This autocrossing, drag-racing 1989 Chevrolet Camaro RS is an ongoing father-daughter project

If you're lucky enough to grow up as a car person in a car family, you’re lucky enough. That’s because car folks understand that, even when you’re young, the car you drive matters a lot. The average American spends an hour a day behind the wheel—and that, presumably, includes all the Americans who don’t drive at all—so being forced into something dull and practical can be quite excruciating.

Justina Schwartz, thankfully, was born to the right people. Her father, Jeff Schwartz, started Schwartz Performance, in Woodstock, Illinois, back in 2005. The company specializes in performance hardware for American muscle cars taking the “G-Machine” route. The “G” in G-Machine refers to gravitational forces, meaning the way you get pulled around when turning in a car built for handling.

Third-generation F-bodies, especially more quotidian models like Justina’s ’89 Camaro Rally Sport here, were certainly improved from a handling perspective compared with their predecessors, but 16 years on, by the time Jeff picked up this car for daily-driver duties, they left considerable room for improvement.

“I lost my job in 2004 and in 2005, I started my company,” Jeff recalls. “At the time, I was paying on a brand-new Mitsubishi Evo that I had.”

“The Evo,” Justina explains, “was ‘the cool new thing’ that had come to the U.S., finally, in the early 2000s.”

For budget purposes, though, the Evo had to go. Jeff found himself looking for something that was still cool but “cheap to drive every day and that wouldn’t break the bank on fixing it. Something you could buy brake pads from Autozone for $20.”

An internet search turned up this car, only 20 miles away in Elgin, Illinois. “It‘d had a cheesy repaint and somebody had put a backyard window-tint job on it. Other than that, it was a pretty solid car. I think when I got it, it had 89,000 or somewhere around there: not super-high miles. ”Jeff used the Camaro as simple transportation for a couple years while he built his business, then Justina’s older brother, Dale, needed a car.

“Dale was off at college in Kansas and my wife had given him an older Miata to drive. He yanked the engine and was going to do an LS swap on it over the Christmas break, but you know how that goes. It’s always a bigger job than you think. So, I ended up bringing the Camaro out to Kansas and giving it to him to drive for his last two years.”

It was while Dale was away at college that Justina and Jeff began to bond over cars.

“When my brother was away, I hung out with my dad more. That’s when I started doing more of the car stuff and got into it further.”

Dale put about 23,000 miles on the Camaro before returning it to Jeff. By that time, Justina was getting close to driving age, and, as she puts it, the Camaro “was just sitting around.”

“She said ‘Are you gonna build me a cool car like you did Dale?’ Dale had an ’82 Trans Am that we built together. I said, ‘Well, I didn’t build Dale his car, I helped him build a car. So, if you want to build a car, I’ll help you build a car as well.’”

Jeff and Justina agreed that the newly available Camaro was a good starting point, and they wasted no time getting started.

“That weekend I had her pull the seats out of it and we pulled the carpet and then we drove it out to the shop.” Come that summer, Justina pulled the original 305 V-8 and 700-R4 transmission. Unusually, however, there were no plans to replace the 170-hp L03 305 with an LS-series V-8. Instead, they would install a traditional small-block Chevrolet. That selection was driven by simplicity, cost consciousness, and convenience.

“I happened to have a 350 that was completely rebuilt that was in another project I bought and ended up doing an LS swap, so the small-block was essentially brand new and had never been used for anything.” There’s the convenience. That’s even simpler than going down to the junkyard and pulling an LS from a wrecked pickup.

An old-school small-block Chevy still has significant bang for the buck.

As for cost, Jeff explains, “One reason we kept it a small-block is that there are a lot of hidden expenses with an LS swap—like the headers, serpentine drive, and so on. I call them ‘unintended’ or ‘unrecognized’ expenses. I was trying to keep it a little more low-buck.”

Contrast that with the simplicity of using a larger version of the original engine. “The factory serpentine setup and all of the exterior stuff bolted on from the 305,” Jeff says, though deviations were made where it was deemed better to upgrade. The factory throttle-body injection setup, for example, was discarded in favor of a Holley Sniper EFI atop an Edelbrock Victor Junior intake manifold. Jeff also advocated for a manual transmission swap, but Justina wasn’t yet comfortable driving a stick, so the original 700-R4 was rebuilt with a shift kit and upgraded clutches, then reinstalled along with a 2,200-rpm torque convertor.

Throughout, Justina did most of the work, under Jeff’s guidance.

The 355 short-block and World Products heads were leftovers from another project and make 440 hp with Holley Sniper EFI.

“I showed her how to swap out the oil pan,” he says, “and had her put the intake manifold on. Along the way, I showed her how to torque the bolts and such. We went through the valve lash and adjusted it and everything. She put the engine and trans back in. I got suspension stuff and she ended up doing the installation of some of those items.” In the end, essentially only the paint and bodywork were farmed out to a friend of Jeff’s.

Fittingly for a hot rod, the Camaro was tweaked subtly in both body and hue.

“We did a hood and a rear spoiler from Hawks Third Gen,” Jeff says. “The hood is called a SUNOCO hood and the spoiler is taller than the original one. Both give the car a more aggressive look.

“We found a blue color that was very similar to the factory blue, but it was a Kia color called Santorini Blue—code HO. It was almost the same medium blue as the original but had a lot more depth to it. Modern colors have a little more depth and a little more pop and a little more metallic. After it got painted, we swapped out the suspension.”

The seats came from a fourth-generation car that was stripped for racing. A Dakota Digital gauge insert resides behind the original bezel for a stealth upgrade.

The RS replaced the Sport Coupe as the base Camaro in 1989, after an appearance as a limited-production, California-only model in 1987. It boasted IROC-Z-inspired lower body panels, cast aluminum wheels (formerly used on the Z/28), quick-ratio steering, and sport suspension, but came standard with a 2.8-liter V-6, while a 5.0-liter V-8 was optional.

Since this Camaro was ordered with a 305 it could’ve shouldered a 350, but Jeff wanted to really overhaul the car’s chassis for superior braking and handling as well as to match the output of the new engine. “If you get a Z28 or a Trans Am or a Formula, they already have pretty good suspension on them. A set of tires is all you need, but the RS had smaller sway bars than the IROCs and the Z28s and such.”

The Schwartz family hobby is autocross. If you’re not familiar, that’s a racing discipline where a single car negotiates a twisting course of cones on pavement. Interestingly, that overlaps with Justina’s particular passion: horses.

“The first time she went to an autocross,” Jeff recalls, “I think it was the Car Craft Summer Nationals in Milwaukee, she said, ‘This is just like horse jumping, but in a car.’” “We have a discipline called ‘jumpers,’” Justina explains. “You have to be quickest within a certain time limit. Autocross is an adrenaline rush. My issue is wanting to be perfect.”

Speeds aren’t that high in autocross (the Sports Car Club of America says they top out around 55 or 60 mph), though power and gearing make for good acceleration. Vehicle control is paramount if you want to achieve a good time. It’s an excellent sport/hobby in which to use one’s daily driver, as the skills involve translate to vehicle handling on the road as well.

As with the engine, the suspension recipe was equal parts thrifty and inspired. Jeff explains, “I mini tubbed it and then I made a coilover setup for it. I bought some Viking coilovers and fabricated my own brackets. I did the coilover setup first because then that gave me room to mini tub it.

“On the front, I bought off-the-shelf QA1 coilovers. At the time I did this—a number of years ago—there wasn’t a lot of stuff available [for third-gen F-bodies] like there is now. It has a pair of Hotchkis sway bars I won at the Motor State Challenge event.

“With the coilovers, you’ve got adjustable damping and it’s pretty solid. It’s a pretty good-handling car.”

A Moser-built Ford 9-inch with 3.70 gears and a limited-slip differential was swapped in during the suspension reconfiguration. Fourteen-inch Baer brakes were fitted front and rear behind 18-inch Weld wheels: 18 x 9s on the front, shod with 235/35R18 tires and 18 x 12s out back, wearing 315/30R18s. BFGoodrich tires were used on all four corners.

All told, the Camaro project took two years.

“When we started the build,” Justina says, “I was 15. We finished it when I was 17 and we debuted it at the Chicago Auto Show at McCormick Place with the Illinois Camaro Club.” It’s no show car, though. It gets driven on the street, albeit carefully, and Justina’s interest in the car has grown over time.

“I did drive it to high school a couple times and everybody’s jaw dropped, but I didn’t really drive it all the time. I didn’t want anything to happen to it. Then I started autocrossing it in the spring of 2015, up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with the SCCA. I’ve done that more times than I can count. I probably have done at least 15 to 20 events with it.”

Now 23, Justina finds herself looking forward to using the Camaro more in the future, especially as an autocrosser, and she’s on the same page as Jeff when it comes to a potential manual transmission swap.

“I think in the future, I’d like to put a five-speed in it. I’d ideally like a T-56 [six-speed], but Dad’s big on a five-speed. I guess we’ll see.”

Only from the rear are the mini tubs and the sticky tires evident.

SPECIFICATIONS-1989 CHEVROLET CAMARO RS COUPE

ENGINE

Block type: Chevrolet “small-block” cast-iron OHV V-8

Cylinder heads: World Products cast iron

Displacement: 355-cu.in.

Bore x stroke: 4.030 x 3.48 in

Compression ratio: 9.5:1

Pistons: Keith Black cast aluminum

Connecting rods: GM steel

Crankshaft: GM cast steel

Horsepower @ rpm: 440 @ 6,150

Torque @ rpm: 460 lb-ft @ 4,450

Camshaft type: COMP Cams hydraulic

Duration: 230/236 degrees duration

Valvetrain: 2.05/1.80-in valves; COMP Cams hydraulic lifters

Induction system: Edelbrock Victor Jr. aluminum intake; Holley Sniper EFI

Lubrication system: Stock Chevrolet gear-type pump

Ignition system: Holley Dual Sync distributor

Exhaust: SLP headers, stainless 3-in dual exhaust with Magnaflow mufflers

Original engine: Chevrolet 305-cu.in. V-8

TRANSMISSION

Type: GM TH700-R4 four-speed automatic

Ratios: 1st/3.06:1 … 2nd/1.63:1 … 3rd/1:1 … 4th/0.7:1 … Reverse/2.9:1

DIFFERENTIAL

Type: Moser Ford 9-inch with limited-slip differential

Ratio: 3.70:1

STEERING

Type: Recirculating ball with power assist

Turns, lock-to-lock: 12.7:1

BRAKES

Type: Baer four-wheel disc, six-piston calipers

Front/Rear: 14-in cross-drilled and slotted rotors

SUSPENSION

Front: Independent; QA1 adjustable coilover shocks, Hotchkis SP 27-mm anti-sway bar

Rear: Live axle with owner-built coilover conversion; Viking coilovers, Hotchkis SP 22-mm anti-sway bar

WHEELS & TIRES

Wheels: Weld

Front: 18 x 9 in

Rear: 18 x 12 in

Tires: BFGoodrich g-Force Rival

Front: 275/35R18

Rear: 315/30R18

PERFORMANCE

1⁄4-mile ET: 13.34 sec @ 109 mph

Top speed: 165 mph