srz's 1993 Chevrolet Camaro Z28

The SRZ

About this Current Vehicle:

My name is Silas and what you see before you is my version of what a Z28 should've been from the showroom floor. I've gone overboard w/ it over the years naturally as I've owned the car 11 yrs now. I purchased the car w/ 29K on the odometer 4 Jan 1997 for 12K bone stk--w/ the sole intent of just doing appearance mods...turns out I made a deal w/ the Devil. ha-ha The original color was black but since I'm getting older, I already had another black car AND black is a PITA to maintain....I had it stripped--frame off here in Germany in 2004. The paint WAS a one off color from Mercedes Benz...only to later find out it's the current color on their new SLR McLaren. How cool is that?

How it went from bone stock to what is now has been a steady but crazy transition. In 97 I found out about CZ28.com and have been a member ever since. I ran into some local guys in the Hampton Roads area and one man in particular started my addiction for more power. The truth? I got mud stomped by a TT 300ZX and didn't like it one bit. Enter Scott Channon, he had a white 94 Z28 A4 w/ the hotcam setup and 3.73 gears. I thought it was the fastest thing ever and from that point on I had to do the same to mine. I wasn't a gear head at the time and didn't do any of my own work so he and I tore into the engine 1 yr after buying the car. LT4 heads and cam, borla headers & exhaust were installed. Ed Wright provided the chip tune. It felt fast but not like Scott's...as I had 3.23's...but oh they were perfect for the next assignment. Ramstein AB Germany was the next assignment(autobahn land)! Before getting there I had to get the suspension right and a call to RKSport provided all the necessary hardware but since then alot has changed over the years. I'm a roadie more than a 1/4 miler but believe in the triple threat mantra.

Summer 2K I arrive in Germany w/ the "Toy" and by Thanksgiving the young LT4 conversion had died...hydrolocked the #7 piston. When I installed a KB 3pt brace it had to connect to the cowl and this created a problem. The hole was too large for one and 2. I had a bad injector o-ring on the #7 inj. Well it rained for 5 days and the rain worked it's way down pass the injector and collected in the cylinder...you get the idea. In previous times when this would happen the wife and I would rock the car back in forth in gear to get the water past the rings...this would eventually start the car. Well not this time..KABOOM! Oil and chunks of rod in the street. Crushed...I vowed I'd come back bigger and better--plus the wife was like "go for what you know!". This is where another person comes into the picture...Johnny Sahagun. He owned a 93 as well here in Germany. I searched the net in terms of vendors as to who would build me a longblock. I wanted a 383 and Johnny suggested a 396 since Chevy's didn't in the past build 383's as factory options in the late 60's. With that said a vendor was in need--Johnny suggested Agostino Racing. They were the premier builder before their unfateful decline in the LS1 world. Luckily for me they delivered as promised and once again Ed Wright provided the tune. This was a bad mofo and what I asked them to build was a topend killer and that they did! W/ the gear's and their engine I was nothing to sneeze at and it had been clocked by polizei @ 189mph. Best at the airstrip was 12.2 @ 118mph on street tires w/ a crappy 2.20 60ft, elevation 2200 above sea level w/ slight incline on that track. Most of my time was on the autobahn, Hockenheim and the infamous Nurburgring.

This engine took a beating w/ 2 rebuilds ( 1 being sabatoge...long story) but after the 2nd rebuild in 2K5 she gave up the ghost due to my ignorance w/ catch cans and positive crank pressure. LOL! A very costly mistake...very costly. My intial thoughts were to just rebuild it going .060 and call it a day since some 3.73's were put in, the car was too much fun w/ the new found power band which was across the entire rpm spectrum. Nope. Not to be.

This is where my friend Ray Tillman comes along and my introduction to boost. He owns 96 Cobra w/ a Vortec S trim w/ 12lbs of boost...but since this bio it's been updated to a T-Trim Big Bore 304ci & 18psi of madness! I never driven a S/C car in my life or been in one and he gives me the keys to his pristine S-trim Cobra. Man that was the most fun ever! I couldn't wipe the smile off my face for weeks all the while planning my return. 396 wasn't an option so I parted it out to offset the costs of the new setup. Once again CZ comes to the rescue in the FI section and Mitch Cmut who works for FLP. I liked his setup so much I asked permission to copy it and he granted me the rights to do so. Feb 06' Scott Fulkerson from Midwest Engine Tech is tasked w/ the job of building me "The Clone" as Mitch's came from there. I change a few things but it's pretty much identical and is capable of 9's. Early June it arrives. Bob from EPP is responsible for the F1 Procharger & IC kit. Summit provides all the fuel lines and misc stuff while Lonnies performance provide the dual fuel pumps. Since I had literally gone over my head I had to learn and still learning the tuning of S/C car. I knew the stk PCM wouldn't cut it so I had to make a call to FAST for their XFI and tutorial guide to get started. All the work has been done by me from fuel lines to the wiring EXCEPT for the XFI--I have to give my boy Brian Bussen credit for the assitance as I hate wiring! But all the thanks goes to Ray for letting me eat up space in his garage last summer. We both were doing rebuilds at the same time and that was a lot of fun.

For me this has been a long laborous journey but a valuable learning experience I'd do again in a heartbeat. Over the years I've earned my gearhead status as I've worked on countless Stangs & Fbods w/ Ray not mention my own LT1 I've torn down more than I can count and spent more time on my back than in the driver seat these last 8 yrs.

Oh and for any of you wondering what SRZ stands for....well it's simply what was stated in this long bio at the beginning. Silas's Rendition of a Z28...SRZ...but since then it's more like Xtreme overkill. Brent Franker helped me w/ the design as I wanted it to appear GM authentic and from there the car is themed off that.

If you've read all this good for you! I hope you enjoyed it!