Floaters: Mod-Lite, Strange Pro-Touring, Chassisworks Pro-Touring, Speed Tech?
 

After a 5 (or so?) year hiatus with my car sitting in the shop gathering dust and cobwebs I've started working on it again.

One of the good things about taking a break is that several products I was interested in 5 years ago that were in their infancy or not available are now mature... and have several competitors to choose from.

One of these things I'll be needing is a new rear end. Right now my car still has a 12 bolt in it. With the turbos and an estimated 1100hp / 900 ft-lb on high boost I really should sell the 12 bolt and go 9 inch. 5 years ago there wasn't many options in the floater game for street use and the best choice at the time was probably big torino bearing ends. Now there are several street friendly floater options out there.

The car is going to primarily be a street car running on 275/315 tires (probably NT05, R888 or similar.) Possibly a few autocross sessions, maybe a track day here and there. Motor may make 1100hp on high boost but chances are most of the time I'm going to be cruising around at low boost and about 750-800hp to keep things somewhat sane.

I see several options now:

1. Stick with the big torino bearing ends. Simple, inexpensive. Possible premature axle bearing wear from heavy cornering, not as safe as a floater in case of an axle failure. But since I won't be doing drag launches on drag slicks an axle failure is unlikely... but still possible. Convential axle & bearing setup might have a little axle flex and pad knockback which is now a concern since I'm also going to be switching to Wilwood FNSL4R radial mount calipers in the rear. Might have to change axle bearings every few years from cornering wear & tear depending on how hard I beat on the car.

2. One of the Mod-Lite floaters from Speedway that Ron likes. My only concern with this style of floater is the distance from the hub wheel mounting face to the back of the calipers seems gigantic. That will require a wide axle to keep the entire hub and brake assembly inside of the wheelwells to prevent the rear of the calipers from hitting the frame on suspension compression. It will also require wheels with lots of backspace because of that wide axle, but since I'll be ordering new wheels anyway I'm not too concerned about it.

3. A Strange Pro-Touring floater. Appearing as more of a "street" design than the taken from racing Mod Lite, based on the rotor hat appearance the overall width between the back of the caliper and the wheel mounting surface of the hub seems much narrower than the Mod-Lite which should ease any clearance concerns.

4. One of Chassisworks new Pro Touring floater setups. Looks similar to a C6 rear cartridge based setup, only much larger. Components are fairly expensive though and I'm worried about long term parts supply as the bearing cartridges and axles look like they might be proprietary. One of my buddies who is a Chassisworks dealer is going to speak with Chris regarding the long term availability of the hubs, maybe they're shared with another OEM application...

5. One of the Speed Tech Chicane C6 hub based setups, although I'm not sure they'll do one for a Chevelle. I like the idea of using OEM bearing and parking brake components for availability and ease of replacement in the future. Also makes it easy for brakes and rotors, just order for a C6 rear. I have read a little about some issues with the C6/C7 hubs under heavy use, but I haven't rear enough to make a educated decision yet.

I've ruled out the Baer floater... while it seems like a very nicely designed package it also appears to be designed around their brakes and I'm just not that happy with the selection of piston areas of their calipers for a stout manual braking setup.

Center section will probably be a Strange HD aluminum case, 3.50 gears, S-trac posi, but that's independent of housing and axles anyways.

Anways, I'd love to hear thoughts and recommendations. I'm just getting started checking out what's the latest and greatest on the market and refining my new shopping list (currently at a T56 Magnum, hydraulic clutch setup, new rear end, ditching the C6 PBR brakes and Hydroboost for a Wilwood Aero 6 / FNSL4R manual setup, CNC dual master cylinder & balance bar setup, and on, and on...)

Check my build thread. A few pics and comments there. Just no driving feedback yet since the car is not done. Great quality parts though.

Another possibility:
https://lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php4?t=49657

How locked into the radial mount brakes are you? DSE or the C6 ends posted above would be a sweet setup with built in wheel speed hardware for traction control down the road ( if that's something you might be interested in).

I'll fill in some of the blanks.

Best wishes.


:cheers:

If you run a deep BS the tire will cover it. But most here run 5.5 to 6"
Depending on your brake choice you can use weld on brackets the locate the caliper @ 7~o-clock on the passenger side and @~4 o-clock on the driver side for better clearance.

Thanks for the input guys.

Ron & Vince: The rear brakes are an issue for a Chevelle. With the lower shock mount and lower control arm mounts being placed where they are it would preclude say a 5 or 7 o'clock caliper mounting position to keep the caliper mounted low and prevent it from crashing into the frame and inner wheelwell on suspension compression. Probably the best I could do is an 8 or 9 o'clock mount with a caliper the size of the Wilwoods. My car is already low, I've lifted the entire transmission tunnel and I'm running shorter ZQ8 progressive bump stops for enough compression travel so the clearance issues are more of a problem than a completely stock setup and ride height.

That's why I'm concerned about the Mod-Lite not fitting unless I get it wide enough so the insides of the calipers can clear the frame on compression. Ron, good info on why the brakes such have large offset to get them into "clean" air and outside of the wheel. Unfortunately on my primarily street car using the original frame (fully boxed with the Hellwig kit and fully seam welded) with the original lower control arm and shock pickup points there are certainly packaging problems with the Mod Lite. If I ever did a trackday with the car I'd rig up some rear ducting to help. My 11" rear wheels are already 6.5" backspace with a stock width 12 bolt and Baer rear brakes (with about 1/4" thick rotor hats) and just based on what I'm seeing to tuck a Mod Lite and brakes inside the wheelwell things might have to be 3-4" wider per side. Does anyone have the exact dimension from the hub face of a Mod Lite to the back side of a Wilwood FNSL4R caliper, including the extra room needed for the brake hose attachment? It looks like it must be around 6" based on pictures.

The Strange & Alston setups certainly like they'd be a much more suitable package on my car with the narrower overall with of the brake & hub setup. I know the Strange will work but I really like Alston's solution with the cartridge style bearing. I also know Chris doesn't like to half-ass anything. A friend who has known and been a dealer for Chris for at least 20-something years is checking into pricing for me. It also would be nice to be able to order the entire setup from Chris (housing, floater, and complete 3rd member) and then make a 40 minute drive to go pick it all up. :thumbsup:

Ron, thanks for the tip on the lightweight nodular case compared to the aluminum. While I like the HD aluminum case (it does look nice) long term reliability always trumps looks and 2# isn't a concern. I don't see a lightweight nodular case listed on Strange's website though, do they make one?

Plenty more head scratching for me to do, but at least I have a lot of good input to ponder. Now to go ask some more questions over in the braking section. :)

Solution
 

Blown353

Also please consider the closest to NON proprietary solution on the market. https://lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php4?t=48782


Ok, maybe a little proprietary :lol: . But the ONLY two proprietary parts that are in my proposed solution are the Steel Weld-on Flanges (which you cannot hurt or wear out), and the axles (which are of HyTuf material and nearly bullet proof, and do not see anyone needing to ever replace these),,,, other than that, you can pick up ALL other parts over the counter at either any GM dealer, or nearly any auto parts store on any given Sunday and bolt on! Compare that with ANY other offerings for never having to be married to the supplier of proprietary parts.

Please note that my offering/OE Hub Unit requires ZERO modification, and ZERO periodic adjustment/monitoring as the other similar offerings you mentioned above.

And not that you have not mentioned some great solutions above, but you did mention proprietary being a little concern so figured I would touch base on that.

As for packaging you cannot beet this C6 set-up and will not be an issue with caliper clearance in relation to frame rail, as it is a very well packaged system.

I also would like to point out the proven and very safe e-brake as well, because that is something that sets this set-up aside from others too.

And for the record, you can run ANY brake caliper/rotor on this set-up that was intended for a C5/6 Corvette and you are not limited to OEM if you prefer others such as Wilwood.

Lastly, I would not lose any sleep on the rotor/caliper NOT hanging outside the wheel as is the case on the circle track type floaters, although it is not hurting anything, it certainly is not necessary.

Thanks,

Jay

Good info Ron. I've wanted to use an aluminum HD-9 housing but I never thought about an issue with heat compared to the nodular case.