Live from Oxford,Michigan - the Camaro COPO story

[Jack Matyas]

We're back ! ! No thanks due to Kenny who used his administrative skills to delete an entire thread - all 65 posts and 15,000 views worth .My Christmas bonus just grew by a huge bunch - soon as I'm done putting things back together here I'm switching over to Kayak.com to book tickets to somewhere warm for the holidays .


All I can do now is pick it up at my last post .........

Early this past Wednesday morning I was given an extra treat by my friends at GM Powertrain Division - I was to follow an entire engine build - an LS 7 from bare block to finished and tested engine .Although the parts were ready it still had to be final assembled .Along the way everything was checked and double checked - there were computers that checked computers - they take this very seriously - even the "builder" I was assigned to wanted to be proud of every engine he assembled - and he does three a day - and his name goes on each and every one he does .As you'll see from the photos this engine is built in under two hours - thats right -bare block to test for leaks - fuel/oil/air in under two hours - and it passed with flying colors .

[Jack Matyas]

More pics of the engine build ..........During the build my host was happy to answer any and all questions I asked .And right in the middle of the build the whistle blew - I thought it was a fire drill - turned out to be break time -who knew ? ?

[Jack Matyas]

Final assembly ...........and testing .


Yeah - yeah Kenny ...I know this should be in the tech section but get to like it ........

[Ken Miele]

Thanks for reposting Jack, I'll make sure your bonus is double what you received last year.

[Greg Hill]

Jack, thanks for the pics. The throttle body looks big enough to hold a softball.

[Lew Silverman]

Great pictures, Jack!

Any idea how many folks took advantage of the 3 engine deal? It sure would make things more interesting!

Lew

[Paul Hellenberg]

Awesome Reporting job Jack thank you.

[Jack Matyas]

Late yesterday I spoke with Jim Boburka - owner of COPO # 007 who was out testing recently - at Norwalk last Wednesday where he only got to make one pass that was anything but clean because of traction issues and again this past weekend at Pittsburgh Raceway Park where late in the day got make several tune-up passes and learn a bunch .Did the car work well ? You bet ...........let these pictures tell the story .

[D.Johns]

At the time of your visit had the already had all the engines completed for the COPO and was doing standard production only?
What was the final tally on number of 4.0s, 2.9 and 427 combos?
I'm a supercharged kind of guy at heart but I would have leaned towards the 427 if I was looking to have ordered one.

Did they build extra engines to be sold for people wanting to order the engine combo for their projects?

[Jack Matyas]

Originally Posted by D.Johns

At the time of your visit had the already had all the engines completed for the COPO and was doing standard production only?
What was the final tally on number of 4.0s, 2.9 and 427 combos?
I'm a supercharged kind of guy at heart but I would have leaned towards the 427 if I was looking to have ordered one.

Did they build extra engines to be sold for people wanting to order the engine combo for their projects?

As far as I know they haven't built the engines for all of the COPO cars yet - its my understanding they are built as needed.

I have no knowledge of a final tally on the combos - but i'll try and find out.

I don't think they have "extra" engines yet but will soon enough .