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Mark Stielow's Camaro's

Discussion & questions regarding any cool car a member might own or is interested in.
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daytonajim
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Mark Stielow's Camaro's

Post by daytonajim »

Charley Lillard has had many of Mark's cars on the Power Tour

Mark is a GM Engineer & spends a lot of time on the track @ GM Proving Grounds.

I have been told that the term 'Pro-Touring' came from Mark.

If you want to learn about some of the best 1st Gen Camaro's on the planet start clicking on the links & search Mark Stielow.

Maybe Charley Lillard will add to this thread?

Very interesting read.

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Nürburgring - Stielow Engineering Red Devil
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Dick Harrell # 9, 18 (Organic Green) #27 (Vic Edlebrock's) - Bobby Labonte Blackbird #38 - Johnny Benson Berger SS #72 - PE Brickyard PR1 (red) - DHPE#4 Brickyard - silver - DEI #54 - 3 of 4 'real' 2000 Daytona 500 GTP Pace Cars

Topic author
daytonajim
Site Admin
Posts: 1499
Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2012 9:26 pm
Location: Balsam Lake, WI
Vehicle: Many GMMG's
Contact:

Re: Mark Stielow's Camaro's

Post by daytonajim »

Lessons from the Godfather of Pro Touring F-Cars
We must confess, Mark Stielow’s bumperless, splayed-valve-small-block-powered 1967 Camaro was our dream car when we first laid eyes on it in 1996. Even though we might be a little biased, it’s no stretch when we say Mark’s cars have made a huge impact on the hot rodding scene. Twenty years later, Mark is still building first-gen Camaros, refining their performance with the latest in powertrain, brakes, and suspension the OEM and aftermarket have to offer. While many of Mark’s cars have been featured in HOT ROD and our sister publications, we let Mark explain how the cars evolved using four of his latest builds to inspire the average car builder’s plans for a Pro Touring or restomod ponycar.

If there’s one theme when looking at Mark’s Camaro builds over the years, it’s that there’s been much advancement in the OEM and aftermarket allowing for cars to be built to a much higher level of performance without resorting to all-out custom parts. Mark’s early builds, undertaken to compete in the One Lap of America, used handbuilt suspensions and exotic, race-bred engines. The factory parts that were coming out of Detroit, where Mark would spend much of his career as an engineer, simply weren’t capable of the kinds of grip and power we take for granted today.

Pro Touring was gaining steam in the early 2000s, but many of the cars driven hard were built to have fun at an open track day, but not for demanding formal competition. When Optima started its Ultimate Street Car Invitational, it began what Mark likens to a Pro Touring arms race. Many of our favorite cars can thank competitions like that for urging builders to tool up ever-faster cars.

Engine
Long a proponent of aluminum engine blocks, Mark’s early builds used both iron and aluminum aftermarket Gen I small-blocks, but as the Gen III and Gen IV GM V8s came from the factory with aluminum blocks, that’s become his weapon of choice. He’s also been an EFI guy as long as he’s been building cars because he worked in vehicle powertrains as a 20-year-old, making EFI tuning easier for him than a carburetor.

The “Jackass” used a stock LS9 with better breathing exhaust for about 700 hp. It was competitive, but there was more to be had. In 2010, “Red Devil” was built with an LS7 bottom end and an LS9 top end that was good for 780 hp. He was onto something with that combo.

Mark has been working with Brian Thompson at Thompson Automotive in Wixom, Michigan, for his last few engine builds. For “Mayhem,” his silver 1967 Camaro, the LS7/LS9 hybrid combo was tweaked. They added CNC-ported heads and a new cam that moved the torque band up. Since the car was traction-limited by the tire size, the idea was to keep the same max torque and instead increase power through a higher engine speed to help acceleration without overpowering the tires. That engine was dyno tested at 877 flywheel horsepower and 820 lb-ft of torque. Thanks to the “arms race,” Mark felt that even more power was necessary for his next build.

“Hellfire” uses an LS7 block with a Callies crank, Diamond pistons, and Oliver rods, assembled with ARP hardware. Its high-rpm longevity is possible thanks to titanium intake valves and retainers in its CNC-ported heads and oil squirters pulling combustion heat from the bottom of the pistons. The engine relies on the factory dry-sump oil pump with added tank capacity and an efficient oil cooler from C&R Racing.
When strapped to an engine dyno, Hellfire’s hybrid LS7/LS9 engine produced more than 800 lb-ft of torque between 2,500 and 6,200 rpm, with power holding more than 950 hp from 6,100 to 6,600 rpm. That level of power would be unheard of in a Pro Touring car just a few years ago.

Suspension
Mark was a member of his college Formula SAE team at Missouri University of Science and Technology. His knowledge of suspensions taught him enough to know that the first-generation Camaro’s factory suspension geometry is “all jacked up.” His first Camaro used tall spindles and fabricated upper control arms, and his aforementioned bumperless 1967 used a mix of off-the-shelf and custom parts with pie-cut control arms and Corvette spindles in an attempt to solve the first-generation Camaro’s inherently poor suspension geometry. Mark admits the car still had bumpsteer. When he built his next Camaro with exotic billet chromoly spindles, there were still compromises. Since then, the market for products that improve handling on 1960s and 1970s muscle has boomed and there are a number of engineered solutions that greatly improve the factory geometry. Take advantage of it.

Steering
On his early low-budget builds, Mark changed the spool valve in the recirculating ball steering and added the larger torsion bar from high-performance GM cars into the factory steering box to get better steering feel. As far as he can recall, it was from a Trans Am WS6. Later he had Lee Manufacturing build the boxes. Once Detroit Speed offered its subframe with rack-and-pinion steering, that’s what Mark has gone with. Detroit Speed now builds new racks and Mark likes them better than the remanufactured racks that were equipped in the early subframes. He told us the stock GM LS9 power-steering pump works well with the DSE rack.

Drivetrain
Before the T56 was readily available, Mark’s early cars used ZF six-speeds. Once the Viper T56 came out, Mark used those with a GM input shaft to create a stronger package. Now that Tremec offers the T56 Magnum, based on the OEM TR6060, it has become the transmission of choice. It has a wider gearset than a T56 and is holding up well behind engines that produce more than 900 hp and 900 lb-ft of torque. Mark tells us, “The bigger issue has been clutches that will hold the torque.” To keep street driveability and hold up to the torque while preventing high-rpm disengagement, Mark uses a Centerforce DYDA clutch.

To put the power down, Mark’s Camaros use Ford 9-inch-type rear axles with internals from Strange. “On diffs, I have stayed with Eaton’s TruTrac. I have used that diff in five cars and have had great luck.” C&R Racing uses a unique surfacing procedure from REM to give the gears a mirror-like polish to reduce wear. Then C&R assembles them and breaks them in on a dyno. “Since I have moved to C&R, all of my diff problems have gone away.”

Cooling
As factory ponycars began upping their power, it was expected that the aftermarket would follow suit. That was when Mark built Red Devil, his first car to run a really high-powered engine. Mark told us that cooling Red Devil wasn’t a huge deal in a three-lap session, but back-to-back sessions would take their toll, even with a big aluminum radiator with an 850-watt fan. While working at GM’s High Performance Vehicle Operations (HPVO) on Camaro, Corvette, and Cadillac CTS-V, Mark spent a lot of time on the track with development teams looking at differential cooling and transmission temp data. He knew he had to start considering adding additional cooling to his own projects. His Jackass Camaro was born from the same philosophy that was used in GM’s development of the Z/28, where new high-efficiency radiator cores made a huge difference. Rather than the 1960s technology of a factory replacement radiator, his Hellfire Camaro now uses a C&R radiator with less mass and less water, while delivering better performance. Even with the 950hp powerplant in Jackass, a 20-minute session on the track doesn’t raise the water temp to more than 200 degrees.

Brakes
Once a car’s cooling system is sorted out, it can work harder and for longer periods of time, and the next weak link will likely be the brakes. Mark began rethinking his brake package around 1996 when he was competing at Hartland Park in One Lap of America. As power and capability grew, brakes became critical. He was pushing the car so hard that he experienced brake fade after a few laps. Inspecting the cross-drilled rotors revealed they had developed cracks from the severe heat. Leveraging lessons he’d learned working for GM’s HVPO, he has moved to solid rotors and has incorporated GM OEM Brembo brakes into his latest build, as he has a good relationship with the company and has become familiar with Brembo’s OEM products. His newest cars see braking forces as high a 1.4 g’s when stopping from 150 mph. That’s enough braking energy to heat the rotors to glowing red, making brake fluid selection critical to keep it from boiling.

Mayhem used a stock GM ABS system and a modified calibration to work as standalone ABS. Mark likened it to using software on a factory ECU to tweak the fuel and spark. There’s some leeway, but it has a narrow window where it likes to work. Factory ABS is tuned to prevent wheel lockup, although it can be tuned to put more energy into the brakes and lower stopping distances, which can be a big benefit to track cars. Because of that, Mark’s later builds use a Bosch motorsports ABS system that allows for more involved tuning of the braking system. It’s like using an aftermarket ECU and a laptop tuner—but for brakes. Like an engine, Mark noted, “Just because it’s running doesn’t mean it’s running right. ABS is the same way.” Even if a car seemingly has all of the parts needed to run late-model ABS, it doesn’t mean it’s going to be optimized. When it’s operated without all the sensors it’s looking for, the ABS system will go into a backup calibration that’s not as efficient, so if ABS is in your future, make sure the ABS is getting all of the required information.
For master cylinders, Mark has tried several, including the stock 1969 part on his first build in 1993, and then moved to some aftermarket master cylinders that were too touchy for his liking. Now he uses a production Bosch booster and master from a C6 Corvette. They’re affordable, available from a number of retailers, and Mark has never had a single failure.
How to improve on the Track
Mark worked on GM’s driver training program that used Pontiac Solstice training cars, and Mark bought one for himself that he competed in the SCCA’s SSB class. It wasn’t the hot turbocharged version, either, it was the 2.4L, naturally aspirated four-cylinder with 173 hp. Mark joked, “I’ve found more horsepower on a V8 tune-up than these things made.” Still, the car helped reinforce good driving habits, as it’s what he called a “momentum machine,” making it vital to corner properly because it didn’t have the brute power to make up for mistakes. This is the kind of car Mark recommends to drivers looking to improve their skills. “I got that advice in my twenties and ignored it,” Mark admitted, but the Solstice was a great tool for teaching and GM’s driver training program would start there, teaching car control and momentum in the lower-powered car until drivers could run 10 or more laps consistently—all within a couple tenths of each other—before hopping into a Corvette.

What’s Next?
Mark sold Hellfire and is currently enjoying refining Jackass after buying it back from his friend, Charley Lillard. As much as he wants to do something new with his next project, he still loves Camaros. He did give us one hint that things might be a bit different the next time around: “The new LT engines GM has look like fun to play with.”

Picking a Starting Point
When we asked Mark about his propensity toward 1969 Camaros, he told us, “The 1969 is more of an iconic car. There are definitely guys that are 1967 Camaro fans.” When it comes to the 1968 Camaro, he likens it to the 1956 Chevy, stuck between two better-known and better-loved years. The choice in year also influences the weight and the handling, with the 1969 Camaro easily allowing 275mm-wide front tires and 335mm-wide rear tires with minitubs, thanks to its 1-inch-wider body, but it also brings along a bit more mass. His Mayhem 1967 Camaro built in 2012 needed custom fender work to fit wider tires, giving the car a bit more of a Coke-bottle look.
Data Logging
Mark mentioned that a data logger is a huge training tool in this kind of scenario. Once an investment has been made in data acquisition with GPS, patterns in lap times become apparent. “Run a lap in your car, then let a good driver run a lap in your car. Compare them.” It should become obvious where you’ve been braking too soon or going in too hot. Mark uses a Race Technology DL1 that allows the data collected to be matched with an exact position on the track.
Factoids
• With a data logger, different parts can be tested and real results can be learned. By monitoring fluid temperatures, different coolers can show their strengths and weaknesses.
• Pedal placement and clutch pickup points are important; you can get a good starting point by hopping into a factory car and using that as a reference.

• In his early builds, Mark used modeling software designed by Bill Mitchell to make custom suspensions. Mitchell’s WinGeo3 software allowed for suspension simulation on racetracks and plotted the forces reacting with each suspension component. Later, Mark used Bosch’s LapSim to help select gear ratios.
• Mark’s book on build tips, “Pro Touring Engineered Performance,” is available through MarkStielow.com.

The Names

It seems like all of Mark’s Camaros have names, and if you don’t like it, you have HOT ROD to blame—at least for the early ones. Mark calls the 1969 Camaro he built in 1993 the “white car,” although the HOT ROD feature called it “Tri Tip.” The red 1967’s name, “Red Witch,” came from Jeff Smith’s HOT ROD feature article title. That one stuck. “Thrasher” was a car built to thrash on the track. “Mule” was a test mule, just like development cars at GM. “Malitude” was a combination of Malibu and attitude; the 1964 Malibu is the only non-Camaro Mark’s built in the last 20 years. Red Devil was named after the Blue Devil code name used in the C6 ZR-1 development, which was named after the Duke University mascot. Jackass was named by Charley Lillard, who commissioned the car from Mark. Charley calls a lot of his friends Jackass, so it’s a term of endearment.

Build Timeline

White Car
1993 – 400ci small-block Chevy: 425 hp.
1994 – 400 all-aluminum small-block by John Lingenfelter: 520 hp.

Red Witch
1996 – GM splayed-valve-headed, 6.5L, all-aluminum small-block left over from the GM GTP program: 620 hp.
1997 – Trick Flow 532ci, all-aluminum big-block: 610 hp (engine used for HOT ROD Power Tour 1997).

Thrasher
1998 – 400ci, iron-block small-bock with 23-degree heads: 525 hp.
2000 – 427 Rocket block 9.3-deck small-block with 18-degree heads: 625 hp.

Mule
2003 – 400ci, 18-degree heads individual runner fuel injection: 575 hp, 500 lb-ft
2004 – 380ci, twin-turbo small-block: 1,000 hp.

Malitude
2005 – 377ci twin-turbo: 900 hp.

Camaro X
2008 – 7.0L LS7: 550 hp.

Jackass
2009 – LS9 custom tuning: 700 hp.

Red Devil
2010 – 7.0L LS9: 810 hp.

Mayhem
2012 – 7.0L LS9 CNC ported heads, new cam: 875 hp.- Refresh 2019-2020

Hellfire
2014 – 7.0L LS9 CNC ported heads new cam, blue-printed blower: 953 hp.

Jackass 2.0
2015 – 7.0L LS9 CNC ported heads new cam, blue-printed blower, E85: 970 hp.

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Dick Harrell # 9, 18 (Organic Green) #27 (Vic Edlebrock's) - Bobby Labonte Blackbird #38 - Johnny Benson Berger SS #72 - PE Brickyard PR1 (red) - DHPE#4 Brickyard - silver - DEI #54 - 3 of 4 'real' 2000 Daytona 500 GTP Pace Cars
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