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Old 09-21-2013, 02:01 PM
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68protouring454 68protouring454 is offline
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These are dual purpose cars we are building, so there are compromises.
Is 1 inch lower ride height really worth the re-engineering of not only the front susp geometry, the front steering geometry, the issue with limited room above the tire till it will want to hit the hood hinge area on a first gen when going that low, to the issues with moving/raising the floor for exhaust and ground clearance, this is still a street car and it needs to navigate roads and drive way entrances(which is a chore with current ride height let alone dave has 1 inch longer front splitter).Let alone moving to the back of the car now you have to re- engineer the shock travel(upper crossmember, already tight to floor, trailing arms and tq arm angles and mounting height, as well as the dual layer unibody area right in front of and above the center section, so you have to question "why did i even buy a production style susp system" why not just cut everything out and build a one off race chassis, where mounting oil tanks, fuel cells, fire bottle, sway bar control etc is easy?
There is a ton of work to this and to cut before thinking about the big picture is not good, let alone the other work in the rear, on a first gen camaro, you will need to raise the wheel tubs( they are already close at full bump at designed ride height), which then leads into cutting into the inner quarter supports, 1/4 window mounting area etc. I am not sure one could do that effectively without all the panels removed from the car.
This all sounds great if its what the customer wants, but if he wanted this why would the shell of the car be on a perimeter style chassis jig, not jackstands.
my engine crossmember is 5 inches at ride height with a 25.5 tall tire, that puts the undercar legs at 4 inches, what are you going to clear at 3 inches? Thats only lowering the car 1 inch (why do all this for one inch)
Last question is what does all this work do in the end? look cool? cost a ton? how much time did you shave off at the track? I have a proven formula for road racing, track day and time trial, raced it myself for the last 5 years, with many class wins,track records etc, from autox to time trial, to wheel to wheel racing, when you get to the track, whether the ride height is 4 inches or 5 doesn't matter when your 4 seconds behind.
Build some rocker extensions, and build flares to sit over tires, keep all the clearance you can get, these camaros don't have much extra room.
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