The Power of Camaro Drag Racer

When making modifications to cars, especially muscle cars that are oriented to straight line acceleration and speed, most people will add power first. With what I call my stage one modifications to my camaro drag racer project car, I added power, and that is basically it. There are some negatives to doing it this way. First and foremost, and also requiring a lot of effort and money to correct, is that the stock drivetrain really isn't that strong. It just isn't built to handle the 470 horsepower and torque that my engine is making. Secondly, there are handling issues related to suspension and braking.

What does all of this mean for my project camaro drag racer? Basically it means that I have a bunch of power that I can't use. The weak drivetrain is likely the more pressing issue. The suspension leads to body roll, and costs me some traction on launches. However, these aren't new issues, in fact thanks to the sub frame connector I had welded in when I got the power upgrades, the car handles better now than before. The drivetrain issues can possibly leave you stranded on the side of the road. There are plenty of people who've blown their rear ends with less power than I have in these cars.

Right now, the clutch is the weak point of my drivetrain. With the tires headed up, the clutch will slip if I try a hard launch. When shifting into second under hard acceleration, the clutch slips occarionally. With more than 65,000 miles on it, and never having been built to handle this level of power to being with, this is to be expected from the original factory clutch.

Keeping the slipping clutch in there is a decision I made with the idea to protect the rear differential, which as I've said before isn't strong enough to handle the power running through it. These rears have been known to break under basically stock power when launched with drag radials on the car. I'd certainly prefer a slipping clutch than a broken differential. I can still drive the car with a slipping clutch; I can't with a broken ring gear.

The fix to these is upgrading to a Moser or Strange 12 bolt rear, which also lets me put in steeper gears. The choice for me would be to move from my stock 3.42 ratio to 4.10, which will give the car even better acceleration. This will certainly necessitate a new clutch. There are many brands out there, and each has their people who either like or dislike them.

Choosing to upgrade the power of my camaro drag racer was, I believe the right choice, and I would make it again. The car is certainly more enjoyable to drive; and the compliments I get on the sound are nice too. Plus, under normal driving circumstances on the street, the drivetrain issues aren't particularly problematic.