It doesn’t matter what you think about third-generation Chevrolet Camaros; you’ll change your mind once you set your eye on a clean third-gen built by Jessie’s Performance. The IROC Z Camaro is one of the most iconic models by the manufacturer. Through the Hoonigan AutoFocus YouTube channel, Larry Chen did an in-depth review of the cleanest, meanest black third-generation Camaro by Jessie’s Performance, with a full drag setup at the Holley LS Fest in Los Angeles.
"It started as a pretty nice, just a third-gen IROC car, it was black before, but he was like I want to build a race car, and I was like, okay, let’s do it,” Jessie of Jessie’s Performance explained how the build came to be.
It’s not the first time Jessie is working on such a setup. He had a third-gen Camaro race car before and was already acquitted to the platform when this client approached him.
Third-Gen Camaro Build
Larry Chen first saw the Camaro in the staging lanes at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway.
“When this Camaro pulled up to the lines, it did the fattest burnout to the point where the actual track was smoking for a long time because it laid down like a strip, two strips of rubber, and the rubber was still smoking,” Larry revealed.
Jessie’s client wanted a restored version of the Camaro but as a race car and not a streetcar. Jessie and his team had to fully restore the exterior to resemble a factory IROC with some wheels on it. However, an essential part of the build was under the hood.
The Camaro was restored with all factory body panels, with zero modifications apart from the front fenders. The build started with a full strip down to straighten out the car.
Drag Camaro Makes 1,000 HP Conservatively
For the suspension, the Camaro comes with 35 Spline nine-inch axles, all aftermarket lower control arms, wheel wood brakes, front and rear qa1 coil overs with upper camber caster plates. They also cut the front end and redid it with a tubular front end.
Under the hood, this third-gen Camaro packs a forged bottom n53, with a custom turbo kit running 6762 Mirror Image VS Turbos. It runs on e85 and makes a whopping 1,000 hp conservatively. In full power, it could do up to 1,250 hp.
The transmission is a reverse pattern turbo 400 with a 3600 stall converter. It also comes with a trans brake that can handle 1500-2000hp.
“When you see this thing on jack stands rusting away in someone’s driveway, it may look like a turd, but they polish up really really nice, you know, it’s a great looking car, you can’t help but double-take on this car,” Jessie confessed.
This Camaro build took Jessie’s performance well over 400-man hours.