mild corner car
 

ok guys.. this is gonna be a mess of words but i'd like some opinions from those who have been and there done that.. im on a budget so the lady dont get mad at me and kick me out so bare with me

as of right now i have a mild mannered 69 camaro with 4 wheel drum brakes, factory everything, and needless to say it isnt as aggressive as id like it to be.

so..id like to turn this car around and build a light duty touring car.. i have pretty good fab skills and access to lasers and all sorts of goodies...

ive already got the parts together for a 700r4 swap and plan on doing it this weekend..

1.i would like to replace all the bushings in the car with delrin... ive made a few sets for my rear control arms in my chevelle and realize the ride will be rougher than rubber.. i dont want poly because of squeaking and dont want rubber because of deflection.. i can deal with a little bit harsher ride as long as performance is gained.. can any one see a problem with building a completley delrin suspension? is there a scource to find the demensions im going to need or am i going to have to tear the car down then make the bushings? and should i go with all moog steering parts?

2. having 4 wheel drums isnt all that bad but isnt all that great either.. ive got them dialed about as tight as i can but im not satisfied.. i found a template to build a caliper bracket for ls1 style fbody brakes.. i already have a front and rear caliper, basket and rotor set laying around so it wouldnt cost me a dime.. i also already have a power assisted z28 master cylinder so as long as i switched to 4 wheel disks i shouldnt need a new one.. does anyone see anything wrong with this swap?

3. im totally lost on spring rates and what i should use. i currently have cut springs and love my ride height. its a factory small block car with power steering and no ac.. where would i see the most performace gain with an aftermarket spring and what shock should i look for? also is there a huge gain with aftermarket sway bars?

4. ive found an aftermarket wheel company that offers zo6 style wheels in a 17x8.5. will an 8.5" rim work on the front of my car with the 4th gen brake swap and what backspacing would i need.. i can buy the whole set for 600 bucks.. i dont mind using spacers if i need to.. i plan on mocking them up to make sure but a forewarning would be nice.

5. i also plan on installing an art morrison roll cage that goes up the front of the frame rails and a pair of integrated subframe connectors. i read that morrisions cages are all cad designed.. how well do they fit?

6. ive heard and read all the ups and downs of the guldstrand mod and am willing to give it a shot since its essentially free.

aside from all that ive listed above do you guys know of any other cost efficient mods and or parts that i could benifit from to help my car handle and corner like a camaro should? do you see any conflicts with my plans? any help would be appreciated.. ive done so much research im about to pull my hair out.. id rather hear it all from an expirienced crowd..

Research, research, and more research befroe you buy.

thanks for the info on afco.. i knew they made several products but totatly spaced out haha.. i will definatley check into it.. im assuming the circle track springs can be purchased in the same catalog.. guess im gonna have to bust out the old smilies performance catalog.. on the guldstrand thing ive heard its a hit or miss.. all cars react differently and there are some weird situations.. im willing to give it a shot.. now that i got a more specific product to research instead of a whole broad field it will help.. thanks for the input dennis.. anyone else got anything to add?

id say that if you are any good at fabricating you can get prety far, gulstrand is free and reversible.. so do it! also if you have access to a lathe there is no reason not to do delrin or even better aluminum/teflon bushings... also solid frame mounts are a good and cheap upgrade if you can do it yourself.. id also minitub it just to fit some wider rears, i mean if you are buying new rims anyway, the difference isnt that much.. also boxing the stock controll arms are a cheap and very advisable modification. id buy some sway bars and a quicker steering box.. possibly on ebay


with regards to brakes my suggestion on a budget is to fit brakes from a 98 up f-body, can be had cheaply on ebay.. you need to do some brackets up front, and clock them in the rear.. but again not impossible by far

I have them on my '68 and love them. You'll need to turn down your drum hubs to fit inside the F-body rotors and machine the spindle to get the mounting points for the bracket in the same plane. If you're not totally averse to spending money, Speedtech makes a bracket that is designed to work with the drum spindle mounting points. Not a big deal in either case. Also, an S10 truck "quick takeup" master cylinder works pretty well if you want to stay with manual brakes. Take a look at David Pozzi's site.

Stock C5 front wheels are 17" x 8.5" with a 56mm "offset." I have a set on my '68 with 2" bolt-on spacers. On the rears on my car I have the stock C5 18" x 9.5" rear wheels with a 65mm offset. I have them on my car with 2.125" spacers, although my fenders are rolled in the wheel well. You might also look for a set of C5 "take-offs" where you can get the wheels and tires as a package. Big, low profile tires are expensive. I'm using Nitto 555's now and am pretty happy with them.

The Guldstrand mod, modern wheels and tires and a rebuilt front end will transform your car. In a first generation F-body, I've not heard of any bad results.

Good shocks front and rear.

Weld in subframe connectors - see Carl Casanova's site for home made DSE style connectors. They make a huge difference.

I'd pass on the cage for now, assuming the car is otherwise solid.

Good sway bar up front, none on the rear.

Third generation IROC power stering box.

Make sure the steering is good or rebuild it. Moog parts are fine.

Realign using specs on David Pozzi's page.

thanks.. like i said i have an entire 4th gen brake setup in my shop.. so that will be the route i take.. and i do have access to a lathe and press.. im still gonna check out the afco line i might save me some time.. the brackets up front that you speak of: i printed off a template i found on i think it was pozziracing.com or something like that.. i had a 6" reference liine on it so you can print it out, make sure it measures 6" and cut it out.. i think its the right plate.. if not it wont be that hard to figure out what i need.. the main problem i face is that the car is my daily driver and id like any mods i do to be a weekend job..

yeah i printed about 40 pages off from his site and got a good general idea.. i alread have power brakes so im not too sure about switching to manual..


i have a full set of 245/45/17's sitting in my shop that i bought for my girlfriends car but they werent michelins so she didnt want them haha.. i realize they arent the widest tires but i have them laying around and they have to be an improvement over the fats and skinnies i have now..

thats what my hopes were



you agree with using koni?

thanks.. i planned using his site to build my connectors..

I have adjustable Koni's. If I were to do it over again, I'd have ATS spec a set of Bilsteins for me.

Either are very good. A set of spec'd Bilsteins is not a better option than a set of spec'd Konis, just a different option.

The recomendations are good.
All I would add is you need to run about 5 degrees of positive caster and can probably only achieve 3 deg positive with stock upper arms even with the Guldstrand mod.

Consider either making your own upper arms with more caster built in, or relocate your upper A arm brackets about 7/8" to the rear and use your stock arms.

Other things I like are
AFCO delrin A arm bushings I don't know if these have the side "washers" that a Global West bushing kit would have. You might be able to make some.
Stock car stock appearing coils, 5" OD X 9.5" tall. Use a threaded adjuster on top, cut it to fit your upper spring pocket taper.

I don't have a big block spring bar setup but the tuners like Guldstrand or Hotchkis would probably use a 650 front coil rate and a 175lb/in rear leaf rate. Stock is 325/110.

You can drop the front rate for a better ride but 550 is probably minimum unless you just cruse it. A lot depends on horsepower, tire size, and how agressive you want to drive it. Also, the lower you go with the ride height, the stiffer your springs have to be.

A small block Camaro is going to need a 1" solid bar up front and depending on rear spring rate, some kind of rear bar.
David