Hi everyone,
I have a 69 Camaro Convertible rolling chassis that I have been working on for a while now. I have some questions and would love some advice. Just a little more info about what I want from the car; I want a fast, reliable car I can beat the hell out of. It won't have a radio or A/C, and I don't plan on painting it. It already has a brand new gas tank, and a brand new Ford 9 inch with 3.73 Gears and a Posi. Purely a fun weekend/track toy. I can get a freshly built 454 Chevy with all forged internals, and a freshly rebuilt Turbo 400. My builder has done a ton of super high HP engines (1200+) before and claims it will make around 500-600. I was wondering how much more reinforcement the car would need (plan on doing sub-frame and solid body mounts) to not twist the car in half and put the power down. I'd like to end up with around 500 HP at the wheels, so my original plan was a junkyard LS and T56, but I can get the 454 and TB400 for $3000.

Thanks for any advice you can give me, this is my first serious build (I've done some tinkering with my 1979 Camaro) and I'm very excited.

I'll attach a few pictures tomorrow when I can take some more detailed ones.

 

You picked the wrong body to start with. The 1st generation rag top camaro is a wet noddle compared to a GM hard top uni-body cars. You need to add a complete sub chassis or a cage.

Back in the day engineers did not want to put the big block in the convertible. They felt the extra weight alone is too much for the chassis. Marketing got upper management to force the issue. Once the tire technology caught up to the torque these cars could twist the body with a stock engine.

To put this in prospective, there is a center plate to add rigidity to the cars structure. This is the 18" x 18" plate, held on by 6 bolts, covers the underside of the trans tunnel. A lot of people remove this plate so they can install dual exhaust. GM says without 4lb plate you can damage the car just by jacking it up from the corners.

 

Agree with Gorn, you will need ta rear frame with 4-link from a suggested vendor, Alston Chassisworks. Termis called 'backhalving'.
Then install a roll bar with both front and rear bars as a triangle is the strongest shape/structure.


Welcome to the Club.