What class would a 80' Z28 fall into?

[RacerRick]

I just picked up a Bill Mitchell (SVD) prepped 80' Camaro that has been sitting for 15 or 20 years and want to get it racing again!

Anyone know what class it would fall into and what mods would be legal?

Its pretty much as it left SVD's shop in 1980 except for rims and front seats.

[Dave]

Smokey and the Bandit lives! Sweet! I love those old Camaros, that was my dream car when I was 10 years old :) Still a cool looking car IMO.

Anyway, we don't have a 1980 Camaro Z28 in the Solo 1 classification spreadsheet, so we'd have to add it if you'd like us to officially classify it. The data we need to classify it is factory horsepower rating, curb weight rating, plus a suspension rating that we'll define in relation to other similar cars (in terms of their suspension design and handling capabilities).

Based on this http://www.nastyz28.com/faq/cd80z28.html 1980 article in Car&Driver the horsepower for the 1980 Z28 is 190 hp and the curb weight is 3660 lbs. That's a heavy chunk of detroit iron! We don't use torque for classification, though maybe we should given the stump pulling 280 lbs/ft the Z28 has.

Here's what Car&Driver had to say about the suspension and brakes:

"front-heavy weight distribution and live axle rear suspension. Semi-elliptic leaves hold up the back, and coils hold up the front. Roll resistance is provided by burly anti-sway bars, 1.125 inch for the front (meaning basic understeer) and 0.625-inch for the rear. The shock absorbers are specifically valved and the springs are wound of heavier wire than those in milquetoast Camaros. Alas, suspension travel remains inadequate, and the shock valving is equally disappointing. Stumble across a challenging set of whoop-de-doos and the car sets up a great leaping and bounding; really bad pavement could buck you off altogether. The brakes, too, create subjective doubts. Stopping distances are acceptably short, yet you wonder, will the binders get the job done? They require a reasonable amount of pressure, and dive has been engineered out for the most part, but there is something worrisome in their feel and pedal heights are wrong for heel-and-toeing."

Lots of good data on this car can also be found at:
http://www.nastyz28.com/camaro/camaro80.html

including suspension info as follows:
Front Suspension: Spring rates 365 lb./in. Identical to and unchanged from 1977.
(stock: 300 lb./in.) Stabilizer bar 1.125" (down from 1.2"). Stock bar: 0.938, F41: 1.0").

Rear Suspension: Spring rate 130 lb./in. (stock: 92-99 lb./in.)
Rear Stabilizer bar 0.594 inch. (stock: none, F41: 0.5625)

Performance-wise, the car tested as follows:
0-60mph: 8.5 sec.
Standing 1/4 mile: 16.4 sec. @ 86 mph
Standing 1/4 mile: 16.09 sec. @ 84.6 mph w/3.42 & A/T
Top Speed : 120 mph
70 - 0 mph: 196 ft. (0.85G)
Fuel Milage: 14 mpg
Interior sound level: 57 dBA @ Idle, 76 dBA @ 70 mph cruise,
85 dBA @ full throttle

Anyway, using a 190 hp and 3600 curb weight (this is the base Z28 curb weight rating...the 3660 lbs in the Car&Driver article was due to trim items being added) and a suspension rating of 45% the car ends up with a base PI of 52.4%, putting it squarely in Touring 2 class to start with.

Now, for your particular Z28 we'd need a complete list of ALL modifications done to the car in order to determine an accurate final classification for it. Post up a list here or e-mail it to me at dpratte4@cogeco.ca and we'll take care of the rest via e-mail.

Cheers,
Dave
Car Classification Committee guy

[RacerRick]

The car has a RayJay turbo setup on the otherwise stock motor, and Koni shocks, and maybe springs...I have to measure the wire diameter. They may have been changed in the last 23 years.

The turbo setup is a low boost 5-7 psi setup and runs water injection. The 10 psi setup that Yenki used was rated at 330hp so this must fall somewhere in between 330hp and the stock rating of 190hp. I would guess about 240-250hp because of the lower boost. SVD built cars for track reliability so they tend to be milder.

It has some other mods from SVD like racing seats, hurst shifter, racecraft steering wheel, and a fugly wing like the baldwin motion camaros. It also will have rims and tires done to it.

[Dave]

addition of a turbocharger system = 13 PIPs (Section 6.1.D.5)
-we'd need to determine if the intake manifold, tb, plenum or intake air sensor system has been modified
water injection system = 3 PIPs (Section 6.1.D.1)
upgraded shocks = 2 PIPs (Section 6.2.4)
upgraded springs = 4 PIPs (Section 6.2.5)
non-stock alignment settings? = 1 PIP (Section 6.2.3)

Is the car gutted? ie. no interior trim left? If so, that costs 2 PIPs. Anyway, with a car like yours I think we'd need to sit down and go over all prep schedule line by line and make sure all modifications are declared correctly. When you come out for your first Solo 1 event of the season, there will be a classification person at registration in the morning who will do this with you.

Based on the turbo addition, water injection, and upgraded shocks, your car's final PI would go up to 70.4% putting it in GT2. If the car has upgrades springs as well, it's final PI moves up to 74.4% and remains in GT2. With springs and non-stock alignment final PI goes up to 75.5% which bumps the car into GT1. Add a gutted interior at this point and the car's final PI goes up to 77.5% and remains in GT1. So as you can see, it's important we take account of all engine, suspension, and body & trim mods to get an accurate final PI for your car.

Cheers,
Dave

[RacerRick]

All the parts on this car are actually how it came from the dealer AFAIK. The car is a little rough and I am still tearing into it to see what it has.

It has full interior, and all external trim. It is carburated, and has a emmissions legal holley Q-jet replacement carburator on it.

I measured the springs and they are the stockers, but it does have ancient koni yellows on it. They are actually rusted out, which I have never seen before. They will end up being changed obviously.

I think I am going to get it as close to stock as possible so that I have a baseline to start from.

[Dave]

sounds like a plan, Rick! Best of luck with the car prep work and hope to see you at the track with it soon :)

Cheers,
Dave