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SWEEEET, not much longer Matt

Phat makes right. :unibrow:

Matt,

Did BOS say anything about the comparison of reworking the fiber glass fenders vs the metal fenders on the OLA car?

Don't you have a Marquez dash? Have you seen the competition series from Dakota Digital?

http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.c...rod/prd880.htm

That's a sweet looking gauge setup.

I've never seen that before Greg. It is pretty trick!

We didn't really do anything to the fiberglass fenders other than improving the fit and finish on the door gaps and getting rid of the low spot above the body line, behind the wheel openings. Pretty much all factory and aftermarket sheet metal is shaped that same way.

On the other hand, the work on OLC's fenders were pretty extensive and required both cuts and English wheel work.

They are really two completely different animals. In about a week I can tell you how big a tire you can fit.

I'm sure you said somewhere earlier in the thread, but who makes the fenders and how much wider are they? I thought I saw that they were CF so I assumed they were Anvil, but above you said Fiber Glass?
Thanks

They are Anvil products. I think Anvil offers most, if not all of their parts in fiberglass as well these days. The quality on them is still above average. I think Anvil states they are around 1.25" wider than stock.

Matt, the look is awesome and I love the new wheels. But, since you got carbon fiber fenders and the wheels are black, you outta get HRE's black carbon fiber center cap. Well, it's not 100% CF, but it's a really nice CF print.

Hate to fool you, but those are just the roller wheels. :lol:

I'm having the Forgelines re-hooped. The car will look almost exactly the same as before, save for a few touches here and there.

How wide are you going with the hoops? And are you changing the color/finish or still gonna keep them polished?

I'm having the wheels built to 10.5 inches will see how they work. If I'm not happy, I will probably try Rob's hella flush approach and go to an 11" with a 295.

I might also change the color of the centers. Not sure yet...

Getting closer. We shot paint on a few of the pieces yesterday. I also got the wheels back. One side rubs a little, the other is fine. I'm going to raise the car a little and throw some additional camber in it. So far things look to be an improvement after a little test drive.

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:hello: Steamrollers

When is the test day? I'm in.... just txt me.

I'm looking at testing in a couple weeks. We'll get it painted this coming week and probably spend the first several days of the following week color sanding and polishing it back up so that I will be ready to get a new round of rock chips and cone rash! I'll definitely let you know when and where I'm headed out to.

So... Are we looking at 315's on there right now?

Yes sir. A 295 or a 305 would fit much better, but don't want to change tire brands at the moment. I may very well drop down in size in the front and try a set of BFG Rivals in the future, but won't know for sure until I put some laps on the new setup and see how well it works within its current constraints.

Killer! Good luck at optima.

Are you going to be doing practice runs at Adams?

I'm sure I'll be going out to Adams a few times. I'll probably be out there with Brett as we're both working towards dropping our times as much as possible, although I doubt we will be able to knock a full second off our times to get close to Brian's what Brian was running in his second gen. He gave us a good benchmark to keep chasing after!

I'd also like to get a little bit of time on a track like Big Willow again.

Matt

Hey Matt,

I heard your car ran Sunday. Give us the scoop !

Sure thing Ron!

I haven't dialed the car in at all since putting it back together. It still has a few parts combinations that I figured would need to be changed, namely with springs and bars, but I was waiting on a set of spring seat bearings for the front and didn't want to change springs out before I got those because that job is no fun at all on a DSE sub. I also wanted to drive it as-is because I wanted to get a sense for how each change effects the car's handling.

I showed up in the morning with no idea what to expect, except that I should probably have more grip than before.

What I found was that the car was pretty fast, and definitely had much less understeer than before. Mid corner speeds were greatly improved. The car was still a little bit tight, but wouldn't push terribly off line or skip the front end at all, and throttle application could easily straighten the car out without messy amounts of oversteer.

I'm still getting used to having more useable power than before, so I still wasn't driving the car at the limit. There were many times coming out of corners, or going through sweeping corners when I realized I could have been giving it much more gas, and sooner too.

The bad, as of right now is that my setup last weekend with the big tires was that transitions felt slower because turn in was less precise. The car wasn't as easy to drive through the long slalom because it didn't immediately change direction, but once it did it had all the grip in the world.

The next thing on my list of changes to make is to drop spring rate in the front. Right now there are 700lb Hypercoils in there, which I'm sure are too much. I'm going to drop down 50-100lbs and see what it does. I also have some wheels spacers to throw on the back, and then I might soften the rear bar or springs. the rear now feels like it has a lot of grip, and I want to keep as much of that as possible, so I hope dialing in the front will fix my current issues.

I'll get a few pictures of the finished car up later today because I know everyone likes pictures.

Matt

Matt I have those #650 or #600 for you. I want to take #600 out and put your #575 in the front.

Let me know when you want to meet up.

Matt,

Do you have any more track days coming up?

Nothing dead set in the next month. I wanted to run the Fontana Roval, but my radiator is leaking, and Ron Davis wanted me to send it back so they could see what is wrong with it, and fix it. hopefully that doesn't take too long, but it probably will.

I just have to say, I was lucky enough to drive this thing recently. And I was able to drive the snot out of it. Matt has done a superb job of dialing this thing in and it was easy to flog around an autocross track at limits. So, good that within 3 runs I was able to match some of the fastest times of the day at the track.

Matt you have done a great job with this Camaro. It is easy to drive at limits. I just had to watch out how fast you could burn the rear tires with that 700hp on tap.


cheers and thanks again.

Matt, where is the radiator leaking? Let us know what Ron Davis says.

Mine's leaking a small amount at the bottom of the filler neck each time I drive. I'll probably drive by Ron Davis and see what they think. I only have 15,000 miles on the car but I doubt my "tail light" warranty is still in effect. :lol:

Over the years I have had a couple Ron Davis radiators develop leaks and they were great about promptly fixing them.

Dennis was very helpful on the phone and made it clear they wanted to stand behind the product, find out why it was leaking and fix it, rather than just have me go somewhere else.

Now I just need to take the car apart. Hoping to get a two week turn around once I ship it off.


Bryan, if your radiator is leaking more than an occasional drop from the filler neck, Ron Davis would probably like to see it as well, even if it is out of warrantee.

Glad you enjoyed driving it. Now I wish you had driven it before all the changes. It has been a fun process sorting it out, and trying all kinds of different parts, and trying to keep from losing any ground against you, whenever we go to local events. My goal all along has been to make the car easy to drive. Originally it was far too easy to lose control of it due a bad push, or get it into a four wheel drift with the power. It still doesn't break away as progressively as I want, but it has a ton of grip now and is probably good enough for me.

Matt

Matt, sounds like you are headed in the right direction for Optima. Good luck.

Matt, the Camaro looked very impressive at the last SCCA event and at the So Cal Challenge. I'm really getting excited to see it at Optima....:gitrdun:

Thanks Tom! Everyone is getting faster, from the crazy mopar owners to the Maiers and Hobaughs of this world, and I don't want to be left in the dust. I'm sure I will be soon enough though.

Ah give yourself some credit. You've worked hard at it and put the time in. And it looks like you have some staying power. :D

I give it five, maybe ten more years, regardless of what we're driving until the hot shoes' kids are beating up on us. Last time I saw the Maier family their youngest was getting a custom fit helmet to her tiny HANS device. It's a good thing Todd sold his car when he did. I don't think his ego could handle the future of pro touring track days.

:lol: :rofl:

All I care about is beating you! & your not drivng my cars anymore.. It is embarrasing when you are faster in my cars!:lol:

Congrats on such huge improvements brother. I bet it feels great to be as fast as you are now! Amazing from even just a year ago isn't it? I have so much ground to cover now---LOL.

Will be at Optima to cheer you and Brett on.

I heard a rumor that El Toro may be down and out with a new developer on site. I wonder if we might be losing our RTTC venue there.

No more Taco party---that hurts the most.

D

I'd just cheat like Dave. :lol: