Project Update October 20th, 2015: This forum post update covers much of the work we did in August of 2015 to the 69 Camaro project, which included custom exhaust header fabrication and some front suspension work.
CAGE FITTING WITH OWNER
The owner flew in July 31st to check out the build in person and to sit in a couple of different seats in the car.
First up was the aluminum NASCAR Lajoie seat he had purchased before the car came to our shop. This is a full containment style seat with a separate head rest section, but a weird seating angle. It is a really well made seat and looks like a work of art. While these seats are more commonly seen in circle track cars we made it work for this road course sedan.
Next up was a Sparco composite FIA seat he had purchased for the passenger side, which Ryan mocked up on the driver's side. It looks more comfortable but doesn't have the head containment portion - which is fine for most HPDE and Time Trial cars. We're all still discussing which seat is right and will leave room for both in the final build, but both of them are moved 18" rearward for this build - to mimic the engine & transmission setback - both of which will help move mass to the rear axle from the front. We are still shooting for a slight rear weight bias in the final build.
The Tilton pedal box and a temporary mock-up of the remote shifter for the G-Force transmission was tested with the owner sitting in both seats, as well as the steering column and wheel. This helped us nail down the location for all of these driver controls as well as door bars for the driver's side. Helmet clearance to the cage is exceptional.
Although he was only here a few hours, the car owner Stewart was happy to see the work in person for the first time since he dropped the car off. Of course he gets detailed emails with these same images I'm showing in this build thread and more, plus we have some good questions from him we have to answer from time to time. There is also a lot of feedback and direction he gives us on what he wants things to look like and functional aspects, all of which we incorporate into the build.
CUSTOM EXHAUST HEADERS - RIGHT BANK
At this point the drivetrain is in its final location, set back behind the OEM firewall location, with the corresponding driver setback. The new frame is in place and the front frame rails are narrower than before.
Of course there's no off-the-shelf, full length exhaust header appropriate for this rear-biased LS3 in a 69 Camaro with a custom frame like this, so it was time to fabricate custom headers.
It is often a rushed part of any big build, but we waited until all of the items were in place before starting the header fabrication. This is why the steering column was already in, the front frame was done, the dry sump tank, much of the firewall and tunnel structure laid out, and a mock-up driveshaft was in place.
We use 304SS mandrel bends in the same bend radius as our
Ice Engine Works header modeling kit. Each tube was laid out in the snap-together plastic bends, then one tube at a time was turned into stainless bends cut and tack welded together.
The passenger side header was tackled first and it came together in under 2 days. Later in the build each header will come off and be final welded.
These slip-fit bolt-together collectors were used on these 1.75" diameter long primaries. They have excellent craftsmanship and were supplied with the build.
Its a snug fit in there but the headers have plenty of room to the frame rails, dry sump tank, and are above the bottom of the floorpan, as this will be a flat bottomed car.
A section of 3" exhaust tubing will run down the from the right side, cross under the tailshaft, and then stack top-to-bottom with the left side 3" exhaust tube and run inside the tunnel. A crossover merge will be built in the tunnel, but that's for another day.
CUSTOM PEDAL MOUNTING
Now that the passenger side header was completed the driver's side still needed some parts in place before it could begin.
The new bottom-mount Tilton pedal assembly was mounted. Some components from the "top hung" pedal assembly that came with the car were re-used on this "bottom-mount" assembly.
Ryan added structure and tweaked the floor section there to make room for these pedals.
FRONT SUSPENSION WORK
Now that our manual lathe was back up and running the weld-in bungs could be machined to mount the steering rack and servo.
These are mild steel bungs of bar that are machined inside and out to perfectly fit the bolt needed and the tubing that these will attach to. Simple things that fabricators need to whittle out from time to time.
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