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Scott G's 69 Camaro SS
Welcome to our first
"MEMBER SPOTLIGHT"
Below are pictures and a great story of how this homegrown
Camaro from Stewarville, Minnesota came to terrorize the streets
Some words from Scott........
The whole concept of my project was to build a road race inspired 69 Camaro using modern suspension and engine technology. I believe the beauty is in the details and used a lot of satin finishes and black anodizing to get totally away from the typical bling and polish of street rods.
Click the thumbnails to enlarge the pictures
Starting with a little background on the car, I bought it in the summer of ’00. It was a stock appearing 69 Camaro with a warmed over 350, 4 speed, 12 bolt posi, with 15” rally wheels. I started making upgrades over the next few years, including a Dart based 427 Small Block Chevy, a Tremec TKO 5 speed, Baer brakes, 17" Budnik wheels, and gave it a nice, lowered stance. It was featured in Car Craft Magazine in the October ‘04 issue with that setup.
In the fall of 2005, I tore the car completely down to a bare shell and started the transformation into what it is now. I started by cutting out the stock rear inner wheel tubs and notching and boxing the frame rails to make clearance for the 18x12 wheels with 335 tires. I also had to cut out part of the trunk floor and weld in a crossmember to mount the new coilovers to. With the mini-tubs installed, I made a fixture to mock up the wheels and tires in the car so I could measure for the rear end. With the measurements I needed, I had Currie build a 9" rear end with an aluminum center section, 3.70 gears, 31 spline axles, and a Tru-Track limited slip. Once I had the rear end, I fabricated a fixture to hold it so I could weld all the brackets to it for the 5 link rear suspension. I welded in the pick-up points in the body and the new rear suspension was done. I welded a six point cage in the car and added extra bars to the rear downbars triangulate into the rear shock crossmember where the coilovers attach for maximum strength and rigidity.
I turned my attention to the front of the car and removed and sold the entire stock front subframe. I had a chassis shop in Seattle fabricate a new subframe using a front steer AGR rack and pinion, Detroit Speed upper and lower tubular control arms, and a splined Speedway Engineering sway bar. The subframe maintains the stock track width which allowed me to use ATS's forged aluminum spindles. Corvette C6 ZO6 14" rotors and 6 piston calipers bolt directly to these and use the Vette cartridge bearing hub. I had HRE build the 18x9.5" wheels with the proper hub depth to clear the calipers. With the new subframe bolted into the car with solid aluminum body bushings, I cut two 3" wide notches out of the floor and welded in 2x3 boxed steel frame connectors that connect the subframe into where the new 5 link rear suspension ties into the body. It's an extremely strong and compact setup.
With the suspension taken care of, I picked up a new LS7 and immediately installed new valve springs, retainers, and cam from Katech. I bought a set of Kook's 1 7/8" stainless steel LS7 headers but had to highly modify them to get them to fit in the car. The rest of the 3” exhaust system is made up of an X pipe with Corsa dB mufflers. I fabricated the intake plumbing with 4” mandrel bent steel tubing. The LS7 is a dry sump motor, so I used a Peterson two piece, 8 quart dry sump tank mounted where the battery would normally be. It was extremely tricky getting that positioned where it wouldn't interfere with the right front tire at full lock and still be able to open it. For the computer, I'm using the GM E38 ECM and a custom harness and tuned it with EFI Live. The transmission is a new T56 six speed that I sent to Rockland Standard for upgraded input and output shafts, shift forks, and syncros. With the motor and transmission in the car, I could measure for a new driveshaft, and had Inland Empire build a 3" aluminum unit for me.
The fuel system starts with a custom, hand made stainless steel gas tank that I had Rick's Hot Rod Shop build for the car. I gave them the dimensions that I wanted and they built it accordingly. It has internal baffling and sump for the in-tank Walbro fuel pump. The Aeromotive fuel pressure regulator is mounted forward of the tank, up inside the shock crossmember. By mounting it there, I can dead head the fuel system, which is a much cleaner and simpler way to run it and I'm not constantly circulating gas through the 10 micron inline fuel filter.
With all the fabrication and mock up finished, I tore the car completely back down to a bare shell. I sprayed the bottom of the car with SEM bedliner for good protection from the road and help keep the noise down. With that dirty job taken care of, I hauled it to Autokraft Race Cars & Restorations in Eau Claire. The car was in good shape, but the paint was lacquer and had a lot of cracks - typical of lacquer. So I had Kurt at Autokraft completely media blast the car aside from the bottom which I had just finished. He did a small amount of metal work, such as fixing the door gaps, getting the window trim to fit the roof line better, etc. Kurt used all PPG products on the car, using a custom number to get the red I wanted. The stripes are ’06 Corvette white and the engine compartment is a satin charcoal grey. I wanted to keep give it an OEM feel with everything under the hood being black, stainless, and aluminum. Nothing polished, nothing chromed, no bling; the beauty being in the details.
I had a friend in Detroit hand make the carbon fiber hood. It’s a two piece setup with a top shell and bottom shell bonded together for maximum strength so it can still use stock style hood hinges and hood latch, yet only weighs in at 19lbs. The chin spoiler is also a true carbon fiber piece that was molded off of the stock chin spoiler. The exposed carbon fiber on the chin spoiler and bottom side of the hood were sprayed with a flat clear finish.
Once I got the car home from Autokraft, I started wiring it. I completely rewired the car using an upgraded system from American Autowire, but still had to terminate every single wire. Wherever possible, I used metripak connectors in the harness over the stock 69 Camaro style connectors, so even the technology in the connectors is brought up to current standards. The tail lights are LED and can be programmed to work unison to give a cascading look. The front and side markers are also all LED. I relocated the battery to the trunk to make clearance for the dry sump oil tank.
For a little extra style, I had a set of fiberglass door panels made that would still allow clearance for the door bars. The seats are Recaro with air lumbar, and with all the miles I put on during the Power Tour, that was really nice to have. The 5 point harnesses and halon fire extinguisher are from Safecraft. The cage doesn’t allow the seats to recline, so to get a bit of extra head room, I fabricated my own seat brackets to get the seats as low in the car as possible. The entire floor was covered in Dynamat Extreme.
The dash instrument carrier started as a blank, hand fabricated piece of 16ga sheetmetal. I measured for the 9 gauges and radio and cut the holes for them. Finding the gauge centers and getting the distance between them all exactly the same was a very time consuming project, but I think it turned out great. All the Auto Meter Ultra-Lite II gauges are electric full sweep with LED lighting. Since every gauge requires a specific LED dimmer control and sending unit lead, I created my own harness which allows the dash to be removed in a matter of minutes. Finishing up the interior, all the glass, door and window seals, headliner, dashpad and carpet are all new.
In summary…
There’s a lot of adjustability built into the car. The front coilover springs are 550 lb/in and the rear coilover springs are 200 lb/in and can be easily changed. Both front and rear sway bars are splined and have adjustable arm length. Adjustments can be made in minutes and the bars can be easily swapped with smaller or larger units to tune the car. The shock compression and rebound are also easily adjustable by pressing a button and turning a clicker. Using a bumpsteer gauge, I was able to adjust the steering arm heights relative to the spindle so it only has .050” of bumpsteer through +2” to -2” of travel.
The car is extremely fun to drive. It has an incredibly tight and predictable feel, and has a firm, but not harsh, ride. I have a very aggressive alignment setup with over 1 degree of camber and 6 degrees of caster. While that will make for accelerated tire wear, the turn-in response and feel is incredible. The 14” ZO6 brakes coupled with a Hydratech Braking hydraulic assist unit make for the best braking car I’ve ever driven.
After three and a half years of build time, I made up for lost time by putting 4,619 miles on the car last summer. 2,500 miles were in 8 days when I did the complete Power Tour Long Haul. On the highway, I’m getting about 22mpg.
I took it to Cedar Falls Raceway, (all motor - no nitrous) it ran a best ET of 11.54, best MPH of 123.9, and best 60 foot was a 1.84. That was in full street trim with full exhaust and the same 18" Nitto tires that I had on the car all summer.
Media appearances:
Cover and 8 page feature with centerfold pull-out poster in the November ’08 issue of Camaro Performers Magazine
Cover of the ’09 Nitto Tires Calendar
Featured in the new Optima Batteries TV Commercial (National ad campaign)
Named one of the 10 Best Camaros of 2008 by Camaro Performers Magazine
Featured on the box art for GMP Diecast’s 1:18 scale collector Camaro
Featured in Car Craft Magazine
Cover and Feature in Performance Buildups, an Australian magazine
Featured in Popular Hot Rodding Magazine’s Garage Section
Featured in Camaro Performer Magazine Build Section
Booth car for Nitto Tires on Hot Rod Power Tour
Booth car for Mothers Polishes on final day of Hot Rod Power Tour
Engine:
LS7 427 GM E38 ECM with custom harness by Speartech
Katech camshaft, valve springs, and titanium retainers
Synister Products front accessory drive, anodized black
Kook's 1 7/8" Stainless Steel LS7 headers (which I highly modified to fit)
Autokraft LSx adapter plates with Energy Suspension motor mounts
-12 AN adapter fittings for the dry sump oil pan
Carbon Fiber valve covers
Corsa mufflers, 3" exhaust with X-pipe
Ron Davis aluminum radiator with Spal electric fans
Peterson 8qt dry sump tank
LS7 Details: 427 cubic inches/7.0 liter
All aluminum block, heads, pan
11:1 compression
Heads are 100% CNC'd, all runners and chambers, on a 5 axis milling machine
12* valve angle
Titanium rods (480 grams)
Titanium 2.20" Intake valves
Sodium filled 1.61" exhaust valves
1.8:1 roller rockers
MLS head gaskets
Crank is forged 4140 chromium molybdenum steel with rolled fillet radius journals
CNC'd billet forged steel main caps
Dry sump oil system
7100 rpm rev limiter
Fuel System:
Walbro 255 in-tank fuel pump
Aeromotive regulator
Ricks Hot Rod shop Stainless Steel gas tank Custom built to my size specs, fully baffled for EFI setup with all AN fittings
Transmission:
Rockland Standard T56 6 speed (highly modified)
LS7 clutch with hydraulic throw-out
Inland Empire 3.5" Aluminum driveshaft
Chassis:
Autokraft/DSE 6 point cage
DSE Billet aluminum body bushings
Front suspension:
Wayne Due fabricated subframe, front steer rack
ATS forged aluminum AFX spindles with cartridge bearings
DSE tubular upper and lower control arms
Delrin control arm bushings
AGR Road Race power rack and pinion, quick 12:1 ratio
Baer Trackers with adjustable shim height for dialing out bump-steer
Koni coilover shocks with adjustable damping and 550 lb/in springs
Speedway Engineering splined 1.250" hollow sway bar with all heim joint linkages
DSE in-floor subframe connnectors
Rear Suspension:
DSE Quadra-Link
Speedway Engineering splined rear sway bar
DSE shock crossmember
DSE mini-tubs
200 lb/in springs Koni adjustable shocks
Panhard bar with adjustable roll center height
Wheels and tires:
HRE 547 Forged 3 piece modular wheels Brushed and clear coated center Polished hoops
Front: 18x9.5 with 275/40/18, Michelin Pilot Sports
Rear: 18x12 with 335/30/18, Nitto 555R Drag Radials
Rear end:
Currie 9" rear custom made to my measurements
Aluminum Housing Nodular 9+ Race Case
Tru-Track limited slip
Forged 1350 yoke
3.70:1 gears
31 spline axles
Brakes:
Front: C6 ZO6 14" rotors with 6 piston calipers
Rear: C6 ZO6 13.5" rotors with 4 piston calipers
Wilwood aluminum tandem master cylinder
Hydratech Braking Hydroboost system
KORE rear caliper brackets with OEM GM drum-in-hat parking brake for Ford housing
Body:
Autokraft PPG Red with 2006 C6 white stripes
Hand made Carbon Fiber hood
Endura front bumper
Ring Brothers black anodized hood hinges
Ring Brothers machined stainless steel hardware under hood
Prodigy Customs complete car stainless steel fastener kit
DSE stainless steel hood pin
Marquez Design Billet side markers
Marquez Design Billet front markers
Marquez Design Billet tail light lenses
Smoothed firewall by Autokraft
All new glass
All new seals
2nd Gen F-body side mirrors
Marquez Design stainles steel door strike
Marquez Design billet door jamb vent
Interior:
DSE custom instrument carrier painted by Autokraft
Autometer Ultra-Lite II full sweep electrical gauges 5" tach 5" electronic speedometer 2 1/16" oil press, water temp, fuel pressure, wide band O2, N2O pressure, fuel level, volt
Recaro Sport seats
Safecraft 5 point harnesses (anti-sub belt not installed)
Safecraft Halon fire extinguisher
Marquez Design custom door panels
Budnik GT billet steering wheel
Custom leather/cloth interior (back seat, door panels) by TEA's Designs
Sparco shifter knob
MODO Innovations pedals
Vintage Air Compaq heater/defroster
Lokar shifter boot and ring
Electrical:
American Autowire Classic Update wiring harness
American Autowire cascading LED tail light system
DSE Late model style windshield wiper motor with delay
Electric-Life power windows
Optima red-top battery
DSE battery mount
MODO Innovations electric trunk release
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