1967 Chevy Camaro Project - Engine Clearance

Welcome to the second installment of our build series on the Project Unfair Camaro. The first article in Super Chevy last month focused on raising the floor, reducing weight, and lowering the center of gravity (COG). This month we will focus on moving weight to get a better weight balance. The typical iron small-block first-generation Camaro from the factory is about 56/44 percent front-to-rear. The total weight of a '67-69 Camaro is usually between 3,400-3,600 pounds depending on body style (coupe or convertible), engine type and options.

The biggest influence on front to rear weight balance is the engine/transmission combination, which makes up about 20 percent of the car's weight, all in front of the vehicle center point. The typical iron small-block and transmission package can easily weigh 800 pounds. We are using a lightweight all-aluminum LS engine and accessories. When you add up the weights of the original small-block fully dressed and the weight of the LS motor fully dressed, the LS engine is almost 150 pounds lighter. However, we are adding 75 pounds to our engine with a huge Kenne Bell supercharger so our net weight reduction is 75 pounds or so.

1967 Chevy Camaro Project Custom Firewall

Still, 75 pounds is a lot of weight and that weight is all at the front of the car. However, moving that reduced weight 8 inches towards the rear makes a big difference in weight bias. We would like a weight balance of 50/50 or even a tiny bit of bias towards the rear. The sidebar provides all the engineering math and formulas for how much weight we moved and how much the F-to-R weight bias changed. To summarize, we moved about 60 pounds from the front of the Camaro to the rear by moving the engine and transmission 8 inches from the stock location. We also moved another 40 pounds (with us in the car) from the front to the rear by moving the seats back 4 inches. Thus, we moved 100 pounds from the front to the rear. As you'll see in the sidebar, the effect on weight bias is significant.

Also in this article, we set the engine and transmission height based on the subframe being installed with no body bushings. We already lowered the body over the floor 1.5 inches. Installing the Art Morrison subframe with no subframe bushings will lower the front an additional inch, giving the car a total of 2.5-inch front body drop and 1.5-inch rear body drop. This will give us a nice minimal rake without compromising suspension geometry.

After a lot of careful measuring for both height and set-back, we settled on a position for the engine that would put the crank pulley behind the Tony Woodward rack-and-pinion of our Art Morrison subframe. This put the engine 8 inches back from the stock Chevrolet location. We also needed to move the engine down as far as possible for clearance of our Kenne Bell supercharger. The side benefit (which was also very important to us) was lowering the weight of the engine/transmission package. (Helping our COG was discussed in the first article.) We moved the engine down as far as possible making sure the subframe crossmember would still protect the oil pan and bellhousing.
After a lot of careful measuring for both height and set-back, we settled on a position fo
A lot of measuring was done to find the exact spot we wanted the engine. Our work would be so much easier to do without having the subframe installed. We built some temporary mounts that we welded to our body cart so we had a unobstructed access to the firewall. Moving the engine back 8 inches put the engine past the firewall, inside the car and under the cowl 5.5 inches. For reference, the entire engine is behind the centerline of the front wheels in this position.
A lot of measuring was done to find the exact spot we wanted the engine. Our work would be
In this picture, the giant Kenne Bell blower still needs to slide back slightly more than 1 inch to bolt in place, so we have to relieve the cowl. This position is going to put the unit right at the forward edge of the cowl filler between the windshield and hood. Our 2-inch cowl hood will just cover the back edge of the Kenne Bell.
In this picture, the giant Kenne Bell blower still needs to slide back slightly more than

We used a lot of poster board to make templates for the pieces we needed to make, and also for tracing and cutting. It is funny how often I find myself back in second grade with poster board! In this case, it is tricky to cut through two panels (roof and floor) the same shape, so after cutting the top of the cowl, we made a poster board template that matched the cowl floor shape and traced it for cutting.
We used a lot of poster board to make templates for the pieces we needed to make, and also
The rough cut already looks pretty cool. We could have just made a huge cut and been done, but we love little detail like this.
The rough cut already looks pretty cool. We could have just made a huge cut and been done,
To roll out a hump around the engine either takes some really great fabrication skills and equipment, or a jigsaw puzzle of many pieces welded up like Frankenstein. A trip to the local hardware store and $40 scored us a big piece of our firewall.
To roll out a hump around the engine either takes some really great fabrication skills and