cagedruss

iTrader: (1)

Ok, before I get slammed here for doing this to a decent car I want to clarify I needed a cheap car and quickly. Our first ChumpCar Camaro was an 81 that I was a partner with and the partnership split up and I was left hanging which worked out better for me.

Rules of the Races are simple, cheap cheap cheap. I found a 84 Z28 T Top car on Craigslist non running for $300 complete without title but with the proper paperwork from DMV.

After deciding on a course of action we determined to lose the front struts do to the cost of getting decent struts for minimal money. Plus I always wanted to do a A-arm 3rd gen. Camaro.









I used the spindles from a drum brake GM car (Chevelle) to allow me to use the C4/C5 Vette brake upgrade. I also used mopar screw in ball joints top and bottom. Had to ream the spindles for those to fit but it allows me to change them at the track in case one gets bent.

So after doing a plasma job on the front we went to work plating the 3 sides of the rails to handle the abuse of the A-arms have get a good mount place.

I also added weight jack bolts on all 4 corners to allow easy suspension set up and scaling. Front can be seen just below the A-Arm cross shaft. Car weighs in at 2854 less driver with full 22 gallons. Bump Steer is near zero and balance of car is 56/44. Using used Stock car shocks purchased off of the Bay and springs are 750lbs front and 200 rear. I lowered and stiffened the track bar and made multiple adjustments holes and swapped out the T5 for a 4 spd Saginaw. Torque arm was shortened up by a foot and mount to the Driveline hoop.




I added the forward Cage bars to the front to also help stiffen the front up.



Rules allow us 2x rule for brake upgrades so that opened up a large budget for decent brakes.



Safety is open and is what ever you want to spend for Seat, cage and belts. I fabbed the cage up from the front to the rear but I do not have any completed pictures as of yet. Car is going into paint soon so I will take some them.

Tires are limited to UTQG of 180 or colder. We are using a Dunlop Durezza 245/45/17s. Needed to go to a 17 wheel to clear the rotors. Fronts are 13.25 and rears are 12.75" I think. Do not quote me on the rears.

Fuel items such as Cells and lines are open from Pump to cell. I went with used Sprint Cup 22 gallon ATL cell that I got on the cheap from a Race Car parts liquidator.

Engine is a Target Master 350 from the 80's. I installed a LT1 Cam and lifters to try to recover from the less than 9:1 compression.

I also removed the top of the car to get rid of the T-tops, sorry guys but I think GM did wrong with installing those plus rules require me to fill them in. I found a roof from an 85 that was being totaled so I cut it off.



Here are a couple of shots from the Race we did in Spokane last month. We were in a big hurry to get it there on time so the graphics and paint were neglected. It will be nice for the next race next month.




You can see the build on our Blog, stumptownchumpsters.blogspot.com. It has all of the details on our little endeavor.

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

more pics?

looks pretty cool so far.

silentkillzr

iTrader: (2)

Yeah that looks like a nice project for the track

Sonix

iTrader: (1)

Chumpcar? Interesting concept... Nifty car you've got.

JBgotM

...and I thought we did quite a bit of stuff to our firebird. Looks like alot of good work went into the car. We are in the middle of a C4HD brake upgrade. We wanted the lower cost of staying 16's with cheaper tires...even if we don't get the star specs.

We are doing 2 Lemons races this year and will be doing some Chump next year.

Do anything insteresting with coolers?

iansane

iTrader: (1)

Wow. That'd be cool to see in person. Where do you race? Any completed pictures?

If you haven't seen it yet, there's a localish thirdgen board; www.cascadecrew.org

drknow90rs_ss@y

iTrader: (3)

Show us more!

1MeanZ

iTrader: (9)

what upper A-arms are you using?

cagedruss

iTrader: (1)

Wow, I can't believe it has been this long since I have posted anything about our Chamaro.

Well, car runs really good in the handling department with the A-body spindles and upper arms. I had to remove uppers last Oct to shorten them up about 2 inches so we could gain a bit more negative camber in the turns. We were running a lot static neg camber before and I wanted to alleviate that. Went from 3.5 degrees to 2.75 and now we gain some under load.

Since I had to shorten the arms and we are limited to stock type I just removed the end and made my own bushing with smaller diameter tubing and delron bushing material.





We have ran 6 races and do really well before some catastrophic engine failure takes us out. First race we lost the bearings do to heat and fuel contamination in the oil. Wiped all the bearing and rings.

Next was a replacement engine from a local salvage yard and it dropped a valve or two and was a complete waste to everything.







Next race we did we ran really strong for the first 6 hours and then we lost the power steering pump which took out the water pump. Co-owner driver did not notice the water temp going up and we cracked the Vortec Heads. Done.

Fixed all that and then I took the car to a test day here in Portland and scattered the bottom end of the block down the back straight which took everything out.

I then spent last Aug. building a 88 Camaro 350 factory roller engine. Threw in king bearings, arp bolts, speed pro rings, new cam from Oregon Cam grindings and had the heads gone through at Schnell Automotive here in Portland. Engine ran great at PIR last Oct. We had a little oiling issue do to a new pan and pick up. Faster we went the worse the oil pressure so we opted to stop.

Next race is in March in Seattle. I changed out the pan and pick up to a road race pan and that should solve the problem.

Here is a picture of the interior.



Polycarb back window with roof aero

With Aluminum air damn



I will add some updates soon. We are making some changes for the next race.

Thanks,

DBLTKE

iTrader: (1)

Nice build. I noticed that you're in Portland, I work at PIR for the drag strip. I'll have to check out your car at the next race.

chevyracingrox

That looks like a well built car, definitely like the front suspension work. Don't feel bad about the engine issues, happens to all of us.

Brando5641

iTrader: (-1)

Why not go LS engine? A junk yard 5.3 with a drysump and a baffled fuel tank, you would be set.

cagedruss

iTrader: (1)

We just ran last weekend here at Portland International Raceway with chicane. It rained like a mother in the AM and cleared up in the afternoon. Saturday race was a 10 hour and Sunday was a 6.

See the pictures and videos from my session on the FB page.

We had 2 alternators go bad right from the start. After that was fixed we had the great equalizer, the rain. Once all cleared we lost the Serpentine tensioner break apart and had to replace it.

Car was really good in the dry but with the penalty laps assessed to Camaro for rear shocks and carb we started with -10 and with the alts and belt tensioner we were down as far as 33. We gained quite a bit back and finished 32 over all from 54. We felt it was a victory to just complete.

For all you 3rd gen fans a 3rd gen did win the race!

kmcn47

nothing more form this? any updates?

cagedruss

iTrader: (1)

There has been and I have uber busy at the shop doing cages and fab work.

We ran a race last May. I had to throw in a complete bone stock truck 350 in to make the event and we ended up losing a head gasket after 5 hours in a 7 hour race. Both the rental drivers had an outstanding time driving the Camaro, they could not believe how well the car handled and braked with the upgrades I made to the car 2 years ago.

The car is still in the race trailer and I will be bring it back this coming week to pull the heads and determine what actually went wrong.

We have a 1 day event coming up 2 weekend in Sept. at the new race track in Shelton Wa at The Ridge. It is a 14 hour race.

I am going to leave the engine alone but add a factory Hydraulic Roller cam I have out of a ZZ4 that is setting on a shelf. Engine needs a little more grunt to keep up with the cheater mustangs.

I had to change up the exhaust also to get it all the clear the rear suspension and underbody. Not much room under the car as you all well know. I decided to run it out the right side passenger door similar to a late model stock car. Brings up the temp a bit in the cockpit but I am now able to lower the chassis a full 3". There is a metal cover and insulation covering all of the exhaust but I apparently failed to take any pictures of the completed job.


I also modified the rear control arm brackets on the rear end to get them back in proper geometry. Turn in and exiting is far superior and the car handles much better and is more neutral.









I will add some info after car gets back and when I find out the extent of engine damage.

brando54009

awesome. i love it. if there were more tracks around here i would defiantly be getting into this

cagedruss

iTrader: (1)

OK, here is an update to my woes. 2 weeks last Friday I had an electrical fire in my shop when I was at lunch. Needless to say when I return back my shop had 4 fire engines working on the blaze. A bunch of cars and all my equipment was lost.

Our Chumpcar Camaro was nearest to the exit and was only damaged to the front.

I am asking for a little Camaro love. I am trying to get the car back on track by the end of Oct for a 10 and 6 hour race. I was given a lot of support from the Chump group on help and dollars to replace some of the equipment that I use daily in my day to day business. I have move to a upscale Audi/BMW/Porsche repair shop in Portland until my building get re-built and the Ins Companies figure out what is going on.
Since The Camaro is racing for charity I really want to get it going for the race since we already missed last weeks event. I can not put any money into it myself since I am trying to recoup what I have lost but we need to race none the less. If at least to show we could rebuild and overcome adversity.
So if any bleeding hearts out there in the 3rd gen group would like to help in this endeavor I would greatly appreciate it.

What we need right now.

Head lights and buckets
Idler pulley (88)
AC delete pulley (88)
Alternator with pulley (88)
Power steering with hoses (84 Camaro)
Door mirrors left and right (83 up)
Dunlop Durreza Z1 Star Spec 200 utqg, 245/45/R17s (Need a set of 4) lost all spares and 2 on the car.

If you do not have these parts but would still like to help, gift cards from NAPA would be cool.
I really hate to ask all of you but I really want to get this car back on track and re-building and racing would be therapeutic.

Here is a link to FB page for the Camaro, it has all the updates. LINK

Before Rebuilding process


Current progess


We pulled all the burnt stuff out and pulled all the skins to see what was bad and what was salvageable.

Brake lines, H20 gauge, switches, plug wires, stuff aforementioned, radiator, seat cover, harness, window net, all wiring forward of firewall, windshield and a few odds and ends.

Stuff we have already received from locals:

Felpro head set
Battery
Accusump
Oil lines
fuel filter
Pump
Fittings.

If you or you know a friend that can help please send me an email directly. We can go from there. All people or groups that donate to the fund will have their names added to the car and site. Our plans for the body is to not paint it for a year and run it the way it is. We will repaint the interior and engine bay to make it easier to work on and deal with.