1976 Chevy Camaro - Project g/28 Part 5

We knew we hit a nerve when the mail started pouring in about our '76 Camaro project car. It seems like everybody's got an opinion on it, and those opinions run the gamut from loving it to hating it. That's funny, because there are times when we alternately love it and hate it, too. Recently, we've been hating g/28, but only because we haven't been driving it. Ever since we made the fateful decision to yank the tired 305 to stuff in our smog-legal Speed-O-Motive-built 383, we've had the jones to carve up some corners. That will have to wait another month as we stumble through the powertrain installation and various other subplot projects we started.

This month we tackle the mundane job of stabbing the motor and trans in. We say mundane because this is stock-and-trade mechanic fare and need not be covered in glacial detail here. What is noteworthy is that this is not your typical Saturday-night-special bracket racer--we've got emission rules to follow, and that means making some cosmetic and functional compromises.

Last month, we focused on the build up and dyno test of our smog-legal 383. The experts at Speed-O-Motive in West Covina, California, did a fine job; our motivator managed to make 403 hp at 5,400 rpm and 450 lb-ft of torque at 4,100 rpm, all while using 50-state-legal parts from Holley, Lunati, and Weiand. At $7,495, the cost was heavier than what you'd normally expect for an engine of this power level (as an example, Speed-O-Motive offers a complete 500hp 383 crate motor for $1,000 less), but we did opt for the bulletproof Lunati Sledgehammer rotating assembly in lieu of an ordinary cast-iron crank and budget pistons. We've essentially got a 700hp short-block with a smog-constrained 400hp induction. Think of it like a Nextel Cup restrictor-plate motor and you're on the right track.

Since one of the goals of the project car is to run 12s (naturally aspirated) using pump gas and emission-legal parts, we've got to consider the rest of the powertrain. Here, we turned to TCI Automotive and its extensive catalog of driveline goodies. With only 403 hp on tap and 3,600 pounds of steel to haul down track, we need to make the best possible use of all those ponies. For this, we selected a competition-level Turbo 350 with a reverse-pattern manual valvebody (PN 312001) and mated it to one of TCI's new 11-inch Breakaway torque converters (PN 240900). The competition trans is beefy enough to handle 600 hp easy, and the manual valvebody gives us the control we want when we go road racing. TCI makes a wide range of competition torque converters, but we picked the street-oriented Breakaway because it's a little tighter (about 1,000 rpm over stock) and is theoretically going to put us right into the fat part of the torque curve with greater efficiency.

The great thing about TCI is that you can do all your driveline shopping at one stop. We also picked up a zero-balance 168-tooth flexplate (PN 399273), a universal trans cooler (PN 820500), and StreetFighter ratchet shifter (PN 616443) that brought our driveline total to $1,372.95 (using Jeg's mail-order as a guide). That's less than we budgeted for, but it looks like we're going to need the cash somewhere else soon for stuff we didn't anticipate.

In putting our initial budget together, we didn't plan on spending so much for the engine (and who does?), and completely forgot about the exhaust system. Fortunately, we were able to do some horse trading and got about $500 out of our old 305 engine and Turbo 350, which is by now tooling around in some lowrider in San Diego. We'll put that money toward our budget and hope we don't go over.

We've also got to plan for better rear gearing and a limited-slip diff down the line. We've got eyes on a 3.73 ring-and-pinion and a Truetrac locker from Detroit Locker. That's gonna set us back at least $700, but it will get the job done with strength to spare, all while using our stock 8.5-inch 10-bolt rear and stock 28-spline axles.

Then there's that sweet Flaming River steering box we've been lusting after. Flaming River uses rack-and-pinion technology in the packaging envelope of a standard gearbox, and we can't wait to try it out at the test track. Having been spoiled by late-model rack-and-pinion cars, we just can't envision settling for anything less. Estimated cost on that is pushing $500.

We also want to address the seating for safety and performance reasons (Jeg's sells a great sport seat for just $199). There is some chassis stiffening to do (via subframe connectors), and finally, some gauges need to be installed to keep from blowing things up.

All this stuff takes time (which we don't have enough of) and money (which we also don't have enough of). The one big difference between g/28 and your project is that you have the option of "cooking the books" when dealing with your significant other. In our case, the only "significant others" we have are you readers, and we don't think we can pull the wool over your eyes quite as easily.

Next month, we'd like get g/28 back on the road to sort out the bugs. Once that's done, we'll put g/28 on the Dynojet chassis dyno and see what it pulls using the really crappy stock exhaust system. If we can get taller springs on the front, we may even be able to go back to the track and do some skidpad, slalom, and brake testing, but that's a long shot at this point. After that, look for updates on the steering box, seats, wheels and tires, the rearend, and the rest of our punch list as we complete them. For now, watch as we tackle the engine and trans install with Jason Scudellari in the Primedia Tech Center.

Since we're drag racing too, we wanted a flexplate that conformed for SFI specification 29.1. With an internally balanced 383, we couldn't reuse the old external-balance flexplate, even if we wanted to. The new TCI piece has a zero balance for our internally balanced engine and set us back just $69.99. Here, Scudellari torques the flexplate bolts to 90 lb-ft using a thread-locking compound.	With the new trans mounted to the smogger 383, Scudellari hoists the combo into g/28's engine bay. At this point, you'd think things would start going easy. Getting g/28 into a smog-legal configuration would prove difficult, but not impossible.	Gear-shifting duty will be handled by TCI's new StreetFighter shifter (PN 616443, $165.99), which looks (and works) a lot like a B&M Megashifter. We chose it because it works with our manual reverse-pattern transmission, but it works with all GM, Ford, and Chrysler three and four-speed automatics. The ratchet-action piece has a nice solid feel for banging through the gears and comes complete with hardware kit, cosmetic cover, Morse cable, billet handle, neutral safety switch, boot, and shifter plate with gear indicator window. At press time, the StreetFighter was only being shipped with a standard "PRND21" indicator window, but we're told by TCI that a "PRN123" version is shipping soon. Until we get the new indicator, we'll have to watch our gears carefully.
With the powertrain in the car and the starter hooked back up to the electrical system, Scudellari finished the job of attaching the torque converter. Once you get one converter bolt hole lined up with the flexplate and get one bolt in, it's easy to bump the motor over and crank the rest of the converter bolts in.	We're skipping over bolting on some easy stuff (the stock exhaust, cooling system, driveshaft, a new trans cooler, the electronic choke, etc.) to show you the real headache: the vacuum routing on a '76-era California smog motor. We looked everywhere--even asking at some smog check stations--and could find no definitive diagram...	...We found six versions covering Californian and non-Californian cars. We know that 350-cid engines with four-barrel carbs (the diagram we want for g/28) were sold in California, but we couldn't find that diagram anywhere. We did find a California two-barrel 350, a two-barrel 305, and even a four-barrel 305 (we'd like to see that car, but we don't think these were built), but not the one we needed.
Oh, what a difference a year makes! In California, all cars built before 1976 are smog-exempt. Ours being a '76, we needed to keep the Positive Crankcase Ventilation (PCV) valve hooked up. That wasn't going to happen with our nice Holley valve covers.	The solution to the PCV valve problem was to reuse the valve covers from the original 305. Before getting it smogged we'll need a new grommet, but at least the plumbing is solved. The engine isn't going to win any car show awards, but it looks a lot more like a stock 305/350 now, which is probably a good thing.	The Holley 4160 is a 600-cfm vacuum-secondary four-barrel carb with electronic choke (PN 80451), which is 50-state smog legal for a multitude of applications. The 4160 has no California Air Resources Board Exemption Order number because it's technically an OEM replacement part. Don't worry; the 4160 comes with a "get out of jail free" card stating that it is emissions-legal. Just put it in your glove compartment and show it to the smog inspector if he asks for it. Note that we've already hooked up the EGR, PCV, distributor vacuum advance, canister purge, and electronic choke control to make g/28 truly smog-legal. The nipples on the thermostat housing were used to feed the old thermostatic choke on the old two-barrel; they're plugged since we're running a carb with electronic choke, which supersedes the need for the thermostatic choke.
We're on a budget, but we couldn't let our old throttle bracket pass tech--it just looked too dangerous. We picked up a universal one at Pep Boys for $20.	It doesn't look as pretty as it did in the Speed-O-Motive dyno cell, but it's the same smog-legal 383 stroker engine. The stock valve covers, stock engine dress, and stock exhaust manifolds make it look like a simple head/carb/intake swap; that's exactly the look we're after for our visit to the smog inspector. We'll have all the CARB EO numbers and paperwork on hand to substantiate our visible parts, and we'll have a clean tailpipe to back it up.	We plan on using Royal Purple synthetic lubricants throughout project g/28, including motor oil, trans fluid, and gear lube for the rear when we conquer that job. We like the idea of higher film strength, which can reduce the possibility of metal-to-metal contact. Parts last longer and more power gets to the ground with a synthetic, and RP has been proven to do that time after time. We'll also be using K&N filters for the engine oil and air filter. Did you know that K&N oil filters have a handy nut on them for easy removal? We didn't, but we're sold on them now.