An Appearance
Upgrade Where None Had Been Before
Hide-away
headlights were one of the neat features on the RS
version of the ’68 Camaro. Unfortunately, our
Camaro did not start life as an RS. To make the car
as visually “clean” as possible, it was decided
to retrofit the car with the RS hidden headlights and
to eliminate the front bumper. This is not a car that
will be left in parallel parking spaces to suffer the
abuse of “Braille” drivers that park “by
feel”. While
the front end looks great without the bumper, it does
invite expensive damage.
The
RS grill and headlight covers, along with the vacuum
actuators and vacuum tank, were purchased from Chevrolet
and the stock grill was discarded. Installation of
the RS components required adding a lip to the inside
of the front fenders surrounding the headlight doors.
The RS fenders had this lip for attaching the grill
moldings – other model Camaros did not. Rick “Speed” Lefever
then fashioned his own linkage for smooth, reliable
operation of the headlight doors using the stock actuators.
Using
the stock vacuum tank proved unworkable. The stock
vacuum tank is quite large and would have been difficult
to locate behind the grill. It would also have restricted
airflow to the dual air cleaners, a/c condenser, intercoolers
and radiator. To solve the problem, Speed made two
smaller vacuum tanks that interconnect for roughly
the same volume as the stock tank. These two smaller
tanks fit neatly behind the lower grill, out of the
cooling airflow. This is another neat little trick
that will escape the attention of most observers.
One
problem that did crop up after installing the RS grill
was access to the hood release mechanism. Speed reworked
the mechanism, adding a lever that can be reached through
the opening below the grill. It’s a small detail,
but an important one.
A
stock Camaro front air dam was added to improve both
the aerodynamics and the look of the car. Several small
support braces were added behind the air dam to give
it extra rigidity at high speed.
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