BrianChevy

This has been a long time in development, and I should have posted before now.

however, i am doing some pretty cool stuff and I'm pleased with where the car is. As always, your feedback will be valuable to me as I continue to improve this build.

First off, my son build some pretty cool velocity stack boxes to feed the K&N more of a forced air load.



installed they look like this



Then, because we ripped some of the structure of the front away to install those boxes, we removed some weight and the radiator protection bars. So, he built a trick little aluminum mesh wire screen to keep the radiator clean. here it is installed


Then, we moved to the interior. stripping everything out, cutting out weight from the doors, all internal brackets and about 80% of the wiring. Then it gets a nice coat of dark machine gray. Here's an older picture but all i have today.


A picture from the back


Since this picture we have painted the rollcage matching gray as well (it was brush on because we couldn't spray it.)
We also gutted the doors (cameron did a BEAUTFUL job there) -- and i will load some pictures here later today if I have time to go by the shop and snap a few.

I don't have any pictures of the suspension, but the car is sitting up on jack stands because it has no springs, control arms, bushing or ball joints at this time. I'll try to get some pictures and add to this later this week.

Because I am spending so much time on the front suspension and getting turn-in to improve, i need to work on rear grip too. I will be using some 1/4 inch Lexan. I took some Aluminum angle and fabbed up the start of support brackets. I've ordered some speedway motorsports heim connectors, but they have not arrived yet.
Here's what the brackets look like:







I have made up 5 brackets and polished them up with a wire wheel, they look BEAUTIFUL, however, we are going to be painting them flat black to match the theme of the car. (more on that later).

so, it's coming along nicely, i've managed to get every member of my family to put some sweat equity in the car and i've enjoyed working with them on various little projects to get ready for the season.

BrianChevy

gutted doors. more handi-work by cameron.




Door bars came out later -- 10.3 pounds each.

Interior with seat re-installed.


sexy weight jackers.


stock lower control arms sandblasted and ready for paint, then pressing out bushings, ball joints and re-assembly.

BrianChevy

latest updates. the rear weight jackers came in



And topping it off with a Pro5.0 short throw shifter with a hurst stick and **** - that's how we do it!

BrianChevy

Found a sweetheart of a deal on a fiberglass hood on craiglist from a guy who was hard up for money.
i'm REAL happy with it and he threw in the top notch hood pin kit too.

Stevo

iTrader: (45)

Thanks for sharing!

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

very cool build so far! tell me more about the weight jackers, and if you can buy them in seperate pairs (just the fronts, or just the backs)

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

they are from Ground Control, you apparently can buy them separate, but you have to call them and ask.

or make your own....

1badeagle

iTrader: (2)

Looks good. How much weight did you pull out of the doors? Is the paint sunburst orange metallic?

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

how do those front ones work? more upclose pics?

BrianChevy

i believe (and I am working from memory here), i pulled 35 pounds of of the doors BEFORE i pulled the extra 10 from each door with the crash bar. They are AMAZING and close on their own now -- very unusual for a 3rd gen.

I'm happy with the weight and the car has lost 265 pounds so far and the driver has lost 10 pounds on his diet program, so 275 pounds off of last season and STILL going. hehehe. I'm gonna whip they a$$ this year.

Brian

xpndbl3

iTrader: (5)

Progress looks great, lots more material inside the car can be removed though, keep at it. I still see another 30 pounds easy

BrianChevy

THANKS for that -- i'll look around and find some more. 30 eh? Ok -- i'll take that challenge and see what I can get.

<smile>

xpndbl3

iTrader: (5)

arm rest back seat metal is very heavy, any and all brackets that aren't being used removed, etc etc.

BrianChevy

we first strengthened the stock front control arms, but then after fighting with them and the bushings we found that one of them was bent. I'm not gonna put bad parts back on the car so we upgraded to some BMR arms with Poly bushings.

Here they are just before we bolt on the Spindles pictured with our Ground Control Weight Jackers and springs and Koni Sport shocks. mmmm.

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

If theres anything I hate about the Koni's, it's that the yellow doesnt match ANYTHING... EVER.

Is that shifter gonna be comfortable pointed all the way to the back like that? Arent most 3rd gen shifters straight up?

//<86TA>\\

iTrader: (14)

my car is yellow, they match pretty close actually

or paint them black and say they are stock

slow305

iTrader: (2)

What spring rates did you decide on?

Maybe if Karen wants to go galavanting down to Atlanta, I can get a co-drive?

Pat

BrianChevy

Pat,

I am working with some amazing suspension folks in Atlanta to get the car setup. I have 1100 in the front and 225 in the rear, along with some other awesome stuff.

As far as co-drive goes, I would love your feedback on the car and what I need to do to make it better. I am working hard to make it to Dixie, but that is at risk with all these little bumps I am running into. (minor issues).

Hope all is well with you in Baltimore, see you in atlanta this summer?

Brian

rayar

iTrader: (1)

Any plans for the rear suspension? Even with a fairly low HP engine by CP standards I was haveing a hard time getting the torque arm suspension to hook up. Finally gave up and built a 3 link, hooked up great after I got it dialed in. The one thing that made the biggest difference in my car was adding a 36MM sway bar, I really think these cars work better with a lot of roll rate and if I still had the car I would have went with an even larger adjustable NASCAR style bar. I used a small sway bar on the rear but was also using 500+ LB springs. The front I was useing 1300lb springs but would have went down in spring rate with a larger front bar. I spent way too many years trying to make a small front sway bar work and just couldn't, leading to my theory about haveing a high roll rate on these cars.

Looks like an awsome car and make me want to build another one.

88WS-6

Have you done anything with your 305 TPI for C-prep? I ran my 88 GTA in that class last season because of my built trans and stall.

~Matt

BrianChevy

Well after a couple of months of BS and delays we are back working on this again. All day yesterday and all day today and we have turned the engine over. It ran long enough for me to notice that I broke the plastic line for the oil pressure gauge. Dumped a couple of teaspoons of oil inside and I shut it down. BUT I am pretty happy with it.

I did some extreme sanding on the hood, 400 grit, 600 grit and primer and then painted it. I wasn't happy with it so I'll be sanding it again with 600 and laying down another coat of paint.

The rear suspension is stock with a 24MM swaybar, front swaybar is 36MM hollow and I am considering building a 38.5 MM SOLID, but I want to see how it handles first.

So, we are back underway on this project and hoping to make some events this spring.



Brian

rayar

iTrader: (1)

I really think a big bar on the front is key to making these cars handle great, I would probably experment with a smaller rear bar though, helps keep the rear tires planted in turns. As far as those plastic OP gauge lines. I have allways had them break or kink. I bought copper line once for a car I had 30 years ago used in many other project cars over the years and it was still holding up in my autocross car. Other people will tell you that Copper work hardens and cracks over time but I have had great luck with it.

slow305

iTrader: (2)

I'm at 34/18 (I think I told Brian this, but just putting it out there for a data point). I have a 36mm bar but have never gotten around to testing with it.

Pat

BrianChevy

I actually ran last season with the rear bar disconnected to get the car to put power down. I am going to look for a smaller rear bar and consider building that HUGE front bar that I talked about. Right now, I want to get my car back out there, i'm missing out on some fun because it's not running..

rayar

iTrader: (1)

I know how you feel. I took last season off and parted out my Camaro because we decided to move to Hawaii. This was right after I finally got it handleing well enough to run with the front runners in our region.
I think I also mentioned earlier, 36/18 sway bars with much heavier spring rates then what you are running. I was told by an old CP'er that stiffer will be faster but more difficult to drive, I personally didn't feel it got more difficult to drive as I went up in rate, IMHO having a car that would finally go withen inches of where I wanted it made it easier to drive.

slow305

iTrader: (2)

For something cheap/easy, there must be a million OEM 19mm 3rd and 4th gen rear bars out there. I have one -- if anybody from the Atlanta area is coming up for the DC Pro ...

Pat

83 Crossfire TA

iTrader: (2)

the _huge_ front bar and tiny rear sort of defies conventional wisdom, I'm wondering if you guys are running too much rear spring or not enough front, or could gain from a PHR relocation.

I haven't autoxed competitively in years (maybe mid 90's?) but on my '83 back then I loved a solid 32mm on the front and whatever the stock bar was in the back, but I ran some really stiff front springs and fairly soft rears with fairly soft rear shock dampening and also used all rubber bushings on the rear bar and hard poly (and very tight shells, not a lot of bushing) on the front bar.

I'd love to know what you're doing different...

rayar

iTrader: (1)

I felt that a larger rear bar would cause traction problem coming out of turns. Even when I first installed the 18mm rear bar I couldn't get the car to hook up so I upped the front spring rate. That helped forward bite a ton. After adding the 36mm front bar I could be at full throttle coming out of turns, not sure that would be the case with a larger rear bar but since I never tried it I don't know.

I also had a 3 link rear suspension so maybe that the difference.

BrianChevy

The schedule has finally started to clear up and we had a chance to spend a few hours at the shop tonight.

BACK ON THE GROUND!!!

88WS-6

Any engine/performance mods?

BrianChevy

Engine Dyno is next. It's a TPI car, so we'll be squeezing a bit more out of that system as soon as we can..

I found last night that the exhaust is too low to the ground, i'll have to bring it back up a bit. I'll take a better quality picture this weekend, but this thing is dragging the ground.



Brian

BrianChevy

I went back to the shop today and worked. I made some more progress by getting the front adjusted UP.

The current ride height is 25.75 on the front and 26 on the rear, while this seems a bit high, it only gives me a 2.5 inch ground clearance from the muffler system.

I could go lower, but I would have to reroute my mufflers.

I started working on the rear spoiler, just have a few things left and then it'll be track day on June 9th.

I'll get some pictures up when I can. I sure hope I have time for some dyno work before track day...

rayar

iTrader: (1)

I don't think it seems high. I don't remember my measurments but I ended up raising mine a little the last year I ran the car. I just decided that raising the roll center a little had more of a benefit then a lower CG. I also think a slightly higher ride height helps with the camber curve in these cars.

88WS-6

So the motor and TPI are bone stock?

BrianChevy

It's an IROC so it has the trick camshaft and HO option, but yes. Motor and TPI are bone-ish stock.

I am putting a MSR ignition in before the dyno trip.

This is a pure autocross car so I have focused on the suspension and driv-ability of the car before spending too much money on engine because honestly, it makes enough power with a much lighter body (probably around 2750 pounds as it sits now)...

I'll get vengence involved shortly...

88WS-6

Yea I'm sure the weight reduction has helped dramatically. I was just asking because in C-prep you have a lot of options as far as engine mods go. Exhaust?

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

Not sure that'd be my first choice....

BrianChevy

well then please make a recommendation. I live in Atlanta and want to go somewhere not too far away.

I'm OPEN to your ideas and suggestions.

BrianChevy

my exhaust is Edelbrock headers into true duals into 2.5 (i think) inch to magnaflow mufflers and dump right in front of the wheels. it flows VERY freely.

The intake has accelator stacks from 2 4inch PVC pipes feeding K&N filters into a mildly modified TPI Mass Airflow snorkel.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

look at Atlanta Performance and Fabrication, Hunter's Performance Solutions, Kurgan Motorsports, MO's Speedshop, ProLine....lots of other places to spend your money. i've had several bad experiences with Vengeance Racing. i'll leave it at this: if you don't plan to have the entire car built at Vengeance with a ticket well into the 5 figure range or more, they don't want to give you the time of day. and when they screw up, they blame the customer.

BrianChevy

i *REALLY* appreciate your advice. Word of mouth is all we have left in this cold cruel world. So I will NOT be calling vengence, i'll take your advice and shop around a bit...

Thanks, i don't need a complete rebuild, i've built this car 3 times already, I just a dyno tune...

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

If a Dyno tune is all you're looking for, give Chris hunter a call at hunter's performance solutions. He's the only guy I know that actually went to school to know how to tune.

BrianChevy

great news! I just received a private invitation for my car to be a 'test mule' for a company who is building a Tune-Your-Own-TPI product for our cars. As return for letting them have my car for a few weeks, i'll get a massive discount on the box, and a couple dyno sessions with their best guy to customize my own tune.

WOW I am so happy about this. I'll let everybody know the product and part numbers for this tune once it is released to the public. (I am sworn to secrecy now).

So it sounds like we'll be gaining a bunch of power and getting a custom tune -- yehaw.

mw66nova

iTrader: (13)

nice! i'm excited to see what it is when you get it all together!

BrianChevy

Went to the shop tonight and got the hood pins installed, the cotter pins in the suspension (pretty important), and finished the spoiler mounts...

Making progress, very excited to get out there soon.

I should add that I am very unhappy with the flat black on the hood. I can't seem to get it to lay down evenly, so I am probably going to take it out to a shop and have somebody spray it for me... I hate it when things look crappy -- so I will throw some money and get it right.

BrianChevy

Ok, another successful afternoon at the shop results in a properly sorted cooling fan system (with new probe installed), a switch NOW inside the car to adjust cooling temperature AND a brand new aluminum firewall (on the passenger side). This will be perfect for mounting the MSD ignition and 6AL2 launch control setup.. (though I might mount it nside, still deciding on that one).

I found a guy who will lay down flat black on my hood for $250 cash... might have to do that - i need it to look better.

BrianChevy

I should also add that I converted my Lexan T-Tops to a permanent hard top with some elevator pins. I gutted them and they weight less than 8 pounds each -- they are permanently mounted in place so effectively my car is a hardtop now. yehaww.. i HATE the t-Tops -- i can shoot some pictures of it later on but it looks ok -- for a racecar.

BrianChevy

I should also add that I put in the new oil pressure line -- ran it thru a hole and plug in my newly installed firewall, and then hooked it up. it works!! yeahaw... I ran the car for about 10 minutes and no runs, no drips and no leaks. so it's just about time to take it out of the shop and around the block to see how the suspension is working and how the 2.5 inches of clearance from the exhaust is going to work for me getting into and out of the shop (yes I am worried about that).

BrianChevy

This weekend we built some tow hooks. I started a thread on it, because other drag racers or others might want to do the same.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/orga...ml#post5292904

BrianChevy

After installing some BMR lower control arms, we realized that there were no steering stops. I called BMR and they admited that they were a drag racing arm, not a road racing arm.

Sadly, i couldn't do much but try to fabricate a fix. I did so by buying some 1.5 inch shaft collars and bolting them on. I thought I would put them to hit the spindle, but instead i had to have them rub the fattest part of the tire at turn in. here's a picture of them as we bought 'em. $6 a piece from a supply shop, double shaft collar 1.5x9/16.



AND INSTALLED THEY LOOK LIKE THIS. (back about 1.25 inches from the back triangle)




ALSO, BIG NEWS.. I took it out and around the shop / block today. I couldn't drive for long because the cooling fan control ground wasn't hooked up and it wouldn't stay cool enough for a true shakedown -- BUT..

I was happy that it ran, moved under it's own power and WOW Excited for a track day.

I didn't realize it until we looked at the front, it has 2 inches of toe out due to the lowering geometry. I have to change the toe out back to a 1/16 or so. I hoped to get it aligned at the shop, but I doubt I'll do that now. Running out of time. sadly. i'll have to do that on my own in the middle of the night with some tape measures and tools.

Brian