[ansonivan]

Hi, I'm from Columbus OH, part of a group from the GRM forum who are assembling a LeMons/Chump team around a 1985 Camaro.

I have zero f-body experience and have a backround in vw/bmw so I have much to learn.

The car is a v8/5speed with several layers of paint/bondo/rust, our plan is to run a mild 350 through a t5 and 9 bolt limited slip rear axle.
We have some hope of making the April 16-17th race at Gingerman but it's going to be one hell of a push to make the event.

A roll cage is the first order of business, at this point it's a toss up between a pre-bent kit from S&W or another supplier or me spending the time to make templates and have Tubular Techniques bend a cage.

List of parts we're looking for, cheap cast off stuff and local preferred

transmission cross member
t5 bellhousing
clutch/flywheel
clutch fork
clutch master/slave/line
pedal box

front calipers - standard size or larger
rear calipers
performance pads
torque arm
Twin Fans
Radiator
16" wheels

The car prior to being extracted from a snow bank in Scott OH
(IMG:http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5176/5422234214_851d5f1121_z.jpg)

Behind my shop awaiting drivetrain/safety items
(IMG:http://farm6.static.flickr.com/5254/5462380742_dfd4916d1c_z.jpg)

This post has been edited by ansonivan: Feb 23 2011, 02:52 PM

[matt f]

I wish I had seen this earlier. S W is local to me, but I went with rollcagecomponents.com, out of VA. He built us a nice cage, which is actually a little more than lemons legal. I think it cost 660 shipped. 1.75 DOM, 2 nascar bars, 2 pass door bars, verticles, dash bar.

Look at the new rules regarding the 24 sq" spreaders if you haven't already.

As far as cooling, couldn't you just cut a large hole out of the nose to improve airflow? You don't get going fast enough (110 ish) to lose much to aero. Whatever you do, bring a spare radiator, if not an entire spare car.

BTW, It took me a ridiculous amount of time for the car to get done, but we took time for a TNT day about 6 weeks before the race at Summit. We got zero sleep thursday working till 2 am, then towing out before the race and worked on the car all day friday until about 6 PM too.

One of the best experiences I've ever had.

[Blainefab]

As far as cooling, couldn't you just cut a large hole out of the nose to improve airflow?

That alone would be a big step backwards - there is more engineering to the radiator intake on both 3rd and 4th gen cars than is obvious. I've improved cooling by patching holes in the front fascia.

My advise is leave all the bodywork and shrouds bone stock and install a new, racing racing radiator with all gaps sealed. Use the OEM fans, make sure both are running and the blades are in good shape, fit to the new radiator with the minimum amount of trimming.

To change to front breather requires a sealed duct from the front of the car and an airdam to build high pressure air in front. ie: http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/index.php?sho...14181&st=70 towards the bottom.

In the Lemons environment the OEM nose will be simpler to keep functional.

[Shortcutsleeping]

WAIT WAIT WAIT.

I instruct in my 92 1le/b4c car at TWS in July with no big issues. It still has AC, I shift at 4800 and run 20 min sessions. The radiator is a stock unit and the cooling system is in good shape. For the LeMons camaro (Bic) we did exactly nothing exotic. The 1LE car is 305TPI and 230rwhp/300rwtq. Bic is likely a 180hp and 225tq. This is an ENDURANCE race. The folks pushing 500$ cars to the redline every shift are the ones on the trailer by the 6 hour mark. I've done this five times now...I think I've got a decent handle on it. The fastest lap wins you nothing...this is not an autocross :-) We routinely finish well with somewhere between 10th and 20th lap times.

So....for Bic, I put on a fresh water pump. A good balanced 180 tstat. Clean radiator with foam strips on the side to seal to the body. No ac condenser in the way. Good factory air dam under radiator (we replaced with some non-bent plastic). I have two cheapie temp gauges in the car (one in each head). We shift about 4000ish unless in a hurry. Temps stay at 185-190. If the temperature got to be a problem the FIRST thing I would likely do is cut a U shape in the hood behind the radiator and bend the forward lip down 6-8" to let the air out. I'm pretty sure that is all we'd need to do ASSUMING temps got too high (which they have not yet). With a small block under the hood everyone hollers 'cheater', but when it idles at 500rpm smoothly (no cam), has a stock radiator and stock exhaust manifolds that shuts most folks up.

This is an extreme example of what I'd do to the hood. Only much smaller and use a bolt on each corner with a spacer to hold the leading edge lip down.
(IMG:http://www.witchdoctormotorsports.com/ch163pic30.jpg)

That being said, one other thing we did was pull the power steering. That is horsepower you get back to the wheels. It is another belt that can't break. It is fluid that can't be leaked. A manual s10 box bolts in and 'shazam' you've taken weight off the nose, stopped potential leaks and made a LOT more room under the hood (for airflow management too).

Thanks for the site update, those links didnt make the jump on the last site-move and I should have them back up soon. I'll let ya know :-)


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