Update time - two successful trips in the books!

Got back out weekend before last for the North Texas Camaro Club's autocross, had an absolute blast and got a ton of seat time, which is exactly what I needed at this point with the car.

The majority of our changes made for positive results. Brakes are much improved thanks to both bias adjustment and a change to Polymatrix B pads, as you can tell by a few lockups in the video. Rear grip was much better with the rear sway bar disconnected, as well.

Moving to the stiffer springs up front reduced a lot of the dive, but the car is still way loose all over both in corners and lateral acceleration.

We have some plans on the drawing board for both issues, including building some adjustment into the front sway bar and eventually moving to an outboard mounted coilover vs. the QA1 ProCoils as we're at the max spring rate already.

On to the video..



And a few pictures that illustrate the roll/dive/squat issues reasonably well..

https://farm3.staticflickr.com/2941/...d7a3d91c_z.jpg

https://farm4.staticflickr.com/3930/...8bff3e50_z.jpg

Offseason update time!


After a pretty unsuccessful trip to finish the year due to some (hopefully since resolved) steering issues, we went into winter with a few goals.

- Rolling flat - getting adjustability in the front sway bar, whether that meant buying a Speedway setup or modifying our current conventional bar

- Rolling fat - get the new wheels and tires sorted out

- Stopping reliably - new Wilwood 6-piston binders up front will take the heat of track work much better than the current 4-pistons, which will move to the back in place of the uber-budget stock metric front calipers

Swaybar Mod

So, swaybar adjustability. In the interest of cost, modifying the existing bar was the best option. One of the more interesting setups I've seen was on an IROC race car that Legendary Motorcar restored several years ago, which used a sleeve that slid back and forth at the end of the bar, and we set about replicating this in our own way.


Using some chrome round stock that was leftover from our hydraulic business, a sleeve was machined to the proper inside diameter, split, and drilled for a crossbolt. A heim attaches to tabs at the bottom, which attaches to the lower control arm.

5 positions are available, and even the first one should be substantially stiffer than the original. This will hopefully bring the rear bar back into play, as we disconnected it early on to help rear grip.

Rolling Fat

On to the rolling stock situation. Our original plan, thinking that space was limited more than it ended up being in front, was for 10/275 up front, and 12/315 or 335 out back. After some test fitting and measuring, a much, much cheaper set of 18x11s were sourced from XXR. We'll be rocking 315s all the way around, and there's room in the budget for brake upgrades.

Since we initially got it on the road, the wheels we've had have never been what I had in mind, but what we could work with at the time. I'm..in love with these already.


The plan for the year is hitting several autocrosses before late March, when we'll head to TMS for the Ultimate Street Car Association event. New brakes will be worked out before then (I'd feel much better with more caliper all the way around for the road course and speed stop).

Our season is supposed to start this weekend, and the plan was to test out new datalogging equipment in my daily driver Z. It's not looking like the weather is going to cooperate despite the fact it was 80 degrees here today, though (sorry, Northerners :confused18:). Ready to get going..

I really like this car and can't wait to see it with the 315's all the way around.

Thanks Marty - that means a lot coming from you. Both of your builds have been outstanding!

Love the new look, Duston. Good luck with the coming season.

Thanks Trey! I'm even more pumped after yesterday.

Was supposed to be autocrossing Saturday, but Mother Nature had other plans. So, I did the next best thing and headed up to the shop and got busy.

Put the last touch on the exhaust - turnouts to help it not pump the car full of hydrocarbons. These are clamped and spot welded for now, when we have a free day the system will come off for full welding and paint. Seems even quieter now than before - still sings nicely at 7 grand, though.


And then the carnage began. The tires cleared pretty well at ride height - but the pesky suspension insists on having down travel, which created a problem at the back when turned.

So, took a deep breath, made peace with various deities, and got to work..


And, a few minutes later..clearance, Clarence.


We did a matching cut on the drivers side, which is a reproduction fender that is made completely different at the back, but still lacked a bit to be desired for clearance. We'll paint these exposed edges with POR-15 to protect against rust, and maybe add an aluminum trim piece to tidy it up later.

Then, it was time for road testing - and gratuitous amounts of pictures, just because. It actually drives great on the highway, way better than I expected with a bit a toe out and that much rubber up front.

It also feels like the swaybar adjustability made a good deal of difference too. Much flatter in a bit of unoccupied highway slalom testing. The rear bar is now hooked back up, and hopefully we'll have solved a lot of the boat-ishness in transition.

Anyway, on to the picture binge..


Still on the to-do list:
- Wilwood 6-pistons for the front are on the way
- Finishing mounting our datalogger Android tablet on the dash
- OUSCI-legal rear spoiler, and possibly a bit of flat black attitude if it works out like I'm thinking

Could you post up the full specs of the wheels? Backspacing, width, cost etc?

Looks badass!

Thanks, and sure thing. The one catch on them is they're Ford car pattern, which worked for us since we've had that on the rear from the start with the 9" and were able to switch the pattern on the Wilwood hubs.

Here's the info from NLMotoring, where we ordered them:

Wheel Size
18x11

Color
Flat Black

Bolt Pattern
5-100/5-114.3

Offset
+20

Backspacing
6.79

Lip Specs
3.5" Flat Black Lip

Centerbore
73.1

Load Rating (LBS)
1580

TPMS Compatible
Yes

Approx. Weight
27.3

JWL/VIA Certified
Yes

Required Lug Nuts
Tuner Style

So the plan for this weekend is to hit the first event of the year with it..but I'm not sure if mother nature is going to cooperate. Rain chances have been up and down the past few days, and taking it in the rain won't really tell us anything.

It was 80 and sunny last weekend..sorry, Northerners. Got to spend two days at the incredible Texas World Speedway beating the crap out of my daily driver.

This place is an absolute treasure, and sadly, the property will become a master planned community filled with cookie cutter homes and generic retail in the next few years.

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7407/...4c4ac592_z.jpg

https://farm8.staticflickr.com/7388/...974cef98_z.jpg

Best lap -



Think dry thoughts for us..

I really like the direction you are going and those new wheels are perfect. You should fab up a front splitter to compliment the spoiler you're planning. Good luck in the upcoming events you're planning on attending.