As owners of classic musclecars, sometimes we sit on the sidelines and watch the late-model guys get all of the attention. With “Coyote this” and “LS that” being tossed around on a daily basis, it seems that old school machines, despite their timeless lines, can’t compete with the newer machinery on any level except for looks and simplicity.

Sure, we could always swap a late-model mill into our classic musclecar, and that seems to be the way to go these days if the pro-touring trend is any evidence. But what if you want to stick with what your car came with, and improve upon it with modern technology? Now there’s a solution and aftermarket companies such as Engine Quest (EQ), and many others, have stepped up to the plate to offer owners of traditional musclecars 21st century components.

Our ’67 Camaro Guinea Pig

Such is the case of our subject ’67 Camaro. Powered by a 327 ci. SBC, the Camaro was in need of an update. Prior to our makeover, it started out as a mildly modified 327 with TRW forged .030 over pistons (technically making it a 331 ci.), a Crane camshaft, 1970 LT-1 heads, a ProForm water pump, a Holley carburetor, and a Holley aluminum intake. Not bad, but we were looking for a bit more power than what we had.

So after a few calls had been placed, we took it to our local speed shop to get a baseline run on the current setup. Providing us with insight during the build was Eric Haughland, National Sales Manager for EQ Cylinder Heads. He has years of experience with SBC engines, and was super helpful with dialing in our project.

We were making a peak output of 227 hp and 247 lb-ft to the tires, and while that might be quick enough to run with a stock ’90s LT1 F-body, it wouldn’t be enough for a stoplight encounter with today’s modern muscle.

In our car’s defense, the torque curve was all over the place; partly in fault to a carburetor that desperately needed a tune, and partly because our timing was a little out of whack. We eventually got these issues sorted out as you’ll read later in the story.

Once strapped down to the dyno, our Camaro put down 227 hp and 247 lb-ft. of torque to the rear wheels.

After we received our baseline numbers, we had to get our Camaro’s engine torn down. That was simple enough – it began by draining all of the fluids, removing the air cleaner, carburetor, intake manifold, headers, plugs, wires, valve covers, and of course, the old cylinder heads.

While we were tearing the motor apart, we realized that we had worn valve guides in the old LT-1 heads. We’re not 100% sure on the cause, but it may be because the previous owner didn’t measure the pushrod length prior to the last build.

This is the 331 ci. starting point we’ll be working with.

At this point, it really didn’t matter anymore since we had a set of brand new aluminum EQ “Torker” heads (AC200BS) to install. EQ is a company that prides themselves on their high quality and extreme flow at an affordable price, perfect for the enthusiast who’s looking for more power without breaking the bank.

The Torker heads feature 197 cc intake runners, and a 65 cc combustion chamber. They can come delivered to your door either bare, or fully assembled, with 2.02 intake and 1.60 exhaust valves.

To complement our EQ heads would be a set of Crane’s Classic 1.6 roller rockers (11776-16). We’ve also sourced Summit Racing rocker arm studs (SUM-G1675), ARP head bolts (ARP-134-3601), COMP Cams chromoly pushrods (7609-16), ProForm cast aluminum valve covers (141-1058), and a Fel-Pro Performance SBC gasket kit (2802) to round out the total package.

When we asked Haughland for a bit of background on these heads, what they were intended for and who, he explained, “The EQ heads used for this build are our entry-level budget castings. They were designed for street and strip applications and for SBC engines displacing less than 400 cubic inches. We have seen up to 500 HP produced with these castings on some of our customer cars.”

This is exactly what we wanted to hear because the Camaro isn’t a drag car – it’s a street machine that will see occasional jaunts down the dragstrip. We love drag racing, but we prefer driving our ’68 Camaro on the street just a little bit more.

Once we removed the obstacles in our way, we unbolted the cylinder heads and removed them from the block. This allowed us to prep the motor for installation of our new EQ cylinder heads.

Installing The EQ Heads And Crane Rockers

Once we had our new components laid out on the work bench, we sat the new heads down on the old head gasket to confirm similar thickness and ran in a few of the head bolts. We checked the pushrod length and started with 7.300-inches, which is what is recommended to start with on a hydraulic roller conversion cam, and we were dead on the first time. Once everything checked out, we took a few minutes to carefully remove any remaining gasket material on the block with a razor blade.

Once we had our heads off, it was time to prep for reassembly. This included removing the old gaskets, and replacing them with our fresh pair of Fel-Pros.

To ensure we cleaned it all off, we scrubbed the surface of the block and heads with some brake cleaner on a paper towel. We strongly suggest not using anything abrasive on the surface of the engine block, as it could leave scratches that would effect the way the head gaskets seal the heads to the block and leave particles behind.

Using a thread chaser on the bolt holes in the block we made sure they were very clean, and free of any debris, so the head bolt torque reading would be accurate. Once the block was cleaned, we put the head gasket down, and sat the head on the dowels. Since these are aluminum heads, we had to use the washers that ARP supplied us with.

During installation, you have to make sure that the washers go on the correct way to fit the bevel around the bottom of the bolt head. We also used the ARP assembly lube between the bolt head and washer to help with getting accurate torque readings.

All of the head bolt holes run into water jackets, so we sealed them with Permatex Thread Sealer (PN 80632) on the recommendation of our local machine shop. After it became clear we had everything lined up properly, we began torquing down the head bolts. Each of the ARP bolts needed to be torqued down to 70 lb-ft, and we did it in three steps (30-50-70) to get the required torque, following the proper torque pattern for a SBC.

The torquing pattern we used was that recommended by General Motors, which starts from the center of the head and in a clockwise pattern the subsequent head bolts are tightened. To get a better understanding of the torquing pattern of a small-block Chevy head, we’ve included a diagram above. 

The heads were on, so we had to prepare the guide plate, pushrods, and rocker studs for installation. The rocker studs – of which half of the holes are blind, and half go into the intake ports – took a specific procedure for installation. For the bolts that go into intake ports we used Permatex #2, and on the blind holes we used the ARP assembly lube. The bolts required to be torqued down in a three stage pattern similar to our cylinder heads, starting at 20 lb-ft, then 40 and finally 60. 

We set the valve lash, a relatively easy task. You also have to check that piston #1 is at top dead center (TDC), followed by checking the compression stroke, and then adjust the remaining valves in the proper firing order. You just have to make sure that you are on the “heel” or base circle of the camshaft for whatever valve you are adjusting.

To get to zero valve lash, we turned the pushrod while tightening the nut until there was the slightest amount of drag. Then we turned the lock a half-turn past zero lash to put a little preload on the lifter, and tightened the poly lock with an allen wrench.

We coated the rockers in 10W-30 motor oil, to ensure a lubricated first start and then buttoned everything up. At this point we were ready to put our Holley intake manifold back on. If the oil pump driveshaft gives you problems when you’re putting the intake back on, like ours did, you can quell this issue easily. By gently turning over the engine with a wrench, you can get the driveshaft to drop down to allow the installation of the intake and distributor with no problem.

First Impressions And Dyno-Tuning

Everything on our Camaro went together like it was meant to happen, and she fired right up on the first crank. We set base timing to 12 degrees with the vacuum advance locked out (at “number 0”). During our test drive, we did experience some backfiring through the exhaust while the car was under load.

We initially used the original plug wire set from the previous setup, and after some checking, we realized that the wire boot wasn’t locking to the spark plug properly, so out they went. We made another run to Summit for a set of MSD‘s Super Conductor wire set (31359). They fit much better, and they cleared up the backfiring issue.

After our issue-free second test drive, we took our Camaro back to the shop to get some dyno numbers with our new configuration. The numbers improved significantly! Total output was 294 hp and 295 lb-ft at the wheels, while the idle was greatly improved, and as an added bonus we saw an increase in fuel economy.

It’s nice having the luxury of performance and fuel economy in one package, and with the cost of today’s gas prices, who’s going to complain about that? As Eric tells us, “There’s plenty of potential untapped power in these castings. We’ve had customers tell us they’ve seen as much as an additional 40 hp with CNC porting.”

The final results are in! Once we had our new cylinder heads on, the test drive complete, and our Camaro strapped back on the dyno we were rewarded with anew total of 294.60 hp and 295.90 lb-ft of torque on the rollers. Not bad for a simple head and rocker upgrade.

Overall, we are pleased with the improvement in the drivability and fuel mileage of our ’67 Camaro. From a performance standpoint, there’s still quite a lot left on the table and being as how it’s a traditional small-block Chevy mill, the sky is the limit in terms of what we can do with this car.

The throttle response is incredible, the torque puts us back in the seat, and with close to 300 hp to the tires, we’ll be able to run door handle to door handle with a stock LS1 fourth-generation F-body. Hey, it’s a start. Maybe a stroker kit will be in our car’s future, maybe a complete engine swap – only time will tell. Stay tuned.