My Camaro SS was featured in the following article from Super Chevy:
Performance cars are alive and well, and this Camaro proves it
By Damon Lee • Photos by Steve Reyes and Damon Lee
My Camaro SS was featured in the following article from Super Chevy: Performance cars are alive and well, and this Camaro proves it |
| Few Chevy enthusiasts will question the fact that the fourth-generation Camaro ushered in a new era of Bow-Tie performance in the early 1990s. But the second coming of the muscle car has not always been widely embraced by gearheads who grew up in the era of "more traditional" performance machines. More often than not, it seems that a younger generation has embraced the fuel injected finesse and handling refinement of the latest F-body, while "more experienced" enthusiasts have been content clinging to the legends and memories of SS396 Chevelles and COPO Camaros. |  |
| Taking the previous observation into consideration, you might say that Collin MacDonald is not your typical performance enthusiast. He's old enough to remember the "wonder years," and he even owned a couple of legendary muscle machines: a '68 Buick GS 400 Stage 1 and a '69 Yenko Camaro (which he road raced!). Yet when the SLP-built Camaro SS was introduced for the 1996 model year, Collin was openminded enough to see that it had as much muscle car mystique as almost any Chevy that came out of the '60s. Collin quickly decided that he had to have one. "I ordered this car October 1, 1995," Collin said, "the first day Chevy accepted orders for the new SS. Matt Murphy, of SLP (Street Legal Performance), was on his way from SLP headquarters in Troy, Michigan, to Atlanta. He stopped by my local Chevy dealer, Sterling Chevrolet, to let me test drive the car. Now that's customer service! Once I got behind the wheel, I knew this was the car for me." Collin took possession of his car in February of 1996, and by March he had initiated the first round of modifications. Working with Reese Cox, of MTI Motorsports in Marrietta, Georgia, Collin mapped out a performance plan for the car that began with a host of suspension upgrades. Included were Richmond 3.73:1 gears, a 1LE driveshaft, Eibach springs, Bilstein shocks, Baer 13.5-inch front disc brakes plus a G2 torque arm, panhard bar, engine bay brace and rear control arms from LG Motorsports. Chrome plated Corvette ZR1 wheels rounded out the handling package. The suspension upgrades, a couple of performance engine parts (throttle body, headers) and a few cosmetic enhancements (a black ZL-1 stripe, F1 ground effects package and RK Sport grille) were enough to keep Collin content for a couple of years. But by the spring of 1998 Collin's need for speed had escalated, and it was time to have Reese and the crew at MTI dig into the engine. Reese responded by applying MTI's "Stage 1" and "Stage II" series of modifications the to LT1 powerplant. The shortblock was simply treated to a performance camshaft (which was custom ground to Reese's specifications), while the heads were extensively massaged and fitted with stainless Manley valves and Crane roller rockers, retainers and valve springs. A ported and polished LT4 intake manifold was bolted between the heads and equipped with an SLP fuel pressure regulator and a BBK 58mm throttle body. Other performance accessories included MSD ignition controls, LG Motorsports performance pulleys, SLP headers and an MTI cat-back exhaust system. An SLP flywheel and Centerforce clutch were added to make sure the T-56 six speed could handle the increased workload. | |
| By following a complete performance plan, Collin's Camaro rolled out of MTI embodying the key characteristics of a muscle car: bold styling and potent performance. Sort of a '90s version of a Yenko Camaro or Baldwin-Motion machine, only better. Because this F-body will not only trip the quarter-mile lights with 11.50-second elapsed times at 128mph, but will also blow Porches away around corners, come to a halt with ease and cruise comfortably down the road with the stereo and air conditioning blasting. As far as Collin is concerned, the "good old days" of the muscle car are right now. |  |
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