FINALLY finished my 572ci EFI 68 Camaro

[572Camaro]

I'm new to this forum. Thanks for allowing me to join.
This 68 Camaro took 10.5 years to build with long breaks in between. We started on August 31, 2002.., The final bolt was installed on March 27, 2014.
This car was built primarily with hand files, a welding machine, tons of sandpaper, muscle and grit and sweat, and good friends. High tech equipment just wasn't that available of affordable to us.
"This car was all about being high performance. It had to have excessive G-forces forward, superior handling, and must stop like a dog hitting the end of his chain."
We wanted the outside of the car to be sexy, not just pretty.
We wanted the inside of the car to have a new car feel, nothing too radical, simple but nice.
When it came to the engine compartment, trunk, and undercarriage, it had to have an industrial, almost nuclear quality about it. No engine covers or trunk upholstery to hide anything. We wanted the guts to show.
So here it is. Take a look. And by the way, many different people were involved in this build. Thanks to all of them, too many to mention here.

[spacepirate]

Congrats on a finished project! Awesome looking car.

[sd67]

Clean and classic that will never go out of style. Great job. Do you have any build pics? Would like to see that rear spoiler fabrication.

[572Camaro]

Thanks for the kind words SpacePirate and SD67!

Engine is a 572ci tall deck big block with Lunati custom EFI grind roller.
EFI is a FAST XFI version 2.051 full sequential with adaptive learning.
Intake is a custom GM/Wilson piece CNC ported with 60lb injectors.
Fuel system is exclusively nuclear grade Swagelok components.
Exhaust is dual 3" 304L stainless with Borla mufflers.
Tranny is a 4L80E controlled by a PCS simpleshift controller.
Torque convertor is a billet lockup unit from Mark Bowler.
Rear axle is a 12 bolt TruTrac with Ford Torino bearings and Moser axles.

Suspension includes Detroit Speed front and Quadralink rear, Koni shocks on all four corners.
Front brakes are 6 piston monoblocks by Alcon/Baer on 13.5" rotors, rears are 4 piston Baer SS4+ modified to fit 13" rotors. We also went Hydraboost.
Steering is by a tuned DSE 600 gear.

Exterior mods include custom billet hood grilles on embellished SS hood,
handmade emblems, welded steel rocker panel extensions with extensions in front and behind wheel openings, welded steel rear spoiler, billet steel fuel cap, shaved bumper bolts, shaved valve stems, custom made German gas struts for hood and trunk lid.

Interior mods include Luxor II custom 2 + 2 interior, GLOE shifter with handmade steel console inserts, trunk mounted seat belt retractors, stainless steel battery box, Focal/JLAudio/Alpine stereo system, brass machined center trim with hideaway HVAC controls, pushbutton start, lighted package tray, American Autowire wiring, transmission Guardian.

[572Camaro]

sd67, here's a few build pics of the rear spoiler.

[Mikael A]

Nice ride!!love big block camaros.

[tubbed69]

Great looking car,very nice work to be proud of:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Ketzer]

Beautiful build! I hope you plan to put some miles on it!!

[sd67]

Thanks for the spoiler photos, that's got the perfect amount of slope and height!

[572Camaro]

Thanks again for the kind feedback. Drove the car yesterday 21 miles and did EFI datalogging to fine tune the XFI. Car is FINALLY running well. Took me three years to figure out the fuel injection software. Whew!

Anyway, here's a couple of my favorite pics.
The first is Charlotte GoodGuys.
The second is rotisserie with Tony Goodrich from Tony's Rod and Custom, the guy who helped me tirelessly and made this project possible. He's on the right.
The third is one of two exhaust reliefs I made to accommodate the DSE Quadralink panhard bar. This is 3" 304L stainless.
And finally a pic of the hood grilles in CNC form. We made the hood grilles two piece so the chrome platers (Sherm's) could get in the corners.

[waynieZ]

That's a beautiful car! You did a great job on all the detail touches.
Are those pistons holding the hood with factory hinges? What shifter did you use?

[califconstruct]

.

Beautiful Project! love the details.

What's the hosepower output on that bad boy?

Congrats!

.

[572Camaro]

Thanks for the compliments!
The hood hinges are factory, except I cut off the springs, boxed them, strengthened them in a couple places, then designed gas struts and had them made of stainless steel in Germany. This was done to match the trunk struts.

The shifter is another story. I started with a Hurst Quarterstick, then made my own trans bracketry out of 316 stainless as shown in the first pic below.
The actual shifter I removed all exposed parts, and made my own out of stainless using bronze bushings throughout. Note the shifter has my last name ball milled into the lever. I wanted the shifter knob to match my Budnik steering wheel horn button so we had to make it ourselves. See pic.

You may also note in the pic the HVAC controls occupy the old ashtray location. The steel door is controlled by the factory heater slide control. The center dash piece is hand formed steel with machined brass chrome plated trim.
I wanted to stay with the factory console but made my own inserts out of steel and powdercoated them, which was a royal pain, because I couldn't use body filler and had to hand smooth all the welds. Take a look..,
As far as horsepower, we dyno'd the engine in Mooresville and got 618.4Hp, BUT that was before the new custom Lunati cam, bigger injectors, new full sequential tune, etc. So frankly I'm not sure but it's definitely more than 618.4Hp now.

[waynieZ]

You did an awesome job, I'm usually pretty good at finding subtle tweeks but I missed some here. Great job, and thanks for the info.

[cluxford]

wow, what a gorgeous car. You must be so happy

[WSSix]

Welcome to the site. Great work on your 68. Congrats on finishing it. Now go have fun driving the hell out of it

[dan777]

Hey Gloe (Jim?), congratulations on your win at the Goodguys 2014 Charlotte meet! Your work on the car is outstanding, like, almost Nuclear grade! :king: Thanks for letting me scour your car with my fine toothed comb in Charlotte. One question: is the dash center panel with the radio, etc. stock? Kinda looks like carbon fiber in the pics.

Dan Mueller

Project PRECIOUS METAL

[desids]

Awesome job on the rear spoiler, and the back seats are very cool! Nice detail work all around.

[Che70velle]

Very well done sir!

[NOT A TA]

Awesome! Very tastefully done.

[572Camaro]

Hey Dan, I remember your scouring of the car! Thank you so much for getting in touch.

To answer your question, the center dash piece is modeled after stock but there is nothing stock about it. The actual center piece is hand formed 18ga mild steel made to accommodate modern stereo, the trim is machined billet brass plated by Sherm's, the ashtray is actually a cable operated door that covers Vintage Air controls.

We are taking the car to GoodGuys Fort Worth Texas in March 2017. Anybody else going?