Midlife Crisis: 1973 Rally Sport Camaro

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DRAGON64

DRAGON64

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This is my 3rd `73 Camaro, my first, purchased back in 1982 was a Type LT with a Z28 High Performance package... I drover her straight into the ground over the next 8-years. My 2nd was a Plain Jane 350 2-barrel car, completely unmolested. I tinkered a bit, but took care of this car for the most part... but two kids and a wife, the Camaro does not make for a practical family car.

Kids are grown, and I hit a mid-life stride about mid 2020, and felt the draw to get another `73. I made a "Want to Buy" post on the Nasty Z28 forums, and two years later got a nibble. A guy from upstate NY contacted me and said he had my car... a `73 Rally Sport, with a 396/402 big block, Muncie "Rock Crusher" 4-speed, with a 12-bolt positrac 342 rear end. A Restomod to be sure. The car was outfitted with a FiTechn throttle body, making her turn key (no choke carburation). Here are the original sales pics sent to me:

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DRAGON64 said:
This is my 3rd `73 Camaro, my first, purchased back in 1982 was a Type LT with a Z28 High Performance package... I drover her straight into the ground over the next 8-years. My 2nd was a Plain Jane 350 2-barrel car, completely unmolested. I tinkered a bit, but took care of this car for the most part... but two kids and a wife, the Camaro does not make for a practical family car.

Kids are grown, and I hit a mid-life stride about mid 2020, and felt the draw to get another `73. I made a "Want to Buy" post on the Nasty Z28 forums, and two years later got a nibble. A guy from upstate NY contacted me and said he had my car... a `73 Rally Sport, with a 396/402 big block, Muncie "Rock Crusher" 4-speed, with a 12-bolt positrac 342 rear end. A Restomod to be sure. The car was outfitted with a FiTechn throttle body, making her turn key (no choke carburation). Here are the original sales pics sent to me:

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Awesome, congratulations!!!

Never heard of the FiTech, but EFI is very helpful for sure. The old 750 Double Pumper might run great at times, but if it is a closed loop EFI system, total game changer!

My first love was a 67 Firebird and if I ever get another one (unlikely, but never give up. . . ok, I've given up, but who knows. . .) I would have to put different seats and belts in it. Low back/no headrest seats with lap belts only. Not something I'm interested in today.

I would also do an EFI engine as it only makes sense. I'd be fine with a big old Gen 1 engine as long as the management was more modern. I would absolutely spend the money to get it dyno tuned, as reading plugs is soooooo 1980. Seriously, the EFI tuning curves really require dyno work to get them to be super driveable and to get great mileage compared to the old days.

Last thing I would do on my non-existent rebuild would be to spend a bit of money on the tires and shocks - not crazy, but not zero, like I did the first time. Making a ton of power with junk breaks (oops, add brakes to the to-do list for my non-existent car. . . ) and sloppy suspension is a bad recipe. Only worst option to add is a dumb kid behind the wheel. Check, check, check - I got lucky!

Anyway enough about my delusions of grandeur. Your car looks great and it looks like a lot of the things I'd do differently on mine have already been done. If you do send it to a dyno for tuning, please post graphs of before and after.

I hope you enjoy the ride. I am 100% sure I would love to have a similar one and would love the heck out of driving it every chance I got!

Again, congratulations!

Sandy.
 
tsmith1315 said:
Superb! Drive it every single day!
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Well... I ordered an antique tag for the car, and the state of Alabama made it perfectly clear, that I am only to drive the car to car shows and parades. ;)
Markw said:
Nice! and a '70 front end makes it unique.
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I thought so, This car was ordered with the Rally Sport option, so she came with the split bumper and round turn signal lights. To satisfy the 5 mph rule for collision, there is quite a bit of bracing in the firewall and in the grill area. That and the nose is urethane rubber as well. What a cool look!
 
The guy I bought the car from put a lot of time and effort into the draive train and suspension. Everything has been rebuilt, and all things rubber has been replaced. He had to, as the car came originally with a 115HP 307, and ditching it for the 69 model 396 meant he needed to put heavtier springs in the front end... he rebuilt the front end while he had it apart.

The car also came with 14" steel wheels that he replaced with the Z28 rallies, topped off with BF Goodrich T/A Radials. The braking system was maual, and he added a power boost system, and replaced the stock disc brake and calipers, with a dual piston caliper system.

Here are more sales pics that were sent to me:

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Wow! That car has seen some love and attention in all the right way! I know every nut and bolt of those old cars. I had a 76, 77, and 79. I hot rodded the first two through several engine builds/swaps as well as cam changes and even a baby blower, and built a full on 12 point cage, full frame big block big tire pro street car out of the 79. I miss those cars!
 
Nice solid car. It has all the right parts, and none of the stuff that's not needed.

1st thing I'd do is put some 5 spoke American Torque Thrust wheels on it, I never was a fan of those GM stamped steel wheels.

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I was a senior in high school when the '70 RS Camaro showed up in the local Chevy dealer's showroom. I loved the extended grill and split front bumper. If I remember correctly, MSRP was around $2900.
 
lakeroadster said:
Nice solid car. It has all the right parts, and none of the stuff that's not needed.

1st thing I'd do is put some 5 spoke American Torque Thrust wheels on it, I never was a fan of those GM stamped steel wheels.

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Personally I prefer the original style Ansen Oval Slot Mags or the newer version from American Racing.

http://www.americanracingwheelsinfo.com/American_Racing_Ansen_Sprint_Slot_Mag.htm
Have set of the AR969 wheels (slot mags) on my 2004 F250, I like slots

https://www.4wheelparts.com/p/ameri...ed-face-w-satin-black-ring-wheels/prod1260096
 
I've been aware of the 'practical' car mentality and wasn't held back by it. Back in '90, I bought a '73 Barracuda 2 weeks before my son was born. A year later, I purchased a '70 Gran Coupe Cuda. I had gone to pick up my son from daycare one day and was getting him in the '73 barracuda when a guy two spaces from me in a van asked me how I convinced the wife. I saw what his problem was. When I see all the skull numbingly boring vehicles on the road, I see others having a life crisis. Not myself.
 
My mid life crisis was a 2007 Mustang GT Premium, black exterior and interior. I was 50. When the 05's came out and resembled the 69 and 70 Mustangs, I said to myself I want one. I still have it. I'll never get rid of it. It is in my will going to our youngest grand daughter. I hope she is 50 before she gets it. She is 17 now. At that point she'll have a classic worth some money. It has been washed every week when I was driving it. Right now it has 213,000 miles on it. Now it sits in my climate controlled garage under a cover. I still drive it occasionally. It has taken many road trips and my round trip to work was 135 miles. Still no scratches or dents. It is still stock except for the exhaust. The car I drove in high school was a 1971 Torino GT 500 with a 302ci. I've been looking for one on and off for a few years. If I have a senior mid life crisis I'll get a Shelby GT500. Maybe I won't wait for a crisis. Never say never. You car reminds me of a set of twin guys that had the same car as yours, only a couple of years newer. Both identical. Their dad worked on them and the were fast. Ran 12's on the drag strip,IIRC. I heard a rumor that they would go to other towns and race people for pinks. They must never have lost because they had those cars through graduation. My high school years were 1970-74. I would love to have the cars in the school parking lot now. I'd be rich.
 
That's a neat looking car, definitely not stock. I've pulled quite a few of those transmissions and dropped them on my stomach.
The closest I get to a mid life crisis purchase is buying an Estes ESAM, or parts to build a modest new computer. Well I did buy a used Jeep Wrangler 2 years ago and since I've made 8 trips to Utah and Colorado to do Jeep trails. Oh and also I do have a little car with Chevy LS2 motor and 6-speed manual.
 
CalebJ said:
That's a beautiful setup. I'm a huge fan of functional resto mods, especially when you're not starting with a pristine numbers matching original anyway.
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The owner I bought from said the car originally had a 3-speed manual (on-the-floor), a 2-barrel 115HP 307, and 14" rims with hub caps... at the least the original owner opted for the RS option when ordering, or selecting off of the lot.

This is my first ever big block, so cubics and horses are a lot of fun. The 396 is bored 30 over, so she measures out to be a 402. I have the dyno paper work from the build, and she was making 450HP and 500FP of torque when fueled by a Holly 750 double-pumper. The FiTech throttle body currently mounted is rated to 600HP, but there is no data on the motor with this type of fuel delivery.

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DRAGON64 said:
Here is video of the start-up of the car when it was delivered last month... to me she sounds like she has a miss, and so I will spend the winter tracking down the culprit.
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In the photo I see what looks like a coil and conventional distributor so lots of possibilities there- coil, distributor cap, points, wires, plugs. At idle something with a significant camshaft will sound rough anyway especially with carburetor. Fuel injection should help with that if it is calibrated correctly for the car.
 
The Fitech stuff is pretty good. Having the tune/program setup for your application is critical and will make a big difference in how the engine runs.

I hope they installed a Pertronix unit in the distributor and eliminated the points. The spark plug wires can get melted from the headers, they already have heat socks on the ends but things can still melt. If you have a timing light and verify the timing pointer and damper are correct I would look for 14-16° at idle and 36° above 3,000rpm.

If they installed a different camshaft and other supporting modifications with the long tube headers then the vacuum advance should not be used, and I am not sure the Fitech has ported vacuum.

I would check the spark plugs, if they are aluminum heads(looks like it from the photo) then they will a long thread spark plug vs the short thread for iron heads. Some aftermarket aluminum heads can us a gasket or tapper seat plug. I would use a NGK heat range 6 plug (BKR6E or TR6) for that combination, gapped at 0.035".

Also is there a spacer between the intake manifold and Fitech? Some dual plain manifolds have a divider going up to the baseplate on the carb/throttle body and this can cause tuning and driveability issues.
 
I have two project cars; 1996 Mercury cougars.
I learned to rebuild auto transmissions with these cars, lol.
No more carbs; tuning means sitting in a park with a laptop, lol.
 
DRAGON64 said:
The FiTech throttle body currently mounted is rated to 600HP, but there is no data on the motor with this type of fuel delivery.
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In my opinion, it is worth $1000 to do a dyno session to get things dialed in with a nominal tune (i.e. not the perfect drag race tune or a mid-summer tune vs. mid-winter tune) ASAP. $1000 (assuming that's what is available in your area) is a lot cheaper than fixing a generic tune that goes wrong, IMO. No question, you have to find someone with experience and not just go to a youtube 'expert'.

Here in NC, I suspect there are 10-15 people willing to do the work and are qualified for street driven cars vs. race only. Hoping you have some similar resources in your area that you can identify.

Last year, a $12k race car motor that came with a questionably programmed ECU and also ran questionably valid fuel lifted all the ring lands quickly and damaged the cylinders in our program. Another $7k to fix stuff. $1k to have verified/fixed on the dyno would have been a very good investment.

Reading sparkplugs and feeling throttle response was acceptable when just using physics (i.e. jets, flow, atmospheric pressure etc.) but once a computer curve can make a motor go from rich to crazy lean based on a curve made by a guy who has unknown skills and isn't sure how to close the loop on sensors and know how they will behave is scary to me. Not saying the person who did your tune was bad, but I'd want to know what the ECU was doing before having too much fun. . . Also, zero experience with the FiTech, so maybe it solves problems other systems don't. Maybe if the first pull says the car is dialed in, it would be cheap compared to a full dyno day. Also, I personally wouldn't be looking for full power pulls, just drivability/mildly exciting pulls, if it were me. High power pulls never happen unless racing from my experience and this looks like a ride to be driven and enjoyed daily!

If all the above sounds like doom and gloom, it isn't intended that way. . .I'd be pumped to see a dyno graph on my ride as received and as tuned and then look for future dyno graphs for any other updates. I like graphs. Pretty much the only thing I like are graphs. I'm partial to the things generating graphs whether it is a rocket, race car, bank account or other. But I like the graphs, so take any comments above with any and every grain of salt required.

Enjoy the ride - that's all that counts - great car!

Sandy.
 

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