Of all the traits of a Pro Touring car, the one that appeals to all car guys is horsepower, and that is the focus of Chapter 8. Any custom build, whether it’s geared toward drag racing, road racing, or anything in between, needs horsepower to complete the gearhead experience. Although horsepower is always a popular bragging point for any build, the way horsepower is made has changed drastically in the past 15 years or so.
With the development of the LS family of engines, as well as the popular overhead cam engines from the Ford camp and the new Hemi from Mopar, it’s very popular to swap a late-model engine into a vintage body. With a plethora of products, including headers, wiring harnesses, and engine mounting kits, it’s even easier to bring your muscle car out of the Stone Age, compared to the experimental engine swaps of years past.
You can make big power with modern engines without spending crazy amounts of money on race-only parts. They’re dependable, powerful, and surprisingly fuel-efficient. It’s not uncommon for a 500-hp V-8 engine to get fuel mileage in the mid-20 range, something that was unheard of in the muscle car era. Although big-blocks ruled when gas was cheap, they just don’t stack up to the new wave of power plants from the Big Three manufacturers.
Throughout this book, you see the necessary steps to turn a stock Camaro into a full-on Pro Touring machine. Some folks start with a complete driver, whereas others pick up a project that someone else gave up on. Regardless, the process is the same and the end result is definitely worth the effort.
Chapter 4 covers front suspension and Kyle Tucker provides insight into the advantages of Detroit Speed components. His extensive knowledge in product development and real-world muscle car performance have earned him respect in the aftermarket industry.
Rear suspension is covered in Chapter 5, where you follow along with the installation of Detroit Speed’s QUADRALink rear suspension system. It replaces the original leaf springs and provides a killer suspension that really works.
Old-school big-blocks are still a great option for many muscle car applications but the real problem with these engines is weight. For a Pro Touring build, you’re looking for a nearly perfect weight balance from front to rear, and a big-block puts an extra couple hundred pounds on the nose.
What’s the biggest disadvantage? This can be answered with one word: weight. Big-blocks, and old-school small-blocks for that matter, are heavy beasts. The weight differences of various engine combinations are covered more thoroughly in Chapter 8, and you quickly appreciate the reason most folks opt for a modern engine in a Pro Touring car.
Engine swaps are very popular in the Pro Touring movement. For most GM vehicles, the go-to platform is the LS family of engines. These engines are surprisingly affordable and make incredible horsepower. This particular engine is an all-aluminum LS6, topped with a Magnuson supercharger, making nearly 600 hp.
In Chapter 9 you find a complete guide to wiring and plumbing your car, including some fuel system tricks and tips.
Chapter 10 showcases some great examples of real-world Pro Touring cars, including a 1969 Camaro, 1966 Mustang, 1963 Chevy II, and 1965 Chevelle.
Most folks dread electrical work on an old car but it’s essential to the reliability of a Pro Touring car. You learn everything you need to know about wiring and plumbing in Chapter 9 as you follow along with the 1969 Camaro project car.
If you’re reading this book, chances are that you want to build a Pro Touring car, or at least learn more about them. The term Pro Touring describes more than just a simple trend in the car hobby; it describes cars that are purpose-built for performance, while retaining the classic looks of a muscle car. Pro Touring cars generally do not see an easy life, even though the build quality is superb in most cases. The point is to create a car that accelerates, corners, and stops better than a new performance car, without tarnishing the body styles that we all know and love.
The mark of a good Pro Touring build is the ability to get in, fire it up, and hit the road. Generally, no extraordinary maintenance is needed, and you can enjoy the advantages of modern fuel injection, high-tech suspension, and super-wide tires.
To build a Pro Touring car, you must first know what the term entails. It’s more than just slapping a set of large-diameter wheels on an old car and lowering the ride height. If it were that easy, you wouldn’t need to read a book to figure out all of the tricks to make it happen. A textbook Pro Touring car has custom front and rear suspension, as well as highly upgraded braking components, wide tires on all four corners, and lots of parts that help stiffen the chassis structure. All components play an important role in building a successful Pro Touring car; this book explains the details of each series of modifications and the results that follow.
Through the years of automotive customizing, many trends have come and gone. There was a time when muscle car enthusiasts put a set of N50-15 tires on the back of their car, bolted on a set of traction bars, and installed headers to create a custom car. It really didn’t take much thought to create a cool car, because of the lack of custom components in the automotive aftermarket.
The progression of modifications made for some interesting creations in the 1970s and early 1980s, but a new idea in the late 1980s turned the automotive aftermarket on its ear. They didn’t know what to call it but the idea involved a 1969 Camaro body and a full-on road race chassis. Big Red was its name, and it was unlike anything that had ever been built. The goal was to run 200 mph but make the body look as stock as possible. Dan and R. J. Gottlieb built the car, and the result sparked the Pro Touring movement.
Pro Touring cars almost always have a hunkered-down stance to lower the car’s center of gravity, thus decreasing the likelihood of body roll. This 1967 Corvette offers a perfect blend of classic style and modern performance, thanks to a late-model suspension, large Baer brakes, and LS7 power plant.
In addition to suspension modifications, most Pro Touring cars have large disc brakes on all four corners and large-diameter (usually 17-inch or larger) wheels. Wheel widths vary from 8 inches all the way up to 12 inches, depending mostly on the car’s wheel tub and frame rail configuration.
Although