It has been a long road for Project True SStreet. Our theft recovery 2014 Camaro SS has lived several different lives as we’ve worked on building it, and now this project is entering the home stretch. We’re working on the final iteration of Project True SStreet, but before you get to see that, we’ve got an update on what’s been happening with the car.

The last time we had True SStreet at the track was during a test session where a previous batch of upgrades were getting put through their paces. The Camaro had a fresh Neal Chance Racing Converters torque converter, upgraded Meziere flexplate, a new intercooler system, a refreshed Moser rearend, and a new E85 fuel system. With only one full pass, True SStreet ran 5.607 seconds at 127.08 mph with a 1.330 60-foot time. You can learn more about the previous upgrades right here. 

That 5.607 run was a solid improvement with minimal tuning, but before we could chip away at the e.t., the test session ended. After looking things over, we found more areas that could be improved with the car, so it was time to head back to the shop and get to work.

Fresh Shoes From WELD Racing

Once we got True SStreet back to the shop and started reviewing the data we noticed something, the Mickey Thompson slicks we had on the car were rotating on the wheel. It was costing us a healthy amount of 60-foot time and e.t. at the top end. The Camaro had officially started making enough horsepower and hooking well enough that it was overcoming the glue-style method we were using to keep the tire on the wheel. If we wanted to use all of the horsepower that our LME-built 427ci LSX engine was generating, the tire would have to stop rotating on the wheel.

After talking with the team at WELD Racing, it was decided that a fresh set of double beadlock wheels were needed for True SStreet. For those who don’t know, a beadlock wheel uses a ring to hold the bead of the tire on the wheel. The tire is positioned on the wheel so when the ring is fastened to the wheel, it holds the tire in place. These wheels are a staple on any high-horsepower car, and make sure the tire doesn’t rotate on the wheel.

The WELD Racing catalog is stacked with plenty of awesome wheels. It wasn’t easy selecting new rolling stock for True SStreet, but the WELD V-Series wheels got the nod. These wheels have that classic WELD feel with a nice modern twist that look great on the Camaro. 

For the front, we grabbed a set of black 17×4.5-inch, 5 x 120mm bolt pattern wheels with 2.25-inch backspacing. The WELD Racing V-Series frontrunner wheels are perfect for drag racing. These wheels are optimized for weight reduction, and use a one-piece forged 6061 monoblock construction. The wheels are strong, lightweight, and have virtually no run-out. These wheels are also SFI 15.2 certified, so they’re very safe.

The rear wheels were the biggest need for True SStreet, so it was important to get the right set for the car. Our black-on-black V-Series double beadlock rear wheels measure 15×11-inches, have a 5×4.75-inch bolt pattern, and 4-inches of backspacing. The rear V-Series wheels use a three-piece forged construction, and are designed to be lightweight, but very strong. WELD uses a forged 6061 material for the beadlock rings of the wheels. Just like the V-Series front wheels, the rears are also SFI-certified.

These wheels look PERFECT on True SStreet and are real works of art. Check out this video where our shop tech Seth unboxes the wheels, gets the tires mounted, and shows what they look like on the Camaro.

Better Traction From Mickey Thompson

New wheels were just part of the upgrade equation for True SStreet. The slicks that were on the old wheels weren’t right for our new combination. That meant it was time to find some new rubber for the Camaro that could handle the elevated level of horsepower. When we started to build True SSTreet, the plan was to run the NMCA West’s True Street class. Well, the NMCA is no more, and that meant we could transition the car to full slicks.

The team at Mickey Thompson suggested we use a set of their ET Drag slicks. These slicks are a bias-ply tire design, so they’re very flexible. Since the ET Drag Slick has a flexible sidewall and surface, it can really grip the surface of the track. The tire is known for its ability to provide more than enough traction no matter what the track conditions are. These slicks also don’t require much of a burnout, perfect for those ultra-hot days at the track when the surface can get greasy.

To maximize True SStreet’s footprint and how much tire we could fit on the WELD wheels, a set of  28×10.5 ET Drag slicks were selected. Getting the tires to fit on our wheels was a drama-free experience and they should be perfect for our application.

Well, Time For New Brakes

Long-term project cars are a funny thing, just when you think you’ve got everything figured out they throw a curveball at your plan. It turns out the brakes we were using on True SStreet for street/strip action weren’t going to work with our new WELD wheels. Since we were already hurdling down the path of a full race car for True SStreet, we decided it would be best to go with a more race-oriented style of brakes.

We examined our options and gave Strange Engineering a call about the new Evolution series of brakes. Thankfully, Strange had a front kit that would fit our Camaro’s stock spindle, and they had a rear kit that would work with our rearend that uses Oldsmobile-style housing ends. What’s even better? These kits from Strange come with everything you need to complete the installation.

Strange developed the Evolution S Dynamic Drive Mount (DDM) Stainless Steel Rotors specifically for drag racing. You mount the billet aluminum DDM hat together with the Evolution S rotor, this helps to reduce the rotating weight of the brake system. Strange designed the DDM system so the rotor has room for thermal expansion. This design’s advantage over a typical bolt retention system is that it helps reduce warping, rotor coning, and cracking.

The Evolution 4 calipers that come with the kit are perfect for the extreme conditions of drag racing. These calipers use stainless steel pistons that help to mitigate the amount of heat that’s transferred to the brake fluid. The less heat you have in your brake fluid the better, it improves braking performance and helps to eliminate possible braking issues. Strange designed a reverse dish pressure vessel for the caliper’s piston to optimize the amount of stiffness that’s available. The pistons are 1.750-inches in size, this provides more clamping force which is important when you’re trying to hold a car at the starting line.

Well, that wraps up this round of updates for Project True SStreet. Our next goal is to get the Camaro back to the track so we can see how well the car does. You can follow the entire True SStreet build right here on Dragzine.