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Written by Patrick Rall
Holden Special Vehicles recently began marketing the Chevrolet Camaro SS in the Australian market, but to do so, the company has to first convert every car to right-hand-drive. While Ford builds the Mustang for the Aussie market with the steering wheel on the right side, Chevrolet does not, so HSV has to manually swap the steering wheel from one side of the cabin to the other.This takes a great deal more work than you might expect, with most of the body panels, much of the wiring, all of the interior, the front suspension and the firewall all being removed to create a right-drive Camaro. To show just how much work goes into the swap, the HSV YouTube channel recently shared a video detailing the left-hand-drive to right-hand-drive conversion that every Chevy muscle car shipped "down under" has to go through in order to be street legal.Eight Stages of ConversionThe conversion process of a Chevrolet Camaro by Holden Special Vehicles is narrated by Andrew Mills, Camaro Production Line Manager at HSV, who calls it the "re-manufacturing process". If you have never seen a car undergo this process, that might seem like an exaggeration, but as the video shows, almost every piece of the car is removed during the right-drive build.Station 1First up, the HSV team removes the doors, seats, carpeting, trunk liner, fuse box, stereo amplifier and the main wiring harness of the Camaro. The team also removes some body panels, making the rewiring process a bit easier.Station 2At the second step of the process, the new wiring harness goes in with the fuse box and the amplifier being remounted in the trunk. Once the harness is popped into place in the trunk, the "boot trim" goes in and the team moves to the interior, where the process of installing the new harness continues. After that, the rear seats, cabin trim and headliner go into the 2018 Camaro. Finally, Station 2 removes the front end and the entire dash assembly.Station 3At the third station, the team drops the front suspension and engine assembly, allowing them to swap to a right-drive steering column. This includes rerouting some engine and transmission lines, but to install a steering column on the right side of the Camaro, the team also has to remove the entire firewall. After the new firewall goes in with the access for the steering column and pedals, the engine bay items that attach to the firewall including the brake booster are bolted back up. Once everything that goes behind the engine is returned to its normal position, the engine and front suspension assembly is replaced.Converting a Camaro to Right-Hand Drive (Video) continued…Next page
Date written: December 10, 2018
More of this article on the LS1 Tech website
ID: 14283
Holden Special Vehicles recently began marketing the Chevrolet Camaro SS in the Australian market, but to do so, the company has to first convert every car to right-hand-drive. While Ford builds the Mustang for the Aussie market with the steering wheel on the right side, Chevrolet does not, so HSV has to manually swap the steering wheel from one side of the cabin to the other.This takes a great deal more work than you might expect, with most of the body panels, much of the wiring, all of the interior, the front suspension and the firewall all being removed to create a right-drive Camaro. To show just how much work goes into the swap, the HSV YouTube channel recently shared a video detailing the left-hand-drive to right-hand-drive conversion that every Chevy muscle car shipped "down under" has to go through in order to be street legal.Eight Stages of ConversionThe conversion process of a Chevrolet Camaro by Holden Special Vehicles is narrated by Andrew Mills, Camaro Production Line Manager at HSV, who calls it the "re-manufacturing process". If you have never seen a car undergo this process, that might seem like an exaggeration, but as the video shows, almost every piece of the car is removed during the right-drive build.Station 1First up, the HSV team removes the doors, seats, carpeting, trunk liner, fuse box, stereo amplifier and the main wiring harness of the Camaro. The team also removes some body panels, making the rewiring process a bit easier.Station 2At the second step of the process, the new wiring harness goes in with the fuse box and the amplifier being remounted in the trunk. Once the harness is popped into place in the trunk, the "boot trim" goes in and the team moves to the interior, where the process of installing the new harness continues. After that, the rear seats, cabin trim and headliner go into the 2018 Camaro. Finally, Station 2 removes the front end and the entire dash assembly.Station 3At the third station, the team drops the front suspension and engine assembly, allowing them to swap to a right-drive steering column. This includes rerouting some engine and transmission lines, but to install a steering column on the right side of the Camaro, the team also has to remove the entire firewall. After the new firewall goes in with the access for the steering column and pedals, the engine bay items that attach to the firewall including the brake booster are bolted back up. Once everything that goes behind the engine is returned to its normal position, the engine and front suspension assembly is replaced.Converting a Camaro to Right-Hand Drive (Video) continued…Next page
Date written: December 10, 2018
More of this article on the LS1 Tech website
ID: 14283
