Facts on Friction: Single- vs. Twin-Disc Clutches
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Divine Inspiration: Vintage trans am-influenced '68 Camaro
Fresh Metal
’69 Camaro Floor
Replacement
Final Details
’66 Nova Side Molding
& Trim Install
Fresh Metal
’69 Camaro Floor Replacement
Final Details
’66 Nova Side Molding & Trim Install
’57 Handyman Suspension & Brake Upgrade
July 2023
Preview Issue
Make It Yours. Make It Lokar. Modern Performance. Classic Style. Endless Options.
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Series Restored by Lokar
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All Chevy Performance July 2023 cover
On the Cover
We love a muscle car built with some historical inspiration, and Jim and Raylene Senke’s ’68 Camaro marches the Mark Donohue Trans Am racing ideology while leaving the formal racing motif (decals and stickers) behind for a very clean presentation. Check out the full feature and cool story starting on page 16.
Photos by Wes Allison
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All Chevy Performance ISSN 2767-5068 (print) ISSN 2767-5076 (online) Issue 31 is published monthly by In the Garage Media, 370 E. Orangethorpe Avenue, Placentia, CA 92870-6502. Postage paid at Placentia, CA. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to: All Chevy Performance c/o In the Garage Media, 1350 E. Chapman Ave #6550, Fullerton, CA 92834-6550 or email ITGM at subscription@inthegaragemedia.com. Copyright (c) 2023 IN THE GARAGE MEDIA. Printed in the USA. The All Chevy Performance trademark is a registered trademark of In The Garage Media.
Departments
Features
Jim & Raylene Senke’s ’68 Camaro
Shawn Loos’ ’70 Nova
Rick & Val Van Unen’s ’73 Camaro
James Wiley’s ’64 Chevy II Nova Project
Brent Davidson’s ’71 Monte Carlo
Tech
Single vs. Dual Clutches
We Follow the Pros on a ’69 Camaro’s Floor Replacement With New AMD Metal
Final Assembly and Trim Installation on a Slick ’66 Nova
Brake and Suspension Upgrades Make a Handier Handyman
Event
Corvettes and Chevy Muscle Cars Invade the Great Smoky Mountains
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13" & 14" Performance Big Brake Kits
Corvette-Style Spindle Wheel Brake Kits
CPP Premium Steering Columns & Power Steering Conversion Kits
Complete 13" Front & 12" Rear Big Brake Kits
Fuel-Injection Tanks & Systems
Subframe Connectors & Fully Adjustable
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True Original Offset Wheel Brake Kits
12" Front Disc Brake Kits
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Electronic Throttle Pedal & Bracket Kit
Coil-Over Conversion & Tubular Control Arms Suspension Systems
Superior Braking Performance & Complete Pro-Touring Suspension Packages
High-Clearance/Pro-Touring Sway Bar Kits
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Classic Performance Products, Inc.
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*Prices subject to change without notice, please inquire. (* = estimated at prices due to current rapidly changing costs.) Also, please note that kits and prices may vary between certain applications.
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EDITORIAL DIRECTOR
BRIAN BRENNAN
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EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
NICK LICATA
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EDITORIAL TEAM
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Editorial contributions are welcomed but editors recommend that contributors query first. Contribution inquiries should first be emailed to info@inthegaragemedia.com. Do not mail via USPS as we assume no responsibility for loss or damage thereto. IN THE GARAGE MEDIA, INC. reserves the right to use material at its discretion, and we reserve the right to edit material to meet our requirements. Upon publication, payment will be made at our current rate, and that said, payment will cover author’s and contributor’s rights of the contribution. Contributors’ act of emailing contribution shall constitute and express warranty that material is original and no infringement on the rights of others.

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A square portrait photograph of Nick Licata posing for a picture with his arms crossed

 BY NICK LICATA

Cultural Diversity
L

iving in Orange County, California, I’m exposed to a good amount of cultural diversity. On my street alone, you’ll find a couple of imports and a few domestics. Yep, there is quite an automotive mix in my neighborhood, and I’m proud to be part of it.

Ronnie up the street has a very cool ’55 Chevy Bel Air restomod. It’s got a small-block, 15-inch American Torq Thrust wheels, and a nice-sounding exhaust. It’s not his daily driver, but between he and his wife, it gets driven quite a bit. I know because every time I hear a V-8-powered car go by my house, I instinctively jump up and look out the window to see what it is. It’s a habit I just can’t break and one I’m sure many of you can relate.

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Mechanical parts
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1. Skinny Bop
Forgeline announces the arrival of their new forged monoblock SC1 Skinny. Similar to their original one-piece forged monoblock SC1, the new “Skinny” version is precision-machined from a single forging of proprietary 6061-T6 aluminum alloy. Unlike the original street version, the “Skinny” has been reengineered for drag racing applications, which includes a narrower width and revised performance metrics to make it as lightweight as possible. It also retains the exceptional brake clearance of the original SC1.
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1956 Chevy Bel Air

Text & Rendering by Tavis Highlander

1956 CHEVY BEL AIR
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Vehicle Builder: MetalWorks • Eugene, Oregon
S

ome color combinations just click on certain vehicles. Bright red and silver on a Tri-Five Chevy is one of those for sure. Although restrained in terms of body mods, this ’56 will be sure to draw attention with its vibrant colors. Most of the factory trim is there minus the hood ornament, nose badge, and a few other bits. This keeps the classic looks intact but cleans things up just a touch.

Getting the right handling, stance, and stopping performance comes from an Art Morrison chassis. Sitting just right looks that much better when it’s done with the right set of wheels. With all the polished trim and bright work, the choice was made to roll with some fully polished Budnik Vapor wheels.

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Jim & Raylene Senke’s ’68 Camaro
BY NICK LICATAPhotography by Wes Allison
P

rior to writing a car feature, one of the questions we ask the owner is why they built the car. Jim Senke, owner of this gorgeous ’68 Camaro, got right to the point: “Because I wanted to.” Fair enough. We’d have to say there is no better reason. He goes on to say that he just loves cool cars.

We dig a little deeper to find out this “cool car” was assembled on the fourth week in December 1967 at GM’s Van Nuys plant and was purchased brand new at Washburn Chevrolet in Santa Barbara, California, by a local couple. Jim’s family became the second owners of the car in May 1970 when his mom received the car as a Mother’s Day gift; it’s been in the family ever since.

blue '68 Camaro
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By Jeff Smith Photography by THE AUTHOR and Courtesy of THE Manufacturers
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SINGLE VS. DUAL CLUTCHES
I

n America bigger is always better. A single cheeseburger is never as good as a double for lunch and most hot rodders believe the same goes for nitrous systems, carburetors, camshafts, and clutches …

But not always.

It’s a continuing battle. Street car horsepower and torque values have escalated in the last decade and now even domestic V-8 production cars are pumping out more than 700 hp and the latest Hellcat promises 1,000 hp from a production vehicle! This just exacerbates the boulevard horsepower boom and now everyone will assume they need four-digit horsepower. The truth is not everyone wants, needs, or can properly manage that much power. For every one guy who has the scratch to build a 1,000hp street car, there are hundreds of applications for the rest of the world in the 500- to 700hp range searching for a clutch.

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Shawn Loos’ ’70 Nova

BY NICK LICATA Photography by Josh Mishler

L

ife. It’s a funny thing. You cruise through it doing what you do, you might stay on top of small projects around the house and keep the yard looking good, and when you least expect it, your wife buys you a ’70 Nova for your 40th birthday. A rare story, indeed, but a true one for Shawn Loos of Raymond, Nebraska. This all came about from Shawn telling stories and reminiscing to his wife, Heather, about the Nova he had in high school and how much he missed that cool old car. Well, it seems Heather was paying attention and wanted to help Shawn relive those days of owning a Nova, similar to the one he had back in the day. This falls under “thoughtful wife, happy life.” Yeah, we’ll go with that.

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WELD DONE
We Follow the Pros on a ’69 Camaro’s Floor Replacement With New AMD Metal

By Barry Kluczyk Photography by The Author

P

ulling up the carpet on a vintage Chevy often comes with a sense of dread about the revelations below it. Rust, as it is said, never sleeps and floor repairs are almost a guarantee when it comes to restoration work, especially with early Camaros—whether it’s a comparatively small, localized issue or a more invasive spread of tin worm.

Surprisingly, rust wasn’t the issue with the floor in this story’s project car. It’s the latest ’69 Camaro build for Pro Touring pioneer Mark Stielow and Detroit-area Sled Alley was tasked with prepping the body and chassis for some Detroit Speed upgrades. After tearing down the car, they were pleasantly surprised to find essentially no rust in the body shell or floor but determined a floorpan replacement was still required. That’s because, when new, the car was immediately pressed into drag racing duty and it was clear it had suffered bumps and bruises of a wayward driveshaft or two and some precision clearance work with a sledgehammer. There were also some old patches used to correct other damage.

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BY Nick Licata  Photography by Wes Allison

"Bronze Metal"
"Bronze Metal"
Rick & Val Van Unen’s ’73 Camaro

BY Nick Licata  Photography by Wes Allison

I

t’s no secret that the second-gen Camaro (1970-1981) typically plays second fiddle to the more popular first-gen Camaros (1967-1969), although the second-gen’s first three production years are still very desirable for many Camaro enthusiasts. Just like every other muscle car from the late ’60s and early ’70s, prices for these gems continue to climb year after year.

Rick Van Unen has owned many hot rods and muscle cars over the years, but he just couldn’t stop thinking about a ’72 Camaro he owned over 20 years ago. “I really miss that split-bumper RS car. It had a built 400ci small-block and a five-speed Doug Nash transmission,” Rick recalls. “Thinking about that car so much over the years, it had me keeping my eyes open for another one.”

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By Tommy Lee Byrd Photography by The Author
man unscrewing headlight from red '66 nova

1. Installing the final details on a project car can be strenuous, but it’s rewarding.

Assembly Required in red
Assembly Required in red
Final Assembly and Trim Installation on a Slick ’66 Nova
T

here is no such thing as a quick paintjob on a classic car—it always escalates into a big project. Our original intention with this ’66 Nova was a driver-quality paintjob, but as things progressed, we couldn’t just settle for a subpar job. Although not exactly show quality, the bodywork and paint turned out nicely, but we can see how projects stall out at this stage. Some folks give up all together, so it’s common to find cars on the market that are painted but not reassembled. If you’ve ever bought a project that’s disassembled, you know the struggles of finding the right clips, hardware, and brackets to put it all together. Thankfully, Classic Industries has an extensive catalog of parts and pieces for our ’66 Nova, so we made a huge list and started chipping away at the reassembly process.

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BY TOMMY LEE BYRD  Photography by The Author
LONG-TERM RELATIONSHIP
T

he old car obsession starts with a spark, and it could hit at any time. For some, the spark may only last a season of life, but for others it never goes away, even when life’s obstacles seem to get in the way. For James Wiley of Fairburn, Georgia, the spark happened early on, thanks to his father’s love for muscle cars, which transformed into his own project car ideas spawned by the machines he saw in his favorite Chevy magazines. During one of his many trips to the store to get the latest issue, he told his father, “One day, my car’s going to be in the book.” At that point, James didn’t know what car that would be, or when it would happen, but he distinctly remembers making that a goal long before he got his hands on a project car.

James Wiley’s ’64 Chevy II Nova Project
James Wiley's '64 Chevy II Nova Project
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InTheGarageMedia.com
1. The finished suspension upgrade on Bruce Valley’s Handyman wagon looks great and will no doubt perform even better. Let’s take a look at what went down at the Clampdown Competition headquarters and how we got there.

By Ryan Manson Photography by The Author

Reducing The Wallow Of A Wagon
Brake and Suspension Upgrades Make a Handier Handyman
W

hen Bruce Valley originally dropped off his ’57 Chevy Handyman wagon to the Clampdown Competition headquarters, he had a short list of upgrades in mind—power steering, air conditioning, and an overdrive transmission. As these projects often do, three things led to another and another and another. Pretty soon, that short list took up much of the workshop’s whiteboard. The addition of an A/C compressor and power steering pump meant that a pulley swap and some bracketry was needed at the least. The transmission swap would be simple enough but as the build plan progressed, it became clear that what Bruce really wanted wasn’t simply a couple creature comforts, he wanted a turnkey hot rod that would be reliable and capable of pulling some serious highway miles around the Phoenix area without overheating or overworking itself, or overburdening the owner.

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Labor Of Love
Brent Davidson’s ’71 Monte Carlo is the Ultimate Family Project
BY Tommy Lee ByrdPhotography by The Author
W

hen it comes to rebuilding a classic Chevrolet, there are certain models that pose more of a challenge than others; parts availability can play a huge role in the difficulty of a restoration. If you’re working on a first-generation Camaro, nearly every component is reproduced at large scale. Things get a little tricky for early Chevelles and Novas, but the king of difficult restorations is the Monte Carlo, at least in the muscle car era. Brent Davidson and his two sons, Andrew and Austin, can attest to that, as they recently finished the restoration of this ’71 Monte Carlo.

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"Vettes With a View"
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Corvettes and Chevy Muscle Cars Invade the Great Smoky Mountains
By Tommy Lee Byrd Photography BY THE AUTHOR
E

stablished in 1977, the Corvette Expo started as a great way to bring Corvette enthusiasts and parts vendors together. Like most successful meets, the Corvette Expo started small and has moved to several locations through the years to accommodate the growth. Now, nearly 50 years later, the event has settled into a wonderful home at the LeConte Center in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. The facility offers plenty of room inside the convention center and a massive parking lot for the outdoor portion of the show. The location is in the foothills of the Great Smoky Mountains, providing a beautiful backdrop to the hundreds of Corvettes in attendance.

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Thanks for reading our July 2023 preview issue!