The highs and lows that accompany building a project car can seem never-ending. It’s a virtual roller coaster ride of aggravating let downs and animated high-fives (with anyone within an arms length). But even after a month of molasses-paced progress, once the plugs ignite the stagnant fuel for the first time, all the sleepless nights and bloodied knuckles instantly become a distant memory. As a cylinder-full of spent vapors get released through the open garage door, so do the cynical thoughts of never being able to get this thing off the ground.
During the relatively short time our second-gen project car, a 1971 Camaro known as Project Orange Krate, has been on our possession, we’ve gone through a few highs and lows ourselves: the first high was loading up our car on the trailer and taking it home. The first low: the long period of time the car sat once we got it home. Next high: firing up the engine on the dyno and squeezing out nearly 500 horsepower. The next low: waiting over two months to get our potent small-block installed in the car.
Knowing our project car will one day possess tons of great products from our advertisers—everything from suspension, brakes, tires, gauges and interior pieces—making big decisions on which parts will work best together can be a bit daunting, but it’s all part of the challenge.
After spending hours on the phone wrangling up the necessary parts, our project inevitably got pushed to the side by other time-consuming magazine deadlines and a brutal summer travel schedule. That left us with little time for getting our bitchen parts assembled and installed on the car. I know, it sounds a bit whiney, but if you were greeted five-days-a-week by a set of 18-inch Fikse wheels (still in boxes) sitting in your office for over two months, you’d be a little cranky too. Not to mention having to watch the car accumulate a uniform layer of parasitic dust for weeks on end. Well, it’s been a couple of months since our portly small-block made noise on the engine dyno−fortunately we were able to make time to bring the car, engine, and a freshly-built Gear Star TH 350 transmission over to Don Lee Auto in Cucamonga, California, where Tim Lee and the boys placed tab A into slot A. With 427 cubic-inches of meticulously formed and milled iron, symphonic melodies finally echoed from the confines of its new home, the engine bay. This was definitely one of those highs I referred to earlier.
Project Orange Krate now has a heartbeat. And what a heartbeat it is. Once the World Products 427 fired up, the car came to life, and the excitement of building a project car started all over again.Follow along as we show you how we put together a bunch of cool parts that work in unison to make one bad-ass second-gen Camaro. Although we still have a few tweaks to tackle, thanks to some of Camaro Performers magazines’ advertisers and a few knowledgeable car guys, the ’71 finally moves on its own power (man does it have power!).
To get the engine into place...
To get the engine into place and fired up we enlisted the help of Tim Lee at Don Lee Auto in Rancho Cucamonga, CA. He has a lift that makes life easier, and more tools than Jeff Spicoli’s old man. Compared to other cars, the second-gen’s engine bay is pretty roomy so the small-block slid in easy.
Headers that actually fit...
Headers that actually fit make dropping in an engine much easier. These tubes were bent up by Doug’s Headers and are specific for second-gen Camaros. Doug’s has been doing headers since 1958 and these hand-built, mandrel-bent tubes are a work of art. This set features 1-5/8-inch primaries and 3-inch collectors, they are tuned with the proper size and length to efficiently remove all the spent gases from each cylinder. This reduces pumping loss and the result is more power and torque. The ceramic coating is for more than just looks. It can lower engine bay temps drastically, which equates to more power.
The headers were installed...
The headers were installed from the bottom and secured with ARP fasteners. Once cinched down, we re-installed our plugs. We’re also happy to report that the headers fit without any drama. Nothing’s worse than taking a hammer to a brand new set of headers.
Our 427 isn’t super high-compression,...
Our 427 isn’t super high-compression, but it does take a bit to get it spun over. To make sure it starts every time we turn the key, we went with this high-torque starter from CVR. Their Protorque Maximum starters have an aluminum housing to help eliminate hot-start problems and are completely sealed from the elements. They also feature five adjustment positions for clearing headers and oil pans.
With the starter in place...
With the starter in place we could then install the flywheel sent with our new Gear Star TH350 transmission. For bolts we went with a set from ARP. They only cost a few bucks and we’ll never have to worry about them failing.
The Gear Star TH350 trans...
The Gear Star TH350 trans came ready to install with fluid and all. We just had to assemble the kick-down cable and supplied fill tube and dipstick.