Gen 1 Camaro/ASA Stock Car Build

Paul_VR6 (Forum Supporter) said:

We have had to have fw and pp machined before and just tossed in thicker floaters. Not great but it works.

Thanks Paul!  I appreciate the info.

Amazing thread. That is all..... Very cool car.

In reply to java230 :

Thank you...glad you like it!  It has been really fun to build so far.  If you haven't seen it, JG has a thread running about possibly building a similar car from the spare chassis/parts shown early in this thread. 
Good times!  

In reply to jh36 :

It's really great. And yes JG Is what aimed me here 

Not sure i read it anywhere, but i can't find it...

What are you using for wheels and tires? How do you like them? Downside? Looking at doing a vintage nascar clone for the challenge, but my one experience sith Hoosier f40 slicks in that arena was less than stellar 

Two sets of unused Goodyear D2902's came on the car on regulation ASA wheels so that's what I have used so far. At the moderate rate I've been able to go, they have felt great.  I have not been able to find them new...the last rule set I see mentioning them is 2009. These tires are about 10 years old but were stored well. 
I want to run the higher sidewall on 15's if at all possible. Even if it isn't technically as fast. NASCAR cast offs are an option even though Cup is going to a new profile. I believe late model still runs 15"s. Phil at Phil's tires gave me some recommendations and if I dig that up, I will share it. 
 

Found it...

He suggested Hoosier 27-10-15 in bias ply to start with with the option to advance to 27-11.5-15 radial. The compound scale he recommended from soft to hard was 3035, f45, 3045. 
Hoosier's pdf catalogue makes it a little tough to find all this, but I believe it's all in the section marked Asphalt Late Model. 
I'm going to order my tires from Phil soon just because getting anything takes a while these days. I will share here what I purchase after speaking with him more. And if you don't know of them, Phil and Kim Phillips (Phil's Tires) are wonderful folks and run a tight business.

JG Pasterjak said:

I guess I could do a Somerset, but then I'd never get any work done because I'd just be out in the garage whackin' it all day.

The cool thing about the GT-1/T-A bodywork is the molds are all still out there. Tommy Riggins i think has some Firebird or Camaro stuff, and he's just up the road in Jacksonville. Les Cannaday has al the old Rocketsports Olds Cutlass GTO/T-A molds. And ACP and Derhaag still have all their molds. Certainly someone from that list would be excited to work with a plucky car mag on a cool project...

If you would kike to be a bit more obscure, I know who has the molds for Kendall's TA Beretta.  I also know that he would like to NOT have them anymore...

In reply to grafmiata :

I think you want to be over here...I will try to shift....thanks for dropping in though!  The beretta is pretty cool

https://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/grm/enablers-assemble/187386/page1/

Thanks! What size are you running now? The flexibility of the sidewall is what is giving me pause. When we ran the amc on.the f40 bias plys, there was a lot of movement causing you to guess where it was going to be pointing when the body caught up with the contact patch. 

It may not be an issue on road course....

In reply to Dusterbd13-michael :

I'm on Goodyear slicks. 27 11.5-15 now. I haven't been able to really push it yet.  Hopefully I can report back next week. 

Well, Jegs and QM made good on the schedule and incredibly delivered my parts Friday evening. I emailed my customer service  person's supervisor with giant kudos. 
meanwhile, back at the ranch, the flywheel went in, clutch went on, bell housing and release bearing went in. Ed Higginbotham was feeling a little poorly so we decided to bleed the clutch later. 
Gearbox went in, driveshaft, starter...then looped back to bleed the clutch. 
No dice. No amount of pumping, sweating and grumbling brought fluid through. 
I called friends , family and even had my daughter come out for a third set of hands. Nothing. After hours of pounding, pondering and googling, we took it all back down to the bearing. Punch line is, something is blocking fluid in the bleeder hose. After shooting myself in the face compressing the piston with the hose removed, we reassembled and put on a spare brake line on to bleed with. Problem solved but behind schedule now. Tomorrow night we try to put the driveline back in, bleed clutch (again) and brakes...then do a pre-flight check on the car and bus. Fingers crossed that we have crossed the last hurdle to the weekend. 
It was still a good night in the shop. Always fun. . 

Back on track I think. Clutch works. Driveshaft back on. Brakes bled. Right where I wanted to be Sunday night!  

jh36 said:

Back on track I think. Clutch works. Driveshaft back on. Brakes bled. Right where I wanted to be Sunday night!  

Tell Ed to spend less time looking cute and more time taking notes for me.

Currently our sales team is bound for the SEMA show where they intend to pitch the idea of the car conceptually to a few prospective advertisers. So long as they don't get laughed out of anyone's booth, this thing may be in Florida before long.

As a reader, if you have interest in the as a project, you could either post here or on the thread on the main board with your support.  The sales team actually has ipads queued to the message board to show prospective partners what people are enthusiastic about.

10000%.

For me, after building a CP car from the ground up, this almost feels like an easy button to getting on track and going fast.  No crazy cage building bills, suspension calculations, etc.  Buy a good chassis, find a body to fit over top, go fast and look cool.

Now, it's not all easy, but that's why you'll write about it.

Gimp (Forum Supporter) said:

10000%.

For me, after building a CP car from the ground up, this almost feels like an easy button to getting on track and going fast.  No crazy cage building bills, suspension calculations, etc.  Buy a good chassis, find a body to fit over top, go fast and look cool.

Now, it's not all easy, but that's why you'll write about it.

I think my build was much less complicated than yours. You built...I tweaked. 
I would love to see how grm would (will) navigate this. 
Ed, Marie and I have docked at Summit Point and are ready for our last test of the year. Stay tuned...first run is 8:30 in the morning. Fingers crossed the clutch is all tight. 

Awesome. 

Im actually watching the drivetrain and such setup on this, and would in the magazine as well. Seems very applicable to bringing back used circle track stuff from any level to use on road course. 

Not a bad day at SP. It was an often wet or damp track. The new clutch worked great. The replaced rear seals continue to do their job. The tires are 10 or so years old so they are a bit tough to handle and I'm still working to get the feel of the car, transmission, etc. 

Ed did a session and had a ball. It is a different kind of car from our mostly 944/E36 experience. 
But, it's a car that makes you smile for 10 minutes when you come  in  

I approximately equaled my 944 lap record here today...I know, the comparison isn't fair, but I feel like I'm laying a good foundation to spring from.  Tomorrow should be dryer so I'm hoping to build on today's efforts. More soon. 

It was a great weekend. Saturday my friend Kevin and forum mate jimgood joined Ed Higginbotham, Marie and me. 
Today, Jim returned and we started picking up the pace but the car started stumbling at 4K. Jim and Ed found some bad plugs and wires so Jim ran to town, scored replacements and didn't miss a session. 

Next session we picked up more speed but the stumble came back. I switched fuel pumps and it cleared...then stumbled again. Switching between pumps seemed to help. My guess is there is an issue with the vent because filling the tank also presents issues with fuel backing up into the neck. 
In spite of that, We shaved a little over 3 seconds a lap today and ended at 1:25.1. Each lap was getting quicker so I think I just need time to work closer to the limits. 
I'm satisfied. It was nice hanging out with friends and family. Ed's wife and my grand baby even came up for the day. A couple of forum readers following this thread came by too...that was fun. 
The repairs since the last event held and we found some new ones...and solved some of them. 
I'm  working on my offseason list and will post when completed. 

Pictures of this car are better with sound.