Gen 1 Camaro/ASA Stock Car Build

HalfFast said:

In reply to jh36 :

I learned a lot the last 2 years with my late model, and you benefit from my mistakes :) 

You sure know your stuff....I am absorbing as quickly as I can from you.  When JG fires his project up, you are going to have a lot of opportunity for more sharing!  

jh36 said:

HalfFast said:

In reply to jh36 :

I learned a lot the last 2 years with my late model, and you benefit from my mistakes :) 

You sure know your stuff....I am absorbing as quickly as I can from you.  When JG fires his project up, you are going to have a lot of opportunity for more sharing!  

All in...  the best outcome from making mistakes is helping others not make the same ones.  

It was a bit unceremonious, but I delivered the rear to a local shop for a once over. Very knowledgeable guy who I'm happy to have found. He does restorations and normal wrenching and does race cars on the side. His sons do late model and carts. My kind of family! 

While I wait for the prognosis on my rear and my bladder to be remanufactured (yeah that was fun to write) I was happy to receive these guys this week. 

Just a quick rough in to make sure the part will work, and it will. These should add a nice blast of air into the radiator for those hot summer race weekends. 
I will do some final fitting later. The rest of today is dedicated to the John C Higginbotham III 1st Annual Memorial Beef Stewfest. 
My dad was amazing in a multitude of ways...as a father, an engineer, a hobby scientist, a veteran of Normandy on through VE-Day. He was also a trailblazer in the US for the world we love, racing MG's, 356's, xk120's and such. He had a hand in the early days of VIR, a track many of us love. 

Today we are going to feast on his favorite recipe, go through 98 years of photographs and share some amazing stories. 
If he was here, he would cut that all short and lure me out to shop to finish the intake. 

Good news from the quick change/late model expert...everything in the rear looks great. All the weird sounds I hear are normal. 
Hopefully I will get the rear back and in the car in time to get #36 off the lift to do a "build day" for a work buddy's 944 on Saturday. The shop is just waiting on seals. 
 

Yesterday was a change of pace. I've been storing a 944, engine, trans and misc parts for a fellow from work. We got the engine, torque tube, trans and steering together in a few hours and off it went. Cleared some space in the shop AND got a little closer to having another member of NASA Mid Atlantic. 
I have suggested he come here for total immersion. 

A very slight update. 
I got the call from John Emory to come get my Tiger quick change. Good news...he said the internals look excellent and are set to spec. 
he cleaned up the unit and even painted the tubes. He is a great guy and let me know I should call him if anything ever breaks or I have questions. He said he turns around repairs overnight when needed. And to look around his main repair business (chock full of awesome classics) and then see his home shop (chock full of late models in various states of repair) it's pretty clear that he doesn't need the work or the money. He's just a passionate guy into doing good work for the racing community. 

The only issues he saw were my rotors (I have new ones already) and a distorted mounting plate for the passenger side rear rotor. I had not seen this. Once I get the hub and disk off, I will order a new one. The ones from Wilwood do not look like what I have on the rear so I'm hoping there is some identification...but I suppose it's no big deal to run a different brand on one side as long as the caliper offset is correct. I would prefer having them match though. He also pointed out that the bolts connect the hub to the mounting plate are not nearly long enough. 

Last piece of news for the day...I got an email that Fuel Safe has shipped my new ASA spec bladder. I should have all the parts I need in hand by the end of the year. For me, that's insane. 

In reply to jh36 :

If the hat (the part that connects the hub to the rotor) is flat, I'd send it. 

HalfFast said:

In reply to jh36 :

If the hat (the part that connects the hub to the rotor) is flat, I'd send it. 

Once I get it apart, I can check for flat.  The bolts were dug in and over-torqued enough to concern him that the rotor could be off the correct plane.  I didn't feel anything weird during testing, but with those dual 1" masters, I don't know that I could press the pedal hard enough to really feel anything!  If I had to get on track next week I'd probably go with it, but I have more than enough time to see what's what.

I forgot to mention, the studs had been welded on (on the passenger side) and the splines seem loose.  Sort of the same issue...I'd send it if i had a race tomorrow, but I 'm thinking I might as well fix it since i have the time.

Fuel Safe delivered my cell. 

unlike many bladders, this is fairly rigid and is not installed through the top. The side is unbolted.  This is the old bladder..and I believe it is the original. 

the new one seems to fit perfectly. The inside of the can has a little surface rust so I'm going to hit that with some paint before final assembly. 

I am enjoying the detailed process of this project.   In a way though I think its easier than building that chair you have in the Smithsonian.  

In reply to Purple Frog (Forum Supporter) :

Haha!  Yeah, the chair was designed with absolutely no thought for efficiency or ease. It was just a pile of geometry I wanted to see happen. .  

Super cool project.  I've only read thru about 8 pages so far, but I love what you're doing.

TVR Scott said:

Super cool project.  I've only read thru about 8 pages so far, but I love what you're doing.

Thanks for joining!  I still have a ton to do and learn. It's been the most fun project I've taken on. 

So, JG and GRM are now in possession of my chassis #2. Any distraction that was causing is now out the window. I would be lying if I said I wasn't a little torn about it, but this is for the best.  My vision od doing a gen2 camaro, or a Coyote powered '67 mustang are GONE. 
That said, I am looking forward to seeing which road he decides to travel, and I'm sure I will learn a ton from his investigation along the way. 
I trailered the chassis and components to SC for the handoff at a  sketchy abandoned clubhouse. I will be heading back to Maryland on Saturday where the work on 36 will fire back up. 

It seems like weeks since I've been in the shop. I guess it has been. 
small progress is still progress. 
I painted the inside off my fuel cell can and loaded up the new cell. 

As I went to load the fuel pumps, I noticed some sketchy old insulating material. I will be hitting the local NAPA tomorrow for some fuel resistant material to replace this.

I got the rear back in the frame and started breaking down the hubs to replace the haggard rotors. The proper giant socket to remove the nut is now on order. 

In reply to jh36 :

"Giant socket" lol.  (I bet I have one of those)

In reply to HalfFast :

I bet you do too!  Too bad we are a state removed. My toolbox is shifting rapidly from obscure Porsche tools to obscure late models tools. The change is good for me.