Engine

     This engine was a package deal with the currrent 1968 Camaro where most of the work had already been performed. At the time of original purchase by Brett, it couldn't power brake the back wheels free at all. As a testimate to Brett's engine building capabilities, it has progressed into an impressive mouse with a suprising bite. His first modification was to the exhaust where he equipped full length 1 5/8 Hooker Competition Headers with true dual 2.5" exhaust into Flowmast 50 series muflers and no exit pipes. Adding on a free flowing open air filter element and the Camaro began to sound more like it should... but still didnt break the tires free at will. Next, Brett equipped a set of reworked 462 casting 64cc camel hump heads with a fresh 3 angle valve job and added a holley spread-bore dual plane intake to repalce the cast iron boat anchor and maintain compatibility with the Q-jet. This was a huge improvement over stock and the car was finally moving making power. I can still hear the bellow of the Q-jet at wide open throttle. Not satisfied, Brett researched a cam replacement which would emulate the classic cams found in that era and found the Crane Muscle Car Grind. This really brought the engine alive and now it could brea the back end at wil off the line.

Just as everything was looking good, the outer tang of the block where the starter bolts in strangely broke off. Suspecting previous unseen damage, the choice was made to scrap the block and machine a new one. Brett called up the folks at H.D.S Machine in Escondido, CA and had them Blueprint a .030 over 350ci short block with Federal Mogul flat top hyperuetectic pistons. This kept the cost down while ensuring reliability and street performance. Once completed, the heads, cam, intake, roller timing chain, cam button and accessories were fitted back on. A compression of 9.5 to 1 was realized and again the Camaro felt even more powerfull. This is when the suspension began showing its age and bushing started to fail all over, necessesitating replacement with good poly right up to the engine mounts. Once again the car went under the knike for more power, this time with a Torquer open plenum manifold and a Holley 650 Double Pumper Carb.

The Holley was a different animal than the Q-jet and almost felt like it lost power from the moan of the spread-bore secondaries we were used to. A lot of tuning and the Holley began to show its strengths where it built up a more predictable power curve. But something was still missing, this is where the 2800 stall converter comes in finished off a great setup. Now the car was scary fast! Jumping on the gas lit the back end up like a firework, always jumped to the power band and really let off a scream. Small modifications from here forward like a Proform HEI to smooth out the top end and subframe connectors to keep the frame twist to a minimum. The mono-leafs needed to be swapped out for multi-leafs to control the axle wrap and a turn-buckle from the block to the front subframe on the drivers side to keep from busting engine mounts. This is where I come in and the condition of the engine at my purchase. It sits about the same today with a few minor modifications. Feeling the car was missing a little bottom end to midrange with the short runner of the Edelbrock Torquer intake manifold, I dropped an Edelbrock RPM Air-Gap on. This made busting loose the rear in first gear much easier and leveled off the power band to leap through the midrange much quicker - but lost top end. give this intake had a dropped plenum, i decided to run a 1" open spacer and see if this brought the top end back... yep! It also managed to smooth out the off-idle burst off the line and gave me a little more control to reduce wheel spin and hook up.

 Adding the Lakewood Lift Bars that came with the car allowed a lot more pedal off the line an ultimately pushed the car to its best time of 0-60 in 5 seconds, 1/4 mile in 13.22 at a speed of 120 mph. All this on the stock 2.73 open diff rear and a 3 speed auto trans.

This engine has seen a lot of transformation over the years from a stock 350 to the 355ci beast it is today. It was always well known that something about this combination was special, even with the open plenum torquer manifold it used to run, but we were convinced that the horsepower figures couldn't be as high as it performed. It wasn't until we plugged the numbers into the desktop dyno that the torque figure came to light. That explains a lot.