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Mark Magers / Lateral Dynamics 69
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This is
"Lateral I," the shop mule for my new business, Lateral Dynamics
LLC. This car has had more make-overs in the last few years than I care to
look back on, and I am positive it will get more in the future. It started
as a car that I found on E-bay, luckily it was close to where I live. The
car was a solid example, no rust, did not appear to have been in major
accidents, and had relatively good paint. The engine was junk, although it
ran, the steering system and suspension all needed to be replaced, and the
interior has horrible. The plan was to "merely" buy a crate engine, trans,
and all bolt on stuff to make the car a nice little hot rod.
"Phase I" took a LOT longer than I had anticipated, but was basically
accomplished by buying parts through mail order catalogs, and assembled by
myself in my home garage. The engine was a 350 late model roller short
block (ZZ4) that I bought from Summit, along with all the other parts.
Estimated power was about 425 HP at the crank, and it ran pretty good. A
tremec TKO trans, and rebuilt 12 bolt rounded out the drivetrain. For the
suspension, I used Hotchkis springs and sway bar, all new bushings, and I
also rebuilt the steering setup using stock type components. For the
brakes, I followed the same path many people have done by adapting late
model Corvette fare, and used a Hydroboost unit. The interior got new door
panels, carpet, etc, along with late model Camaro bucket seat all covered in
red leather, with the stock rear seat to match. The car was a lot of fun,
and pretty typical of what many folks do to their cars.
During the build process, I started to get very interested in road racing
and open track events. The more people I talked to, and the more I learned
about serious race cars, well, it became pretty clear that although the 69
was probably going to be fun on the track, there were several areas that I
wanted to address to make it really perform, as well as stand apart from the
crowd. Phase II started, and all of the mod's were centered around making
the car really tear up the road course.
The engine got a nice stroker kit, with Howards connecting rods, a Callies
crank, and forged pistons. The TFS heads were fully ported and flow tested,
and the valvetrain was replaced with a full on roller setup from Crower,
including a custom grind solid roller cam, and their super nice shaft
mounted rockers. I put a custom made road racing oil pan on the car, fully
baffled to keep oil in the sump during hard cornering. I have not had the
car on a dyno, but we estimated that the combination should be good for an
honest 525 - 550 HP at the crank. I also installed a fuel cell from Fuel
Safe, it has a liner to prevent bursting in the case of impact. Because the
cell was mounted in the trunk, a firewall was necessary to keep the
passenger compartment separated. In one of the pictures, you can see the
bracing I replaced the stock seat back with prior to installing some sheet
stock. Also in that picture, you can see the sheetmetal torque box/cover
that was necessary for the new rear suspension.
The biggest thing that was changed on the car was a conversion to a custom
three link rear suspension setup, that utilizes a Watt's linkage to locate
the axle laterally. A ton of research went into the design to insure the
kinematics of the setup would yield highly predictable, "friendly" behavior
when the car is at speed. Specifically, the design requirements demanded
good anti-squat behavior (design is adjustable above and below nominal,
which is 100% A/S), while also requiring a sufficiently long Side View Swing
Arm length, to prevent brake hopping under hard braking. Additionally, roll
steer is very well controlled due to the rear roll center height (which is
adjustable), and the placement of the lower control arms. The upper link by
default needs to intrude the passenger compartment, but the setup was
designed such that a rear seat with split "buns" could be used. Shocks are
Penske double adjustable units with remote compression canisters, nominal
valving was specific to this car. The rear axle assembly is a Ford based 9"
unit, with full floating axles. The car was mini-tubbed at the same time,
and 315 wide tires were fitted.
At the front of the car, the tires and wheels were replaced with 275 series
rubber in an attempt to balance out the new found grip at the rear of the
car. While the C4 type PBR brake calipers are outstanding for the street,
they are notorious for failing in repeated hard braking. I also wanted the
feel of manual brakes to make it easier for heel-toe shifting, so the front
brake setup was replaced with a set of Alcon Monoblock six piston calipers,
and thicker rotors from Coleman (1.25" thick versus the 1.10" thick C4
units). This required custom brackets which I made in my new shop with a
milling machine.
The interior got a custom roll bar made from NASA/SCCA legal DOM tubing,
five point harnesses, and new seats from Cobra. The Cobra Suzuka seats
seemed to fit me the best of the many I tried, and are made of Kevlar to
prevent failure in the case of impact.
For now, the car is "done," meaning any changes will be small for the time
being. The plan is to get as much track time on the car as possible, while
still enjoying it on the street as well. A recent track outing revealed a
couple of issues that are being addressed with the engine, and a cut axle
seal that cut the testing short. Other than that, the car felt extremely
good, and was glued to the track with no drama. Eventually, a new front
subframe and custom front suspension will be developed and installed on the
car, as well as completion of the roll cage and a dedicated fire system. I
guess that will be the start of Phase III!"
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