Table of contents for Volume 2, Issue 23 - November 2022 in All Chevy Performance

Some might say 1970 was a monumental year for rock music, and much of it not good. Janis Joplin and Jimi Hendrix both died at the age of 27, and the Beatles called it quits due to musical differences between Paul McCartney and John Lennon. Both continued on a musical path to highly successfully solo careers. Joplin and Hendrix–not so much. With the two most famous Beatles going their separate ways, their fans followed suit; some took the Lennon train, while others aligned with McCartney. Muscle car fans may not have given the music industry much thought at the time, nor did GM have a clue about an upcoming oil crisis that was a mere three years away, so the ’70 Chevelle came off the assembly line flexing every bit…

Part of the allure of vintage cars is that sensation of nostalgia that only comes from driving one. However, vintage electronics, especially in the gauge department, can leave a lot to be desired. Their sole purpose is to keep your engine safe, battery charged, and fuel tank visibly full enough to not strand you on the side of the road—all things any driver will appreciate. Modern, digital gauges bring surgical precision to monitoring vehicle parameters that their predecessors simply can’t. For this LT-swapped Camaro project, being built at Stoker’s Hot Rod Factory, the crew turned to Classic Instruments for one of their G-Stock instrument clusters. These pair a highend dash bezel with a 4 5/8-inch Speedtachular (combination speedometer and tachometer) with a quad-gauge containing coolant temperature, voltage, oil pressure, and…

For some people, driving a car is simply a way to get from point A to point B. Then there are those who drive for the joy of the process and the feeling of being involved with the machinery. Certainly, there is no better way to do that than with a Camaro equipped with three pedals and a TREMEC five-speed manual transmission conversion from Bowler Performance Transmissions. Bowler Performance Transmissions opened as a small, family owned shop in 1963. As a kid Mark Bowler began learning about building transmissions and eventually the business passed from father to son. Today, under Mark’s leadership and thanks to his interest in high-performance vehicles, Bowler Performance Transmissions offers a complete line of custom automatic transmissions and is a TREMEC Elite Dealer that also offers…

There’s nothing more enjoyable than outfitting your Bowtie with plenty of cutting-edge speed equipment to bring out the best in your big-block, small-block, or LS. Adding spice by way of a stack injection, dual quads, supercharger, or even turbos ups the ante to the next level on the adrenalin scale, giving you even more punch when you hit the go pedal. With the summer car show season in full swing, it’s an easy decision to hit the road with like-minded Chevy enthusiasts to take in some of the finest get-togethers in the country. We packed the tank full of high octane and set the GPS for one of the largest automotive power fests in the Northeast, leading us to the 22nd Annual NAPA Auto Parts Syracuse Nationals in Syracuse, New…

1. ANGLE MASTERS Wilwood now offers a high-performance master cylinder with angled reservoirs specifically designed for GM cars and trucks with angled boosters. These 1- or 1 ⅛-inch bore master cylinders are precision-machined and engineered to deliver volume and pressure for upgraded brakes, with reservoirs designed for easy filling without spilling. The lightweight, high-pressure die-cast aluminum body Compact Remote Tandem Master Cylinder uses Wilwood’s proven internal design and adds all-new 7.8-ounce front and 4.7-ounce rear angled reservoirs. For more information, contact Wilwood Disc Brakes by calling (805) 388-1188 or visit wilwood.com. 2. PREMIUM CAMARO QUARTERS Auto Metal Direct (AMD) now offers new premium quarter-panels for the ’69 Camaro. The latest re-tooled versions will save you time in fit and finish as AMD focused on areas that have troubled these quarter-panel…

We’re back with the final installment of building Chevrolet Performance’s all-new, 1,004hp ZZ632 crate engine. Previously, we detailed the short-block buildup, including the installation of its hydraulic roller camshaft. Focus now moves to the top end of the electronically controlled, port-injected, crank-triggered monster big-block, starting with the heads. For that step forward with our story, however, we need to step back in time to the mid ’80s. That’s when GM engineer Ron Sperry pushed up the sleeves on his Members Only jacket and got to work on a unique spreadport, straight-flow cylinder head that was intended for the Pro Stock wars. The design was a winner, with off-the-chart airflow capabilities, but by the time the first few sets of heads were cast and offered to racers, in 1988, NHRA had…

It was great to be back in Louisville for the 53rd NSRA Street Rod Nationals, held August 4-7 at the massive Kentucky Exposition Center. With foul weather forecasted throughout the event, measurable rain was a “no-show,” and what little precipitation there was didn’t dampen anyone’s car or spirit. As the name implies, there are a good number of street rods in attendance on Kentucky Exposition Center’s over 300 acres of asphalt, grass, and show buildings, but calling it a street rod event could be a bit misleading. With over 8,700 hot rods and muscle cars of just about every flavor on hand, many of those were Chevys—plenty to satisfy the horsepower appetite of every Chevy fan in attendance. From Camaros to Chevelles, Tri-Fives, Novas, big cars, and everything in between,…

This feature is something of a history lesson, as the Pro Touring car shown here is somehow already 20 years old. A current benchmark build might feature 335-wide rear tires, a streetable 800hp powerplant, and advanced suspension. All of that makes Steve Chryssos’ ’68 Camaro something of a throwback. Known as the “Streetfighter Camaro,” the car debuted on the cover of the May ’03 issue of magazine. The build officially started back in 1999 when Steve read an article about a soon-to-be-released aftermarket subframe that would accept C4 Corvette suspension and rack-and-pinion steering. The product, manufactured by a startup called Art Rasmussen Design and Fabrication (ARDF) may have been the first bolt-on subframe ever offered to the public. Serial #1, for example, ended up under Mark Stielow’s mule. The subframe…

@TavisHighlander TavisHighlander.com Vehicle Builder: JABZ Kustoms Vehicle Owner: Ray Carnes, Waynesboro, Georgia John Barefield of JABZ Kustoms is building up a wicked Camaro convertible that should go, stop, and turn as good as it looks. The go part will be handled by a blown LSA built by Bo’s Machine and will be backed up with a 4L80E. Handling will be controlled with a Speedway G-Comp front and rear suspension with AFCO coilovers. Stopping this red missile is up to the big 14- and 13-inch Wilwood brakes with six- and four-piston calipers. Creating the slick look on the exterior starts with a bright red paintjob by Michael Barwick. From there, some 19-inch Race Line Nitros will be blacked out to match the rest of the trim. An Anvil carbon-fiber front bumper,…

“YEARS AGO, I BOUGHT A ’37 FORD COUPE, AND THAT WAS GOING TO BE MY LAST CAR PROJECT,” Norman Brown from Islamorada, Florida, states. “It was a Henry Ford all-steel body that was nicely chopped. I put a TCI chassis under it and, of course, a Chevy big-block for a ‘little’ motivation. Like I said, it was going to be my last build, but unfortunately it was wrecked in an accident!” That incident ended up changing Norman’s mind about his “last hot rod.” You see, there was something else out there that would bring him to the realization that his hot rodding story was far from over. Turns out another muscle ride was going to continue his saga by stealing his heart and getting him back in the garage to…

Sometimes it’s the simplest moments in life that can shape a person’s future, leading them down a path fed by experiences from an early age. Being born into a performance automotive family, it was only a matter of time before Pete Dayotas Jr. of North Grafton, Massachusetts, came face-to-face with fate. When your earliest memories revolve around climbing into a hopped-up T-bucket packing a dual-quad-fed small-block Chevy, it’s easy to see the switch being flicked on in a youngster’s mind. The combined scent of fuel and oil mixed with chrome and metalflake of his uncle Paul Dayotas’ hot rod was all it took to lure him in. At the same time his dad, Pete Sr., set the pace with regular visits to New England Dragway in Epping, New Hampshire, to…

Everybody wants a car that handles well. Any new car built in the last 30 years will far out-corner a stock ’60s machine with little trouble but it is also easy to upgrade and improve corner prowess with the bolt-on simplicity of an antiroll or sway bar. But once you dive into the nuances of suspension modifications, the answer isn’t always just to bolt on the biggest bar. It’s a bit more complicated than that. So let’s dive in. Factory cars from the ’60s were especially weak in suspension design with regard to improved handling. This is evidenced by soft spring rates, very tiny antiroll bars, and less-than-ideal alignment specs, which were all aimed at driver comfort rather than any attempt at better handling. But that means there are plenty…