Transition Camaro

[MX145]

Thanks guys. Seeing your builds keeps me motivated. There's so many cool cars on here! At times it seems like I have a long way to go but progress is progress and I'll eventually get there. Even when it's just a little at a time.

[Vince@Meanstreets]

hows that rear suspension coming along?

[MX145]

Originally Posted by Vince@MSperfab

hows that rear suspension coming along?

It's all designed but only partially fabricated. The long story behind it is we found the stock Ford 9" housing axle tubes aren't round. Ford built the housing and then machined the bearing and seal surfaces in the ends true to the center section. This is different than the Dana and Chevy housings we've worked on. Now we know why people just cut the ends off without much thought and use a bar with alignment slugs in the carrier and ends. We were thinking people were just a little careless with tolerances but now we know why. We have to do this as well but we still cut the ends off in the lathe and indexed the ends to the housing and true'd up only the ends and the axle tube where the ends press fit before welding. We couldn't true up the entire length because the tubes are somewhat oval and would leave thin spots. If I new this going in I think I would have replaced the axles tubes so the outside OD would be round within a few thousandths instead of 130 thousandths. The tubes being oval shaped by .130 has made things a pain as we don't want to mill the holes in the brackets .130 over to fit. We're still kicking around the thought of machining oval holes in the brackets or machine a round hole compromise and grind as needed to get the brackets indexed properly for the pinion angle. We may even replace the tubes.

[Vince@Meanstreets]

Damn, well let me know if you need some input and a bare moser housing. Much easier route if you don't mind forking up 460 for a bare housing

[MX145]

Originally Posted by Vince@MSperfab

Damn, well let me know if you need some input and a bare moser housing. Much easier route if you don't mind forking up 460 for a bare housing

Dang. I wish I knew that before I bought this one. I appreciate the offer.

My dad messed around with it today and figured out a solution. He turned the tubes down a little and made the bracket bores a press on fit so it will work out. Fortunately this rear end has the thicker 3.25 diameter tubes.

[MX145]

I don't have any good pictures to post but have made a little progress. All of the 4 link brackets have been machined and the new axles are here. I wasn't able to use the Wilwood offset bearing retainer with the new updated bearings i got from Strange. The new A1013A bearing is wider so I picked up some flat retainers from AME yesterday. I also picked up the 1" .156 wall DOM tubing for the links themselves.

My buddy mounted up my 245's on the wider wheels. They're a little stretched but work to my advantage for fender clearance. I'll take a look at 275's later.

[WSSix]

Those 245s don't look too bad. If clearances are really tight, a 255 might give a good balance. 10mm makes a lot of difference sometimes.

[MX145]

Originally Posted by WSSix

Those 245s don't look too bad. If clearances are really tight, a 255 might give a good balance. 10mm makes a lot of difference sometimes.

Thanks Trey. That's a good idea. I could also possibly run an 8-1/2 rear wheel half instead of an 8 and give up some turning radius. I'll cross that bridge when I come to it. The 245's fit perfect with the 8 at 6-3/4 BS. I don't need to change it but Sutton's got me thinking about wider front tires

[Vince@Meanstreets]

looking good, let see the rear man!

[Flash68]

Wheels look killer... I'd also recommend trying at least a 255 tire on there if you can.