[Pablo]

Hello all,
I have been lurking for some time and wanted to introduce myself. I'm an aircraft mechanic living in so cal coming from the drag racing scene. Being originally from south florida, there was essentially no attraction to good handling for me since every road in basically the whole state of florida is straight and flat.
In the past 8 years of living in California I have seen what I can only say is the death of drag racing through track closures, police harassment, etc. This in addition to the magnificent twisties around here has built an itch for me to get into the road racing/ autox scene. It didn't help when a buddy of mine was able to regularly get me a ridiculous amount of free track time at a shall be un-named go kart track. Chasing faster lap times is extremely addicting. Couple this with going for canyon runs in his gutted E36 bmw, and I was hooked.

I previously owned an 89 Firebird from 97-04. It was basically set up for drag. I was very heavy into thirdgens for that time period. That car ended up meeting it's end when I moved on to an 86 T-type which I still own. (It's run as quick as a 7.0@95 mph, 1.54 60' in the 1/8th and should be substantially quicker when I get a working transmission under it).
Even after all these years I still missed my thirdgen, so I decided to go out and buy one. After putting out some feelers, I found a 91 Z28 LB9/T5 hardtop (rear drums (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/sad.gif) ) that was pretty rough. I managed to get it home with what felt like 75 hp. After repairing countless atrocities committed by previous owners I now have it running pretty well. Feels like stock with the "upgraded" 2 1/4" kink bent exhaust that some retard put on it. It's my daily driver now, knocked down almost 25 mpg last tank. Unfortunately it still looks like hell. I'll be painting it myself soon.

Anyway, plans for the car are to build it to either STX, STU, or ESP. I am still debating this. In the meantime here is what I have sitting on the shelf waiting for install; complete poly bushing set (will not do both lca ends in poly) MOOG 5664/5665 springs, AC delete heater box (already have the pulley installed), Koni Yellows (on backorder), lt1 ministarter, GTA crosslace wheels (will go with something else later), G.W. Tracklink (left over from the old car, still researching if the short arm is a good idea for what I am doing), 82-83 factory fiberglass z28 hood, hooker headers + 3" y pipe, T-top/vert door shim strikers.

I plan on cutting the springs half coil or so in the front which from what I understand will bump me into the low 800s spring rate wise. To help compensate for the roll center and camber curve issues this creates I'm looking into some taller ball joints (will post about this in the susp. forum). Rear springs will be cut as well. I'll probably start at 3/4 coil for those.
I would love to run a weight jack setup but I wanted to get my feet wet cheaply and quickly.

I'll probably look into some LCA RBs and a panhard relocation setup soon.

Right now I just want to get it to where I can go out and tear up some tires. As it sits, the shocks are so blown that I can induce violent wheel hop (on the front wheels!) with aggressive driving. So I'm taking it easy.

I'll also be applying some of my composites training to the car- I have some ideas (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

And yes, from what I've read, some of these mods are probably not technically legal in stx/stu but I think I can fly under the radar locally (don't snitch on me). I would mostly like to be in a challenging class. In judging from local results for ESP, there are basically no competitors in that class or F stock. STX isn't very good either but a lot better. STU has a ton of competitors.
I thrive on competition, I'd rather be dead last in STU with a bunch of other drivers than first in an ESP class with only one or two other drivers.

Anyway, sorry for the book. Check my post on the susp. forum for my ball joint q.
Here are some picts of the cars. The camaro looks slightly nicer now that I've touched up the bare metal the previous owner left from his "paint prep" job.


Buick:
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g71/Chewbaccathedog/Barona/_MG_7630.jpg)
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g71/Chewbaccathedog/eng-1.jpg)


Camaro
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g71/Chewbaccathedog/IMG_0710.jpg)

[Pablo]

Thought I would post an update on the car

It's come a long way since I first posted. I got a hold of some 17x11 and 17x12 CCWs with 315 hoosier R6s up front and 335 Hoosier R6s on the back. Had to do a minitub and throw in a 6 point cage. I've done a lot of little things besides that like spherical bearing strut mounts, phb relocation, al lcas, phb, new steering wheel, 'glass hood etc etc.. Even these picts are not up to date.
Right now im in the process of fixing the hole in the trunk, adding a dana 44, ultrashield rally sport seat, harnesses, battery relocation, 3" exhaust, headers, etc.

I've decided to go C prepared. It should be interesting at the autoX down here in so cal. I think they will have a heart attack when they see a thirdgen camaro tearing it up. I certainly had jaws drop at a local time attack and that was just on 275 victoracers, open diff, and before I gutted it/caged it, etc.

anyway here are the picts a lot of them were the "in progress" pictures. Most of this work is done now.

(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g71/Chewbaccathedog/IMG_0925.jpg)
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g71/Chewbaccathedog/IMG_0929.jpg)
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g71/Chewbaccathedog/IMG_0923.jpg)
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g71/Chewbaccathedog/mailgooglecom.jpg)
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g71/Chewbaccathedog/IMG_20100926_182429.jpg)
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g71/Chewbaccathedog/IMG_1021.jpg)
(IMG:http://i53.photobucket.com/albums/g71/Chewbaccathedog/IMG_1022.jpg)


I don't have any good picts of the cage but you can see a little through the windows on the last picts. I'll get those up when I get the harness bar in etc.

This post has been edited by Pablo: Dec 6 2010, 06:24 AM