Eckler's Camaro World

As gasoline prices continue to rise, more and more methods will be used to extend the overall supply of motor fuel in the U.S. One of those methods is to add ethanol to the fuel supply. What is ethanol? Ethanol is made from corn, but it can also be made from many other crops including wheat, barley milo/sorghum, potatoes, etc. How is ethanol made? Ethanol is produced by taking the starch or sugar portion of the corn and fermenting it. The fermented starch is then distilled into alcohol. The excess water is removed so the resulting ethyl alcohol (ethanol) is very pure-200 proof. Only the starch portion of the corn, which is about 70% of the kernel, is made into ethanol. If gas in your area contain ethanol it’s possible that you will not be informed by signs on the pump since many states don’t require labeling ethanol. Normally 10% blend of ethanol can be used in any vehicle without any damage of engine components. Since the 1980’s all automakers have covered the use of up to 10% ethanol under warranty, and no engine modifications are necessary to use E10. E10 is a cleaner burning fuel than straight gasoline. A pilot study conducted earlier this year suggests that up to 30% ethanol could be used in a non-flex fuel vehicle, but more research is required before this practice is endorsed.

* This information was obtained from the American Coalition for Ethanol.

It’s show season and the weather is warmer throughout the country so get your Camaros ready. The big F-Body Gathering is only 31 days away and if you’ve never attended this event you should plan to attend this year. This event is held at the Marriott Atlanta Northwest Hotel on May 26, 27, and 28th and more information can be found on the web, www.fbodygathering.com. The next big Camaro event is the GM Nationals held in Carlisle PA on June 23-25 and this is also a “must attend” event if you’re a Camaro enthusiast. Information about this show can be found on the web, www.americancamaro.org, and the last Camaro event I will discuss today is Camaro Superfest held in Ann Arbor MI on June 30 – 2 July. Information about this show can be found on the web, www.camarosuperfest.com. These events are fun for the whole family, and some of the finest Camaros and Firebirds in the country are present. Now is the time to make plans to attend one or all of these events and as an added treat Chevy’s new Camaro concept car will be present at these events.

Being car guys and girls we’re always interested in the next new part or where to purchase both performance and replacement parts. I often wondered why people shop at the same Auto Parts stores that give poor service or have rude customer service employees. Is it merely for convience or, are the prices so low that they overlook the rudeness of Joe mechanic?
I shop a lot through mail order, and I try to make sure that the part I’m ordering is correct and that the part number is correct. Most large mail order companies such as Eckler’s use a “bar code” scanning process to ensure that the order is shipped correctly the first time. This bar code is read by a scanner however, if the customer and sales representative don’t connect then the wrong part is shipped. Now you have a customer that receives the incorrect part upset at Eckler’s and a limited chance that he will order from us again. People usually are very understanding if they receive an incorrect part the first time, but if it keeps happening, they will usually find another source. I can’t tell you the number of times I’ve spoken to customers who state “your sales rep did not understand me”. When I order parts I use a catalog, and usually the catalog is correct and there’s no problem with my order. Having been on the order side of the phone as a sales rep I can tell you first hand that at times this job can be very demanding. Some people like to rush you failing to give the correct information as to the vehicle type, and once I read the part number back and say this part is for a 67 Camaro I then hear silence. The customer’s thoughts turn to the correct vehicle type and he informs me that he has a 69 not a 67. Now I can ensure that he’s received the correct parts. So one piece of advice; make sure that your sales rep understands the type vehicle you’re working on, and if the part is in a box check the part prior to leaving the store. If you’ve had a bad ordering experience with Eckler’s we would like to hear about it!

If you’re a true car guy or girl I’m sure that you ventured out to a auto swap meet at some point in your life. In the past these swap meets were small places in a field where people were able to get rid of their junk. Today’s swap meets are huge lasting three or more days with vendors coming from great distances to sell new reproduction parts. Another part of these swap meets are Auto, Truck and Motorcycle shows. These are normally judged events where cash prizes and huge trophies are awarded for “Best of Show”. A few of my friends convinced me to gather up all of my used car parts and take them to a swap meet to sell. After we paid for the space, set up our canopy and tables, I placed all of my parts on my table for display. I could not believe how fast my parts sold. In less than two hours, I made three hundred dollars and all of my parts were gone! I was simply amazed and my friends did well selling their parts. For those of you that live within an hours drive to Carlisle, PA, this is the east coast premier swap meet covering acres and acres of land. This in my opinion has to rate as one of the largest swap meets in the country. Anything that you as a car guy or girl could want is available at this place. All the major restoration parts vendors converge on Carlisle offering the best deals on carpet, sheet metal, engine parts, and the list goes on. Having worked at many shows like Carlisle, I understand that fast paced environment and believe me wherever possible I gave our members the “deal of the century”. To me it’s all about keeping our club members happy and I even offer advice when they tell me that another vendor is selling a part that 50% cheaper than our price. There’s a lot of dishonest people at swap meets so I always caution our members to beware if a deal sounds too good to be true, IT PROBABLY IS!

During the many blogs written by me, I’ve informed Camaro enthusiast about the “Back In The Day” stories that I’ve personally experienced. Here is another story that was forwarded to me which feel would be of interest to Camaro crazy guys or girls: A number of drivetrains destined for Mark Donahue’s Race Team were accidentally sold to retail customers. A 1968 RS/SS Camaro that was supposed to be equipped with a 396 actually arrived at a dealership with a tuned 427 race motor. It was equipped with a set of progressively linked 4-bbl carbs of no known make. On its delivery day it was an untamable monster, defying the trailer-truck driver’s attempts to drive it off the ramps. It was finally rolled off by muscle power to avoid certain danger. By its unstable idle, it had aggressive cams, and by its lousy street gas mileage (about 3 mpg) it was not meant for shipping at the local mall. After street racing for most of that summer (for mucho $$$) it and a neighbor’s street racing Corvette were professionally stolen, in a silent-night operation that no-one heard—neither the two owners, nor their next door neighbors. The two race cars were surgically removed from their owners’ alarmed, locked garages, and even other cars in the driveways were moved and replaced. Police reports were filed by both owners the next day, but the Camaro had disappeared like the mythical unicorn, into a twilight zone of high end thieves and gamblers, who alone could have organized the super-quiet, alarm beating theft. How many other Donahue racing Camaros still exist? How many drivetrains did GM “lost” that year? How do you trace a stolen race drive train after almost 40 years?

During the many blogs written by me, I’ve informed Camaro enthusiast about the “Back In The Day” stories that I’ve personally experienced. Here is another story that was forwarded to me which feel would be of interest to Camaro crazy guys or girls: A number of drivetrains destined for Mark Donahue’s Race Team were accidentally sold to retail customers. A 1968 RS/SS Camaro that was supposed to be equipped with a 396 actually arrived at a dealership with a tuned 427 race motor. It was equipped with a set of progressively linked 4-bbl carbs of no known make. On its delivery day it was an untamable monster, defying the trailer-truck driver’s attempts to drive it off the ramps. It was finally rolled off by muscle power to avoid certain danger. By its unstable idle, it had aggressive cams, and by its lousy street gas mileage (about 3 mpg) it was not meant for shipping at the local mall. After street racing for most of that summer (for mucho $$$) it and a neighbor’s street racing Corvette were professionally stolen, in a silent-night operation that no-one heard—neither the two owners, nor their next door neighbors. The two race cars were surgically removed from their owners’ alarmed, locked garages, and even other cars in the driveways were moved and replaced. Police reports were filed by both owners the next day, but the Camaro had disappeared like the mythical unicorn, into a twilight zone of high end thieves and gamblers, who alone could have organized the super-quiet, alarm beating theft. How many other Donahue racing Camaros still exist? How many drivetrains did GM “lost” that year? How do you trace a stolen race drive train after almost 40 years?

During the many blogs written by me, I’ve informed Camaro enthusiast about the “Back In The Day” stories that I’ve personally experienced. Here is another story that was forwarded to me which feel would be of interest to Camaro crazy guys or girls: A number of drivetrains destined for Mark Donahue’s Race Team were accidentally sold to retail customers. A 1968 RS/SS Camaro that was supposed to be equipped with a 396 actually arrived at a dealership with a tuned 427 race motor. It was equipped with a set of progressively linked 4-bbl carbs of no known make. On its delivery day it was an untamable monster, defying the trailer-truck driver’s attempts to drive it off the ramps. It was finally rolled off by muscle power to avoid certain danger. By its unstable idle, it had aggressive cams, and by its lousy street gas mileage (about 3 mpg) it was not meant for shipping at the local mall. After street racing for most of that summer (for mucho $$$) it and a neighbor’s street racing Corvette were professionally stolen, in a silent-night operation that no-one heard—neither the two owners, nor their next door neighbors. The two race cars were surgically removed from their owners’ alarmed, locked garages, and even other cars in the driveways were moved and replaced. Police reports were filed by both owners the next day, but the Camaro had disappeared like the mythical unicorn, into a twilight zone of high end thieves and gamblers, who alone could have organized the super-quiet, alarm beating theft. How many other Donahue racing Camaros still exist? How many drivetrains did GM “lost” that year? How do you trace a stolen race drive train after almost 40 years?

We’ve all heard the saying “Knowledge is Power” and I for one feel that being a car guy is a 100% better if you have more than a basic understanding of the vehicles you own. Camaros both early and late models have many technical aspects that manuals can provide the solutions for. During the 70’s everyone relied on a Chilton’s Repair Manual to provide repair information. I always thought that the Chilton’s Repair Manual was too general for me since it did not contain enough photos during the parts removal/install process. I’m not bad mouthing Chilton’s since that’s all we had at the time, but whenever I do a tech article I make sure that there’s a photograph depicting the parts removal process. Something as simple as shock replacement on a 4th Generation Camaro must describe the process in detail otherwise a person doing this for the first time won’t attempt it and won’t learn. We receive numerous calls about the brake combination valve (proportioning valve) and what brake line goes into which port. These questions can be easily answered if customers would simply purchase an automotive repair manual. As a Camaro owner here my list of helpful manuals: 1967-1981 Chilton Camaro Shop Manual (PN 717095), Restoration Literature Kit, which includes; Shop Manual, Assembly Manual, and Fisher Body Manual (PN717068 (1967), PN717067 (1968), PN717068 (1969). The last manual is feel is extremely important; the 1967-1973 wiring diagrams manuals, these are very helpful to the enthusiast trying to trace wires from one source to another. We also have many other reference manuals that are excellent reading material during your down time. Check out the Eckler’s Camaro Parts web site at www.ecklerscamaro.com

We often receive technical e-mail requesting installation assistance with parts purchased from Eckler’s as well as other vendors. Early model Camaros are fairly straight forward; if the motor spins but the car does not start it’s normally an air/fuel problem. If the same problem exists with a late model Camaro, it could be a number of things; bad throttle position sensor, computer problems, clogged oxygen sensors, clogged injectors and the list goes on. Even if you are mechanically inclined without proper tools such as scanners you’ll never determine the problem. This is the reason I always advise customers that own late model Camaros to visit the dealers or shops that work strictly on Camaros/Corvettes. These technicians possess the proper tools that can quickly determine the problem, correct it, and have you back on the road. I also receive questions such as which cam is better for my car a solid roller or a hydraulic roller cams? My response is what is the intended purpose of your vehicle? Street and Strip, Street only or Strip only? If the customer tells me that he wants to drag race some but his vehicle is primarily for the street I advise him to keep the lift and duration reasonable and to contact his cam company with the specs of his car. It’s real easy to ruin a good motor making changes when you’re uncertain how to perform certain tasks. That’s why it is a good reason to have someone more qualified to assist you when you really don’t know how to change a cam or replace a timing chain or install a distributor. This is the best way to learn how to correctly work on your Camaro by using the right methods.

I’m not a big local car show person simply because that’s the nature of my job, attending car shows throughout the country. Occasionally I try to attend a local car show at the request of my friends who simply want to hang out together. Last Friday I attended a new local car show that was held at a Denny’s restaurant and I can honestly say that I had a great time. Although I enjoy conversations with my friends, I also enjoyed the interesting conversations with some of new acquaintances I meet. Just being able to recount the stories from “back in the day” when guys lived for the weekend cruises at the local diner was fun. During our conversation I was provided with stories about cruises in certain parts of the country and how the local police welcomed the cruisers to town. Cruising has taken on a new face with many businesses inviting cruisers because of the money they bring to the business. Most businesses make a fair profit during a Friday night but if they have a cruise night their profit nearly doubles. Several local “Stake & Shakes” have reported a “night and day” difference between cruise nights held at their establishments and non cruise nights during the weekend. Gone are the clowns that constantly rev their motors, burn rubber in front of the cruise spots and general become a nuisance to everyone. Guys that attend cruises understand how important it is to have a nice place to cruise his car, dine with his family and relax. So if you’re looking for somewhere to go where the cost is relatively inexpensive, find a cruise, it can be fun!

While checking out the magazine book shelf at a local store I observed that the cover of one magazine had a photo of the new Mustang and the Concept Camaro. The caption stated let the “Let The Pony Car Wars Begin”. I thought for a moment, this war is more than two years away from happening if in fact it really does happen. We’ve all heard the recent stories about our beloved General Motors money troubles and it’s a shame that someone at GM did not think several years back that a new Camaro could right the ship. Now don’t get me wrong, I think that the new Concept Camaro would be a big seller, but Americans as a whole are not patient people. We are a “We want It Now”, type of people and the longer we have to wait for someone the more we look for alternatives. Cars, houses, boats, clothing and the list goes on, and other manufactures know this and are quick to step up to the plate and hit that home run. It’s not be chance that Chrysler decided to make the Challenger, they saw what Ford was doing with the retro Mustang and decided to jump on the band wagon. Certainly there are small companies out there that can build quality retro Camaros. A case in point is a company called Retro Rides. They build new 69 Camaros using 4th generation frames and all new 69 body panels. I had the opportunity to view one of the finish products and if I had the money I would be driving one of these cars today. More and more people who can afford Camaros such as these are plunking down the bucks to purchase a car that handles well, has all the new car comforts and is beautiful. The old hot rodders that grew up in the high performance era are now close to retiring, their kids are grown and that 401k has been saved just too once again just to enjoy the thrill of a new Camaro, I just hope it’s not too late!

Back in the old days a person could forget to lock his vehicle or home and when he returned everything was just as he left it. The values were different and young children were taught to leave other people’s property alone. We’ve all read stories about older people finding wallets with money inside and turning them in to the authorities in tack. These people were trained at an early age that if something did not belong to you; you gave it back to the owner. Now days it seems like a “free for all” if someone turns there back for a moment their property is gone. People take things and they don’t classify it as stealing probably thinking it was there so I took it! Cars are hot items these days because of their value. I always advise my friends to take special care and lock their cars like I do when I’m not near the vehicle at car shows. Opportunity is what a thief looks for and given the opportunity to steal someone car he will do it. Car thieves are more prevalent than ever because of the money motors, transmissions and other components bring. Everyday there are cars stolen from people’s garages, in front of their homes, at the shopping centers and even from their place of business. I still feel the best measure of safety a person can put on his vehicle is a “Hidden Kill Switch”. This switch prevents a thief from jumping in your vehicle, hot wiring it, and driving away. A thief doesn’t want to spend time trying to start someone’s car because his chances of getting caught are greater. It is a shame that we must think security 24 hours a day, but this whole world has changed, and the days of old are gone! Be Safe!

Each month we receive comments regarding our Camaro World Magazine and the majority of these comments are favorable however, we do receive negative comments also. We always address each issue with the person sending the e-mail just to make sure that his comments are not falling on deaf ears. It’s awful hard to please everyone all of the time, but we really try to insert articles that are of interest to everyone. If a person is into drag racing, we try to find articles of both past and present race cars. If you like road race cars we look for a road race Camaro to write about. The same goes for our tech articles, we try to write tech articles that are concise and not overwhelm our readership with installs that are difficult to perform. Unlike some magazines that have fifty pages and twenty of these pages contain advertisings our magazine is full of Camaro content from cover to cover. Want to know where the next show is? It’s in the magazine. Want the latest Camaro parts available? It’s in the magazine under New Parts. We often hear comments about the wonderful color quality of our magazine, and we appreciate these comments. We put forth every effort to ensure our readership receives a quality magazine and we also work hard to improve each issue. So keep those comments coming!

Well another Barrett Jackson auction took place this weekend in West Palm Beach Florida and many cars change hands to new owners. One car a 1969 Camaro Z28 sold for $60,000 and here’s an example of another classic car that will be moved from one warehouse to another. Such a beautiful low mileage car that will never be driven, but simply handed down to another car collector to sit around with a car cover over it. It would be much easier for me to watch these auctions if I did not grow up during the high performance years. I only have to think back to the times when high performance Camaros, Chevelles, Corvettes, Road Runners, and Mustangs just sat on car dealer’s lots waiting for customers to pay an average of $3,500 for them. Now the prices are through the roof and only a hand full of people can afford to own these cars. Maybe I’m looking at this whole auction thing in the wrong light, but I can hear some rich guy telling another rich guy, “come over and see my car collection” This rich guy doesn’t have a clue about the history of these cars nor has he experienced the performance offered by them. Now Jay Leno is truly the exception to the car collector crazy since he drives every car in his collection and drives them hard. I’ve owned a Camaro, Chevelle, and a Corvette and every one of these cars were driven and driven hard and kept in excellent condition for the next owner. That’s the fun of owning high performance vehicles, the driving experience! What’s your thoughts?