427ci LS2 sleeved, dry sump oil pump, engine build & install, 69 Camaro

[DaleTx]

From inspiration after reading Ron Sutton's post about chassis and suspension in Rob's thread, I also lowered the car 1.5" in the front and 1.0" in the rear to lower the roll center as much as possible... if your reading... thanks for the great info Ron. I will have some questions in a future post to ask about front and rear shock compression and rebound dampening settings.

I lowered the car as much as possible... while maintaining functionality with no rubs while cornering.


New measurement from floor to front fender lip, 23-1/4"




New measurement from floor to rear fender lip, 24"




New stance after lowering




Rear set up is Global West reverse eye 2" drop Cat-5 leafs with a 3/4" spacer between the leafs and axle. The front set up is Global West tubular A-arms with 600lb coils cut to 12" length.

The sub frame is now 4-1/4" off the ground, and the headers are about 3-3/4" off the ground.

So far no tire rubbing or scraping.

[Gil]

Awesome thread, build, skills, car, stance... for sharing


Gil

[PTAddict]

Originally Posted by DaleTx

I have been driving the car with the new leafs for a couple of weeks now. Major improvement... the car does not squat on acceleration... hooks up much better... and feels way more stable in corners. I will be doing another track day in two weeks and I can't wait to try out the new set up.

Thanks again on the good advice guys.

Nice write up and pics. Good to hear they're working out for you so far.

Just a note of caution for those of you doing street-only builds: the ride these springs give is, uh, firm If you're doing a lot of just cruising, on less than perfect roads (hello, Michigan) these might not be the ticket.

[Flash68]

Dale that is a great write up and glad those Meow-5 leafs are the ticket for ya.

Lookin fwd already to your next track day video.

[Sieg]

The Cat-5's should help keep him out of the kitty litter.

[DaleTx]

Originally Posted by Gil

Awesome thread, build, skills, car, stance... for sharing


Gil

Thanks Gil... appreciate the compliments!

Originally Posted by PTAddict

Nice write up and pics. Good to hear they're working out for you so far.

Just a note of caution for those of you doing street-only builds: the ride these springs give is, uh, firm If you're doing a lot of just cruising, on less than perfect roads (hello, Michigan) these might not be the ticket.

Thanks Scott... you were right about these leafs, they work great. The car hooks up much better now, and feels very stable cornering and accelerating. I will be out at PIR in a couple weeks to try them out, maybe I'll see you there.

Originally Posted by Flash68

Dale that is a great write up and glad those Meow-5 leafs are the ticket for ya.

Lookin fwd already to your next track day video.

Thanks Dave... I'm hoping to come away from the next track day with some compliments from Sieg after watching the video... rather than him telling me how slow I am, Lol.

Originally Posted by Sieg

The Cat-5's should help keep him out of the kitty litter.

Lets's hope so!

[Sieg]

Originally Posted by DaleTx

Thanks Dave... I'm hoping to come away from the next track day with some compliments from Sieg after watching the video... rather than him telling me how slow I am, Lol.

HEY! I wasn't telling you how slow you were, I was telling you how to get FASTER!

[MX145]

Originally Posted by Sieg

HEY! I wasn't telling you how slow you were, I was telling you how to get FASTER!

Haha! That's awesome!

Dale, you're not messing around. You got right to it. Rons a huge contributor. He's got me thinking or rethinking things as well. Great job on the mods and thanks for sharing the specs. Your car looks great! Can't wait to hear how your next track day goes.

[DaleTx]

Originally Posted by MX145

Haha! That's awesome!

Dale, you're not messing around. You got right to it. Rons a huge contributor. He's got me thinking or rethinking things as well. Great job on the mods and thanks for sharing the specs. Your car looks great! Can't wait to hear how your next track day goes.

Thanks... I've been following your build to. The supersonic blue color will look great on your car.



On Monday this week I met Scott Bourduin out at PIR while he was there running a track day with the Corvette Club. After we chatted for a while Scott invited me to ride along for his final session of the day. I jumped at the chance and it was great to ride along and see what lines he drove... where he braked and so on... it was a great learning experience for me.

Scott's driving ability and car are very impressive to say the least. Thanks to Scott for letting me ride along! I am signed up for a track day at PIR on Friday and I plan to push the braking a little further after seeing how Scott ran the track.

A couple shots of Scott's car at PIR (from my cell phone)







In preparation for my track day this Friday... I put new brake pads on and greased the front wheel bearings on my car. The brake pads are Baer decelerator ceramic matrix pads. These pads work great and have a good feel.




Next I pulled the front hubs and greased the front wheel bearings.









I also revised my design on the cold air intake that goes from the 4 barrel TB to opening in the cowl hood. I dropped it down slightly so I could get additional clearance from the top of the air cleaner to the top of the tunnel on the cowl hood, and I went to a foam seal rather than the rubber tube seal I had before. I think this looks cleaner.





The new set up installed in the car. You can see the IAT sensor mounted in the back... this works good.













When I switched to the LS engine it sat back further... so the hole in the cowl hood did not match up with the air cleaner. I cut a crescent shaped piece of metal from the back side of the hole.. and then relocated the piece to the other side of the hole... you can see the three screws holding the piece in place. This worked out good and the hole in the cowl hood now lines up perfectly with the air cleaner.




My grandson spent the weekend with my wife and I. He spent some time out in the garage with me




I have run the engine without the cold air intake for a while... but with the computer control and the IAT sensor the engine runs the best when I use the cold air intake set up and draw the air from outside the engine compartment.

[chr2002ca]

Always love your detailed posts and great photos Dave. It seems we're consistently working on the same things on our rides(transmission/clutch -> ride height + wheels rehooped -> cold air setup). I made a similar cold air setup with a 16" aluminum cake pan and realized the diameter needed another inch, so I ordered a 17" cake pan yesterday which should be in a few days. I also was not too happy with the rubber rim ring I installed on my mine and was considering some foam instead. Where did you acquire your foam from? That looks perfect.