wheel.

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/758A9D1A-0B2F-45C7-BA59-C8D890F1E771_zpsppw2uhfr.jpg

I decided on hood vent placement based on three variables. 1) I wanted the vents placed inboard towards the center of the hood to avoid cutting the strength rib running down the sides of the hood.

See this pic for the rib:
http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/D17C223E-E897-450F-B959-3F578C93B9A4_zpska4z9za3.jpg

2) Placing the vents closer to the front of the hood but behind the radiator fan shroud opening and 3) far enough foward so that the inside front rivet would not have to pass through the small bump in the below circled area and instead be flat.
http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/A460E9B8-FF74-4921-AA92-6FA7E04E1E19_zpst0ngyndn.jpg

The angle grinder worked well. The paint about 1/8" from the cut line was burned in spots but is easily covered by the hood vent. I did some basic edge prep and taped off the cut openings about 1/8" back on top and bottom and hit it with touch up spray paint to keep it from rusting. Also, because my hood understructure was body color this helped pain some of the now exposed understrcuture so it would be red when looking though the vent from the top of the hood.

Following the template means you have about at least 1/4" larger hole than the louver part of the vent. This gives you room to position just right. We then taped it down and proceeded to drill and rivet the louver. My louvers matched the slop of the hood perfectly side to side. However front to back the vent was slightly bowed more than my hood. Therefore, when drilling and riveting I started at one end and installed one at a time so that as the vent laid down and conformed to the hood I didn't have to worry about the last set of holes getting out of alignment which might have happened if you drilled all the holes and then installed the rivets. Drill slow and apply light pressure! Will help minimize any jagged metal on the hole exit.
http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/F337616C-7A9E-4426-8CE1-AA9064358EB6_zpsvg4vyd5i.jpg

Here are some pics of the finished product.
http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/B7EB25B5-DF67-49A0-A453-FDD52100606A_zpswettgeoz.jpg

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/773157A5-F0C3-4605-9602-FE4429CCE704_zpsjli34tiq.jpg

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/59674CF0-AEA9-4F4C-901B-40158EBB9632_zpsvvamfx9f.jpg

[Spiffav8]

Looks great!!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Flash68]

Nice, Chad. Didn't know they made one for the 1st gens. Cool.

Can you get 2 "passenger side" pieces though so no logo? :sieg: :stirthepot:

[hackster]

Those turned out awesome Chad....takes some :confused59: to cut into a painted hood.

See you next weekend.

Sean

[Chad-1stGen]

Looks great!!

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

Thanks!

Nice, Chad. Didn't know they made one for the 1st gens. Cool.

Can you get 2 "passenger side" pieces though so no logo? :sieg: :stirthepot:

Haha. They are side specific but I'm sure you could work something out with TRACKSPEC if you really didn't want the logo. They just released the first gen model in the last week or two.

Those turned out awesome Chad....takes some :confused59: to cut into a painted hood.

See you next weekend.

Sean

You are telling me! It was painful but it came out good!

[slow4dr]

Nothing to see here.......

http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae297/TotalCostInvolved/Chad%20Rykers%2068%20Camaro/20161017_162242_zpszd4tfdju.jpg (http://s981.photobucket.com/user/TotalCostInvolved/media/Chad%20Rykers%2068%20Camaro/20161017_162242_zpszd4tfdju.jpg.html)

-J

[Jr]

Upgrading to a 9"?

[hackster]

Is this what you meant by doing some "Maintenance"??

Better get that thing back together in the next week.

Sean

[SSLance]

Someone is getting ready for a special event!!

Somehow I missed this until reading the entry list this morning, Congrats!!!

Now, get that thing back together and go Get Er Done...

[67XR7]

Nothing to see here.......

http://i981.photobucket.com/albums/ae297/TotalCostInvolved/Chad%20Rykers%2068%20Camaro/20161017_162242_zpszd4tfdju.jpg (http://s981.photobucket.com/user/TotalCostInvolved/media/Chad%20Rykers%2068%20Camaro/20161017_162242_zpszd4tfdju.jpg.html)

-J

Chad, who makes those rear brake hose bolt on tabs? my cousin totally forgot about the tabs on his build and his housing is powder coated already.

Thanks,

Jeff

[jeds]

Jeff,

I'm not sure what version of clamps he's using, but JCG makes a set.

http://www.jcgrestorationandcustoms.com/product/rear-end-brake-line-clamps/

[Chad-1stGen]

Chad, who makes those rear brake hose bolt on tabs? my cousin totally forgot about the tabs on his build and his housing is powder coated already.

Thanks,

Jeff

Jeff,

I'm not sure what version of clamps he's using, but JCG makes a set.

http://www.jcgrestorationandcustoms.com/product/rear-end-brake-line-clamps/

Jeds called it. Mine are from JCG.

[Chad-1stGen]

Someone is getting ready for a special event!!

Somehow I missed this until reading the entry list this morning, Congrats!!!

Now, get that thing back together and go Get Er Done...

Thanks Lance! It was a great weekend. I have a few updates to share on the car.

[Dr. Jekyll]

So what's the verdict with the vents and lower temps? Any significant differences in a A/B testing?

[Chad-1stGen]

So what's the verdict with the vents and lower temps? Any significant differences in a A/B testing?

I need to do more testing. The same week I did the hood louvers I added a splitter that extends back to the cross member and I think it is forcing more air through the lower valence and *under* the core support and radiator and creating a higher pressure zone behind the radiator than was there before.

I'm going to do some testing without the splitter as well as try to duct the radiator or block off the core support to the splitter.

[Dr. Jekyll]

I need to do more testing. The same week I did the hood louvers I added a splitter that extends back to the cross member and I think it is forcing more air through the lower valence and *under* the core support and radiator and creating a higher pressure zone behind the radiator than was there before.

I'm going to do some testing without the splitter as well as try to duct the radiator or block off the core support to the splitter.

Great, I look forward to the results.

[DBasher]

I'm not sure if we met or not this last weekend but I sure enjoyed seeing you and the car in action. The car and driver are flat out working! Kudos to you for not only your driving skill but your ability to build a car that can be driven to and from these events and perform on track so well.

:thumbsup:

[DT69Cam]

I forgot to ask you when you installed the hood vents. Is that an AMD hood ??? How is the fit ??? Looks real good in the pics! Thx

[67XR7]

Jeff,

I'm not sure what version of clamps he's using, but JCG makes a set.

http://www.jcgrestorationandcustoms.com/product/rear-end-brake-line-clamps/


thanks, going to pass the info along!

[Beach Cruiser]

Hey Chad, just read through your thread, I never put two and two together on who you were vs screen names, Duh! Wish I would have made vegas to hang out with you guys. I was so close!
Mills

[Chad-1stGen]

I forgot to ask you when you installed the hood vents. Is that an AMD hood ??? How is the fit ??? Looks real good in the pics! Thx

The fit of the vents are great. It does require some cutting of the under structure but not structurally critical areas I was okay with that as I want enlarger openings than otherwise would be possible. The hood is a reproduction purchased from Classic Industries but I don't recall if it was an AMD or not.

Hey Chad, just read through your thread, I never put two and two together on who you were vs screen names, Duh! Wish I would have made vegas to hang out with you guys. I was so close!
Mills

You got damn close to making it Mills. Are you going to compete again next year?

[Beach Cruiser]

Yeah, if Jake and Mike would have stayed out of NOLA I would have, along with a bunch of other scenerios that could have played out. In the end it was my average score of 54 in D&E that killed me. If you figure in the forth even in NCM it's more like 49, hard to make that up on the track.

I plan to do NJMP for sure, bummed there is no Charlotte next year. I hope Jimi can find another location not brutally far from the east coast. I may do One Lap of America, depends on if the route I saw is true.

I have some good help coming on board next year, we'll see where the money runs out. Being the "everyman's Underdog car" has a lot of appeal to a lot of people and therefore sponsor help.

[Chad-1stGen]

Oooo One Lap, I've been day dreaming about doing that one!

[Flash68]

Oooo One Lap, I've been day dreaming about doing that one!

Chad you have a great setup for it now. Go win the Vintage class! :thumbsup:

[Chad-1stGen]

I've been so behind on updating this thread for all of the events I did in 2016 that I decided to start a blog and turn my race season update into a blog post.

https://www.autoxandtrack.com/2016-autocross-usca-season-recap/

I competed in four major series that have season championships
1) Optima Ultimate Street Car (2 overall event podium finishes, 4th overall in GTV, and invited to the OUSCI)
2) NMCA West Hotchkis Autocross (a few podium finishes and overall Classic Muscle Hotchkis cup winner)
3) Cal Club SCCA Autocross (lots of first place finishes and 2nd for season championships)
4) SDR SCCA Autocross (lots of first place finishes but attend enough events to qualify for the season championship)

Overall it was an amazing year for me and the Camaro!

Pretty long blog post mostly focused on my racing but I appreciate any feedback.

http://www.autoxandtrack.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/12/cropped-header-image-edited.jpg

[Sonar Chief]

I've been eyeballing hood vents for quite a while and was stoked when Trackspec released a set of vents specifically designed for the 67-69 Camaro cowl hood.
http://trackspe.nextmp.net/1st-generation-camaro-t1-hood-louvers.html

I just installed a set on my painted steel cowl hood and wanted to share the install.

Here is the hood off the car with the supplied templates taped down. The template is the same outer diameter as the vent and has "cut line" cutouts where you need to cut. Trackspec recommended using a grinder with a "thin cut" cutoff wheel.

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/758A9D1A-0B2F-45C7-BA59-C8D890F1E771_zpsppw2uhfr.jpg

I decided on hood vent placement based on three variables. 1) I wanted the vents placed inboard towards the center of the hood to avoid cutting the strength rib running down the sides of the hood.
Chad, I have an AMD SS hood and there seems to be another brace running from the front to the back for bolting on the SS trim stuff, and this brace is between the inner structure and the hood skin, the R and L relief/bracing of the hood looks exactly like your cowl hood. SO there is THREE layers of metal on a SS hood ... and should the vent rivets go through all of these?? Seems thick? Should be ok cutting into this brace for the short distance needed??
See this pic for the rib:
http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/D17C223E-E897-450F-B959-3F578C93B9A4_zpska4z9za3.jpg

2) Placing the vents closer to the front of the hood but behind the radiator fan shroud opening and 3) far enough foward so that the inside front rivet would not have to pass through the small bump in the below circled area and instead be flat.
http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/A460E9B8-FF74-4921-AA92-6FA7E04E1E19_zpst0ngyndn.jpg

The angle grinder worked well. The paint about 1/8" from the cut line was burned in spots but is easily covered by the hood vent. I did some basic edge prep and taped off the cut openings about 1/8" back on top and bottom and hit it with touch up spray paint to keep it from rusting. Also, because my hood understructure was body color this helped pain some of the now exposed understrcuture so it would be red when looking though the vent from the top of the hood.

Following the template means you have about at least 1/4" larger hole than the louver part of the vent. This gives you room to position just right. We then taped it down and proceeded to drill and rivet the louver. My louvers matched the slop of the hood perfectly side to side. However front to back the vent was slightly bowed more than my hood. Therefore, when drilling and riveting I started at one end and installed one at a time so that as the vent laid down and conformed to the hood I didn't have to worry about the last set of holes getting out of alignment which might have happened if you drilled all the holes and then installed the rivets. Drill slow and apply light pressure! Will help minimize any jagged metal on the hole exit.That is a very good tip and I'll definetly use it. Didn't I see somewhere some black rivets someone ordered from a vendor instead of the supplied rivets, do you have a p/n?
Again, does the rivets attach through the vent, hood skin and the bracing metal, seems thick no?
http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/F337616C-7A9E-4426-8CE1-AA9064358EB6_zpsvg4vyd5i.jpg

Here are some pics of the finished product.
http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/B7EB25B5-DF67-49A0-A453-FDD52100606A_zpswettgeoz.jpg

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/773157A5-F0C3-4605-9602-FE4429CCE704_zpsjli34tiq.jpg

http://i1380.photobucket.com/albums/ah189/chad-1stgen/59674CF0-AEA9-4F4C-901B-40158EBB9632_zpsvvamfx9f.jpg



Chad, wanted to get my Track Spec extractor kit installed and came across some differences with the cowl and an SS hood. Please see comments in RED.

Michael

[Chad-1stGen]

Chad, wanted to get my Track Spec extractor kit installed and came across some differences with the cowl and an SS hood. Please see comments in RED.
Michael

Chad, I have an AMD SS hood and there seems to be another brace running from the front to the back for bolting on the SS trim stuff, and this brace is between the inner structure and the hood skin, the R and L relief/bracing of the hood looks exactly like your cowl hood. SO there is THREE layers of metal on a SS hood ... and should the vent rivets go through all of these?? Seems thick? Should be ok cutting into this brace for the short distance needed??

In my amateur opinion there is no problem cutting into that third layer of metal specific to the SS hoods given that flat hoods and cowl hoods don't have this and are plenty strong. As long as the ribs along the perimeter aren't cut you should be fine. See below for discussion of rivets.

That is a very good tip and I'll definitely use it. Didn't I see somewhere some black rivets someone ordered from a vendor instead of the supplied rivets, do you have a p/n?
Again, does the rivets attach through the vent, hood skin and the bracing metal, seems thick no?

Trackspec will supply either raw or black rivets, you just need to specify. My kit also came with a mix of short and long rivets. You need both. There will be areas of the hood where the rivet needs to go through both the hood skin and bracing and spots where it will go through just the hood skin. The long rivets should be long enough to do 3 layers of sheet metal as long as they are all laying flush. Its not too thick as long as you have the correct rivets.

Happy to answer any other questions.

[Sonar Chief]

In my amateur opinion there is no problem cutting into that third layer of metal specific to the SS hoods given that flat hoods and cowl hoods don't have this and are plenty strong. As long as the ribs along the perimeter aren't cut you should be fine. See below for discussion of rivets.



Trackspec will supply either raw or black rivets, you just need to specify. My kit also came with a mix of short and long rivets. You need both. There will be areas of the hood where the rivet needs to go through both the hood skin and bracing and spots where it will go through just the hood skin. The long rivets should be long enough to do 3 layers of sheet metal as long as they are all laying flush. Its not too thick as long as you have the correct rivets.

Happy to answer any other questions.



Chad, thanks for the insight! I didn't realize TrackSpec would offer black rivets, guess I didn't ask ...

As far as the three layers going on I was worried about pulling all three together and distorting the surface layer, guess I'll have to make sure there are no gaps between layers before riveting them together.

Chad thanks for helping I appreciate your wisdom, pics to follow ...

Michael

[Sonar Chief]

Chad, one more question ... went back and read your tuff testing on the hood and you mentioned that the position directly behind the radiator was best for the cowl hood and the sides were the next best.

http://imagizer.imageshack.us/v2/1024x768q90/922/ptKNOs.jpg
This position is 8.5" from the front ... doable but efficient??


Do you have the measurements from the front of the hood to just behind the shroud? I don't have a reference on the car and wondered if that was doable? The SS hood is flatter going down the center and these vents would work if they were in front of the SS louvers.

Thanks for doing the hard work for us ...

Michael

[Chad-1stGen]

I can measure my set up tonight when I get home. Though it may vary based on the size of your shroud. I vaguely recall it being about 14" but let me double check.

[Sonar Chief]

Thanks Chad, I measured Art's 67 SS last nite with the shroud it's around 13" from the peak of the hood. So I decided to delete the SS tray on the hood (more body work, grrr!) and move the vents further back than shown, 13" or 14"

Got some work to do now ...

Michael

[Jr]

Chad,

What's your ride height at? Your stance is damn near perfect.

[Chad-1stGen]

Chad,

What's your ride height at? Your stance is damn near perfect.

Sorry for the late reply. The wheel well lips at the 12:00 position are just under 26" from the ground

[SSLance]

About time for some updates to this thread don't you think Chad? :rules:

[Chad-1stGen]

About time for some updates to this thread don't you think Chad? :rules:

Oh I'm just a little bit behind. Damn work for blocking Lateral-g.net!

Lets see.

San Diego CAM Challenge:
I had a huge win at the San Diego CAM Challenge. My first event ever in which I put down a faster time than Mary Pozzi. Winning the CAM challenge was so unexpected I didn't even register for contingencies!

A full write up of the event with pics is here: San Diego CAM Challenge (https://www.autoxandtrack.com/2017-san-diego-cam-challenge-event-recap/)

Video of my best run from the CAM Challenge:
p3Xxb3fzNCU

Optima Search for the Ultimate Street Car 2017 Season Opener
Another successful road trip in the Camaro. In the three competitive driving elements I placed 2nd in GTV but design and engineering gave my good friend Efrain a 20 point edge which dropped me to 3rd. Still happy to be on the podium at my first Optima event.

Full recap of that event with pics is here: Optima Ultimate Street Car Las Vegas (https://www.autoxandtrack.com/optima-ultimate-street-car-las-vegas-event-report/)

Some fun video of catching lap traffic on the road course at that event.
dOtxnKUB7dI

[Chad-1stGen]

Autocross double header with NMCA West and SCCA ProSolo!
This was a super fun and action packed weekend. My 2nd SCCA national level event of 2017 and my 2nd time being the fastest CAM car. I won the NMCA classic muscle class on Saturday and came in 2nd place Sunday.

I highly encourage folks to check out a ProSolo to get a taste of side by side autocross mixed with drag racing. Read my full event report here: SCCA Fontana ProSolo (https://www.autoxandtrack.com/scca-prosolo-fontana-cam-event-recap/)

Video of my fastest left and right runs at the ProSolo
G_se-XiWXiw

Recap of the NMCA with pics and cool story about racing family here: NMCA West Autocross (https://www.autoxandtrack.com/nmca-hotchkis-autocross-april-event-recap/)

https://www.autoxandtrack.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Autocross-Family-SCCA-ProSolo-Autocross-Fontana-2017.jpg

I held fastest time of the day for most of the day on Saturday which was freeking awesome. first time that has ever happened with a car from the classic muscle class. Sadly I ended up 4th overall. Here is video of that lap.
7fmaOEICETg

Don't forget boys and girls. You can have awesome sounding videos too. Check out my mic guide here: GoPro External Mic (https://www.autoxandtrack.com/autocross-track-videos-sound-amazing-external-mic/)

[Chad-1stGen]

All of the racing I've done in 2017 already wore out a set of the new Falken RT615K+ tires. With all of the experience I've had on the old Falkens and now using up a set of the new Falkens I decided to write a review.

The full review is here: Falken RT615K+ Review (https://www.autoxandtrack.com/falken-rt615k-plus-review/)

The short answer is that the new Falken tire is measurable better than the old.

Finally, some folks may have noticed a splitter in some of my pictures. I built a simple splitter last year and have been running it for a while now. I kept getting questions about it and why I chose to build it out of plywood. So I wrote how to article here: how to build a DIY plywood splitter (https://www.autoxandtrack.com/diy-splitter-autocross-track-use/)

As I talk about in the article the four main materials I've seen people make splitters out of are: 1/8" aluminum plate, alumalite, carbon fiber and plywood. After a bunch of research I decided to go with plywood. As it is way stronger than alumalite, way lighter than 1/8" aluminum and way cheaper than carbon fiber it seemed like the best option.

https://www.autoxandtrack.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/DIY-splitter-finished-cutting-out-of-plywood.jpg

[Chad-1stGen]

I also attended LSFest West last weekend. I'm still working on a full event writeup but my normally trouble free Camaro decided to make me work for it this time!

Until I get the write up completed here is a video of my finnally taking my pro touring Camaro down the drag strip. I've owned this car 11 years and people always want to know how fast it goes in the 1/4 mile. As if that is all old muscle cars do...

R_ZSUbCPdOI

[glassman]

u meen these cars do more than just the 1/4 mile? lol...12 second car, i can live with that.
I wish i could of attended that event, daughters college grad #1, cars in paint #2. Went to Luftenhalten in Long Beach sunday before moving her out of her dorm.

It was great watching your progress and success on IG and the like. Love your car, always will. It is a true PRO_TOURING machine. Congrats, til the next time

[Jr]

I really enjoyed the splitter article.

[Chad-1stGen]

I really enjoyed the splitter article.

Glad to hear it! I'm having fun with the site but it's a lot of work. I have a new respect for folks that do websites on the side :)

[Penny]

Chad, you're the real deal dude! No trailer, a car that never leaves you stranded, and driving to all these events is just epic. I hope my car treats me well like yours has to you!:topic:

[Beach Cruiser]

Congrats on the Invite from LSFest! everyone I've talked to says get rid of the external fan, it cant take the high RPMS.

[Chad-1stGen]

I can't believe i've neglected this thread for over a year! Amazing what having this site blocked at work will do lol.

I'm still around and charging hard with the Camaro. I've started doing actual episodic content with my YouTube channel instead of just quick fastest lap videos. You guys might enjoy the latest episodes.

cSlHVmn5uY0


ugdG-Xvxd84

[Mikael A]

Awesome stuff thanks for sharing.

[Chad-1stGen]

Another episode covering competing in the NMCA autocross season finale and going for the classic muscle season championship.

VZu60lmbr7Y

[WSSix]

Gonna have to save this for later. Thanks for sharing.