Budget '69 Camaro Track Car - NO WHINERS!

[Vegas69]

This car is all business. The owner is all attitude. It's crazy how tight everything is packaged in your rear differential area.

[Track Junky]

Originally Posted by Ron in SoCal

Gae, you skipped the part about the sending the leaky motor back to Nyes...

Ahh you remembered. OK, so let me fill in. There was a total of three Buttonwillow trips last year. The first one was a disaster because the motor leaked oil from just about everywhere. That day at Buttonwillow My fastest time was 2:18 and after two sessions packed it up and left due to oilleaks. Sent motor back, leaks got fixed and then she was good to go. Next trip to Buttonwillow laid down some 2:15's and all was well but car had a push.......Which now leads me to my buddy Vince at Dreamspeedmotors.

Originally Posted by Vince@MSperfab

oh he's leaving out a bunch!

Wait till you see what we have cooking for next year. Even he doesn't know.

After my second stint at Buttonwillow I went to Dreamspeedmotors for some advice and to ask them if they would sponsor me. They agreed to help me out and so they set the car up for my third trip to Buttonwillow. My word to all was that after Dreamspeedmotors was done with tuning the car that I would lay down 2:10 lap times. Dreamspeed readusted front sway bar and raised the front leaf spring perch mount. Sure enough I knocked 5 seconds off my time and ran a couple of low 2:10 lap times at Buttonwillow 13CW config with one 2:10.3 and another 2:10.1. BTW, a big thanks to Vince.......always thinking and always taking care of my needs within a small budget.

Looking forward to next year!!

Originally Posted by Flash68

I didn't know that sucker was 13.5:1! Wow, no wonder you don't drive it on the street.

Great pics. Keep em comin...

Yeah I remember your issues with NYES too..... are you happy with the engine now that it's in and all setup tho?

Love the engine now. So far so good and all you can do is cross your fingers.

[Track Junky]

Originally Posted by Vegas69

This car is all business. The owner is all attitude. It's crazy how tight everything is packaged in your rear differential area.

Todd, had a great time running with you guys last time out. Cant wait till we get together again and once again congrats on those killer times you laid down. You've got some great skills behind the wheel and are also really fun to hang out with.

[Track Junky]

Some time around 2005 I got Performance Fabrication in Redwood City to sponsor me and they are the ones that installed my bolt together Autopower roll cage that I had them weld together and installed my oil cooler set up.

So moving forward and trying to do so on a budget it was time to fill in the rear wells with some wider tires. Trying to be fast, light weight in wheels is a big help. I researched wheels for a long time and come to find out 2002 Z06 wheels are 19 lbs up front and 21 in the rear. I think to myself,"Hey no brainer, pick up some used Z06 wheels and I'll save at least $3000. So I pick up some Z06 wheels for $600 bucks. I kinda liked the way they looked but the problem is that you need spacers to make them work with a stock subframe and rear. I tried them out but they did not work. Handling completely changed and the front of the car pushed like it was on ice.

[Sieg]

Gaetano,

Thanks for taking the time to create this chronology. My goal is to have a good street/track car and your info is very helpful.

Brake system still Baer track/touring?

Trans and rear gear ratio?

[Track Junky]

Originally Posted by Sieg

Gaetano,

Thanks for taking the time to create this chronology. My goal is to have a good street/track car and your info is very helpful.

Brake system still Baer track/touring?

Trans and rear gear ratio?

Ahh yes, forgot to mention the trans. One of the big reasons for wrapping things up with NASA in 2006 was loosing a tranny and a motor in the same season. First went the trans. I was running an M-21 for years and really loved it but lack of maintaining it(just being dumb and not changing the oil after every track day) I grenaded it heading up the hill after turn one at Infineon. I decided to buy a new trans as apposed to rebuilding it and came across a site called 5speed.com. I called the owner and was enquiring about their dog ring clutchless trans and he talked me into buying their M-22 trans that he builds for a road racing vintage Jaguar series that runs out on the east coast.

They call this M-22 a Spec 25. Supposively its good for 800 ft/lbs of torque. When I bought it back in 2006 it retailed for $2100 but I recently visited the site and they are now going for $2700. So far the tranny has treated me well and I change oil after every track day.

As far as rear ratios, I really like the 3:42's. I could probably go to 3:55's but keep in mind, being on a budget means trying to keep the rpm's down so that you can try and save motor and continue to have fun.

I am still using the Baer Track/Touring brakes on my car and the 2nd to last time out on the track I thought I was due for an upgrade because the brakes were starting to fade around the 5th lap. Turns out it could have possibly been the brake fluid over heating. I went to Motul 660 brake fluid and the last time at the track they worked great so I'm hoping it was just the brake fluid.

[Flash68]

Bummer about those Vette wheels... I thought they really looked great on there. Makes me wonder if my car will feel and track much differently once I get some correctly sized wheels and ditch the big spacers.

[Track Junky]

I think that pretty much puts me up to date as far as what the car is running. I did forget to mention that I was running the stock lower control arms up until recently picking up the Global West lowers to match the uppers. The car handled great with the stock LCA's but I thought it would be benificial to add the new lowers. I also intend on adding a few other photo's of what Vince at Deamspeedmotors did but all in good time.

So the latest are the new Afco front springs and adjustable spring spacers.

After installing the new Global West lower control arms the poly spring base raised the car about an inch and a quarter. I pulled the springs out again, cut them, and dropped the car too low which limited my travel.

I noticed the diffference my last track dat at Buttonwillow. At initial turn in the car pushed a bit and I'm pretty sure I was bottoming out on my bump stops.

So being a budget build this is my next solution to that problem. I picked up some Afco adjustable spring spacers along with 2 sets of springs. The springs in the pic's are 650 lb. I also ordered a set of 600 lb and will try them both to see which work the best.

The springs are 9 1/2" tall and the spacers at lowest setting are 3" tall. I'm going to cut an inch off the top of the adjustable spacer. I'm also thinking about welding studs at the top of the spacers and drilling holes at the top of the spring pocket so that I can bolt the spacer in. Then I want to weld the spring to the spacer so that I could adjust height by turning the spring. Thats all here say for now as I wont know what I'm getting into until installation but I'm pretty sure thats how it will play out.

[Track Junky]

Originally Posted by Flash68

Bummer about those Vette wheels... I thought they really looked great on there. Makes me wonder if my car will feel and track much differently once I get some correctly sized wheels and ditch the big spacers.

You never know until you try. Bummer thing about it is that wheels aren't cheap.

My Vette wheels are sold and I am currently rolling the car around on a buddies borrowed set of wheels. I am currently working with Zak at Boze to decide on a color combo for my new set of wheels. I decided on their new Track wheel that they recently came up with.

[SLO_Z28]

Good call on those springs/spacers. Its what I use. 650 is a little light on the spring though, you might want to step up to at least 750. I wouldn't worry about welding the springs, they're working fine for me.