BuiltBottomEnd

Hey all,

Just thought I would give a quick introduction to my drag build and my plans for it. Just a quick mention as well, I have a YouTube channel (Built Bottom End Performance) where I'll be documenting the progress, as well as here. I got my hands on a 1983 Berlinetta roller for cheap with the intention of doing a dedicated drag build. I'm new to Camaros and what it takes to get them drag ready and this will be my best attempt at going fast. I'm always looking to learn so those of you with more experience, please feel free to chime in and tell me I'm doing something wrong. First off, just a few pictures of the car itself:





I found an iron block 5.3 and had it checked over at the machine shop with magnafluxing of the block and surfacing of the heads. Got the all clear and started tearing it down:




Surfaced heads


The idea here is to run a twin cheapo gt35 setup and fab a custom kit for it. Turbos came in and the shaft play seems to be respectable, even for being ebay budget jobbies. I've used ebay turbos on a few street projects and have had good luck, but I'll keep an eye on them a little closer due to the higher load nature of what they'll be seeing:



Given that the stock 10 bolt is only good for approximately 4 and a half HP, I decided to call on the Ford 8.8 I have lying around and I'm going to give my best shot at a 4 link and coilover setup on 275s. The first step is to get the interior stripped so I can measure for a cage:


My plan is to build the cage and back half simultaneously to make the 4 link/8.8 happen. I got my measurements and started laying things out in Solidworks. I still need to tweak some things and add some elements, but the idea is mostly there. Updates on this will follow. If you want to follow along and chat while I work on the CAD, I stream on Twitch occasionally at build_bottom_end. Here's the first few minutes of CAD work, sorry for the poor quality picture. I'll try to get some better ones. This also includes a 3D scan of the engine bay I had done to help with engine mounting in CAD, as well as the turbo kit and potential future tube front end/diy tubular k memeber/A arms/etc.

Preliminary cage and back half

One of the issues I'm unsure about is how to handle the fuel cell and battery in the Camaro because of the hatch style setup. The NHRA rule book says the battery, fuel cell, fuel pump, etc need to be in a seperate compartment seperated by a .028" steel or .032" aluminum bulkhead, and I'm unsure of how to make that happen. Any input would be appreciated and stay tuned for updates

AlkyIROC

As nice as it sounds to take a production car and make it into a race car, it's a whole lot cheaper in the end to just build a tube chassis car.

BuiltBottomEnd

Interesting. Can you explain your reasoning behind this? I would have thought the contrary but of course this is my first rodeo so I can't say I know much.

AlkyIROC

Over the years for what I spent to build my race car, I could have built 2 tube chassis cars for the same price.

Mine is a completely gutted out race car that started as a street car. I bought it as a driveable street car and never once drove it on the street. It was delivered to my house the day I bought it and the next day, I started gutting it. It's now a back halved, full cage race car.

All the windows are lexan, The rear deck lid is a sheet of aluminum. Hood and doors are fiberglass. Very little of the original floor is left. All the original interior is gone. Front and rear suspension is aftermarket. Most of the the main body shell, front fenders and nose piece are really all that's left from the original car.

Wolfster14

Welcome to the forum. there is a lot of good advice you will get from here along with a lot of documentation of other builds. Being new to drag racing a third gen, I can't tell you how much this forum has help me.
Do you have a goal for how fast you are wanting the car to be ? Is it going to be a bracket car, heads up, no prep ?

Passmenow

If you do the back half and driver compartment you are so close to a full chassis, by just adding the front chassis.
Think how like light, strong and safe and easy to work on you could make it.
Then hang fiber glass body parts on it, fixed doors no hinges.
Dzus fastened tin interior and plastic windows, simple wiring.
Save the rear tailings nothing else you need on your donor car.
Or carry on and I'll look forward to your you tube updates.

Beeman

Third Gens are beautiful bodies for a drag car, but they suck as far as working with what came from the factory. Back half will cure the half of it but you still have the front to deal with. Even if you put a tubular K member you have the factory frame structure that tapers back around the transmission. You have the strut front end with expensive struts and they are supported by the wheel well so that remains. The firewall and transmission tunnel are tight to the motor especially with full length headers. Because of the wheel wells and the way the fenders are attached it makes it so you can't easily remove the front end like you can on other conventional chassis, makes it much easier to work on if you could. I love the way my car looks but I curse a lot of how it's designed when I work on it and it's a dedicated drag car. Tube chassis with conventional A arm front cut out the firewall and trans tunnel and you'd have a nice car.

AlkyIROC

When I was looking for a drag car, I originally wanted a g-body for all those reasons but got a good deal on the Camaro. Still wish I had found a g-body.

Beeman

One other thing about a 3rd Gen as a Drag/Bracket car, visibility isn't the best and the frt. end is 4 foot ahead of the frt. tires. If the car is made to sit low you have to be careful about tripping the finish line with the front end instead of the tires if you get on the brakes.