I've been building a stainless exhaust system for the Camaro. Its been one of the more "fun" projects of all of them. Plenty of welding and fabricating, which is what i like to do.

Along with that, i've installed the Moroso water pump drive, and i'm getting very close to waking up this scalded dog!

http://www.hobbystage.net/camaro/camaroracer/1087018227-003816.jpg

First task was to weld 3 bolt flanges to the mufflers, and build stainless dumps for the exits. While the mufflers arent stainless everything else is.

Thats my welding, My dad has been welding for roughly 30yrs, and he's been spending some time teaching me how to weld.

http://www.hobbystage.net/camaro/camaroracer/1087091773-003817.jpg

You can see in the this section that the H-pipe is nearing completion (more tubing on the way).

http://www.hobbystage.net/camaro/camaroracer/1087091928-003818.jpg

I tucked it inboard to make for more ground clearance, all around this car is pretty good on ground clearance, but i'd rather keep these pipes away from the ground then near it.

http://www.hobbystage.net/camaro/camaroracer/1087092092-003819.jpg

Here's a rear view, they're just blocked up for now to get the elevation correct.
The one looks a little tilted, however it will straighten up when i put in the intermediate section.

I plan to build hangers that will locate on the stock mounting points, rather then drill new holes.

http://www.hobbystage.net/camaro/camaroracer/1086932082-003800.jpg

The Moroso water pump drive installation was a pretty cool project, i've been looking forward to getting on the these drives on the car.

Looks pretty darn good. The welds look great. I guess you plan on dumping before the axle. If you angle the dumps torward each other about 45º, it will be quiter and have less resonance in the car.

Make sure the belt on the pump drive is plenty loose. With cogs there's no reason to wear out the bearing in the motor. It's a great setup for the strip but will probably not work on the street.

i plan to drive to and from with the stock pulley belt set-up and swap at the track.

I've got the cog belt somewhat loose, you can probably deflect the belt 1.5" or 2" which is alot for a short belt.

The dumps are welded on, so unfortunetly i cant play with the angle, i went for what looked best.

Sounds like a plan. It's a pretty easy swap if you get everthing worked out in advance. Just a though, but if you use studs or all thread for the bracket mounting, you won't risk a leak at the pump or have to re-seal the bolts when making the swap. Just leave them there unless they interfere with something.

thanks.
The studs are an excellent idea, but i'll use them on the water pump pulley, so i can swap pulleys easy.

The drive itself isnt in the way of anything, so i plan to actually just swap pulleys/belts and leave the drive where its at.

in 67-68 cars the alternator mounts on the driverside, so its a pretty simple ordeal.

Bitchin' welds man, the exhaust system looks killer.

Brian, your project is looking great! I'm really diggin' these updates. :cool:

Question: I'm really wanting to try the Moroso water pump drive kit. Is it possible with the passenger-side alternator set-up on my SBC '70 Malibu? If not, how the heck could I make it work? I'd like to be able to drive to the track like normal and swap it over in minimal time to run the kit.

Any suggestions?

I think you'll run high 12's right out the box (providing traction) and with tuning and more seat time (tho I know you already have your fair share)....you'll grab some lower 12's. If you can snag high 11's, I'll drink a beer for ya. graemlins/beers.gif

Brian,looking great..keep up the good work graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Are you planning on removing the fan when using the electric drive ? I dont think that motor is going to like driving the fan also.

I've ran the Moroso motor drive for 15 yrs. on my car. On my 2nd motor but its been mainly track driven .. very little street use.

I've always used an electric fan also.

Its a piece of cake Justin, the directions that come with the Moroso water pump drive show all different options for mounting and even recommendations for Chevys,Fords,etc. I had one on mine,didnt help performance, and I left it on and it ran the battery down,I took it off and just depend on the clutch fan,one less thing to worry about. I ran one on my car I had a long time ago, it never had any problems turning the fan also.

justin if you flip the bracket around it'll probably work out fine, they give you a whole bunch of bolts and spacers to help get the depth correct.
I ended up having to trim one of the spacers.


Thanks for the compliments guys!

Originally posted by Motor Martyr:

I ended up having to trim one of the spacers.
Me too.

Thats my welding, My dad has been welding for roughly 30yrs, and he's been spending some time teaching me how to weld.

I'd say he's teaching you good,,,, beautiful welds Brian graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Lookin' good!

thanks! I cant wait to fire this thing up. I just fired up my brother's motor yesterday. I built him a 355" sbc, pretty mild compression and cam, playing with the tune up today.

Nice! graemlins/thumbsup.gif