He Saved a Rusty Six-Cylinder Camaro — Then Took It Racing

“I’m one of those guys that likes to be different and sometimes do things the hard way,” said NASA Gulf South member Wayne Caudle, a lifelong Chevrolet enthusiast and ST3 competitor in his 1968 Chevrolet Camaro.

When he was 16, Caudle built his first car, a ’74 Chevelle. Over the decades, he enjoyed a series of classic Chevrolets including Novas, Chevelles, C3 Corvettes, and pickup trucks. “I’ve got bowtie in my veins,” he declared.

After moving from drag racing to autocross, he tried track days with a C5, then a third-generation Camaro he built for American Iron. “The car had three-link and factory front suspension, a Ford 9” rear, a Super T10, and a little 305 that spun to 7,500. I was pretty happy with how it performed relative to the competition, especially since the competition was pretty strong in our region.

“I fell in love with American Iron. For the first seven years, I could go anywhere in the country and race against 15 guys any weekend. As the AI car count dwindled and the Spec Corvette class was created, I was convinced to build one, but that didn’t last long. When the car count in our local guest group Corvette races started to dip, I sold the car and started considering my retirement hobby.”

Now 63, Caudle had looked forward to a retirement that was relatively peaceful, but fate had other ideas. “I had just recently retired — at least I thought I had.”

“I didn’t want to throw in the towel, but it was hard to commit to the challenge without such a less-than-stellar showing. A lot of guys are struggling nowadays with finding the car counts.”

Competition, as compelling as it is for Caudle, was only one of the motives behind this build. Pity was another. Set behind his son’s custom and restoration shop, he found a plain-Jane six-cylinder Camaro. “It had to be saved,” he said.

“It was a Louisiana car. The bottom half was pretty damn solid. The doors are original, the floor pans are original, but the top was gone – which is the opposite of what you get up north. These cars sit under trees and the pollen that falls on them holds moisture. I put on new sheet metal, primed, and painted it. I’ll tell you, taking the roof off makes it a lot easier to put a cage in.”

Another drive behind this build was finding another creative outlet. “I didn’t have a class in mind initially, but I wanted to keep the classic look of the car. I started with plans to run in the TA Classic class in another organization, but after I read the rule book and realized I’d need to run leaf springs and smaller brakes, I looked elsewhere. Since owning the C5, I’ve come to appreciate modern handling and braking.

That being said, he loved something about the old-school flavor and wondered if he couldn’t find a way to retrofit a classic. “I always thought the AI Camaro was a better drive than the Corvette, albeit it lacked a little in the aero and handling departments,” he stated.

“I started with the factory front subframe and original body. Obviously, I put solid bushings in subframe mounts and stiffened it up with reinforcements and a cage – it would set level on three jackstands with those in place, so I figured it was rigid enough. I also added a piece of box tubing down the pinch rails to keep the underbody from getting messed up every time I lifted it,” Caudle continued.

Modernizing the chassis was simplified with most of Ridetech’s catalog. “I went with their front and rear coil over suspension kit. Up front, new spindles, control arms and steering linkages with a Borgeson fast ratio steering box and EPS electric power steering, all of which was bolt-on. The same with the rear kit. It’s a four-link that bolts under the car without having to hack the sheetmetal and uses factory underpinnings.

“Rather than bolting, I welded it in to better secure it. The guys at Ridetech did a nice job because there weren’t any stumbling blocks. All the hardware was there. It wasn’t cheap, but it was worth it,” he explained.

The only change Caudle made was in the optional cross-bolt forged Wilwood calipers. “Under a lot of braking pressure, it distributes the load more evenly, which makes a big difference over the long run,” he added. A C5 Corvette master cylinder and Camaro factory brake booster provide the braking power while a C5 hydraulic master cylinder with hydraulic throwout bearing handles the clutch.

When it came to building a motor, he began considering the Super Touring 3 rules. Originally, Caudle had a 350 SBC built, but because he was having a few issues with it and decided to take the aero-related penalty, he built something smaller to fit his class.

The new 327 was built at a 10:1 compression ratio to run pump gas and accepted a power loss. The engine includes a CAM Motion solid lifter cam, Al Calhoon custom aluminum heads, an Edelbrock Victor Jr. intake, and a Proform 750 carburetor.

The two guiding aims of the motor redesign were cost-effectiveness and ease of operation. The motor is peaky and produces an average 360 horsepower, delivering power “like a two-stroke dirtbike.” Despite the lack of grunt, it’s respectably quick, provided Caudle keeps the motor on-cam. Weighing in at 3,050 pounds with fuel and driver, it doesn’t need big power to feel sufficiently fast.

By keeping the revs relatively low at 7,200, the motor’s been fairly reliable. There were some issues involving oil pressure, though, so Caudle’s had to add an Accusump and fabricate a larger-capacity baffled oil pan because he couldn’t buy one that worked properly.

The motor sends power through a Muncie M23 four-speed transmission to a basic GM 10-bolt at the rear with 3.55 positraction. “Since I’m not drag racing, I didn’t feel I needed the 12-bolt. The thinking there was to take the lighter option,” he mentioned.

But shedding weight is expensive and has diminishing returns. “Obviously, you can go lighter with fiberglass parts, but after trying a couple, I realized I didn’t want floppy fiberglass. I kept the metal, but I removed all the glass in favor of Lexan, since I don’t think race cars should have glass windshields.”

Being a middleweight, it’s been decent on consumables. Riding on 17” x 9.5” American Racing aluminum wheels with 275-40-17 Toyo Rs, the rubber budget hasn’t been exorbitant, and the binders have proven themselves resilient — moderate weight again helping here.

“I’m happy with the larger drilled/slotted 12.18” x 1” Wilwood rotors with Hawk DTC 70 in front and DTC 60s in rear. I’ll get a good eight weekends on these pads, and I’ve just now changed the front rotors after four years. Since I built the car in late 2023, I’ve been on the same front rotors,” he said with a laugh.

“I’ve got a bias adjuster/proportioning valve, but you can’t run too much at the rear since the DTC-60s are pretty aggressive for the rear. I picked them since their temperature curve matches the fronts well, so the balance doesn’t change much mid-race. It really is predictable and dependable.

VIDEO

Ride along with Wayne Caudle in his oh-so-cool 1968 Camaro prepared for NASA Super Touring competition.

“The car is strong in the braking zones due to it being relatively light and wearing a lot of tire. There’s one corner at NOLA where we brake from 140 down to 50, and I manage to brake as well as most of them on the old Toyo RR.

I’d get over 20 heat cycles on the old tires, and I’m not sure how good the new Rs are yet — I’ve just installed them. I’m trying to figure out what they like. It looks like more camber and less pressure,” he added.

That new compound has thrown the balance of the car slightly, though it hadn’t been sorted completely on the old one. “Trying to get the balance has been tricky. It’s a little on the tight side. I’ve tried different springs, sway bars and roll centers, but I haven’t gotten there quite yet. I got close, then they changed from the RR to the Toyo R, which set me back and had to regroup.

“It’s at its best in the slow stuff. It puts the power down surprisingly well. I was originally thinking of going with a three-link because it allows for the rear to move a bit more, the thinking being that this would help corner-exit, but because I’m so tight on tire clearance, Ridetech suggested the four-link. The forward bite with the four-link has been great! Turn in is phenomenal, but the tight-middle is an issue still.

“It’s also really stable – I can stomp on the rumble strips. For a solid-axle car, it handles the curbing nicely. I was thinking frugally and decided against buying Ridetech’s two-way shocks, but I should have. The singles are still decent and I have found them to be pretty compliant, though I’ve always gone with soft springs and stiff bars because I can use the whole suspension.

“Where it struggles is in the fast stuff. Sure, I could make it a lot better, but that would require delving into aero, which I’m not sure I’m interested in. I prefer the classic look for now. We’ll see – I might get that itch,” he continued.

What’s certain is that the package works well enough by modern standards. Last time Caudle raced at NOLA, his quickest lap was within .800 of the fastest car in the field: a Spec Corvette.

That’s just fine for Caudle, who’s content with the car’s performance – it is just one of its qualities, after all. Along with its race competence, it has style and originality in spades – and it hasn’t broken the bank – a consideration now that he’s on a fixed income.

From start to its current form, it has set him back what a mid-tier Corvette Cup build would. “I asked, ‘How fast can I make this turd go for as little as possible?’ Pretty quick, it turns out,” he said.

“Like I say, I don’t do it for the trophies. I do it for the Saturday night hangouts, the camaraderie, the friends, and the competition. It also gets the heart rate up once in a while, which keeps me healthy. Plus, it generates some interest since it’s so different.

For Caudle, it seems the perfect low-stress thrill-generator and mobile canvas. There’s a point when being the best stops meaning as much, and maximizing enjoyment while minimizing effort makes more and more sense. “I go fishing to get away from everything, and I go racing to get my frustrations in life out. As far as retirement activities go, both those beat gardening,” he said.