Time-lapse photography can be a wonderful storyteller, and this video shot by Adam Ince is great example. But there’s much more to this tale than just the challenges of building — and rebulding — a 383 stroker engine for a ’69 Camaro.

Adam’s dad, Dave, runs Dirty Dave’s Marine in Perris, California. Dave is good friends of car painter Butch Lynch, who is also heavily involved in veterans projects. Lynch helped restore and paint a Marine’s Camaro (you can see the incredible transformation on Lynch’s website), but there were problems with the engine that had been built for the car.

“The engine in this car was a piece of crap,” fumes Ince, who is also an automotive artist with work in a variety of mediums.

Even though Ince had agreed on a price for a basic freshening, he rummaged through the inventory in his shop and found a steel Eagle stroker crank to replace to the cast-iron piece. He also gathered up Probe pistons and I-beam rods. A set of Edelbrock heads, Edelbrock manifold and Quick Fuel 780cfm carb finished off the top end.

On the first test run, Ince could tell there wasn’t enough vacuum for a street car.

“Yeah, we had to tear it down,” says Ince. “I knew better than to put that bumpstick in.”

In went a smaller Comp cam and new set of Comp roller rockers that provided better clearance than the original units. Finishing up the engine are a MSD ignition, Hooker headers and Zoops serpentine front drive.

“It’s good for about 475 horsepower,” predicts Ince, noting that a more precise tuneup on a chassis dyno is likely in the Camaro’s future. But for now, the veteran has a very sweet ride with an engine to match the body and paint work.