1969 Chevrolet Camaro
03-04-2007 | 04:34 AM
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1969 Chevrolet Camaro
Powertrain
Frank got serious and copped a Dart Little M block (splayed four-bolt mains) for the foundation for his 406 (4.15-inch bore x 3.75-inch stroke). He handed everything over to Furani Racing in San Gabriel, California, which would build the bullet after the balancing work was completed by L&R Machine in nearby Santa Fe Springs and the machined parts arrived from Dyno Flo in Henderson, Nevada. Furani poured a forged Eagle crank (with 350 small-journal mains), SRP pistons fitted with JE Pistons chrome-moly rings, and Eagle 6.00-inch connecting rods into one of Rich Maskin's finest.
The camshaft? An Iskenderian, of course. The hydraulic roller features 0.530/0.550 inch lift, 234/248 degrees duration at 0.050, and 110-degree lobe centers. The cam and crank are joined inextricably by a Cloyes Tru-Roller timing chain. Edelbrock Performer RPM aluminum heads (70cc combustion chambers) have 2.02/1.60 valves held by Isky springs, keepers, and retainers, and Isky roller-rocker arms put the pressure on the Isky 51/416-inch pushrods. Before sticking heads to block, Furani matched the ports in the Edelbrock single-plane manifold to the ones in the castings. Then they anointed the 406 with a Holley 830-cfm carb and a 3-inch K&N air filter. A low-profile Milodon 7-quart oil pan shrouds the Melling high-volume pump and pick-up. Furani dropped in an MSD Digital-6 ignition system (38 degrees total) and used ARP fasteners and Aeroquip lines throughout. Once the Dart was resting comfortably in the engine bay, Brad and Norm at B&N Custom Rods in Canyon Country, California, attached the Doug's headers and fabbed a 211/42-inch system with Flowmaster Delta race mufflers and resonators.
A Flex-A-Lite electric fan sticks to the Griffin aluminum radiator like grim death. Vintage Air's Front Runner serpentine-belt accessory drive is economical on space (all the pieces remain within the engine's width) and handsome besides. Moving aft, C&O Automotive in Hawthorne did up a 700-R4 and fitted it with a Continental 3,000-stall, 10-inch converter via Kris Abrahamson. This required a custom-length driveshaft, as purveyed by General Drive Shaft Service in Monrovia. HTH narrowed a 12-bolt and fitted it with 3.73:1 gears. That 0.70:1 OD translates to a 2.60:1 final drive, amenable for the long haul at least.
Body
Other than accepting the HTH mini-tubs, the Camaro was uncut and scar-free. Jeremiah at Studio Auto Body in Glendale, California, prepped the carcass by the book and blew on PPG Viper Red and '69 Z/28 black stripes to pick up the dusky interior.
Chassis
Though HTH has converted many cars to the truck-arm way, it's still not a mainstream modification, and therefore quite interesting. The narrowed 12-bolt centerpiece is connected to the longitudinal arms, and HTH coil springs replace the typical leaf bundles. And the HTH shocks have extra-long travel. The forward boxing plates (for the arm attachment) stiffen the stock chassis significantly, especially in a subframe vehicle. The arms and soft bushings allow one side of the car to be raised until stuff hits the frame, while the opposite wheel is still firmly connected with the ground. The long arms have a flat radius arc, which eliminates bump/roll steer, and the entire driving load is moved from the rear of the car to the center of the mass. Up front, HTH tubular lower control arms alter the stock geometry to complement the HTH coils and shocks. The upper control arms and the body itself are fixed with Energy Suspension bushings. A 1-inch Guldstrand bar captures both sides of the vehicle, but thanks to the truck arms, a rear antisway bar isn't needed. The steering box is a '69 Chevy quick-ratio blender.
Inside
B&N Custom Rods was responsible for the interior construction as well as all the custom and detail work under the hood. Black hides on the Sparco seats and complementing black carpet and panels go great with the red exterior swath and set the tone, but are magnets for dirt, light-colored odd bits, and the high desert's magnificent heat. The stock instrument nacelles hold a 140-mph COPO speedometer and tach, and Auto Meter Phantom gauges are ancillary. That Vintage Air HVAC system puffs coolness over Frank's bones while he groks the full-on Alpine audio. We're talkin' surround sound, DVD, big-*** amps, and Diamond speakers. Where are the cruise control and GPS?
Chassis
Though HTH has converted many cars to the truck-arm way, it's still not a mainstream modification, and therefore quite interesting. The narrowed 12-bolt centerpiece is connected to the longitudinal arms, and HTH coil springs replace the typical leaf bundles. And the HTH shocks have extra-long travel. The forward boxing plates (for the arm attachment) stiffen the stock chassis significantly, especially in a subframe vehicle.
The arms and soft bushings allow one side of the car to be raised until stuff hits the frame, while the opposite wheel is still firmly connected with the ground. The long arms have a flat radius arc, which eliminates bump/roll steer, and the entire driving load is moved from the rear of the car to the center of the mass. Up front, HTH tubular lower control arms alter the stock geometry to complement the HTH coils and shocks. The upper control arms and the body itself are fixed with Energy Suspension bushings. A 1-inch Guldstrand bar captures both sides of the vehicle, but thanks to the truck arms, a rear antisway bar isn't needed. The steering box is a '69 Chevy quick-ratio blender.
Rollers & Brakes
The right wheels are quite critical to the Camaro's persona, and the Boyd Coddington New Wave rims are perfect frames for the big Wilwood discs. Frank chose an 8-and-10 17-inch combo and joined them with sticky 255/40 and 315/35 Kumho rubber. The Wilwoods provide 13 and 12 inches of energy-burning brakes.
Performance
This is a short list-a really short list. At this writing, Frank's yank-you-by-the-lapels red Camaro had been on the road for less than a month, still being sorted out. The motor's never been near a dynamometer, and the dragstrip is a little ways off (if ever), but he thinks it makes at least 500 hp.
-------------------------------
Early last summer, I stopped to help push a friend's '66 Nova into a driveway. Chris, the owner, had me take a look at the new suspension recently installed by Hotrods to Hell. Wow! I'd never seen that type on a street machine. So I got one." If only all missions were so succinct.
Frank Valvo sourced his soon-to-be road animal from the second owner, who got it from his grammy. All the documents were there; the original paperwork, including the purchase agreement, was now his. Oh yeah, and that Daytona Yellow coupe with a straight body too.
As we have experienced firsthand, the HTH Centerdrive truck-arm suspension becomes the focal point of the vehicle for one excellent reason: It's the ultimate live-axle rendition. It works like a mother to plant the rear tires off the line while at once imbuing the car with excellent road manners, high-rate handling characteristics, and a ride like big Cadoo.
That's a tall order, but one that HTH has deftly rolled into a very tight package that works deliriously well. Along with the truck-arm suspension hardware, Hell is now developing all the required ancillaries (mini-tubs, tubular front control arms, springs, and shock absorbers indigenous to the system). If there is a caveat, it would be that the axle and the arms command most of the room at the rear of the car, so the exhaust must exit in front of the back wheels.
As a street crawler, Frank's '69 Camaro would benefit from both the handling and the acceleration realms, and the HTH transformation was first on the agenda and could easily accommodate all the crap his 406 small-block could ladle out. Frank's a big fan of driving without angst. He wanted a strong motor, but nothing too hairy. His car is a street piece, after all, one that must be civilized and act somewhat responsibly. Still, he lavished it with bucks, using forged internals and housing them conveniently in an aftermarket cylinder block. But it's a 406 in name only and wholly without the skuzzy shortcomings of the 400ci stock-block conversion.
In a nod to nostalgia, Frank's engine includes products from the back-in-the-day file too: Isky, Edelbrock, Doug's, Milodon, and C&O (then owned and operated by Gene Conway, one of the favorite local Funny Car pioneers in the mid to late '60s with the C&O Hydros Jeep) transmission.
You'll notice that Frank went at least nine yards on the rest of the Camaro too. Not a street fighter by any stretch, he's addressed all aspects of comfort and convenience and planted a high-end audio system in the middle of it all. He wanted everything that wasn't in the '57 Chevy or the '71 454 Chevelle he'd gnawed on in another life.
After cranking on his livelihood as a title-insurance sales rep, Frank would seem needy of the visceral input afforded by his Camaro, and that's everything from the suck-you-up red paint to the bark of that big small-block, to those seat-of-his-hiney thrills. Ten years ago, the roads around Santa Clarita were wide open, pure, and tolerant of joy-riding folk, but human hordes have snuffed all that. The threat of an early Sunday morning burn-down on the 14 Freeway is about all there is left now. But that's a good thing. Frank's just out for a ride.
Frank got serious and copped a Dart Little M block (splayed four-bolt mains) for the foundation for his 406 (4.15-inch bore x 3.75-inch stroke). He handed everything over to Furani Racing in San Gabriel, California, which would build the bullet after the balancing work was completed by L&R Machine in nearby Santa Fe Springs and the machined parts arrived from Dyno Flo in Henderson, Nevada. Furani poured a forged Eagle crank (with 350 small-journal mains), SRP pistons fitted with JE Pistons chrome-moly rings, and Eagle 6.00-inch connecting rods into one of Rich Maskin's finest.
The camshaft? An Iskenderian, of course. The hydraulic roller features 0.530/0.550 inch lift, 234/248 degrees duration at 0.050, and 110-degree lobe centers. The cam and crank are joined inextricably by a Cloyes Tru-Roller timing chain. Edelbrock Performer RPM aluminum heads (70cc combustion chambers) have 2.02/1.60 valves held by Isky springs, keepers, and retainers, and Isky roller-rocker arms put the pressure on the Isky 51/416-inch pushrods. Before sticking heads to block, Furani matched the ports in the Edelbrock single-plane manifold to the ones in the castings. Then they anointed the 406 with a Holley 830-cfm carb and a 3-inch K&N air filter. A low-profile Milodon 7-quart oil pan shrouds the Melling high-volume pump and pick-up. Furani dropped in an MSD Digital-6 ignition system (38 degrees total) and used ARP fasteners and Aeroquip lines throughout. Once the Dart was resting comfortably in the engine bay, Brad and Norm at B&N Custom Rods in Canyon Country, California, attached the Doug's headers and fabbed a 211/42-inch system with Flowmaster Delta race mufflers and resonators.
A Flex-A-Lite electric fan sticks to the Griffin aluminum radiator like grim death. Vintage Air's Front Runner serpentine-belt accessory drive is economical on space (all the pieces remain within the engine's width) and handsome besides. Moving aft, C&O Automotive in Hawthorne did up a 700-R4 and fitted it with a Continental 3,000-stall, 10-inch converter via Kris Abrahamson. This required a custom-length driveshaft, as purveyed by General Drive Shaft Service in Monrovia. HTH narrowed a 12-bolt and fitted it with 3.73:1 gears. That 0.70:1 OD translates to a 2.60:1 final drive, amenable for the long haul at least.
Body
Other than accepting the HTH mini-tubs, the Camaro was uncut and scar-free. Jeremiah at Studio Auto Body in Glendale, California, prepped the carcass by the book and blew on PPG Viper Red and '69 Z/28 black stripes to pick up the dusky interior.
Chassis
Though HTH has converted many cars to the truck-arm way, it's still not a mainstream modification, and therefore quite interesting. The narrowed 12-bolt centerpiece is connected to the longitudinal arms, and HTH coil springs replace the typical leaf bundles. And the HTH shocks have extra-long travel. The forward boxing plates (for the arm attachment) stiffen the stock chassis significantly, especially in a subframe vehicle. The arms and soft bushings allow one side of the car to be raised until stuff hits the frame, while the opposite wheel is still firmly connected with the ground. The long arms have a flat radius arc, which eliminates bump/roll steer, and the entire driving load is moved from the rear of the car to the center of the mass. Up front, HTH tubular lower control arms alter the stock geometry to complement the HTH coils and shocks. The upper control arms and the body itself are fixed with Energy Suspension bushings. A 1-inch Guldstrand bar captures both sides of the vehicle, but thanks to the truck arms, a rear antisway bar isn't needed. The steering box is a '69 Chevy quick-ratio blender.
Inside
B&N Custom Rods was responsible for the interior construction as well as all the custom and detail work under the hood. Black hides on the Sparco seats and complementing black carpet and panels go great with the red exterior swath and set the tone, but are magnets for dirt, light-colored odd bits, and the high desert's magnificent heat. The stock instrument nacelles hold a 140-mph COPO speedometer and tach, and Auto Meter Phantom gauges are ancillary. That Vintage Air HVAC system puffs coolness over Frank's bones while he groks the full-on Alpine audio. We're talkin' surround sound, DVD, big-*** amps, and Diamond speakers. Where are the cruise control and GPS?
Chassis
Though HTH has converted many cars to the truck-arm way, it's still not a mainstream modification, and therefore quite interesting. The narrowed 12-bolt centerpiece is connected to the longitudinal arms, and HTH coil springs replace the typical leaf bundles. And the HTH shocks have extra-long travel. The forward boxing plates (for the arm attachment) stiffen the stock chassis significantly, especially in a subframe vehicle.
The arms and soft bushings allow one side of the car to be raised until stuff hits the frame, while the opposite wheel is still firmly connected with the ground. The long arms have a flat radius arc, which eliminates bump/roll steer, and the entire driving load is moved from the rear of the car to the center of the mass. Up front, HTH tubular lower control arms alter the stock geometry to complement the HTH coils and shocks. The upper control arms and the body itself are fixed with Energy Suspension bushings. A 1-inch Guldstrand bar captures both sides of the vehicle, but thanks to the truck arms, a rear antisway bar isn't needed. The steering box is a '69 Chevy quick-ratio blender.
Rollers & Brakes
The right wheels are quite critical to the Camaro's persona, and the Boyd Coddington New Wave rims are perfect frames for the big Wilwood discs. Frank chose an 8-and-10 17-inch combo and joined them with sticky 255/40 and 315/35 Kumho rubber. The Wilwoods provide 13 and 12 inches of energy-burning brakes.
Performance
This is a short list-a really short list. At this writing, Frank's yank-you-by-the-lapels red Camaro had been on the road for less than a month, still being sorted out. The motor's never been near a dynamometer, and the dragstrip is a little ways off (if ever), but he thinks it makes at least 500 hp.
-------------------------------
Early last summer, I stopped to help push a friend's '66 Nova into a driveway. Chris, the owner, had me take a look at the new suspension recently installed by Hotrods to Hell. Wow! I'd never seen that type on a street machine. So I got one." If only all missions were so succinct.
Frank Valvo sourced his soon-to-be road animal from the second owner, who got it from his grammy. All the documents were there; the original paperwork, including the purchase agreement, was now his. Oh yeah, and that Daytona Yellow coupe with a straight body too.
As we have experienced firsthand, the HTH Centerdrive truck-arm suspension becomes the focal point of the vehicle for one excellent reason: It's the ultimate live-axle rendition. It works like a mother to plant the rear tires off the line while at once imbuing the car with excellent road manners, high-rate handling characteristics, and a ride like big Cadoo.
That's a tall order, but one that HTH has deftly rolled into a very tight package that works deliriously well. Along with the truck-arm suspension hardware, Hell is now developing all the required ancillaries (mini-tubs, tubular front control arms, springs, and shock absorbers indigenous to the system). If there is a caveat, it would be that the axle and the arms command most of the room at the rear of the car, so the exhaust must exit in front of the back wheels.
As a street crawler, Frank's '69 Camaro would benefit from both the handling and the acceleration realms, and the HTH transformation was first on the agenda and could easily accommodate all the crap his 406 small-block could ladle out. Frank's a big fan of driving without angst. He wanted a strong motor, but nothing too hairy. His car is a street piece, after all, one that must be civilized and act somewhat responsibly. Still, he lavished it with bucks, using forged internals and housing them conveniently in an aftermarket cylinder block. But it's a 406 in name only and wholly without the skuzzy shortcomings of the 400ci stock-block conversion.
In a nod to nostalgia, Frank's engine includes products from the back-in-the-day file too: Isky, Edelbrock, Doug's, Milodon, and C&O (then owned and operated by Gene Conway, one of the favorite local Funny Car pioneers in the mid to late '60s with the C&O Hydros Jeep) transmission.
You'll notice that Frank went at least nine yards on the rest of the Camaro too. Not a street fighter by any stretch, he's addressed all aspects of comfort and convenience and planted a high-end audio system in the middle of it all. He wanted everything that wasn't in the '57 Chevy or the '71 454 Chevelle he'd gnawed on in another life.
After cranking on his livelihood as a title-insurance sales rep, Frank would seem needy of the visceral input afforded by his Camaro, and that's everything from the suck-you-up red paint to the bark of that big small-block, to those seat-of-his-hiney thrills. Ten years ago, the roads around Santa Clarita were wide open, pure, and tolerant of joy-riding folk, but human hordes have snuffed all that. The threat of an early Sunday morning burn-down on the 14 Freeway is about all there is left now. But that's a good thing. Frank's just out for a ride.
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