My view on parts - (1997)
I've always been into the street performance scene. I always preferred it over full race cars with fiberglass shells. I commend anyone who has a daily driver and runs 11's or 10's. Keep in mind some cars are heavy and some are light. Ever wonder how fast sport bikes are? Well, don't forget about their weight advantage. Car Craft used to have a competition for an all around street machine called 'Real Street Eliminator'. I wonder what happened to that. An above average daily driver is one that might get decent gas mileage, doesn't overheat, handles decently, and should pass emissions. With all these factors into consideration, you're probably thinking I am a juice man. No, I am not. Well, then I must be into blown/turbo applications. yep; when life gets ya down, just give it a little boost. Get some information on Turbo V6s like the ones in a grand national and you'll see what I mean. Roots blowers were cool, but the centrifugals (along with intercoolers) take performance to a new level. Besides them being a function of RPM, I won't list the benefits here; go to the Procharger Faq if you still believe in running a huge cam or a big block/big inch motor. First things first, I view small blocks and big blocks are two separate worlds. Bigger displacement always has the potential to make more power.
Ok, so I had the idea. Now I was wondering how to go about putting it into reality. Almost everyone and their grandmother was doubting the combo I was putting together.
Greg, Me and Mike
One of my first choices, according to my dad, was not close enough to home. I urge anyone building a serious street machine to check out a shop called the Turbo Connection in Edwardsville IL. Even though I talked to him once for a few hours on the phone, I must admit that it was the best conversation about performance cars I ever had with anyone. I knew they were an authorized procharger dealer/installer and that they were willing to do quality work on my car using my specifications. Aside from Turbo Connection I had difficulties in finding a good quality shop around Chicago. There were quite a few shops that 'kicked me out' and said, "no way, dude, we're not building that motor; it's not gonna work and we won't held be responsible." I thought differently. Others maybe weren't so thrilled about a late second gen Camaro. One shop, which primarily deals with fuel injection and DFI's on Mustangs and Corvettes,(I won't mention ASSC here) went so far to say, "Do what works for us and you know will work. Fuel injection and spray". I ended the discussion by saying, "dude, hot rodding is all about fun and individuality. If you're not having fun, then what's the point. Why do something that everybody's doing. What do you prove by doing that?" This made me think about how some people have a lame approach to cars. (even though I respect most people's ideas and approaches when it comes to modifications and originality)
I decided since my old engine was crap, I would have to build a new one from the ground up. My first choice was a crate motor. Or put one together that was low to medium buck like in the magazines. There are many ways to go on this, I just wish I had better luck or maybe some help in this department. What do I do? I look for anyone who would dare put this thing together within a 50 mile radius of my house. The best suggestion I had, was from an online buddy, who is also the VP of ISRM. He recommended a shop that professionally builds motors. This is a place where serious big inch race motors are bred. I wanted a quiet little smallblock, so I figured they'd have no problem with it, working on it quietly somewhere in the corner. It was the only place that said, "sure, we could do that". I tried to make it a budget deal ($5000-7000), but my budget nearly doubled at the end. -Click here for engine shop details(7/97)
While the motor was getting built, I decided since my car was gonna have a lot of horsepower I would compliment it with some chassis work and generally getting the car where I wanted it to be without painting it. Finding a good chassis shop was much easier than finding an good engine shop. My car spent about 8 months(10/97-6/98) at The Alston Group in Antioch, Illinois. It was there too long, but it was partly my fault since I probalby I asked them to do too much work. I kept bringing in parts forgetting that this place mostly worked on chassis stuff. However, the guys liked my enthusiasm and did what they could. The biggest things done here were the roll cage(pictured at the top of this page) and the rear end. I had 2 big problems at this place. When they ordered the rearend they got me the drag racing brakes instead of the street ones. This assisted me in driving the car into a ditch(which is explained later). They said that they don't do brakework and it showed. But I insisted to have working brakes since I didn't have a trailer and need to ride the car back to Chicago. Well, they suggested a place down the block and that was basically 600 bux down the drain. At first, they were the culprit of the accident since it was discovered that the brakelines were hooked up backwards to the master cylinder(giving more pressure to the back). This might've been the case but not as bad as putting racing rotors and calipers for the street. The point is, even though people do automotive work for you, it's important to check stuff out yourself(this of course will not help somebody that doesn't know what they're really looking at). Everything does in fact happen for a reason and not too long after the crash I realized that it was a good thing that this happen. For starters I could've killed myself in the car if I had that motor. Secondly, the car needed at least a partial restoration to accomodate such a nice motor, and have it be the car I wanted it to be In conclusion, I have a nice car but it was totally at my expense. I gained tremendous experience but if I could do it over again, I could do it for much less money, time, and do it differently all together. Maybe with the next car :)
-coming soon-the drag racing essay