1968 Camaro RS Has a Supercharged LS1 Under the Hood

All in the family

For the past 32 years, Carl has owned this Camaro after it was passed through the family from his father who traded in a 1953 Ford truck for it all those years ago. The Camaro first went to Carl's sister in 1978 but that stint lasted until 1982 when Carl traded his 1971 El Camino for the car. Carls talks about his best years, the early years with the car: "It was the best trade I ever made. It had the 70’s period 14” American Racing mag wheels, two-barrel 327 engine, and a Powerglide transmission. It took me everywhere in high school and college and only left me stranded once. At 17 years old a blown timing chain left me stranded in front of a house that was throwing a party that I was not supposed to be there. BUSTED! I got to know the car very well after two engines, three transmissions, two differentials, and numerous weekend wrenching sessions with my buddies."

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A pretty penny for performance

This classic 1968 Camaro RS, painted in neck breaking Traffic Violation Red, has been modified from the ground up to be the muscle car of every automotive enthusiast's fantasy. Underneath the car has had all of its original suspension tossed out in favor of a Hotchkis Total Vehicle Suspension kit. The front suspension has a new top and bottom control arms, sportier springs, Bilstein shocks, and beefy tie rod sleeves. The rear of the Camaro has a set of Hotchkis leaf springs while the front and rear have Hotchkis sway bars. 

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Stance on point

Carl, the owner, wanted to keep things as period correct as possible in the aesthetics department and has a set of Vintage Wheel Works V45 17x9.5 with 275/40/17 Nitto NT-05 tires on all four corners of the car. For some bulked up braking power the Camaro now has 13" Corvette C4 calipers and rotors in the front and 1995 Z28 calipers and rotors in the rear. 

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Quality over quantity

After the suspension was all put away the powerplant under the hood was addressed. Out went the stock big block engine and in went an LS1 from a 2002 LS1 that has been supercharged from a Mangacharger supercharger system. Now, other than that supercharger system and a Lingenfelter GT2-3 camshaft, Ferra exhaust valves, and ARP fasteners the engine is stock. Those mods that were done to the LS1 give the Camaro 465 horsepower and 460 wheel torque at 6.5 lbs of delicious boost. With that kind of power you'd expect terrible gas mileage but the fuel economy returns are 15 mpg in the city and 25 on the highway. Not bad at all for a classic muscle car. A stock T56 six-speed transmission with an LS2 flywheel, LS7 clutch and hydraulic are in the car also. 

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Red interiors are awesome

The interior of the car has been fully restored to showroom quality with everything stock inside except for the two Sparco seats in the front. It's so awesome that even the interior lights work whenever the doors are opened up to make you feel as if this just rolled off a dealer's lot. The leather all looks like the most supple butter soft cowhide that anyone could ever want to rest their keester on while piloting the hi-po classic around town. 

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And that's how we ended up here

The car hit 384,000 miles by the time 1996 had rolled around and at that point, the Camaro was completely disassembled and wouldn't see roads until three years later. When that time elapsed, the car had been restored but to a muscle car spec and nowhere near the performance peak that Carl desired. You see, in 2002 Carl spent some time at a Hotchkis track day and had a "Come to Jesus" moment after piloting different cars around the track at Buttonwillow Raceway Park. He remarks that after that he retasked the car until it has evolved into its current state. 

>>Join the conversation about Carl's LS1 Equipped '68 Camaro here in LS1Tech Forum.

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