~Why I love Camaros~

Let me give you a little history on why I have come to love Camaros. I was a junior in high school (2003) and the car (dodge dynasty) that was given to me for free finally died (it had 337,000 miles on it!). So the search began. I started with Grand Ams (which compared to my 3.3 L were all dogs) then Grand Prixs, then somehow I switched to Jeep Wranglers. The fact was evident, I wanted something with speed. Jeep Wranglers were so expensive for a nice one that I just kind of gave up.

One day, my dad took me to a junk yard and told me they had an old 80s z28 camaro that was for sale. It was only 3K and it had like 80K miles on it. The interior was beat to crap. It laid pretty good rubber though, and from there on out that was all I cared about. I wanted a car with speed and also looks. I wanted my dad to buy that car right there on the spot however, my ignorance and over-excitement showed through. The car was in bad shape, it needed a paint job among a million other things (like air conditioning, interior work, etc.). My dad also said that they made the 305 engines bigger in the newer years (particularly the 350 LT-1 Engine). This kind of pushed me towards the 90's models with a motivation set on more speed. However, living in Minnesota did not agree with my decision of wanting a rear wheel drive car. But I didn't care, I said I'd still drive it in the snow just not on the bad days. So my dad gave in, and the search began. He said he wasn't going to let me buy a piece of junk. It took about 3 months to find this 97 Z. Let me tell you, up North- it is not easy to find a nice Camaro (particularly an SS). My dad and I probably test drove somewhere between 20-50 firebirds, transams, and camaros all ranging from years 90-98. Every car we looked at under 7K always had PROBLEMS. Problems that we didn't want to fix if we bought the car. If it wasn't a problem, it was something missing. I definitely didn't want a V6 for example. So the price range kept going up until we finally found a '97 Z28 Camaro for $10,500 (kelly book value was 13K at the time) with only 37K miles, leather, ttops, excellent condition. The previous owner I believe drove it from Idaho to move to Minnesota. What I find rather hilarious is this guy never even turned off the ASR (Anti Slip Regulation) and he also claims he never floored the car! Talk about "adult driven." He sold it because his wife made him buy a minivan to fit all the kids and the camaro just wouldn't fit in the garage anymore (it was also inconvenient to fit a family of 4, with the two kids crammed in the back two bucket seats along with their happy meals). If I ever get married, I hate to say I am not going to let my wife make me sell my camaro. Too bad for her, the car stays. Haha I say that now, but women can always change you (you gotta be careful). I wish I could show the previous owner what I've done to the car since he has sold it to me, just to surprise him... I'd be like this is what you were missing out on. Anyways, after we test drove this car, my dad called the guy up the next day and we closed the deal. I had the nicest car in my high school parking lot. I got a lot of attention, which I really didn't want. I just wanted to drive the car without all the attention. I don't want jealous people purposely going out of there way to wreck my car. It's hard to keep a nice car in good condition because people are just in general a bunch of jerks. Despite all the attention, I have still managed to take very good care of my car as you can see. I only put 23K miles on it in the past 4 years and I'm going to keep it nice and low.

I took out a 4 year loan and I just got it paid off in June of '06. And yes, I do pay and have paid for everything including the loan payments and mods. Me being a college student for one, have had a hard time making money and modding out my car. It's always a matter of money otherwise the possibilites are endless. And sooner or later you just gotta be happy with what you got. I will always be a Camaro lover not because I own one, but because they are the sweetest sports cars for the $$ and chevy sports cars have always been in my family.

So yes I own a 97 z28 converted into an SS. I am currently running 375 hp and 3.73 gears and I lay rubber at 30 and 60 (not necessarily flooring it all the way). I'm not talking a little squeak. This is like off the line two second burn out. And for an automatic, that's pretty impressive. I know the custom PCM programming/tuning by madz28.com helped the car run optimal with all the supporting modifications. The key is the air/fuel ratio (timing tables and values) and shift points (which I just left stock anyways). You need custom PCM tuning for any mod using programs like LT1_edit which I simply don't want to mess with. And the HPPIII just won't cut it. Any exhaust or engine modifications all need adjustments (which the HPPIII doesn't program for). Another important point is the powerband on a stock engine (with just bolt ons), which is still going to be around that 5750 mark. Not really necessary to go over this unless you have a new and improved camshaft, it just puts more wear and tear on the engine. Just because you are reving the engine higher and it gets louder doesn't mean that you are increasing Horsepower! With the custom OBD1 programming and all my supporting mods, this allows my car to shift very hard which is probably why I lay some pretty serious rubber.

Now do I beat on my car? Not really, I mean what adults always think is that kids my age do not take care of the car and they abuse it. Well you are absolutely wrong! It completely depends on the person. The worse I have done is probably burnt out the tread on my back two tires (over the course of 2 years), that's just expected with the setup I got. Trust me you would have too unless you are a boring person who doesn't enjoy flooring your car. Because what is the point in doing mods if you aren't even going to feel them in your seat? But anyways, overall I probably take better care of my car then a 50 year old dude with a 2006 corvette. And they always make those stereotypes about young adults and teenagers abusing their cars (like topping it out) and being ignorant about the old muscle car days and how it "used to be" when horsepower wasn't over exaggerated and when computers didn't run cars. That is somewhat true, but there is nothing wrong with it because the people with all the knowledge nowadays were at some point in the same shoes as those who are ignorant (and asking the guys who knew all the answers the questions). I just wanted to clarify that there are some people out there that are not considered "adults" who do take care of their cars. Just because a car is not adult driven doesn't mean the car is in bad shape or has the potential to be in bad shape eventually. I just wanted to point that out due to lack of respect I have had from people. But it is true that kids in their early 20s only really care about speed. What else is there to do to a nice car? Once you get all the looks done, speed is all that is left. Adults in this present day did the same when they were kids (so they know and assume that it hasn't changed and kids still abuse their cars).

I have even parked in the farthest parking lot space available and I have been keyed and door dinged many times. Jealous people target you, from adults to kids. I'm not talking at school, I'm talking general public. Nice sports cars draw attention, so it is actually hard to keep your car nice because other people always wreck it or you'll run into bad women drivers who almost smash your car into pieces (I already had my entire front bumper replaced from a girl backing into my car in the parking lot!). And yes guys are more aggressive drivers but what do you expect? They are aggressive because they are sick of everyone driving so slow and all the bad drivers who in turn piss them off. But I don't blaim them with all the old people on the road who drive 10 mph under the speed limit.

One other concern that I have had about Camaros that I see all over the place are Mods. Mods, mods, mods. What should I get and what's the best HP Gain? I, on the other hand am not being sucked into all the advertising with these mods. Take for example pulleys claiming 12 hp gains. This is absolutely false. Your car is going to run a lot rougher especially if you value your power steering and air conditioning. Sure you can overdrive the alternator but it really doesn't help you gain anything. The most hp gains are not going to come from some 15 minute install like the throttle body bypass (claims 5-7 hp which is also false). It's going to come from something that is obvious, like rebuilding the engine or completely redoing your entire exhaust system. It's gotta be a major mod. Sure the little ones can add up, but wouldn't your rather save your money and invest in something that is going to give you the best gain? It's all laws of physics. I am not really a motorhead or an automotive engineer, but I do have enough common sense and science expertise to tell you that companies are ripping people off and it needs to stop. If you don't believe me on what I am saying, please go to http://groups.google.com and type in any mod that you have a question about. You will get some pretty smart and reliable information on there. At least some of the guys on there have some credibility. Do a little research and you'd be surprised how contradicting it is to the advertising companies and their claims...

As for me, I do race my car but it's all in fun. If it wasn't fun I obviously wouldn't do it. But I am going to keep my car streetable and it will be my daily everyday car. If a car is used just for racing, well that's great (not really). I'd miss my car too much if I couldn't drive it on the roads and get decent gas mileage. So in terms of major modding, I think I am done for now after headers and T.B., or at least until I get out of college :)

Page 1 Main Page
Page 2 shows sound system!!!
Page 3 is my Street Kill List! Check it out for kicks!
Page 4 Other Sweet Camaros
Page 5 You are Here
Page 6 Old Pictures
Page 7 Future/Dream Mods
Page 8 Funny Pics
Page 9 SS Hood Pics (Pre Paint)
Page 10 Header Install
Page 11 Porting Holley 58mm Throttle Body
Page 12 Trash Talk Page