Los Angeles is known for its movie stars, palm trees, and brainwashing cults such as Scientology, none of which matter much to your average car guy. However, Robert Barth's '02 Camaro SS will soon have you associating L.A. with something other than In-and-Out Burger and The Big Lebowski. His Procharged, stock-crank LS1 belts out 830 hp at the tires with a very mild setup running right on the ragged edge.
Robert originally purchased the SS back in 2002 when news broke that GM would cease production. Soon, the proprietor of Strictly Performance Motorsports began modifying the SS, and before he knew it, on went one of his signature heads and cam packages. Barth hand ports and flows all of his heads. This particular set of LS1 heads flowed 308 cfm at .600 inches of gross lift. A 229-degree duration, .578-inch lift cam ground to his specs was chosen to actuate the 2.02 intake and 1.57 stainless steel exhaust valves. Robert uses Rev double valvesprings, valves, and retainers exclusively.
Soon the 4L60E-equipped SS was treated to a few forged components. After Luis Machine Works machined the block and honed the bore to size the Diamond forged pistons, Robert inserted the Diamond rings and pins, and then connected the pistons to a set of Cat Power 4340 forged H-beam rods measuring 6.125 inches. When bolted to the stock crank, the combination netted about 1-cubic-inch with the stock 10.2:1 compression ratio. The plan then became to run low boost with an off-the-shelf Procharger kit. However, like any fun project gone awry, things snowballed, and a D-1SC blower was added with an eight-rib upgrade and 19-pound pulley to the twin-intercooled setup. While pushing the spent gasses through a set of Pacesetter 1 5/8-inch headers and a Strictly Performance true dual 3-inch exhaust with an X-pipe and Magnaflow bullet mufflers, the SS kept running out of fuel.
A set of RC Engineering 72 lbs/hr injectors was implemented in the stock intake manifold, and an Aeromotive Eliminator fuel pump (rated to 1100hp) was mounted externally on the fuel tank. When the fuel pump proved insufficient, a second boost-indexed A1000 pump was added to maintain the desired 60psi of pressure as indicated by the Aeromotive regualtor. Robert wired the second pump in through his wideband O2 and Accel controller to kick in at a certain air/fuel ratio. With Robert and Ken (part owner of HP Tuners) at the helm, the SS made 740rwhp with a tank full of C16.
While on the dyno, the SS appeared to be having some sort of flow problem. The blower was pushing plenty of air, but it just wasn't getting to the heads as fast as it should. Having recently achieved a 50hp gain on a naturally aspirated LS1 with a single plane carb-style intake manifold, a new GMPP manifold was plumbed for the operation and mated to a Wilson 90-degree elbow with an Accufab 90mm throttle body. The new combo helped increase both the volume and velocity of the incoming air, eliminating the spiraling intake tract, so as to achieve a new high of 830rwhp and 860 lbs-ft of torque available at virtually every rpm.
An unfortunate consequence to the added power was that the torque converter was letting go on the dyno. Mike's Transmission in Lancaster, California, built a sturdy Turbo 400 for the stock cube beast, which was mated to a Continental 3500-stall converter. A 3-inch chrome-moly driveshaft from Wenco also got the nod, while a Moser 12-bolt with 4.10 gears and 33-spline axles had already been installed to annihilate the 28x10.5-inch Mickey Thompson drag slicks at will.
With little attempt at weight savings, the fully optioned Camaro tips the scales at a hefty 3,700 pounds with the driver. In the future, Robert said he would probably consider pulling out some of the carpeting, rear seats, bumper supports, and so on, but for now, a BMR K-member and A-arms as well as Bogart D-10 wheels are his only means. So far the Camaro has gone 9.80 at 138 mph (at elevation) at LACR before getting booted off the track for having no rollcage, but once a 'cage goes in, he hopes to add to his collection of LACR Street Race Shootout trophies.
Despite the fact that Robert has one of the fastest and most powerful stock-cube F-bodies in the country, the original goal was to keep it a street car. As a result, you will find nothing but poly bushings in the Hotchkis lower control arms, Spohn torque arm, and Panhard bar. The front sway bar is still in place, however, the rear is swapped for a heavy-duty Wolfe antiroll bar mounted between the framerails to keep all 860 lb-ft from twisting the chassis out of the hole. The stock-style suspension is capped off by QA1 coilovers up front with stock springs and QA1s on their traditional perches in the rear. With more track time and fine-tuning, the SS should be able to improve upon its 1.54 short times, despite the poor reputation of Cali tracks.
While impressive enough, the Strictly Performance SS might be at the limits of its mild setup. The overworked intercoolers can't keep up with the tremendous volume of air being pushed through, and according to Robert, the HP Tuners software is recording over 200 degrees of intake air temperature. Either some sort of trick water spraying system or a large front-mount intercooler may be on the horizon to see if the Camaro can go 8s and make 1,000 hp. A larger blower may also be needed, he says, in which case the stock-cube motor could be rivaling his 408ci, 101mm turbo LS1 Trans Am.
It is hard to imagine such potential from stock cubes, a stock block, a stock crank, and ported stock heads. If I hadn't seen Robert take apart the motor with my own two eyes I wouldn't believe it. He has disassembled the motor twice and "each time it looks like a brand-new motor, even after many pulls on the dyno and trips to the track." I dare say this could be the fastest stock-cube LS1 in the country, and if it isn't, it soon may be.