Cars > Challenges > “SS402” Vs “Camela 'the Beast" Camaro”

SS402

M–50
Lakeland, Florida
United States

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Codemaro

M–16

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1986 Chevrolet Monte Carlo Super Sport

“SS402”

1997 Chevrolet Camaro Z28

“Camela 'the Beast" Camaro”

Head to Head

About “SS402”

I bought Monte from a fellow up in the 'tarheel' state a couple years ago, had it shipped down and it was love at first sight, just listening to it idling at my Mom's house sped up the blood racing thru my veins, the motor was living on the ragged edge and i accepted the fact that if it broke i would have it rebuilt and pour all my knowledge into it's new life..
the engine was making big power and ran like a raped ape, they always run their best right before they die..but i could tell it just wasn't happy, it's a connection in my mechanical mind.. the third time i drove it i was heading downtown just cruising around 65mph and suddenly very expensive engine sounds began to emanate from under the hood and blue smoke poured out the back..pulled over on the side of the interstate and called AAA, found a mobile mechanic to come out to the house and work on Monte..after pulling the plugs and intake manifold we realized that the intake valve in #3 cylinder had broke at the base of the stem..sure enough, pulled the heads and the valve was stuck sideways thru the piston...ouch.
off to the machine shop it went...for 4 months..all the valves were bent, one piston and rod was trashed, the crank was bent, front main bearing was spun and the block needed to be align-honed...mercy..i don't have anything nice to say about the tarheel machine shop that slapped this baby-rat together previous owner piston/valve clearance when they built the motor and i got stuck with the repair bill..it's all good because this way i knew what was in the motor and how it was put together, i dictated the entire build to the machine shop..
it wasn't enough that the cam has close to .600" lift and the 10.5:1CR pistons have a nice dome on them, no, the block had to be decked because one of the sleeves wasn't flush with the deck surface , the pistons are .015" out of the hole and we still got clearance issues with the valve/piston with the cam 'straight up' (Comp grinds 4 degrees advance into the cam so it must be installed @ zero), so we notched the pistons for valve clearance and used a .055" head gasket to supply the minimal .040" piston/head clearance, everything about the build screams
to say it runs good would be an understatement, the first few times i drove the car my hands were shaking when i got out, somebody get me a beer and a ..... quick..lol
driving it is a force to be reckoned with, I can't begin to tell you how brutally powerful this car is..since i'm disabled and can't walk i use hand-controls to drive the car, i wrap 4 fingers over the hand-control, grip the wheel with my thumb and shift it with my right hand..definately have to detune the tranny a tad, change it back to full-automatic with forward valve body instead of the full-manual reverse valve body as it is now.. it spends 99.9% of it's time on the street but it has the heart of a drag car, future plans include Brodix JJ270 heads, custom solid-roller cam, rear suspension mods and more exhaust work..
In the meantime it puts a .... eating grin on my face everytime i startup that fire-breathing 402BBC and take Monte for a little cruise ..

About “Camela 'the Beast" Camaro”

My father gave me the car for my first car. and from there i fell in love with it. eversince he gave it to me that 1st whole week i had it i was on the computer finding out new **** about it.

Specs for “SS402”

402BBC, 4.125" bore/3.75" stroke, 6.135" ultra-rare factory lightweight connecting rods, speed-pro 10.5:1cr domed pistons fly-cut for valve clearance, .040" quench..

454 big-valve heads fully ported/polished, 250cc intake runners,
119cc chamber, 2.25" intake / 1.90" exhaust, 1.7:1 full-roller rockers, 10.75:1 CR..

Hooker Super-Comp 5-piece headers, full-length, ceramic-coated, 2" primaries, 3.5" collectors, Car Chemistry collector inserts, 3" pipe, Flowmaster 1-chamber race mufflers , no cats.. lol

Comp XS290S solid-lifter, 290/296 advertised, 252/260 @.050",
.598/.598" lift, 110 LSA, 2800-7200rpm, true-roller timing chain and gears, Milodon hp oil-pump..

Edelbrock Performer RPM Air-Gap Intake manifold, port-matched, powder-coated, HVH tapered 4-hole 1" spacer, Barry Grant 750 Mighty Demon, Holley electric fuel-pump..

MSD distributor, Blaster coil, 8.5mm wires, 6-AL, high-torque mini-starter with 1-wire solenoid conversion, trunk-mount battery..

TH400, full-manual reverse valve-body, trans-brake,
3500 stall converter, 3.73's, Auburn locker.

Custom dash with full complement of Auto Meter gauges and 8,000 rpm Monster tach/shift light, 150 hp NOS plate kit..

S-10 manual steering, Weld drag-lite 15x3.5" in the front and 15x8"s in the back wearing 275/60-15's, SSM lower control arms

MTX Thunder 1100W RMS sound-system, sealed 15"s, 2 DB Drive 6x9's, Infinity reference components, 2.5farad cap, if it's too loud your too old

future plans include Brodix JJ270 heads, Team G intake, 3.23 gears, custom solid-roller cam, Team G intake and rear suspension mods..

Specs for “Camela 'the Beast" Camaro”

4th generation F-body Black Z28, Lt1 engine was around 275hp until they bumped it up to 305 hp. 6 speed transmission, 350cubic inch motor

Factory Options for “SS402”

Power windows

Remote sport mirrors

Power trunk release

Tilt wheel

Bucket seats

F41 sport suspension

Power brakes

Rear window defogger

Intermittent wipers

Aluminum alloy wheels

Auxiliary lighting

AM/FM/CD 5-channel sound sytem

Factory Options for “Camela 'the Beast" Camaro”

T-Tops
alloy rims

Mods for “SS402”

performance enhancements:
basically just a street-legal drag car with hand-controls

Mods for “Camela 'the Beast" Camaro”

not yet but in about two years i will get a paint job of gloss black with faded gray flames on the hood and two front fenders
changed the rims a month ago