race-rodz
Thanks for taking the time to respond.
Ok, here's the poop.
I've had my car up on a rack while working on the parking brake. This gave me a different perspective on everything. I have had a, "Wish list", of everything I would like to have on this car if there were no limits other than a proper design approach to the problem.
After looking at it a bit this idea struck me.
It seams that many people (and me) would like to run a 275+ front tire for that true aggressive road racing stance, but as many people know who have tried, the wider tires look great as long as you don't need to make any sharp turns. I don't know about the rest of you, but a rubbing tire, or steering that makes it impossible to make a normal U-TURN drives me crazy and it totally sucks.
Yes, you had the technique at least pretty close to what I was thinking about regarding the widening. Plus slight natural fender flares would give the car a Bad Ass look especially when coupled with the proper stance. (Ride Height) It would also be easier to implement working brake ducts in the rear without having to resort to the Baldwin Motion solution. (Not trying to diss the car, but for my taste it has drifted too far off from the original Classic Camaro design.)
From looking at it, it wouldn't require very many degrees of fender angle change to implement something that would look natural/normal/real and function reasonably properly. (I don't like pasted on scoops if I have a choice, plus I would rather not add a separate fan to keep the air flow moving to the brakes, because an effective angle to catch air naturally has not been engineered into the design)
Another item people would like to do is, "Fix"/upgrade the front to back weight ratio of the 1st gens. This has been a tough nut to crack so far.
So:
Main Problem- Can't move engine back far enough to make a difference without causing MAJOR problems reconstructing the Firewall, dash, foot wells, etc., etc.
What I was thinking was instead of moving the engine back, why not move the Front Tires Forward?
Plus, pick up better high speed stability along with a wider track.
I was looking at the front sub-frames on the market and thought, Why not lengthen them several inches to the rear, and move the body mounts back the same amount? You bolt it up, use the same sub-frame connectors, then move the engine mounts back for the weight ratio correction?
You would already need to modify the fenders because of goal number one. Add 2-3 inches from the back of another fender to the back of the one you are already having to modify for the width, thus making one longer fender per side.
Do the same with the hood, buy an extra hood and splice 2-3 inches into the hood going on the car.
The rest of the exterior parts basically remain the same. You have just created a bit longer front end to the car, plus have more room in the engine bay for turbo's, inter-coolers etc. etc. Modifying the inner fender wells for a custom fit on the inside is not new by any stretch.
As long as the car was basically kept proportional you could gain all the things many people would like to have on their car and still retain the nice interior, and most importantly the car is Visually still a 1st gen. Camaro without a doubt. It would be subtly different, but I don't think it would be easy to, "Put your finger on exactly what was done to it?"
This may be/sound ridiculous, however I have had to do design work in the past and being creative with your thoughts is often the easiest way to solve a problem or improve a design.
All thoughts are welcome.
Please chime in.
BTW: Thanks for, "Biting".
Regards,
Ty O'Neal
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