Quote: Originally Posted by TPl383 Info on aluminum fuel tank. Looking good so far! I am going to guess CAS or NASTY. Mine looks 100% the same!

that looks SICK!!!!!!!!!!

Great info and pictures, Thanks.

I just got a set of Wolfe springs seats and springs and will start the mini tub work on my car in the morning. I have the day off and plan a full day of cutting and welding.

Jerry

The tank is a NASTY, for a 4th gen....I picked it up gently used I test fit it up there to see if and how it fit, seems to be just fine. The tank itself is big for what I really need, I mean I don`t need 15 gallons of race gas to run the 1/4 but, it`s here and has been collecting dust and the sump inside is baffled to about a 1 gallon size, the baffling has a few 1 inch holes near the bottom so these tanks would work great for just about any type of racing. \
I`ve needed a true fuel system for this car for a while, a factory TPI pump supporting a high 9 second car is asking for trouble.

Jerry- Thanks...make sure to keep us in the loop. I have to ask because so far nobody has questioned me on it, are you cutting out the whole well or just the inside half?

Just the inside, so i think that's called a mini tub or half tub. Is what your doing called a full tub and then if you cut all of the back out, is that a back half?

I have the right side all cut out and the filler plates welded in and now starting to fab the right side tub now.

Jerry

I`d still consider mine a mini tub....I just decided when I started cutting that I would go the full tub so that if there was a ride height question, the stock outer half wound not be answering it for me I think the half tub is better suited for a car that will see street and weather, who knows the outer may be a waste of effort ?

have any pic`s of yours?

Deff. like to see some pic's Jerry. YOu should start a new thread. I enjoy ALL your work.

Do you want me to post them here or start a new mini tub thread.
GM you make the call, this is your thread.

Jerry

Please do....post away!

The first picture is the cut out and filler plates.

And some more pictures. If you want any detail pictures, just ask for the area and I will post them. I have 15 1/2 inches from the outside lip of the fender at the top to the inside of the tub, shock or coil spring. The LCA will be moved later.

jerry who's kit did you purchase or is this the 36" universal summit steel tubs that they sell? Also what spring kit is that and I'm assuming it utilizes 2.5" circle track style springs? Also did you relocate the upper shock mount inward at all?

The tubs are home made by me from flat stock to the shape of the factory opening. (not round)

The spring mounts are 4th gen parts from Wolfe racecraft with one bend and one strip of metal welded on them to make them fit.

Link http://www.wolferacecraft.com/detail.aspx?ID=820

The top shock mount is still in the factory location.

Jerry

by chance do you have a detailed pic of what modifications you had to do to the spring mount? thanks again and excellent work as always

The drivers side one will be done on friday and I will post pictures before it's installed.

Jerry

greezemonkey have you been working on your car?
I got the driver's side all cut out and welded up and the tub fitted. Are you gonna cut any more out on the driver's side frame rail? The back of the driver's side is about 1-1/2 inches out further than how far we have both cut the front by where the backseat seatbelt mount was. Here's a couple of pictures of how I did it. If you want to do the same, I can plasma cut the driver and passenger side filler plates for you. I still have the templates for them.

Jerry

nothing is going on....I wanted to get the axle back (cutting 1.5 off each side) before continuing on the tubs. I wanted to mount up the tires and drop in the coilovers and get a ride height measurement before welding in the tubs. your work is looking awesome, I only hope mine comes out as good. Besides the MIA axles and housing, my job is requiring about 26 xtra hrs per week right now..most of it is double time HAahhaa!! I should be back to 40 hrs in 2 weeks and there may be a lynching if the rear end is not done by then. Lemme think about those plates, your cuts look a bit deeper than mine, I have to go out and look again...maybe I have not cut enough off yet?

JERRYWHO, how thick is the filler plate you are using? 1/8" plate?

I used 1/8 thick just for the reason it's easy to weld with a thicker base metal. All the metal on the car you weld to is 20 to 22 guage so you can use thinner.

Jerry

Was just browsing Ed quays catalog and found fitted tubs, 40 diameter and 16 wide, also included are fitted parts to fit the 1/4`s and fillers for the gas tank area.

http://www.edquay.com/camaro/82-92camaro_catalog.pdf

Yea, that kit has been for sale for quite some time now. It isn't really relevant unless your going to 4-link the car as the tubs are HUGE! You could cut it down to fit your application though. You look like your doing a fine job with what you've done so far. Why dont you stick your factory wheel wells back in, set back another 4 or 5 inches, and weld a strip between your existing metal and the wheel wells you took out, then fill the rest of the sub-frame with sheet metal?

Just subscribing to the thread so I can keep tabs!

Nice reference. Thanks!

It looks as if the rear axle will finally be done this week coming, maybe I`ll be able to get after the project again soon.

I have been going through a "mini-tub" project of my own recently and I am not looking for a massive tire to fit in the wells but want them to definitly not stick out. I was wondering if it was worth it to cut out the bump stop and the side of the frame for that more inward space. The question is if I remove the bump stop will i encounter problems driving it on the street? I have seen pictures of a 15x10 with 5.5 BS and 275/60/15 that just sat flush with the fender if i got this combo would i have problems with the bump stop? Would it be better to run this tire on a 8" wide tire and different backspacing? Thanks for all the insight

I find the 8 inch wheel w/4.5 backspace looks better than the 10 on 5.5.....at least IMO. If you want to run alot of tread width though a wider wheel helps with stability on a slick type tire.

Do you have any pics of this from the inside?

Thanks,
Richard.

hop on ls1tech.com, there will be hundreds of pictures of tubs on that board.

Just when I thought I wasn't going to do any surgery to the car this winter I had to go and start reading this thread.

at a high 12s ET I wouldn't bother with fitting bigger tires back there that will just slow your car down. You can run 28x10.50 ET drags no problem on a stock wheelhousing, and until you knock off a bunch of ET and mph increases, money can be spent elsewhere.

New engine is on the stand...just waiting to get the chassis ready for it.

hope you're doing a ford 9" well before the minitub.

Have the 9 inch setting in the garage, just wasn't sure if I wanted to do a full tub, or a mini tub, would prefer the mini tub. Not a huge fun of a full tub job, ecspecially since I'm only looking at running 10.9 index. Just trying to decide. had thought about a full back half, just for consistency. But, these cars just look so good with a minitub setup. Still may wait another year for stepping it up. Just thought about finishing the suspension so I can somewhat test it out with the current engine, with the upgrades to it over the winter it should be in the mid-low 12's n/a with a small hit of sneeze, to push it into the 11's.

Then again I may just take it easy on this car and drop the engine into a 120" jungle gym and run 9.90 class.

I hate winter, too much time to think!

Just to touch base...the guy with the rear axle housing has been zippin` me on the thing for the last 2 weeks, finally cornered him into finishing it, supposedly the housing was tweaked and it need to be corrected, my axles always slide right in but I think it is just another excuse, 3.25 DOM axle tubes off by a 1/4 inch
anyhow, I should be getting back onto it soon..

10.90s doesn't need a minitub at all, run some 28x10.50s and you're set. what tire are you trying to fit under there kwik84?

I run 10.50s on a 275-60-15 drag radial hooks up every time. I have been 9.70s with a 28-10.50 slick with 1.40 60s. I think these cars hook very well with some bolt on parts. But I will say thay look great mini tubed.

Well, that simplifies that then. I was thinking of going to a 31X10.5W. I didn't know if going from a 28X9 to a 28X10.5 would help out that much....but appears that it will, so I'll leave the tubs alone. Thanks for the insight guys.

I have seen a stock style suspenion car go 8.80's on the 275 MT drag radial. wiht not minitubbs. The work looks great though keep us all posted.

Update: Axle housing and axles are back in hand!! 1.5 inches off of each side, total end flange to end flange of 53 3/16 inches. I`m sure they did some sort of tweaking now, some paint on one of the tubes is burned away, near the center section and there are some marks from mandrels maybe on a few of the bare spots of tube. axles slide in as good as they always did

I mocked the axle together and put it in this evening, the beads of the 15x10 w/ 5.5 backspace wheels JUST touch the LCA relocation brackets and the head of the control arm bolts need to be allen head to slip into the inside diameter of the wheel. The lower control arms are the moly steel double adjustables with the offset bushings, actually my set had center bushings and I had a set of offsets done by a friend...soo offset I need to trim the mounting tabs so that the heim joint jam nuts have a little breathing room to articulate....frame side and axle side.

the axle will need a adjustable panhard for sure, the 29x11.5`s that I ran last year only have about 1/2 - 5/8 of an inch between the LCA`s / sidewalls... and maybe 1 inch between the actual frame and sidewall per side when centered. The panhard mount on the frame has a good 1 - 1 1/4 to the tire I think. The tubs have actually become a small part of this rear suspension rehab but required for sure. The tires tuck and look a bit narrower than a stocker, just right! The meat is all on the inside and the deep dish of the 5.5 backspace looks really good now.

I have to apologize, I have no pic`s...camera card is full and I need to have the better half double check before deleting anything. I`m looking to run the coil overs in the stock spots as there is just enough room. I really think I`m going to use the real lower coil over mounts if possible..the ones with the 8-10 holes for ride height adjustments. Looks like the stock mounts would be a pain to buzz off but it would be a worth while effort I think. I`ll have some time this weekend to putz around on it hopefully.

What is the actual distance from the edge of the rim to the outside edge of the fender?

You say you have 1/2" to the LCAs, what are you using for LCAs? Are they tubular LCAs? Are they modified in any way to move them closer to the center of the car?

If I had to guess I say 3 inches from the wheel bead to the outside of the "awning" lip of the fender. I have already taken it back out to do some more fab work for the shocks but I can tell you that the section width of the tire (bulge) fits up in to the well without hitting, I jacked the rear up until it nearly touched the frame!

basically these.......mine seem to have a smaller tube but have the same offset bushings and 3/4 rod ends..I`ll get pic`s

What about using a 1/4 wheel spacer ?

took some pic`s off the work, I`ll explain as I go...these first few are the axle which was shortened, I also decide to really screw myself and put adjustable lower coil over mounts on, this required cutting off the stock mounts..to further ruin any chance of using a stock coil, I cut off the OE mounts















Now here are those offsets I had made up compared to the std center location




Here is the meat tucked under the well,



Here is what had to be done to the relocation brackets, the tire side had to be cut off maybe by an inch, the brackets were UMI`s and there was plenty of extra metal hanging down there, it was just about rubbing on the rim. Also the front of the bracket on the inside need to be trimmed since the heim jam nut was so close to it.



here is what is left for breathing room..



here is the tire up in the well, diff is about on the tank at this point...



here is the last one for now...

Looks great!!! Can not wait to see it back on the ground..

looks really nice. Just about how mine looks with the 6.5bs, so I'm thinking yours are tucked another inch more or is it 1.5" more? Either way it looks 100x's better now than with them sticking out like the majority of thirdgens are set up. I'm glad I went stock width rear and 6.5" backspacing also. I just need to stop being lazy and start cutting out my tubs and do mine.

Thanks...and me too!! these damn coil overs in the stock spot with the adj lower mounts is going to be something else to get in there...I`m not sleeping well now.

Thanks, they are about equal to a 7 - 7.5 inch backspace with a stock width axle...I had 1.5 cut off each side, the axle as delivered from moser was about 1 inch shorter than the stock 57 3/16 length also. If you decide to cut your tubs...don`t go insane like me and gut the whole thing, just cut from the seam inward, leave the outside of the factory tub, I`m regretting a few things, one is my car sitting in the garage all winter again when it could be on the trailer in storage where I planned to have it by now.

if I leave the factory tub how would I ever fit a 30" slick down the road

I definately don't know everything but it looks like your housing ends are turned about 90* from where they need to be. I don't know if that will cause you any problems when you go to mount your brakes or not. Just an observation from the pics. Your project is looking awesome by the way!

I was thinking the same thing as orangepeeler when I looked at the pics. Hope I am wrong If need be I can look in the AM after I put some gifts together for the kids.

They are 90* off from normal. Moser will do that with third gens to get the bolts in to a meatier section of the factory backing plates. I guess if he had requested otherwise they could have put them on the normal way. Other than mounting the brakes it won't make a difference.