Vorshlag Build Thread - 69 Camaro Pro Touring/Track Car

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Watts Link and Aluminum Center Section

Many of the Watts Link parts were re-used in the new layout, shown below. The mounting tabs were super sketchy before, and looked like they'd fold up under hard cornering. These new mounts are stronger and will receive additional bracing and structure as the build progresses.



The solid axle had the mount for the center pivot of the Watts, as you can see above left. It was a decent looking mount and double-shear style football pivot, so those pieces were re-used. Since the rear frame rails and mounts for the Watts link changed, we had to alter the length of the lateral arms for the Watts. So those went from steel to aluminum lateral locating links; the old pics show black arms which are now gold anodized and adjustable length.



Next up was ordering the "third member" or "pumpkin" (rear gears + limited slip + bearing assembly) that bolts into the front of the Ford 9" rear axle housing. The housing was bare when the car rolled in here, so Ryan shared different available third member brand and material options with the customer and in the end we chose a Moser aluminum center section. Normally these are cast iron (nodular iron) but the Moser built aluminum third member is much lighter and plenty strong. Gearing calcs were done to pick the rear gear ratio that worked with the tire height (345/30/19 Hoosier), the gearing from the G-Force trans, and terminal speeds we expect the car to see at Texas road course tracks.



There are a lot of differential options for the Ford 9" but we chose a WaveTrac. We needed the third member in place to be able to know where to make room for the driveshaft, exhaust and such. Having Moser build and supply the entire assembly made it easy - they installed and setup the hypoid gear set, bearings, and differential into the aluminum housing - so that can be just bolted into the axle housing. We picked up some ARP studs and nuts for a Ford 9" housing and installed the third member shortly after it arrived (below).



New Front Subframe Fab

By now we are into work done in early to mid June. After the old front subframe was removed, additional 2x4" frame rail material was purchased. Ryan got to town and had the new rails cut and tacked in place quickly and began the front suspension mounting points.



The suspension used of a lot of pre-existing parts, including C6 Corvette aluminum uprights, aluminum C6 upper and lower control arms, and big disc brakes from Wilwood. There's a fabricated steering arm on the spindles, which was for the old subframe and rack setup. There was a haggard looking Fox Mustang steering rack kluged into the old subframe, but we knew that had to go (more on that next time).


Please note: all of the lower control arm mounts WILL be double shear. They are incomplete in the image above

Since we had other ideas for a more appropriate steering rack, Ryan left out some of the front structure - awaiting the new rack. As you can see the front has room for a bolt-in lower brace structure, which should allow for track-side service of the oil pan with the motor still in the car. Its a dry sump oil oiling system and pan, which still allows the motor to sit fairly low. The C6 control arms were mounted after geometry was again checked in simulation and placed where we could get some real camber and alignment settings appropriate for track use.



Again, the previous plate steel mounts were cantilevered off the frame rails and looked like they would not withstand the side loading that 315 Hoosiers could generate. We asked Ryan to tie the upper control arm mounting plates into the frame with tubing. The curved tubing wraps around the mounting plates and vertical 1-3/4" tubing will come up and tie across the engine bay. This will also be tied back into to the roll cage.



Before too long the motor and transmission needed to go in to make sure the front subframe frame rails left appropriate room to add custom full length headers (will show the construction of the headers in my next post). The placement and driveline angles were checked and re-checked then Ryan began working on the motor mounts. The driver's side mount is already installed in the image above, and you can see the digital angle finder on the tail of the G-force transmission as well.

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