Updates to the LM7-67 Camaro
 

My car started off mostly stock and original, but it eventually got the 5.3L LM7/T56 combo (that thread can be found here: http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/conver...l-lm7-t56.html ), full Hotchkis suspension, and Lee Manufacturing steering box. For 3 years the car looked like this:
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._3183313_n.jpg

But with Super Chevy Phoenix and the Duel in the Desert event approaching, I decided to make some radical changes to improve performance on the autoX course. That is where this thread picks up: the modifications that led up to the Duel. Speedtech Tubular upper control arms, base-C6 front brakes from Kore3, L&H Kustoms billet hubs, and 275/40/17 NT05s all the way around. (Yes, it is possible to run a 275 on the front of a stock subframe Camaro with the right combination)

First step, get stuff out of the way!
http://img227.imageshack.us/img227/1250/97238682.jpg

I’d like to thank David Pozzi for this idea. I saw it in one of his posts years ago and decided to give it a try since I didn’t want to see what a pickle fork would do to my aluminum spindles. It worked like a charm!
http://img823.imageshack.us/img823/289/24561640.jpg

Old vs. New. This illustrates exactly why I switched to the tubular arms: tire clearance. Without that bend in the leading tube it would not be possible to fit the 275s.
http://img214.imageshack.us/img214/9585/96269122.jpg

The new UCAs required very minor clearancing of the mounts with a grinder. So much for having a 100% stock subframe. Passenger’s side (driver’s is about the same):
http://img710.imageshack.us/img710/6208/86538184.jpg

Everything’s back together and ready to go. I also spaced the steering arm away from the spindle at this point with washers. After an alignment, it was ready to go on to the next phase!
http://img201.imageshack.us/img201/6867/95966391.jpg

I was originally going to use turned-down drums hubs for the Corvette brake swap, but after reading a couple failure stories, I decided to go with billet aluminum hubs. The L&H Kustoms hubs came with ARP hardware and billet grease caps.
http://img408.imageshack.us/img408/8960/18186417.jpg

These should definitely hold up better than the originals.
http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/9826/82263172.jpg

Old brake components removed:
http://img688.imageshack.us/img688/463/70230183.jpg

Conversion bracket from Kore3 in place. This piece required very minimal grinding on the back to clear the larger geometry of the L&H billet spindle.
http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/9928/28404158.jpg

New hubs and rotors in place. These are just a little bit more performance oriented than the stuff sitting on the ground there.
http://img32.imageshack.us/img32/5717/27171093.jpg

Calipers bolted up and the brakes complete aside from swapping the master cylinder to one with a smaller bore, replacing the proportioning valve with an original style one that could be “gutted,” installing the adjustable proportioning valve under the floor pan right behind the driver’s side rocker panel, and bleeding the system.
http://img801.imageshack.us/img801/9770/13957345.jpg

With appropriately sized adapters bolted up, I could set the car on the ground and bed the new pads/rotors.
http://img843.imageshack.us/img843/9013/97926148.jpg

There ya have it: 275s all around on a stock-subframe first gen.
http://img836.imageshack.us/img836/6015/69961683.jpg

First test drive was approximately 2 hours before we left for California to meet up at Spectre for the Duel in the Desert event. The brakes performed without issue throughout the drive/event. Aside from changing the fuel pump at 7am Saturday morning, the weekend went off without a hitch.
http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-..._5693664_n.jpg

Thanks for checking out my thread! That’s all for now. I may post up some old modifications if I feel the posting itch before new mods happen.

Good stuff man. I dig your car. How you like those NT05s? I am planning on ordering a set very soon.

Very good man. Good job. The car now sits better and handles better!:thumbsup: :cheers:

Very cool.:thumbsup:

How did the car do at the desert event?

I have looking into the L&H spindles, how do you like them...I need to plan so I can get 275 up fron too.

Nice work, that would be the first use of our Hiclearance UCA with a spindle other than the ATS. all you need now is the Chicane coil over kit and you can have true coil overs as well.

Tom looking good. Glad you were able to get it all finished in time. :cheers:

Nice project. It must drive nice.

They ride great, no noise, and stick like nobody's business. Only thing I have to compare them to are 225 all seasons though, and that is no comparison at all :D

tied for 3rd :)

they're great. from looking at autoX photos with and without them, you can see my outside tire stays much more parallel to the surface

don't tempt me ;) there was no issue with running the high-clearance arms with the L&H spindles.

just barely! :thumbsup:

Time for updates! :D

After a few SCCA SoloII events, a couple GoodGuys AutoX's, a Super Chevy AutoX, and RTTC 2, I decided I needed more. After getting home from SuperChevy Vegas, I started taking the front end of my car apart. The goal is to clean up the sheet metal and make the whole engine bay look good. Also, I'll be finding another subframe to perform some serious modifications on. Thinking coil-overs and even more tire clearance. The goal was to have the car back together for the Camaro Performers Summer Jam in August. With that event possibly not happening, that's still approximately my goal. Can't stand going more than 3 or so months without driving my car :6gears: Currently, all the sheet metal in front of the fire wall is apart, some pieces already at the blasters. I hope to find another subframe next week so I can start the modifications to that. I'll keep this thread updated as I make progress. For right now, just time lapse steps of front end disassembly.

The easy stuff:
http://img859.imageshack.us/img859/8554/90802137.jpg

http://img36.imageshack.us/img36/3008/99594312.jpg

http://img21.imageshack.us/img21/9528/79452591.jpg

This is about where I started thinking, "oh ****, am I ever going to get it back together?!"
http://img714.imageshack.us/img714/6616/89751950.jpg

This is exactly 1 week after I began the tear down:
http://img7.imageshack.us/img7/633/14162966.jpg

Open wheel racing, anyone?
http://img191.imageshack.us/img191/3379/35997546.jpg

And when I was going through the pics on my camera, I found these gems from right after RTTC II.

After I covered my car with mud Saturday morning spinning out on the road coarse, I hosed it off and I thought I got most of the mud off. But I was wrong. This stayed with me all through the rest of Saturday, all of Sunday, and a 400 mile drive home.
http://img809.imageshack.us/img809/7610/calipermud.jpg

This is what happens when you don't have enough static camber.
http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/7092/cordedtire.jpg

Hopefully more updates in a few days :)

Looks like your really having some serious fun. Keep us posted!

Travis

Nice to see you using the car to it's full potential. :thumbsup: I need to introduce myself at the next event.

Sweet ride man....If I ever pick up a second car I would love to do something very similar to your car....:yes:

Two weeks after starting this project. Only thing holding the engine and trans in are the motor mount bolts. Just need to convince one of my friends to lend me their hoist for a bit so I can get them yanked. Then on to find another subframe and break out the cut off wheel and welder ;)

http://img821.imageshack.us/img821/994/43855120.jpg

T, do you need another stock subframe?

Big Wanda

Yeah, I'm looking for another one. Pretty sure mine is bent a little, and I'd like to have one to modify while comparing to my stocker.

Well, after experiencing computer issues, camera issues, and starting a new job, I'm finally posting updates.

Yanked the engine/trans out a few weeks ago. Freakin' easy with nothing in the way :thumbsup:

http://img856.imageshack.us/img856/2354/93171612.jpg

Then I scrubbed down the firewall and cowl area to get it ready for paint.

http://img18.imageshack.us/img18/7127/69100120.jpg

After removing the heater box and blower motor, I was able to reach inside the cowl vent area. This is what I found. Car's going to be faster just from the weight savings!

http://img17.imageshack.us/img17/1028/86827952.jpg

And this is where I'm at now.

http://img138.imageshack.us/img138/1770/54163201.jpg

Inner fenders and brackets should come back from the powdercoaters tomorrow. Then it's time to order up some parts and get to work.

Nice work! And nice job in all the events you have been running too! Every time I open mag with any event coverage I see your car.
:thumbsup:

Nice address you have there!

This is a very cool project.Can't wait to see it running agin.:thumbsup: Scott.

woo! finally more updates!

Got the inner fenders and the main brackets back from the powder coaters a couple weeks ago. They're just sitting waiting to be installed.
http://img832.imageshack.us/img832/7118/55331345.jpg

After 5 weeks of waiting, I finally got the subframe from the junkyard. They still hadn't gotten it pulled when I came down for the 3rd time and was like "wtf guys". To make up for it, they gave me all the suspension bits that were on the sub for free. "uhh, thanks, I'm not going to use any of that stuff anyway."
http://img851.imageshack.us/img851/7742/70511378.jpg

Subframe all cleaned up and ready to go. Also got some nifty LCAs, but I believe those will be modded as well.
http://img543.imageshack.us/img543/6568/59170305.jpg

Currently waiting on a package from Speedtech and for the weather to cool a bit so I can start cutting up the sub. Hopefully most of the waiting game is behind me at this point. Now hoping for a mid-Sept finish date.

Who did the sand blasting for you? I'm about to have my Chevelle frame blasted,welded and powdercoated.

Tonny

Arizona Powdercoat on Washington. I've had a few things done by them and have always been really happy with quality, price, and turn-around time.

Made some good progress this week considering it was over 110* every day...

Laying out the game plan. If you ever want to see some truly terrible welding, sand blast an original 60's frame.
http://img534.imageshack.us/img534/1091/76387321.jpg

All chopped up. Only need to do a bit of clearancing on one of the notches and to cut out the upper spring pockets.
http://img263.imageshack.us/img263/5835/63522469.jpg

Bolted up the new LCAs and the rest of the old suspension bits to determine just how much clearance I made.
http://img850.imageshack.us/img850/669/33144658.jpg

There is nothing linking the steering arms at this point so the tires are at maximum possible deflection.
http://img89.imageshack.us/img89/683/31803020.jpg

http://img687.imageshack.us/img687/6720/96249065.jpg

At this point, I'm waiting on a delivery from Summit that should arrive Monday. Then I can place an order with Speedway Engineering, and from that point, the only parts left to source are the springs/shocks. And then to weld it up and put it all back together...

subscribed.

Can't wait to see what's next!

Pics make it look like you gained a lot of clearance.

Two questions.

1) Did you articulate the suspension up and down through it's travel? Does that bring the tire closer at any point?

2) Have you found the need to clearance the rear inner fender area?

How wide is that tire?

The tire does get a little closer as the suspension cycles, but definitely not enough to worry about. The steering angle is already greater than what's possible stock with normal sized tires so I'll just use the adjuster on the LCAs to limit rub.

When I install this subframe, I'm going to bring it forward as much as possible to help out with clearance in that area. If that's not enough, I'm not opposed to a little hammer persuasion.

275/40/17

Awesome project! I dig that your notching the frame. What is the width and offset of that front zr1 rim? What spacer did you use? Can't wait to see more updates.

Oh yeah, what are you going to do for front sway bar? Splined?

it's 9.5" wide. offset is stock 4th gen Camaro. currently using a 1.5" spacer.

yep.

Tom have you done a track day with that yet or just auto cross?

Closest thing I've done to a track day is the RTTC2 course. I'm trying like hell to make it in Sept. but I'm starting to have my doubts whether it'll be together by then.

I was there that Saturday. At least you can say the track was cold and wet from the crisp morning condensation. The folks who spun out later that day didn't have that option...

Chicane brackets showed up last Friday. Working on the ideal position that gives maximum room for the coil-over while still clearing the UCA.
http://img41.imageshack.us/img41/1380/97423474.jpg

Using a super high-tech wooden dowel to mock up the sway bar. Bending the arms is going to be a blast...
http://img11.imageshack.us/img11/9990/92719307.jpg

http://img638.imageshack.us/img638/3130/14721780.jpg

Mid-September finish date is looking pretty shakey at this point. We'll see how things go.

Kickin a@@! So your getting the speedway kit and bending the arms up for the high clearance radius?

Look's Awesome,Keep up to great work.:thumbsup: Scott M.

Updates!

Got all the parts for the sway bar last friday. The arms will be bent to follow the contour of the frame and then shortened to the correct length.
http://img269.imageshack.us/img269/7175/42617704.jpg

Also got the springs last week. Plenty of clearance to run the sway bar arm around the spring.
http://img835.imageshack.us/img835/1001/74013534.jpg

I did run into one issue however. Compare the next 2 pictures....
http://img546.imageshack.us/img546/5771/54695908.jpg

http://img717.imageshack.us/img717/8513/65889017.jpg

Now, looking at some pictures, and from what I remember, the balancer might still just clear the tubular sway bar. If it doesn't fit, even with shimming it lower a bit, the old Hotchkis bar will bolt right in place. I'll lose some turning radius, but at least it will work until I can figure out another solution.

Also, talked to the guy who I'm going to have weld everything back together. He did not seem optimistic about my time line lol.

Sway bar details.
 

Hi. Was the sway bar a custom ordered piece? If so what type of material is it (chrome moly, or mild steel). I am working on something like that for my Mustang and any info would be a great help. Thanks Scott