3rdgenmaro

iTrader: (9)

Harry Hogge: All right. While we're still under a caution, I want you to go back out on that track and hit the pace car.
Cole Trickle: Hit the pace car?
Harry Hogge: Hit the pace car.
Cole Trickle: What for?
Harry Hogge: Because you've hit every other gosh darn thing out there, I want you to be perfect


LOL, first thing that popped into my mind!

awolfalone2006

Well, if you guys need a spare nose cone or rear bumper cover I have a set off my 82 parts car that aren't real pretty but useable. I was going to toss them because i wouldn't sell them for a street car but for track use they just need some red paint. Ill get some pics if you like.

miljer

I agree, lose the electric fan. everyone i knoe that ran electric fans had over heating issues, and the regular setup always fixed the issue with messing with anything else.

s10man04

You can help get max airflow through your radiator by getting a 3in wide roll of aluminum tape and covering all the seems and also seal the front of the radiator to your shroud. This is how the air boxes looks on alot of late models and mid-american stock cars. I can get some pictures to help explain it if you want.

84imsa

That piece in the center of the air intake would cause some serious turbulence at race speeds. You might consider cutting it out and replacing it with a metal rod or bracket just to keep the lower lip from flopping around.

zlathim

That's an awesome offer! Spares would be nice to have. I'll make sure that Nick sees this.

We will be racing this Saturday. I hope you can make it out. If you can make it, be sure to come down to the pits after the race and say hello.

Thanks again for the generous offer!!

zlathim

No need to explain. We have a roll of aluminum tape and plan to seal everything up. Since the engine seems to be running much cooler with the new aluminum radiator, we are less focused on cooling right now, and more focused on getting all of the dents that Nick put in the car fixed.

I was thinking the same thing, but I think that all is good with regard to engine cooling now.

zlathim

I knew I had heard that line before. Thanks for refreshing my memory!

miljer

good luck int he race this week

zlathim

Thanks!

nicklane

post us some pics of your 3rd gen with a mechanical fan installed on a
v-8 and we'll take it on board. I'm interested in seeing how you got the fan to clear the hood and shroud it to the radiator

zlathim

Well, we went to the track for practice yesterday afternoon. Try as I might to puss out, Nick made me strap into the car and take it out for a few laps. Wow. The car is a blast to drive! I'm sure it was obvious to everybody who happened to be watching that I have no business behind the wheel of a racecar, but I had fun. At least I didn't spin out into the infield during my solo run. Speaking of spinning out- Nick, are you in here? LOL

bluegrassz

iTrader: (3)

Glad to see you finally gave in and did a few laps.

You know you are going to get hooked now. lol

zlathim

Yea, that's the problem. I can't afford to get hooked!

zlathim

Nick raced the car again this past Saturday. We had a good night in that no major damage was done to the car. The car qualified 7th out of 17 cars. Nick ended up finishing 5th in the B-Heat and 7th in the main event.

I brought my camcorder to the track intending to film the race from the stands, but at the last minute we decided to mount the camera in the car instead. We ended up mounting the camera with zip ties to the right side of the headrest on the seat. It is a little shaky, but not too bad. We plan on making a more secure mount in the future.

The video in this link is the heat race. 8 laps with the faster cars starting in back and the slowest car starting on the pole. You can see that the track is small and passing is difficult. Nick ends up finishing in 5th place. Listen carefully at 1:40 and you can hear the 23 car bump into the side of Nick. The nerf bars did their job and minimal paint was swapped.

YouTube - Meridian Speedway Street Stock

I messed around forever trying to embed this video clip into the thread with no success. I was able to do it on another vbulletin site I often visit, so I am assuming the feature has been disabled for this site. If anyone knows a way to do it, please PM me with instructions.

miljer

looks like the car pushes going in. could be wrong though. and wow what size track is that 1/3?

AM91Camaro_RS

2nd race? I'm impressed. looks like your car is probably a little faster than the rest of those cars in that heat. don't worry about the paint! lol

zlathim

No, it doesn't push at all. It is loose coming out though. The track is 1/4 mile.

Thanks! This was actually our fourth race. In that particular heat we were the second fastest car. The slower cars start in front, and in the heat races there isn't usually enough time to get to the front, even if you are faster. The main events are usually 35 laps, so the faster cars can actually work their way to the front. We have video of the main event, and we will upload it in the next few days and post a link.

Thanks for the interest guys. We will be racing again this coming Sunday and I will post an update after the race.

Primetime91

iTrader: (15)

That's cool as hell

-just a question, is that your transmission making that "whining" noise in the background? I read through your thread a while ago, but I don't remember what you're using for a transmission exactly. Reminds me of mine, but mine's louder

zlathim

Yes, that is gear whine from the transmission. It is mounted solid, with no isolators whatsoever, so all the gear noise is transmitted throughout the chassis.


Nick raced again on this past Saturday. He got 4th place, which is his best finish yet in the main event.

zlathim

We did end up removing that piece. It was a pretty cool night, so it is hard to tell if it made any difference with it gone.

camaropurestock

Hey my name is Paul I am currently building a Pure Stock car for a local track in Seekonk Mass. are rules are a tad more strict with Stock. I was gonna run a th-350 but found out that a 82 camaro came with a saginaw 4 speed making it legal. I have figured out a cross member and my clutch system but am loss when it comes to the torque arm could you go into a little more detail about what you did? Thanks
Btw heres a pic of my car in the very beginning stage. I have a roll cage out of another car we are putting in within next couple of weeks

gregsz-28

iTrader: (1)

Try buying or making something like this: http://www.bmrfabrication.com/x-member/TCC018.jpg
I don't know if anyone makes an aftermarket trans crossmember for a Saginaw trans.

Or, if you have a bigger budget, this: http://www.bmrfabrication.com/Xtreme/XTA001.jpg
But I don't know if the second option would be legal.

nicklane

thanks for your interest in our post. well..... on the torque arm, nothing to scientific. I tapped and threaded a short piece of heavy wall tube, welded it to the end of the torque arm, so it could recieve a 3/4" heim joint. then welded a piece of rectangle tubing with one short side cut off (the i.d. of the tubing was the same as width of heim eye) vertically on the original crossmember, put it together,set the pinion angle on the rear end to approx. 1.5-2 degrees, marked and drilled hole in vert tube and bolted it all together. Its probably not right in somebodies opinion. but its worked for us so far. thanks. nick

gregsz-28

iTrader: (1)

That seems like it would cause bind, by countering the LCA's. It might not be to big of a deal with the stock soft rubber LCA bushings, but the TA front mount needs to be a sliding link.
Or maybe I am just not understanding what you are saying correctly.

zlathim

The transmission end of the torque arm has a 3/4 heim joint attached to it. There is a bracket on the transmission crossmember that the heim joint bolts to. You can see the bracket in the following picture. It is the verticle piece on the left side of the transmission output.






Is this how you understood it? Do you think binding is an issue with this set-up? We haven't noticed any problem at all, but we are flying by the seat of our pants on some of this stuff.

zlathim

Paul-

Cool car. Please keep us updated on your progress. I hope the way we described how we modified our torque arm is understandable.


So you guys have to run a transmission that was availabe stock for the particular model year car you have? That is definately more restrictive than the rules we abide by. We can run any chevy transmission.

gregsz-28

iTrader: (1)

Binding should be an issue with that setup. since the TA and LCA's are both bolted to the rear axle, and since the LCA's and TA are attached to the body at different places and are different lengths, they naturally want to swing in different arcs through the range of suspension travel. The rear axle can't be in two places at once. If you want the front of the TA to be solid mounted, you need to use a sliding link such as the one on this setup: http://www.spohn.net/shop/1982-1992-...nsmission.html

But, the body, suspension components, or LCA bushings may be flexing enough to prevent bind.

zlathim

Yep- I see what you are saying now. We apparently have enough slop in the rest of the rear suspension to avoid binding, because we haven't noticed anything amiss as of yet.

Of course, there is the possibility that we are just a couple of dipsticks who can't tell the difference!

Good thing for Paul to note anyway. Thanks for posting.

camaropurestock

Yes I am actually starting to become very turned away from this division. There rules has I am starting to learn are very vague in regards to engine rules and tranny rules where allowed to run a th-350 which is not stock to our car but not allowed to run a 3 speed for example this came from the director but the rules state stock to make and model of car has you can see this can cause alot of confusion. WHich I believe causes cheating and unfair advantages. So I'm keeping options open there is a third gen street stock locally for sale I am looking into possibly buying I will defintally update though

RED_DRAGON_85

chiming in late here, but that air dam setup looks killer... you really did a good job there.
that should help out immensely.
one thing to remember is that stock cars driving around on the street, you are almost never at WOT for more than a few seconds, so when you are racing, at WOT all the time, it will generate a lot more heat...
im actually impressed you got it to run around 190
IIRC, nascar runs their cars around 220 or higher for more power.
then again, they have a lot more money in their engines than you do.

if you make a shroud BEHIND the radiator, and seal the fan to the shroud, you will be able to pull more air thru the radiator when you are going at low speeds.
you really only need to space it out about 1.5-2" from the radiator.

i havent watched the video yet, but your car is looking great


oh
as for the suspension bind, you will have it.
to fix it you need a 2" or so plate on each side of the heim joint, then mount that to where the heim joint was
http://www.hawksthirdgenparts.com/ca...rossbrace.aspx
like that

zlathim

I understand your frustration. Some of our rules are pretty vague too. we decided to just do what we could manage and hope for the best. After we got the car done and on the track, we learned that we had wasted a lot of time worrying about stuff that ended up not mattering much.

Keep this in mind- If your track is anything like ours, as long as you don't build something obviously illegal, no one is going to protest unless you are winning all the time.

What carb is your class running?

zlathim

Thanks for looking.

So, if I understand correctly, we would need to run a shackle between our heim and the mount on the crossmember? Is that what you were describing when you mentioned the 2" pieces of plate. Forgive me, I'm kinda slow.

camaropurestock

either a rochester 2bbl or quad 4bbl

gregsz-28

iTrader: (1)

Yes, that is what's needed.
Maybe you could cut closer to 3-4" off your mount, and mount a heim joint on the top of the mount, and mount your 2" shackle between the two heims.

camaropurestock

Ya thats what Im going with where gonna continue on our build but def glad I got this info now youre clutch set up whay did you do for youre throwout bearing?

1brd2brd3brd4

Pretty cool video! But.........was that a damn dodge in front of you??LOL Looks like the car does pretty well. Keep some videos comeing next year!!

zlathim

I can't remember right off hand. I want to think that we used the t/o bearing for the 5 speed application so it would fit the stock pivot arm, but I'll have to check with Nick and see what he remembers.

We used the stock 5 speed belhousing. With minor modification it bolted right up to the 3 speed saginaw. If I remember correctly, we used a standard 12" clutch, and the 5 speed t/o bearing. If not, then we used the t/o bearing that came with the 12" clutch. I'll check and let you know.

zlathim

Thanks for the kudos!

Yea, that was a dodge in front of him. Nick's car is faster than most of those guys, but it is just hard to pass on that track with so few laps in the heat races. The only car in that video that is faster than nick is that white camaro. We were always pretty close to his times in qualifying. He's a super cool guy though, and he helped us out a lot with minor details and encouragement. I'm looking forward to racing with him this next year.

camaropurestock

Ok Thanks still debating on running a turbo 350 or the saginaw thanks. Plus I have to make sure I am within the rules

1brd2brd3brd4

LOL I know all about the heat races! We dont usually run them but some times when we have over 20 cars we will run them. Or when we have a special event such as a 50 lapper. Once in a blue moon we qualify but same thing as I said for the heat races. Most times we draw numbers for starting position. You put more power to the ground with the Saganaw. but the TH350 is usually cheaper. I STRONGLY suggest buying a blowproof bellhousing before you loose your legs(or Nick's legs in this case) I am going to go back with a Saganaw when I put mine back together. Mainly because we have to run a "Transmission blanket" if I run an auto and price wise its not much different than buying a blowproof housing. And I picked one of them up used for about half price.

camaropurestock

Well been awhile I actually went ahead and bought a 3rd gen camaro that is already built.Using the other car for a parts car. Def not my paint style but this is the car


My question now is I have a 5 1/2 inch rule for ground clearance will I make that with the stock appearing springs like afco sells?

1brd2brd3brd4

You should be fine. They sell different height springs. If you call and talk to someone at the place your going to buy the springs they should be able to tell you what height to get.

zlathim

Cool car dude. Is that the track you will be racing it on? It looks like fun.

Nick and I woke his car up from hibernation over the weekend. It had been stored in an enclosed trailer over on his uncle's farm all winter. We brought it home and started sorting out all of the items that need changed and or attention. As soon as Nick gets some reliable income, we will get to work. He said that he will probably only race a few races this season, because he needs to get back on his feet after being unemployed for a couple of months.

camaropurestock

Yea that is the track is a very small track but is very tricky to figure out Great track to race at

zlathim

Maybe it is just the picture, but I was thinking it looked bigger than the 1/4 mile oval we race on.

camaropurestock

its actualy a 1/3 track very small

AM91Camaro_RS

way off topic but, um, is that a jump in the "x" (middle of the track)??

camaropurestock

Sure is look at my trunk I had a crown vic land on it thats my second obsession figure 8 racing !!!!! I have a 78 ltd 2 that I am splitting time with my girlfriend Any progress on that #7 howd you guys finish the year in points?

zlathim

Figure eight racing is the shiznit! Takes big brass ones to do that.