In 1978, during his junior year in high school, Mike Norcia bought an 11-year-old Camaro, which has remained in his possession since.
Today, the car is rebuilt in the style of a Pro Street machine, or perhaps more accurately a Pro Mod Street. Endowed with a 572-cu.-in. power unit, GM’s biggest crate engine and rated at 620 bhp/650 tq the car is fast – operating in the high 9-second range over the quarter mile.–
Mike’s affection for race cars and hot rods was awakened at an early age – undoubtedly transmitted by his father, John, who had formed the noted competition clutch company in the early 1970s.
“At the time I bought the car for $1200,” Norcia says, “I got a clean body with 34,000 miles of use, a Muncie M22 transmission, a Dana rear end and enlarged rear wheel wells, which indicated that the car had probably seen competition use. In the engine bay, it sported a nice 327-cu.-in. power unit – split down both sides of the block!” Abandoned in a barn over several winters and with a cooling system filled with water without antifreeze, crankcase destruction was inevitable.“ I suspected the only tools the previous owner used to work on this car were a dead-blow hammer and a blow torch!” Norcia says.–
The engine was replaced with a fairly radical 350 and the car was pressed into action for another year until one evening when setting the valves, oil issued from the exhaust and up the garage door behind. This was the result of multiple valve-seal failures on one side, following some spirited driving the night before.
The next engine combo was an LT-1 from a 1970 Corvette. “Around this same time,” says Norcia, “and with the help of a friend we stripped the car and repainted it. We chose Corvette Dark Red and incorporated Silver Blue flames coming off the front rally stripe. Being a typical 17-year-old, I didn’t do as good a job as I could have with the paintwork. But it certainly was an attention-getter!”
Then out of the blue in 1994, he towed the car to Stroupe Race Cars in Kings Mountain, North Carolnia, for a complete 12-point roll cage and back-half job – rebuilding the car from the firewall to the back end. The intention was to develop it as a Pro Street car.
But at the same time he started a family and, as a consequence, the car languished in the garage for the next 17 years. Then in late 2010, his son began showing an interest in reviving the project. The body was sent to Color by Weasel in Lugoff, South Carolina, and the car was completely rebuilt to its current condition, incorporating much of what he had learned over the years – “mainly patience!” he bridles.–
Under the Camaro’s cowl induction hood is a Chevrolet Performance ZZ572 big block that puts out 620 horsepower and 650 foot-pounds of torque. The engine comes from The General with forged steel crank and rods, rectangular port aluminum heads, a hydraulic roller cam (254/264 degrees duration @.050, .634 inch lift), and a single plane intake with an 850 cfm Demon Carburetion carburetor. Mike updated the ignition system with an MSD distributor, 6AL ignition box, and Blaster coil. The exhaust system consists of Dynatech headers dumping into custom-bent dual pipes with Summit Racing stainless steel mufflers.
To feed the thirsty 572 big-block, the excellent Aeromotive A1000 fuel pump was put to good use. Pumping from a modest 12-gal. fuel cell, the pump is assisted by an Aeromotive fuelpressure regulator and two filters; one placed before the pump, the other before the carburetor. Lubrication for the engine, transmission and rear end is entrusted to Royal Purple.
“Transmissions vary and some Pro Street guys even run Lencos,” Norcia says, “but I use a 5-speed Tremec TKO 600, which has an overdrive top gear. It transmits through a Ford 9-in. rear end with a Strange spool, 4.10 gear and axles. This gearing arrangement generates around 55 mph at 2000 rpm, which suits my street driving.” The Tremec, incidentally, uses its own shifter with a round-style knob by Lokar, who also provided the pedals and pads.
Common interests get projects going, but it is shared experiences that accumulate the memories – it builds the community – as no doubt Norcia and his pals will confirm. “I have always been a Pro Street and a big-cubic-inch admirer, and on this project we pursued a theme of ‘modern Pro Street’ or, put another way, what would the car look like if it were built to match the style of high-horsepower race cars today? The result is this – what I term Pro Mod Street. Could we be starting a new trend?”
