Ace_Murdock

Hello all,

I haven't been on the forum for quite some time, well other than the occasional lurking.

Anyways, I just received an 84ish Corvette front suspension with cross member. Basically the junkyard cut the frame before and after the suspension. This will eventually be grafted into my 85 Camaro Z-28.

Why am I doing this? My strut towers are basically filled with rust cancer.

After looking at it relatively closely tonight, this project looks like it will work out quite well with the help of a good fabricator and welder. The Corvette frame is actually narrower than the Camaro's frame by about 3". So I will be adding material to my frame in order to make the suspension fit.

I will start taking some detailed pictures this weekend and try to get some posted. Also, I have seen that some people have put in the Corvette rear suspension in their cars, has anybody done this to the front yet? If the answer is no, I guess I'll be the guinea pig.

hellz_wings

iTrader: (2)

I've never seen it before.. But I have seen some crazy front end work before like this so it IS possible!

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

i was always curious about this, but never had the nerve to cut up the front of one of my cars to try.

i would love to see this done. Then swap the rear IRS as well while your at it

FlyDoc

Performance Trends, offer software that you can use to setup you suspension, in an animation and see how it will work before you weld it up so it is a one shot one kill, they clam that some of the big name chases builders use there programs.

http://performancetrends.com/

lacke

Sounds like a good idea. I was looking for another sub frame to tie-in to the the old one to make a double a-arm suspension. Maybe an old Camaro subframe will work.
Dunno, still in planning stage. Lots of research to do. For now good luck with your project

Ace_Murdock

Sorry, I have been away from the forum for a while. Some projects around the house came up and took some of my time/money away from the car (projects like sending 220v to the garage for a welder and whatnot).

Here are some early pics of the project.


The suspension was 400 bucks off of ebay. I'll most likely convert it over to coil over suspension.


Here is a picture of the chassis that I am working on. Don't worry, I have all of the parts to put it back together, in the basement.


A closer look at the engine bay. You can see that the strut towers were rusted out. I did some more investigation prior to the tear down to discover the sheet metal was on the verge of rusting all of the way through the backer plates of the tower assemblies.

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

I would advise you to upgrade the spindles to a year later, the 84 has unique spindles w/ less meat around the caliper bolt holes, the single pot 84 calipers are junk. The JL9s on later years aren't good either but those really are the worst of them all.

You do know the entire suspension cradle w/ motor mounts unbolts from that cut off frame section right?

Nice project, will be following this

Ace_Murdock

I will be getting a different spindle/brake set up. I'd like to find a higher performance brake setup in the terms of multiple piston. I don't know what GM offered in the 4th gen Corvette in terms of high performance braking.

I do know the suspension unbolts from the frame. It was just how it was delivered. I felt like a child during Christmas when the suspension was delivered. The Corvette crossmember is about 1-2" narrower than the Camaro frame. I can dive deeper into this measurement, however it just means that material will need to be added to adapt the cross member to the Camaro chassis. The outboard frame measurements on the Camaro are also an inch and change wider than the Corvette, the suspension travel will have to be monitored closely to see if there is any interference.

Twin Turbo, thanks for having interest in this project.

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

J55 is the 13"ZR1/Grand Sport/Heavy Duty option. Basically the same as the BAER Track 1 system. Check out a recent post by me about these, do a search for JL9 or J55, it should turn up. Same PBR calipers. They are more than adequate for our cars.

Can't tell from the pic but is it a Z51 suspension? The Z51 originally had additional braces between the cradle and frame but they are not included with yours. Could have simply been unbolted

The broadcast codes for the Z51 spring is bmb, the spring rate is 102N/mm, wheel rate is 28.6/mm, the sway bar is 25mm Solid.


The reg. FE1 has a broadcast code of hmz, the rates are 63.5 & 21.5 w/ a 24mm bar

Ace_Murdock

I grabbed the calipers. I might have gotten a thick paint spot, but they read 1.175" in diameter. Don't know if it's solid or anything, and the frame got cut before the yokes of the sway bar. I can't tell if that sway bar is aftermarket either,

I can post pictures with better views in the next few days to see if there were any provisions with bolted on features.

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

The broadcast code is on the glass spring itself, it's engraved on the underside, near one end where the metal plates are rivited on.

Here's a quick pic

Ace_Murdock

I grabbed the flashlight, I saw a BMB 1L1 (1L1 stamp was hard to decipher, it could be something slightly different with my lighting conditions) stamp on the fiberglass. It was on one side of the suspension nearly covered by the aluminum lower control arm.

Twin_Turbo

iTrader: (25)

Yes, bmb that's a Z51. Congrats man, that's the finest (read harshest) C4 suspension made, the way it was designed intended before customers started whining about how harsh it rode. I had an 84 Z51 and it was by far the best handling C4 i ever had, also have a 90 and 91 and they are a lot softer.

dannyboyemt

subscribed

87bluebird

what ever happened with this project?

Ace_Murdock

Sorry for the wait. I have been somewhat funding deficient/finding a proper place to weld this suspension in. Also, I lost my only computer last July and decided to take a break from the net.

Currently I am working on contacting Midwest Chassis & Performance. A friend suggested them.

After that, I am working on funding, the Corvette front suspension set is about 1" narrower than the Camaro's. This might require the use of a new front clip weldment/fabrication.

I have an idea about incorporating a torque tube type structure that would connect to the rear end suspension points.

My apologies for taking so long. I have been long side tracked by work (it has been hellfire innundated), and thinking about exactly what I want for this Camaro