I have been lurking around on this sight for several months now, using the search function. And wow what a huge amount of info, thanks to everyone. Anyway my project is a 86 RS that I am doing a LS swap on. I want to make a street legal road racer. And after seeing the pitfalls of the LS swap ie notching the k member I thought it would be neet to move the motor back a couple inchs and eliminate the pan clearance problem and get better weight transfer also. I knew it wouldn't be easy and I was right, but I cut the firewall out and did it anyway. This mod was very involved and required me remaking one subframe and fabing my own headers, crossmember etc. I have made some subframe connectors and will be building a simple cage to stiffen the chassis. Anyway I have some pics.

 

i want to follow your progress.

 

As you are moving the engine back, you can also reposition the radiator for both airflow and also venting the hot radiator exhaust out of the hood (a very good thing).

Keep us updated!

 

Cool! More pics!

 

great to see new (or very rare) mods being done with these cars, good luck!

 

Good fab skills ....

 

Here's a look at the motor setback and a pic of the trans crossmember. I am trying to gain more ground clearance for headers and exhaust.

 

Looks awesome so far, would love some pics from other angles, are you planning to go with a true dual setup? What else is in the works as far as the suspension and rear diff setup? Will you be going with a factoryish torque arm setup and using a stockish panhard bar setup or fabbing up something? Ground clearance at the collectors looks great and looks like you will have an easy time tucking the pipes back and up under the xmember, cant wait to see what you end up doing..

 

89RsPower. Boy you ask a lot of questions. Just kidding. I plan on a single 3.5" stainless exhaust. I am using stockcar weight jacks and springs for the front and back. I did pony up and buy founders lca and panhard bar, they are too reasonable to try and build. I am trying to use the stock torgue arm I don't have it done yet. And the big expense will be a Moser 12 bolt with 4:11s. Don't have that yet, I'm short something called money.

 

I take it back, clearance looks a lot better than mine!!!


vs

 

some very cool mods going here, looking forward to see how things turn out!

 

LOVING the weight jackers! I was thinking about doing this to mine as well. Mostly for being able to drive to shows with a normal ride height, then dropping it to make it look nice. Subscribing to this thread to see how it turns out in the end!

 

there is a handfull of us on this forum that are doing this. great idea

 

Looks very nice, great craftsmanship. I am also building a track day car on this forum under "home brew road racer". I started at the rear and am working forward. I will be following your build. Good luck.

 

cant wait to see it when you're done, looks like its coming along really well, that has gotta be the best ground clearance Ive ever seen with long tubes on a 3rd gen

 

After I built my headers I wanted to build some kind of a skid plate to protect them and the oil pan. So I used some 1 inch 3/16 wall tubing to go from the K member to the subframes. But what amazed me was how stiff it made the chassis. You can really tell a differance when the car is on the jack stands. I also got some pics of the multi piece firewall. Good thing no one will see it when the motor is in.

 

awesome work, lookin forward to seeing how this turns out

 

I guess I didn't post any pics of the headers. I didn't want to make my own headers but after trying a set of Hawks I realized there was no way I could make them fit. This was my first set of car headers so it was kind of a learning curve.

 

This is turning out to be a very nice piece! I may end up borrowing some of your ideas when I put mine together.

 

They look really good, would never guess they're the first set you've ever made. They look like something people would spend a bunch of cash on...

 

This should be good.

 

yeah, those look horrible, but don't worry, I'll take them off your hands 'cause I'm a good guy.

Seriously great work, they look better than some commercially available ones. Keep the great stuff coming!

 

Thanks for all the interest and positive comments on my project. I will do my best to keep you updated. While my fab skills may be good I'm a electrical idiot so I was hoping to lean on some of you guys when needed. And I'm sure there will be plenty other stumbling blocks.

 

Here's some early pics of the Y pipe, shows how they will look. I'm useing V band clamps for the collectors. But because I forgot to measure twice cut once I will be remaking part of it.

 

This is absolutely an awesome build, cant wait to see the end result, four thumbs up!

 

Subbed!

 

Very nice work so far. I love good fab work.

 

Well here's a mod that has no performance gain what so ever. But for anyone thats has changed a fuel tank will appreciate how it lets the straps hang out of the way. Good or bad I have no trunk now.

 

I also got started on the mounting bracket for the phb. But I won't finalize it until I get the rearend.

 

What did you do to clean up the metal on your body? It looks sand/media blasted.

 

Nice project. The fab work looks great. Looking foreward to updates.
Kory

 

I got the Y pipe done and it was a pain. First I got the angle off, then I warped one of the header flanges when welding it. But its done now.
I also got my cheep ebay seats mounted. Time will tell if they're any good. And Yes 88camaroluvr I had the car sandblasted.

 

You might want to consider a Strange 12 bolt which has factory style torque arm mounting. The moser uses smaller bolts that thread into blind holes to mount the torque arm which sometimes back out.

Neat project, btw.

 

I too am building a road racer on this forum. Your rotisserie sure makes the under car fab much easier than the overhead welding I have done. I am taking a few ideas of yours on the front subframe and tweaking them to my particular situation. Since you started at the front and I started at the rear maybe we can get some ideas from each other. Here is a pic of my phb mount and the RCI fuel cell I mounted in the stock location.

 

After seeing some other members altering their spindles to remove the anti-ackerman I knew I would like to alter mine also. I didn't want to make them pro-ackerman, but just zero the outer tierod with the lower balljoint. In the process this shortend the steering arm by 7/8 of a inch. Which will quicken the steering.

 

Thats pretty cool. did you preheat the spindles before welding? also what type of rod did you use?(assuming you tigged them).
Nice work,
Kory

 

I didn't weld to the spindle I boxed the steering arm with 3/16 cold roll steel. I used the dust sheild bolt hole for one mount and I drilled another by the lower ball joint. Then I put a strap around the arm, then just before welding the strap I heated it to expand it. It took alot of fitting to get it just right. I checked it by removing the bolts and I still can't move the bracket on the arm. I have both spindles done now they seem very solid.

 

Good job with the steering arm, I like what you did there

 

really nice job. keep up the good work. are you going to use the original fuel tank?

 

86TA It was your thread that made me realize that these cars have anti ackerman so thank you. Here's a couple more pics. And evo-offer I plan on useing a ls1 tank.

 

OKay. how does it work with the fuel gauge or are you going to use some other gauge?

 

Autometer is what I had in mind.

 

Well I got the 12 bolt and I have mocked it up. And with the ride height I want I think it will hit the forth gen tank. Ideas? I have this posted in drivetrain also.

 

subscribed

 

if this is going to be a race car, you'll need a fuel cell instead of a stock tank. look at the rulebook for your series and base off that. chances are you're going to have to do some fab work on mounting it.

 

nice solution...how much you want to do my spindles

 

I swapped in a ZR2 8.6 axle and replaced the stock tank with an RCI 15 gal fuel cell. I have lowered the car so the top of rear wheel opening is 26 1/2" high and everything clears. More pics on homebrew road racer in this forum.

Great work and craftsmanship on your build. Wish I could weld and fab like that.

 

The car will be used for track days and street driven so I wouldn't have to run a fuel cell. And I was hopeing to keep it simple and use the 4th gen tank for the LS conversion. I might try a stock 12 bolt cover and see if that helps.

 

Subscribing to this awesome build!

 

Very nice build! I think you might have to cut and box in the diff cover to give you some more room.... but it will take a real welder or a LOT of preheat to be able to weld it back up!