69 Camaro at Best of Show

[Matt@BOS]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

Charley has been waiting for a BIG money guy so he can use it in a post....




Nice stuff going on here Mister Matt!

Thanks Greg! I'm trying to get this car to drive as good as it looks.

Al, I'm ditching the cutouts because I never use them. They're heavy, clunky, take up space and even closed I think they leak a little.

Skip, I think the other alternative to the Hooker Super Comps would be a set of Lemons headers. I would spring for the DSE ones right away if I knew they fit with my motor mounts.

[Matt@BOS]

So, a couple weeks ago when we were all out at Adams, the lower corner of my brake caliper started hitting the inside flange on the front driver side wheel. I noticed it under hard cornering. I was a little confused at first as to why this would happen now after never having problems in the past. I pulled a couple shims out of the bottom caliper bolt since the wheel hub seemed tight. The fix worked for the weekend, but I figured I should go ahead and replace the hub assembly since the car has seen a few hard miles on it. Today I went out to Adams again, had the same exact problem. Now I'm even more stumped. I changed the brake rotors and pads out over the weekend. I got the rotor and caliper lined up and centered and on the new hub. I figured problem solved, but apparently not. I was running about as little caliper to wheel clearance as possible and never had a problem until now, on just the driver side. What gives? I'm going to swap front wheels side to side, but I doubt that one is bent since I just had tires mounted and balanced two weeks ago. It is possible that there are small differences between the wheels since they were made at different times (one had to be replaced following "the accident") but I doubt it.

That's my rambling for today. Probably doesn't make much sense without pictures. Thinking about what might be wrong is driving me crazy and writing it down seemed like a good idea at the time...

[GregWeld]

Did the caliper leave a witness mark in the wheel??


It might be helpful to know the clearance when just sitting... and then at least you'd know "something" is moving "X" amount in order to close that gap.

[Matt@BOS]

Originally Posted by GregWeld

Did the caliper leave a witness mark in the wheel??


It might be helpful to know the clearance when just sitting... and then at least you'd know "something" is moving "X" amount in order to close that gap.

Yes, it left a mark.

I just figured out the problem though. The stud that mounts through the caliper body and onto the adapter started backing out of the adapter. Now to fix it. I tried just tightening it up and it stripped the nut before it, as opposed to working at it should have. I even tried tightening both down evenly so the caliper wasn't skewed.

[Vegas69]

Check the other side to make sure it's not close to suffering the same fate. That's one of those deals that happens in pairs.

[Matt@BOS]

Originally Posted by Vegas69

Check the other side to make sure it's not close to suffering the same fate. That's one of those deals that happens in pairs.

Will do. Already have a pair of studs on order from Wilwood in case something similar happens in the future. The one I pulled out was toast with the caliper bolt stripped and stuck on. I'm still not sure why the stud started backing out of the bracket. It looked like it had red loctite on it. I suppose lots of heat, vibration and general abuse might have had something to do with it.

[Matt@BOS]

Weekly excitement!

The quickest way for me to get onto the freeway in the morning is to go up over a big hill and down the backside to a little known onramp. Right as I get to the top of the hill I downshifted from third to second to keep the car from lugging at around 20mph. After doing so the car just dropped revs like it was in neutral, so I made sure it was in second gear, and it did the exact same thing. Then I tried third. Same issue. None of the gears worked. For those who have never been in a situation like this, it is not a great feeling. At. All. Luckily I was able to coast to the bottom of the hill and call AAA for a tow truck. Even with the car off and in gear, it wanted to roll downhill. I was looking for any visual sign of damage and couldn't see anything. After an hour the tow truck had arrived and loaded up the car. Off to Best of Show we went. When we got there Dick was cool enough to throw the car up on the lift right away to have a look. We were both a bit puzzled as to what the issue was. Nothing seemed to indicate a clutch or transmission failure. No, clunks, leaks, or crunching noises were ever heard. With the car in gear and up on the lift we were able to spin the rear wheels freely. Not a good sign right?

Here is what we found after taking the center section out of the car...


Yes, those are all of the bolts that are supposed to hold the ring gear in place. Over the last two years they slowly managed to all "fall out." My apologies for the poor photo quality from my aging cell phone, but I think you can all see those mangled and pinched bolts. Apparently the last bolt worked its way out right at the top of the hill. I'm not sure I have ever been so lucky in my life! It could have happened at speed while I was at the track, or it could have happened in stop and go traffic during morning rush hour if I had gone the other way.

I understand that these cars need a nut and bolt check on them periodically, and I always go over suspension and other critical parts of the car before driving on a track, but I'm betting none of you guys take your 9" assemblies apart to check over. I wouldn't be that upset about it, but I purchased this part from DSE who uses a Moser Assembly. I think the idea here is that both myself and DSE are putting our trust in Moser. Maybe it is just me, but I don't think something like this should ever happen. Those bolts were a little on the short side, but most of all, they had zero evidence of any type of thread locker, nor did they have washers. It would be one thing if I pulled the housing apart one day and one bolt fell out, but all ten? What if one of the bolts had fallen out and been kicked up into the gears while I was driving? This could have been disastrous. I haven't even called Moser up. Anyone thing it is worth while? I'm sure all I will get is a typical, "we've never seen that happen before," response...