"I've spent too much time around Chip Foose and Troy Trepanier." That's Ty Woodhall's explanation for this Camaro. Classic lines are timeless, and there's no better illustration of this fact than Ty's latest Camaro, appropriately dubbed "The Orange Peel." There's nothing more powerful than an idea whose time has come, and The Orange Peel appeared at just the right time in just the right fashion to fit into CHP's Pro Touring debut in the Apr. '98 issue. Always on the leading edge of hot rod style, Hot Rods by Boyds designer Chip Foose is the main man behind the Peeler and its killer "a-peel."
The idea was to blend a bright, European monochromatic paint scheme with the classic clean lines of the '68 RS/SS Camaro while smoothing it just a bit. Items that ended up on the cutting-room floor included door handles and emblems, and along the way the body guys narrowed and shaved the bumpers, modified and finessed the firewall, and added a billet cafe-racer fuel cap. Then the body was block-sanded more times than the floggers at Squeeg's Kustoms in Mesa, Arizona, care to remember. Finally, Squeeg's laid on the PPG Hugger Orange basecoat followed by multiple coats of Clear.
If image is worth anything, it can all be made or lost in the stance. Ty got it right by combining a set of 17x7-inch Boyds Vintage billet front wheels and massive rear 17x9.5-inchers with BFGoodrich Comp T/A 225 and 275/45ZR17 steamroller rubber. But stance is more than just tires and wheels. Project Manager Pete Yerkovich of Radical Edge Racing in Phoenix, Arizona, employed a set of Belltech custom-de-arched rear multileaf springs, Bilstein shocks, and Suspension Technique sway bars in addition to the custom-cut front springs to squash the Camaro into the weeds.
Part of the Pro Touring pact is "Give Drums the Thumb," so Ty's Camaro offers up pizza box-size Baer discs with 13.5-inch rotors and PBR calipers managed by a Tilton master cylinder.
The interior is also nothing less than fantastic with a Bryan Cline-built console fitted with a five-gauge pod filled with orange-tinted Auto Meter Phantom gauges that match the Phantom tach and speedo connected with Painless wiring. But the coolest part is the Jim Griffin-built carbon-fiber inserts for the console. Rad Rides by Troy built the trick billet pedals, and Spal is responsible for the electric windows. Mike's Restoration took care of all the resto interior pieces. Griffin also garnished the interior with a pair of German saddle-leather Recaros with matching rear-seat leather.
Cline also performed the concert-hall sound system that started off with loads of Dynamat insulation and then added three Phaze Audio Tube Drive amps and custom kick panels that mount a trio of Studio Drivers. Then Rockford Fosgate was called on to tweak the system with a CD and changer along with an exotic Symmetry crossover and equalizer system pumped up by a pair of Pro 12-inch subwoofers. As you can image, a trio of Optima Deep Cycle batteries have to work pretty hard to keep up with this system.
But the stereo isn't the only part of this Camaro that cranks. The Orange Peel needed a strong force under the hood as well. The Camaro began life as an RS/SS big-block car, so Ty decided that nothing less than an LS7 would suffice. Sweet sounds emanate from the Borla exhaust and Hooker 21/4-inch headers that are all HPC-coated.
But the real power comes from a James Loper-built American Performance & Export engine out of Gilbert, Arizona. Loper started with a new LS7, taking it out to 468 inches using Ross 11.5:1 pistons, Speed-Pro rings, ARP bolts, and a Comp Cams mechanical roller. Fully ported Merlin rectangle port heads rock with 2.30-/ 1.90-inch valves controlled by a complete Comp Cams valvetrain.
A Brodix single-plane intake and a Barry Grant Gold Claw carburetor finish off the induction while MSD and an ATI damper handle the ignition and balancer chores. The engine compartment is rife with cool details, but they all take a back seat to the bitchin' Troy-built, one-off cog-belt accessory drive. The drive spins not only the water pump and alternator but the power-steering system as well. Behind this thumper big-block is a Centerforce clutch that feeds the torque to a Richmond five-speed gearbox rowed by a billet Chip Foose shifter handle.
As with any good project, all this immaculate execution could not have been accomplished without massive doses of assistance from Ty's friends, including Cam Davis, Michael Ullery, John Woodhall, Pat Wiegand, Shawn Green, Brenda Yerkovich, Bob Endress, Doug Morby, Kevin Campbell, and of course, Ty's wife Suzanne.
Plans call for this killer Camaro to make the Hot Rod Magazine Power Tour as well as numerous other events. CHP