The car seemed to be a hit. People loved that it was something different and well built. Each time we were at the car for something or another people would stop and take pics or ask lots of questions.
I think my goal of subtle from the outside and great content on the inside was a success.
We headed out from SEMA Friday even on the Ignited Exit Parade. It was awesome, tons of people but we were exhausted by then.
OUSCI was pretty rad, lots of cars and spectators on day one for the Auto Cross, which was half autocross and half road course. Run times were just under 60 seconds and the course itself was awesome, first half was a little loose, second half had lots of grip so it took some adjusting to that.
Road Course and Speed stop were Sunday. I did well on speed stop at 18th out of 32. I had a tough time on the Right side and would have done better if I could get that time down more.
Saturday Night was Road Rally out to Shelby.
Sunday LSX Magazine grabbed the car with Kristi and went out to take some pics of it for an upcoming feature.
And just some random cool shots over the weekend.
So that's a wrap.
Lessons learned, the car needs lots more radiator. My fixes worked great in traffic and around town even on the auto cross and speed stop the car stayed cool in sunny 80 degree weather but got hot again on the road course. Temps about 230.
I developed some vibration in the car in Fontana and thought it was tires, but we noticed it all the way over to Shelby and Back and it never improved. Sunday on the Road Course, the vibration got worse on hard right hand turns. I got the car up in the air and looked everything over, possibly a little bit too much pinion backlash but everything else seemed ok. I tightened a couple of loose jamb nuts but no improvement. I only did orientation and 1 road course session so I could get a lap time, but they were not hard or fast laps.
I need lots more camber and lots more front sway bar, as I have gotten better and faster, I have been able to push the car harder and harder and getting more induced chassis roll. This is letting the front roll over onto the edge of the outside front tire on mid sweeping turns and I am getting some shudder and push, also have to scrub a lot more corner speed than necessary.
Ill be upgrading the front struts, bigger sway bar and more camber in the off season.
The car needs more power. Will be doing the BTR cam, valve springs, 1000cc injectors, 2.4 pulley, cnc ported snout and a retune on it in the coming weeks. I would love to do an aluminum 6.2 but its not in the cards right now.
A few other odds and ends, hood vents, front brake cooling ducts, tripple adjustable rear shocks and a rearend checkup will be in order as well.
Overall for a car I built in my garage with mostly junkyard parts I have been pretty impressed with it, not only how it handles, but the beating the car took all summer long. The list of things we have done with this car since it was finished up in April is pretty awesome. Not to mention the people we have met along the way have been awesome. Looking forward to more adventures in 2019.
This is all built around a 200k mile 6.0 and a used 2002 Camaro T56.
Time for more chop chop this winter to get ready for March.
Sean