My 89 Camaro Project

[Superdave]

As some of you might know i'm making the switch from FWD to RWD in an effort to push my N/A 60v6 build a little harder.

The idea was to find a RWD GM car that was fairly lightweight and had a good aftermarket for suspension and drivetrain parts. I've owned Fbodies in the past and know them fairly well so this was an obvious choice.

To make a long story short a friend's ex left him with this '89 RS Camaro when she took off. I'd seen the car a few times back when she was daily driving it around 2003 and thought to myself that i'd like to own it one day. My buddy wasn't planning on selling the car but i let him think about it for a few months.. And Today i drove it home.


For $1K here it is...


1989 RS Camaro. Was a V6/Auto from the factory but was swapped to a 350 in 2001 then to a 327 around 2006. It's "Gunmetal Metallic" with a black interior. 4" Harwood fiberglass cowl hood (With the Grim reaper painted on it). 3.42 open diff for now, and some very 90's Progressive rims (15x7 front and 15x11 rear). For some reason it has a trailer hitch.. lmao











It will be getting my 320 HP/300 TQ 3500 V6 Build and a '98+ 4L60E trans with a stand alone trans controller. After a little more work on the engine, building new headers and maybe a different plenum setup i'm hoping for about 270 WHP. That should be enough to put me right back into the low 13's where i was with the 2800lb Jbody.


As things roll along i'll post up all the hurtles i run into while doing the FWD to RWD swap in this thread.

For kicks lets call the initial swap "Phase 1"

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[bszopi]

Here and I thought you already had this thing. Oh well, at least you have it now! This will be interesting once I get mine done - 2 1989 vehicles with built FWD 3500s. Hahahah!

[86FieroSEv6]

Nice ride, man. Welcome to the site.


btw . . . you're right, those wheels gotta go! LOL

[bszopi]

Nice ride, man. Welcome to the site.

Uhh... Check out his profile.

[86FieroSEv6]

sorry, my humor was not obvious enough.........please excuse.

[Superdave]

lmao.. yah, with almost 4K posts i've been around for a while.


The rims are starting to grow on me, i'd still like to find a set of S10 SS wheels though. Much cleaner look.


bszopi, i had the deal worked out in November, started back in May '09.. was just building up the cash over the last 2 months to pay for it. I was hoping to get paid for a bunch of porting work from a few people but ended up taking most of the money from my savings.

[Superdave]

Ordered one of these sexy beasts the other night...



Spohn Tubular K member (Mild steel) with SBC mounts (to be modified later on)


This was the big piece of the puzzle, it will allow plenty of clearance for the FWD oil pan, plus cut some weight.

Next up will be the 4L60E trans and 98+ V6 Bellhousing. Need to sell some stuff first though.

[IsaacHayes]

Are you going to go with a more looser motor to avoid spinning bearings? I take it that and the high RPM's are doing that... Unless there is a lack of oil...

[Superdave]

Are you going to go with a more looser motor to avoid spinning bearings? I take it that and the high RPM's are doing that... Unless there is a lack of oil...

I'm going to check everything before it goes back together.

I really need to spend some time driving it instead of beating the crap out of it on the track and dyno. I plan on taking it to the 60v6 meet, that's about 16 hours of driving total. It should be nice and broken in after that. hehe

[ForcedFirebird]

275bhp has gone 12.33 at 112 (1.7 60'iirc) in a Firebird - that was a 3800 and a 4th gen, you are lighter by a mile, both in chassis and engine.