1969 Camaro tru-turn

[bret]

Originally Posted by jlwdvm

So are we saying that this set up (if used per Ride Tech's specs) works on some 69's but not others? Is there something "non-stock" about the G/RS set up? I'm looking for answers before I buy wheels and I have the same set up as what is being discussed here...except I have solid Alston stock height body bushings.

Every body line on the Goodguys Camaro has had weeks of massaging to achieve the aesthetic effect we were looking for. It is completely useless as a measuring template

One of our sales/tech guys, Kyle, has a 69 with stock inner and outer fenders. I don't remember the tire size on his car...he is out of the office this week...I'll try to get exact info on his car when he returns. I do remember his buddy doing whack job on the alignment at first and he had tire rub problems. When we fixed the alignment it was fine.

[David Pozzi]

More negative camber will move the top of the tire in nearly 1/2". If you plan on Autocrossing your Camaro, start with -1.5 degrees camber & caster at 5.5 deg.

[glr0212]

Tire size.

I bought the tire a year or more ago. They don't make the 335 tire anymore either i believe.

[jlwdvm]

Maybe some people that have made this system work with 69 fenders and a 275ish tire will chime in with some real world experience.

[cwylie]

My car is sitting on the ground with 18x9 5.25 backspace wheels. I have not put the steering on yet but I hope to have that ordered soon. They just bairly kiss the inner fenders and if I were to do it again I may have done with a 9 inch 5.5 backspace to give me a little more room at the inner fender. We will see once the car has the engine in it.

[glr0212]

Cwylie,

How low does your car sit?

I would also love to hear from people out there with a 69 that have made this work.

[glr0212]

here is another picture of my tire clearance from below with the wheels straight -

[onevoice]

Originally Posted by bret

I routinely run cars with 1-1.3 degrees of camber on trips across the US. Theoretically that much camber will decrease tire life but we abuse our tires in so many other ways it doesn't matter.

The fit of tires is unfortunately an inexact science. I have had many 1st gen camaros, and they are not exactly precision instruments. First off, as Bret says above, add some neg camber. If you are just puttering around, it will reduce tire life, but if you ever autocross the car or run it hard, you will wear out tires well before you run the inner edges off with lots of neg camber. There is a guy that autocrosses a 67 camaro in an SCCA class where he is restricted to completely stock parts and he uses neg camber in the 5-6 degree range. It is so much that the front end looks broken.
http://www.rhoadescamaro.com/build/

Second, replace the lowered bushings. Every fraction of an inch counts, and a half inch will definitely help.

Third, it goes without saying that adding a inch or so to a normal backspacing measurement will make inner part of the tire contact the frame sooner. It will reduce your turning radius, but I bet you will probably be able to live with it. You won't actually be making 3 point turns into parking spaces.

Lastly, the stock type inner to outer fender bolts will have to change. It won't kill anything to leave them out, or preferably use something with a flat rounded head.

There is lots of misinformation floating around about the tru-turn setup. It is an excellent product for eliminating bumpsteer, lowering the car, and getting the steering arms out of the way so more BS can be used. It is not an always foolproof method of stuffing the wheelwells with rubber. It looks like your car hasn't been painted yet, so you still have the opportunity to do some minor mods inside the fender and it will be smooth sailing. That is until you change tire brands and the next set in an identical size hits, tires themselves can vary nearly a half an inch from brand to brand.

[glr0212]

Raising the car and adding more neg camber is what I am hearing.
Agree the inner to outer fender bolts need to be low profile.
Changing out the body bushings – still not sure how that will change the side to side clearance. Either way, that isn’t an option for me at this point. The sub frame connectors are welded in.

I’m still pretty skeptical on how this setup works. Even if you get it tucked in there, if the car is lowered with a decent stance there is no getting around the fact that a tire this large will stick out from under the fender when turning. I imagine turning into a raised parking lot would be a fender smash job unless the springs are so stiff the car doesn’t move. What spring rate are people running with this setup?

It would be nice if more people with real world cars chimed in to give their experience. Maybe ridetech can track down a few customers for us. Id’ love to know where I went wrong and it sounds like there are a few other guys that would as well.

[glr0212]

Just for reference here is the Detroit Speed test car. look how much fender clearance this car has in the front. It looks like upwards of an inch!