I owned a 1979 Camaro Sport Coupe. I wanted a V-8 "base car" to avoid the flash of the Z-28. The car was junk. The body was horrible with mismatched panels. The plastic nose and tail had a slightly different paint hue than the metal parts. The interior panels fit terribly and the seats were hardly worth sitting on. The stock 350ci engine didn't make much power for the engine size, but the three speed TH350 automatic was a great unit. People gush over the TH400, but the 350 was more than strong enough, and with only minor mods, could handle huge power.
Anyway, the car went to the body shop, the OE paint stripped off (those cars barely had any factory rust-proofing anyway) and the panels were all painstakingly aligned. The surface prep was such that the plastic and metal panels were colour matched once the paint was on. The interior was mostly stock but better seats and some dash mods made it more comfortable and added some better instruments. Why did I even buy that car? The chassis.
Those F-body 71-81 cars were amazing raw platforms. Yeah, they had leaf springs and a solid axle, but it didn't take much to turn them into some pretty wicked cars. First, eliminate the flex by tying the subframes together. Next, toss out the factory weak leafs and have a shop fabricate progressive leafs. Chuck the sway bars and buy some Herb Adams units with poly bushings. Firm up the front end with either Herb Adams coils or the WS6 units from GM. Score some 1LE rear discs. Make sure your OE diff has posi, if not get one and a 3.55 rear ratio set.
The engine bay on those cars will allow a lot of engine to just drop in. Big blocks fit, but if you're going street with some handling, the lighter small block is better. A roller-cam 350 can easily produce >400hp and rev to 8000rpm. Today I'd use an FI system instead of a carb. An LT1 four bolt block, forged crank, pink rods, forged slugs, 202 heads, a big mandrel bent custom exhaust and Flowmasters, and you're on your way to building a low 11sec car that can handle. One caveat: the massive Herb Adams sway bars kill the cars ability to launch, so if you are spending an evening at the strip, disconnect the front bar for 10x better launches.
That was the appeal of those cars. They weren't great cars to buy and drive. They were great cars to buy and build. The 1970's emissions and other stuff killed the power, but with some time and not that much money, you could own a very quick car.
