From the Forums: This 1,300-Horsepower ’98 Camaro SS Build Thread is Epic

Ls1Tech member started with a roller $3,000 fourth-gen SS and turned it into a 170 mph street-strip beast.

We know LS1Tech members constantly tinker with their rides, but this build thread from forum member BlackSS4thGen goes far beyond tinkering. In about two years, he turned a $3,000 1998 Camaro SS with a blown-up stock(ish) engine into a fire-breathing 1,300-horsepower drag monster. And that’s after the fourth iteration of the car in just two years.

You can pick up the story from the beginning here, as BlackSS4thGen covers the entire build in painstaking detail. He sold off $3,000 of parts immediately, then parted out his 10-second Honda Civic to finance the build. He intended no half measures, as he wrote early in the thread: “I learned with the Civic, if you do it right or overbuild it the right way the first time…you will in fact save money in the end.”

While he has rebuilt and/or replaced the entire powertrain several times, he’s right: The Camaro’s basic build resembles how he initially put it together. That means a lot of tubular supports for the radiator and in the K-member. The skeletal support frame reduced weight considerably: He took nearly 400 pounds out of the car early on in the build.

The project’s goal was always to have a car that could go berserk on the drag strip but could also rumble around town to pick up the occasional cup of coffee or a keg for a party. As such, he started simply with a turbocharged L33 5.3-liter truck engine and a built TH400 transmission. He ported a set of 243 heads to improve flow and built the internals. The whole combination made 807 horsepower at 15 pounds of boost, adding another 65 or so with E85.

That was all fun and good until the turbo went nuclear during a 150 mph pass. The turbine shaft broke in the middle of the run and, as far as BlackSS4thGen could tell, the turbine wheel ended up in orbit because nobody ever found it.

Have Technology, Can Rebuild

So what do you do when it’s time to rebuild? Well, you make it better, of course. He kept the L33 but went with an 80-millimeter Bullseye turbo. He also upgraded to a Rossler transmission and a lighter-weight rear-end. Because it was much quicker and faster, he also threw on a set of slicks and a parachute. That combination eventually burned up the head gasket.

And for the third time in a little over a year, BlackSS4thGen rebuilt the driveline. While weight savings were initially the plan, he got a killer deal on a Dart LS Next block and a set of Dart heads. And why not go bigger on the turbo, too? An 88-millimeter Forced Inductions snail shoved a ton of boost into that motor. He upgraded the driveline, too, with an FTI Performance PowerGlide and threw on some drag-racing brakes.

That got him partway through the 2017 racing season, but he built yet another engine in September of this year. With all of the upgrades, this one turned the dyno at a stonkin’ 1,350 horsepower on 26 pounds of boost. That was good enough to run deep into the 8.30s at more than 170 miles per hour. Not bad for a car that’ll haul a beer keg home for the corner store, too.

Once you start reading the first page, we’re pretty sure you’ll read it all. Forum member Bitchin’ Camaro maybe said it best about the build thread: “I just read 32 pages like I was a 13-year old going through a Hustler Magazine.”

It’s a great build thread. Read and participate in it here.

[Photos: BlackSS4ThGen]