1967 RS Duramax Camaro

NicG said:
You do awesome work dude! I live In northern CA, Humboldt county. Looks like your in the bay.would love to come and check this thing when its done!
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NicG said:
Drag strip?! We need more interesting rides out there.I love pickup trucks but a dmax pro street camaro! That can get even the old Gasser guys fired up. Our sport is in a weird place right now, more well thought out and unique builds will hopefully help divert attention from the jerk ass kids blowing smoke on old ladies. Props for going for it!:beer:
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I sincerely appreciate all the compliments. I'm in Sebastopol, right next to Santa Rosa, Sonoma County. I will be going to as many car shows as I can as well as the Wednesday night drags down at Sears Point, which I heard a couple days ago changed names again to Sonoma Raceway.

I was all about small block chevys when I had it running in high school. Bernie's 12v made me a believer in diesel so I bought a 12v myself after I graduated.

To me, a Duramax in a Camaro just makes sense. It's not like I took an original car and dropped one in there. I'm building the car to handle the Duramax. I installed a set of bolt in subframe connectors when I first bought the car, and the body flexed all over the place. Now that we back halved it, it has never been so structurally sound.
 
torqueofthetown said:
If this chevelle is any indication I would think the Camaro would run low to mid 11's. I believe the chevelle is a stock Dmax with an EFI live tune.

duramax chevelle, kool april nights 2011 - YouTube
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whitetrash21 said:
I believe this is the same car.... Converted to LBZ now with bigger turbo, pump and sticks..... Russ at RPM just finished it up. It's only got a couple passes on it, down to a 10.7 right now

I think with that suspension/drivetrain setup, the camaro will be cleaning up at the track:D

Time to see what she can do.... LBZ Chevelle - Duramax Diesels Forum

LBZ Duramax Chevelle - YouTube

LBZ Duramax Chevelle - YouTube
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Good links and vids. I believe that's the same chevelle I saw on norcal1320.com That thing is running great!

I love seeing more swaps out there. It's funny how many people out there still don't beleive in diesels.

We're going to change their minds.
 
YOUNG GUNS15 said:
Dang man this went far!! I remember you talking about this a few years back. Glad to see it coming along!!
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Hey Spence, yes it has been a long time coming. It was time for me to buck up or shut up. Lots of folks I know didn't think I was going to follow through with it. I know of at least two '68 Camaro's with duramax's in them. I believe I have the first '67 Rally Sport with a duramax in it. I've done a lot of google and forum searches and came up empty handed. So if anyone knows of another, please share.
 
dslhtrdr said:
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Damn, that has the perfect pro street look, the tires are the right size, Centerlines always a good choice and the tires are stuffed just under the fender for that perfect look
 
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torqueofthetown said:
Damn, that has the perfect pro street look, the tires are the right size, Centerlines always a good choice and the tires are stuffed just under the fender for that perfect look
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I agree! The wheels are 15x7 in the front and 15x14 in the rear. It was a great day when they showed up at my door step.

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The front tires are Kumho Ecsta AST's 225/50r15 and the rears are Hoosier Pro Street Radials 29X18.50x15. One of the Kumho's showed up later from being on backorder. A 29" tall tire is the largest you can fit in the stock wheel opening for a 1st generation Camaro.

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Hoosier Daddy? LOL
 
We finished the subframe connectors this weekend. I bought the Chassisworks bolt on subframe connectors that are designed for their g machine front subframe a few years ago. They slide onto the end of the front subframe and bolt to where the front leaf spring perch mounts. Obviously, I no longer have leaf springs.

The rear subframe came with 2 2x3 rectangular tubing subframe connectors that you use to tie into your existing frame.

What we did was cut off the portion of the g machine subframe connectors that bolt to the leaf spring mounts. We then made up the difference with the 2x3 subframe connector, cut at an angle, and then welded them together, capping off the excess 2x3 with another angled cut out of the 2x3.

We notched the floor for the connectors to fit through. The g machine connectors hung down lower than we liked so we flipped them upside down.

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I finish welded the floor to the subframe connectors and capped off the main frame rails on the front crossmember. It gave me newfound faith in my own welding ability.
 
Old school hotrod with VERY clean fabrication is alive in the diesel world. Much respect for you and your project.
 
Just spoke to Ron at suncoast. My adapter plate and billet flexplate are being shipped out to me today. Hopefully next week/weekend I'll be test fitting the motor and tranny.
 
JoshH said:
What transmission are you using?
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47rh. I spoke too soon however. They called me back and told me they need to machine the billet flexplate and need to put the installation kit for the adapter plate together. It won't be getting shipped to me until late next week at the earliest. Oh well, I have plenty of things I can do until those show up.

DieselWrencher said:
Very nice work and fabrication on those frame connectors!
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Thank you! They're simple and effective and sometimes that's the best way to go.
 
I also love your wheels. I was going to buy a set for my car last year, but the money went to other projects. LOL
 
DieselWrencher said:
I also love your wheels. I was going to buy a set for my car last year, but the money went to other projects. LOL
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LOL money always seems to find its way into other projects.

I looked at a lot of wheels before I ordered the Convo Pros. Centerline is a great company and has built a lot of drag wheels. They also machined the lug holes larger for my wheel studs for free, which I thought was pretty cool. This is my first go around with buildng a drag car and it's needless to say been a learning experience.
 
I just read it all the way through, too. Awesome work, this is THE perfect diesel-swapped car. Not a thing I would change about it. Keep up the good work man, looking forward to seeing it in action!
 
Man that car is gonna fly. Especially when you get some aftermarket fuel and air into the motor. Awesome build
 
First off cool build. I'm doing something very similar with a 55 Bel Air that was my father first car. Except on a much slower timeline.


Why the 47rh why not a 4L80E?
 
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