UNNATURAL ASPIRATIONS —

EIGHT-SECOND CAMARO STREETER

Geoff Dann’s a man who likes his horsepower. We’re not talking about a few ponies in a paddock here, but the type that can only be created by an internal combustion engine, preferably one with a little bit of boost. Over the years, he’s owned, tuned, and tweaked his fair share of them, but one of the highlights was a late-model turbocharged Commodore ute. It was when experimenting with the ute that his need for speed increased, and the logical way to satisfy it was to purchase a dedicated drag car, which he did.

As a long-time General Motors fan, a race-ready ’80s Iroc Camaro was just the thing … well, kind of. Although the car had previously been on the strip both here and abroad, Geoff added his own touches to it. The results of his hard work saw him card a best of 8.6-seconds down Meremere’s finest piece of tarmac. While he knew there was plenty more in the car, as he’d yet to engage the second stage of nitrous oxide, the driving time to cost ratio really wasn’t working for him. The car not being street legal simply meant he couldn’t get out in it enough to justify the time, effort, and cost involved in owning it. At a similar time to this revelation, he also had a C10 pickup in the shed, a car that he’d poured countless hours into building from the ground up into a solid all-round performer. The build had been set up for a big block, and the alure of turbos was calling once more.

Fate has a big part to play in the life of a car guy, as Geoff was about to find out when previous NZV8 cover car owner Jason Fell listed his twinturbo 540ci engine package for sale. This motor being for sale set off a chain of events that have resulted in the article you’re reading here today. The engine package was a no brainer for Geoff to purchase, since after all, not only was it close to home, someone else had done the hard work in piecing it together, and it was being sold complete with everything needed to drop into a car — there was even a modified first-gen Camaro subframe if needed.

Obviously, a deal was done, and the engine was soon on its way to a new home, but while the initial plan was to drop it into the C10, that plan soon changed when a rough, but complete ’69 Camaro came up for grabs. The car had a blown 427 in it, but the motor was a mess and the rest of the car not a lot better, Geoff sums it up best when he calls it a real boneshaker. Of course, for a guy who’s skinned his knuckles on cars as many times as he has, a big fix up job only added to the Camaro’s appeal. First things first, though, he needed to strip the car of the un-needed bits, including the boneshaker front subframe and wrecked engine. While the 540 was as described, Jason had always struggled to get it to its true potential, going as far as seeking tuning assistance for the blowthrough carburettor system from Australia. Geoff too attempted to get the carb to work, before committing to a switch to a far-more-tunable EFI system. Working with the team at C&M Performance for this, a Holley system was settled on. Obviously it’s not quite as simple as removing the carb and bolting on an EFI system though, with the entire fuel system needing to be reworked to suit. During this, a boot-mounted fuel cell was

THE CAR HAD A BLOWN 427 IN IT, BUT THE MOTOR WAS A MESS AND THE REST OF THE CAR NOT A LOT BETTER

added along with an Aeroflow fuel pump. The various electronics, such as the cam trigger and crank trigger sensors, and associated wiring was all taken care of in-house at C&M too.

Under the Profiler intake manifold, the engine combo remains essentially as purchased, besides a freshen up and a few tweaks by Phil Pagen at Tracksport Engines. That means the tall deck Dart Big M block’s bores are filled with JE pistons that provide a compression ratio of 8.7:1. The top-end consists of Brodix big port heads filled with titanium intake valves and Inconel exhaust valves that work to the tune of 1.75:1 TD roller rockers. While Geoff’s aware the solid lifters and followers that the setup relies on aren’t the most street-friendly option in terms of the maintenance required, they’re a much better option than having hydraulic lifters destroy themselves on a regular basis.

SURE, IT’S NOT GOING TO BE A DAILY DRIVER — NOT WITH A PAIR OF 76MM BORG WARNER TURBOS HANGING OFF EACH SIDE PUSHING THE POWER FIGURES WELL INTO FOUR-DIGIT TERRITORY

And street use is exactly what the combo has been set up for. Sure, it’s not going to be a daily driver — not with a pair of 76mm Borg Warner turbos hanging off each side pushing the power figures well into four-digit territory — but it is a street car none the less. In fact, with the car only ever being tuned to run on pump gas rather than any race fuel or exotic custom blend, there’s really no question about its streetability.

Come the weekend though, the drag strip is where you’ll find the Camaro, and as such C&M were also enlisted to construct a custom roll cage for the car along with a parachute mount and rear wing. With these items and the car’s stance over its 26x7.50/15 Mickey Thompson Sportsman front tyres and 28x12x15 Mickey Thompson radial rear tyres, it gives off a very purposeful vibe. Getting that stance right isn’t a fancy 4-link setup or multiway adjustable anything, simply a set of Caltrac split mono-leaf springs along with Caltrac traction bars. Does it work to get the power down? Hell yea it does! How does a best ET to date of 8.99 seconds at 160mph sound? That’s impressive for a dedicated strip car, let alone a small-tyre, leafsprung streeter!

Assisting with that performance is a GM TH400 trans that understandably is far from how it left the GM factory. Inside the casing, you’ll now find

billet shafts, a full manual valve body and an all-important trans brake. A Pro Torque Evolution 1 3500rpm stall converter helps to turn engine revolutions into driveshaft rotation before a 12bolt Moser diff turns it into forward movement. A set of 3.08:1 diff gears has been decided upon for the ultimate combination of 60-foot times, trap speeds, and of course decent street car manners. The journey from blowing up engines and drivelines in the Holden ute through to way too much maintenance in the Iroc, through to the head-scratching of the C10 build, and finally into one of the quickest street cars in the country has been a hell of a ride, and one that not even

Geoff himself could have ever predicted. It’s far from over though, as although Geoff’s happy with how the Camaro’s going — as he should be — he’s also not finished with it yet. While we think it looks perfect as is, he’s toying with the idea of some cosmetic mods, and of course, there’s always the insatiable desire to go even faster to contend with. As we know though, none of us can predict the future, and you just never know when fate will throw another interesting opportunity in Geoff’s direction. Whatever the future holds for Geoff, we’re pretty sure it’ll include a pair of turbos, a big block, and some serious horsepower!