1973 Camaro - Autocross / Street Car project

[73CPCAMARO]

Originally Posted by Mean 69

Brian, this is a fantastic looking project so far! Maier is obviously well known in the Mustang world, neat to see that it translates over to the Chev's too. I really like the approach of the front spindles, in a previous life we had intentions of developing a very similar piece but scrapped the idea, looking back I wish I wouldn't have changed my mind. These look to be fab'd out of 3/16" plate cold roll steel? Very nice, very functional.

In the CP rule set, using the front frame is required to prevent a weight penalty, but obviously you can change the suspension. How about the steering gear? Could you, if you chose, run a rack in place of the box and not get hit with a weight penalty?

Sure I'll have other questions, but have to run. Really awesome, thanks for sharing the progress.

Mark

Maier does great work. These are one off spindles and we have a lot of time into them. It would have been very easy to purchase off the shelf spindles, but there are certain things we wanted and the only way to get them was to make them ourselves.

As far as the subframe, it is legal to change it out to another like the DSE or others, but you would then have a 10% weight penalty. Not worth it in our case. For most, that would be the way to go. Much more cost effective!

With the steering, we tossed that around also. After much discussion and pooling all of our driving experience with many similar cars, we decided to go with the stock type steering but with quality, race proven products. Reliability, part availability, and most important, driver feel were considered. We all picked stock design over rack and pinion. Others may have a different opinion, but we are very confident with our choice.

[Mean 69]

Brian, one other thing that I noted is what appears to be the Howe drag link. I have one that I have played with too, but a caution. The unit I have is designed specifically for the circle track cars, and as such has different left to right steering angle output/Ackerman. Not designed for both directions, I'd take a good look at that. Shame, it is a REALLY cool and functional piece. I can check the part number on the one I have, but it is the one listed in their catalog of two years ago, I don't "think" they have changed it?

Heads-up.

Mark

[73CPCAMARO]

Originally Posted by Mean 69

Brian, one other thing that I noted is what appears to be the Howe drag link. I have one that I have played with too, but a caution. The unit I have is designed specifically for the circle track cars, and as such has different left to right steering angle output/Ackerman. Not designed for both directions, I'd take a good look at that. Shame, it is a REALLY cool and functional piece. I can check the part number on the one I have, but it is the one listed in their catalog of two years ago, I don't "think" they have changed it?

Heads-up.

Mark

Mark,

You are 100% correct. We found out after we installed all the steering parts that the center link is for those folks that like to only turn left. We ended on modifying the Howe link so the Ackerman was the same left to right. We were scratching our heads for a little at first. Thanks for the heads up!

Brian

[speedjohnston]

Well I'm glad I read this thread because I just installed the howe centerlink, tie rod ends etc on my second gen. If you don't mind me asking how did you modify the link to fix the ackerman?

[66LS7]

I also found out about the different center link by working on a friends circle track car. I really think this is a great project.



Randy(D&Z Customs LLC.)
[email protected]
1-262-347-9741

[73CPCAMARO]

Originally Posted by speedjohnston

Well I'm glad I read this thread because I just installed the howe centerlink, tie rod ends etc on my second gen. If you don't mind me asking how did you modify the link to fix the ackerman?

We ended up removing the bend they put in the center link and straightening the pitman arm. Everything seems to measure out good now.

You can see in the first photo the bend and reinforcement Howe adds. We removed that in the second and third photo.

[speedjohnston]

Thanks Brian. Not sure if or how bad my problem will be because I am using a different pitman and idler arm. That may reposition things differently. I don't want to hijack your thread so I'll maybe post elsewhere on the weekend with some pics and ask some opinions. Thanks for taking the time to show me what you did.

[Nine Ball]

You have a very talented builder, thanks for sharing the progress photos!

Tony

[Mean 69]

We ended up removing the bend they put in the center link and straightening the pitman arm. Everything seems to measure out good now.

Fantastic!!!! Great idea!!!!! I hadn't even thought about modifying this one, I threw in the towel when I found the issue and decided I'd have to build one from scratch, well done guys! You made my day.

Cheers,
Mark

EDIT: I also noticed the pitman arm, the issue was probably exaggerated in my measurement due to using Howe's billet pitman arm, it's really short. I have since bought a stock replacement, I don't recall it having the bend like your photo, I'll have to take a look at that.

Oh, and by the way, I agree with you 10,000% regarding the weight penalty for an aftermarket frame. There is no question your car will be faster with your modified front end and 300 pounds less than it would be with the best aftermarket frame out there.

[rstone]

Wondering what kind of scrub dimension you get with your modified spindle?
What is your front wheel offset?
If you don't mind me asking.

Thank You
Ron Stone