14 CHEVY HIGH PERFORMANCE II NOVEMBER 2019
Steam Engine
when he was 15. He’d had his first Yank—a ’
Gran Prix—soon thereafter but hankered for a Pro
Street Camaro for a long time, all wiggly, like his
butt was on a strip of thumb tacks.
As F-bodies are not native to the British Isles,
the Camaro was discovered in the New World.
According to Marc it was well-known, owned
by Taylor Engines way over there in Diamond
Bar, California, an ex-Super Stock racer that Marc
cadged as a humble roller in 2014 or so. The
caveat was that it would be driven every day that
London streets were dry. So, what’s the big deal
you think? But after you look, you see it is a very
big deal.
Marc based the build on several unorthodox
cues, the most salient being a 400-cubic-inch
aluminum small-block that flaunts SB2.2 race
heads because they flow big numbers and were
just the ticket to service a pair of Precision
Engineering turbochargers. The object was to
drive a mild engine during all phases of service,
not some high-idle, high-compression, gnashing
camshaft engine that acted like a grenade ready to
fragment.
Modern electronics made the whole thing
possible. Modern may be a euphemism for
expensive, and the MoTeC EFI, engine, and
ignition control are way up there at the top of the
list. The MoTeC system is Shane Tecklenburg’s
turf. He lives in Huntington Beach, California,