You gotta hand it to Chevy, they know how to build a hot rod when they set their minds to it: Case-in-point - the 302 Camaro. This car is a definitely an anachronism, particularly when one thinks about the seemingly ever-popular trend of boring and stroking engines to get the last possible bit of displacement from them. Why, then, would Chevy go to all the trouble to build a hot-rod Camaro with less displacement than a stock V8 car? Why, to celebrate the heritage of the car, of course!

Chevrolet debuted the Z28 in 1967 with one purpose in mind - to compete in the then rapidly growing SCCA Trans-Am road-racing class. There was only one problem; the class had a 5-liter (305 cubic inches) maximum displacement rule, and Chevy offered only 283-, 327- and 350-inch versions of their small block. No problem for the wizards in Detroit, though, as they met this displacement limit by stuffing a 283 crank (3” stroke) in a 327 block (4” bore), resulting in what was arguably one of the most legendary small-block V8s ever produced. Under-rated at 290 horsepower, which not coincidentally happened to also be the rating for Ford’s Boss 302, the engine actually made upwards of 350 horsepower when twisted above 6500 rpm. But enough history…..

The “new” 302 in the car we drove shares nothing but displacement with it’s forefather, however. The LS1-based engine sports tweaked LS6 heads and intake, as currently used on the stout Z06 Corvette (yet another modern twist on a legendary model, but that’s another story). The 302 also features a billet Callies crank, Dyer’s connecting rods, and custom solid roller camshaft ground by the gurus at Comp Cams. Jesel supplied the roller rockers, and TTS Power Systems fabbed up the headers and did the all-important computer tuning that makes this thing scream. The compression ratio is around 11.5:1, and the sounds made by this little jewel at idle are enough to bring a tear to any American performance fan’s eye.

And scream it does. The 302 has decent low-end and midrange power, at least as good as most LS1 cars we’ve driven the last few years, but when the tach needle swings above 5000 things really start to happen. The power rush up top is akin to an automotive religious experience, and the pull continues to the 7200 rpm rev limiter (lowered from 7500 so we wouldn’t, ahhh, hurt either ourselves or the motor). We strapped the Camaro on the HRMPT chassis dyno that accompanied the Long Haulers across the country, and the little beast made 375 rwhp at 6800 rpm. That equates to well over 400 ponies at the crank, and Westech Automotive’s Norm Brandes, who built this little screamer, said there was more to be found with some fine-tuning. Wow.

While the engine in the 302 Camaro is definitely the star of the show, the rest of the car’s been upgraded as well. John Hotchkis did the suspension work in his usual exemplary manner. The car handles like it’s on rails, but doesn’t really beat you to death running down the road. It’s no super-soft Cadillac, but it doesn’t ride like a dump truck either. A Baer Racing 14” brake system hauls the Camaro down from the prodigious speeds it’s capable of reaching, and huge BFG G-Force meats riding on 18” American Racing wheels connect everything to the road.

The cockpit of the 302 has been treated to a pair of comfortable, supportive, and just plain cool-looking Recaro seats. Also present inside is a LG Motorsports roll bar and a set of 5-point harnesses, both of which are very good ideas considering how much go-fast hardware present on the rest of the car. The Tremec 6-speed’s gears are manipulated through a tight and positive Hurst shifter.

The only real problems we had with the Camaro throughout the Power Tour were tire related. It seems we picked up a nail early on, and we thought it wise to have the tire patched before continuing on our merry way. Well, the tire store we visited did a fine job of patching the tire, but unfortunately when they rebalanced the meat they didn’t account for the extra large Baer Racing brake caliper, which promptly knocked the weight off as soon as we left the place. We vibrated along for awhile, and finally stopped at the G.L. Moore Tire Company in Springfield, Missouri. Mike Dunn, the assistant manager there, helped us out tremendously by removing and rebalancing both front wheels and tires. Mike also found a nail in the other front tire while he was doing all this, so he patched that one for us as well. The guys there at G.L. Moore got us in and out very quickly, and they’re all gearheads to boot. If you find yourself in their neck of the woods needing service (they do more than just tires), G.L. Moore Tire Company is the place to go. They’re “hot rod” friendly!

We had one other tire episode, this time as we rolled into California. Evidently we picked up another piece of debris along the highway, and the tire began to rapidly deflate. By the time we noticed the car starting to pull to one side slightly, the big G-Force overheated and let go in a big way! We just couldn’t catch a break on front tires for some reason! While we were on the side of the highway fitting the space-saver spare, quite a few Long Haulers stopped to help. This made us feel much better considering we were in the middle of the desert, 100 miles from nowhere! We loaded the dead BFG and wheel into the back of a newfound friend’s El Camino, and limped on in to San Bernardino on the donut. Yeah, it looked funny and we couldn’t run very quickly, but by this time all we wanted to do was get there!

We had a blast with the 302 Camaro on the Power Tour, even considering the “Tire Wars” episodes. That just goes with the Long Hauler territory. Hell, this is the third one we’ve been on, taking multiple cars on each trip, and this is the first real trouble we’ve had. You could say we were due.

Thanks to everyone at Chevrolet, Westech Automotive, TTS, and all the others for letting us spend so much time in the saddle of the 302. It was a blast!