Ok, I finally actually own one..., Picked up the 'new' car Options

[marka]

Howdy,

So, I finally picked up the camaro I've been talking about for the last 6 months or so...

It's a '99 w/65k miles. Bunch of modifications & extra parts. I paid $5k for it, but needed to go to Texas to get it.

Yes, that's a low price... The seller is my best friend from college. He's been a chip designer since getting out of school, but got tired of that and is moving w/his wife to Switzerland to get a doctorate in Psychology for the next five years or so. He sold the car to me at a low price because it was a lot less hassle for him, plus I think he wanted it to go to someone who would appreciate it.

Anyway, the car is pretty cool. Its got:

Suspension:
* GC ride height adjusters
* koni sa fronts, tokico rears
* 550# front 200# rear springs (he thinks... I haven't looked yet)
* Stock swaybars
* rear drop brackets on the axle for the LCA's
* 17x9.5 wheels w/ 275/45 Nitto NT555R2's
* Random Tech torque arm

Drivetrain:
* AL flywheel / strong clutch (not sure on specs... Its driveable, but not as good as stock)
* Mac headers, gutted cats, Bassani exhaust
* MTI Airbox lid
* Pro 5.0 shifter (_LOVE_ the feel of this, but its pretty noisy)
* Underdrive crank pulley

Other:
* Wilwood 6 piston front brakes
* braided brake lines
* 4 point welded in rollbar
* Sparco reclining 'race seat' driver's seat
* Service manuals
* Trailer hitch

Needs work:
* Stock torsen is dead. T2R on the way
* Rear ring gear has a stripped bolt hole. 3.73's in a new housing sitting in my trailer at home.
* spongy brake pedal after hard cornering... My buddy thinks its the rear axles moving and kicking the rear pads back, but nobody knows for sure yet.
* There's also a bunch of gear whine off throttle... More than I've heard in any other car, but my buddy says its been that way from new (he's the original owner)
* Center console isn't there, he took it out / hacked it because he kept hitting his elbow.
* Randome Tech torque arm on the car needs rod ends.

Not installed:
* Spoon rear lca's, panhard, and torque arm. LCAs and panhard need rod ends.
* Another set of 17x9.5's w/dead A032's
* Stock front brakes (maybe two sets? Not sure...)
* Stock torque arm
* Stock driver's seat
* Stock rear seat
* another trashed stock torsen
* Stock springs/shocks
* Stock airbox


Some pictures are here: http://www.maracing.com/texas/

My wife Laura and I decided to make getting the car a mini "driving vacation"... We left last Friday around 5pm from our house in Youngstown, OH, drove towards St. Louis for five or six hours. The next day, we got to St. Louis around 1pm or so, spent a couple hours checking out the Gateway Arch, then met a friend of Laura's from grad school for an early dinner/late lunch. Back on the road around 6pm...

...but that only lasted an hour or so before a couple people drove past us holding up handwritten signs that said "you lost a tire". I couldn't see anything in the mirrors and the trailer was pulling straight, but we got off and sure enough the right rear wheel on the trailer was gone. Not flat... Gone. All five studs had sheared off. So we found an autoparts store, I disassembled the hub, pounded out the broken studs, pounded/pulled in new ones, and reassembled (along with tightening the lugs on the remaining wheels). It could have been a _lot_ worse... The auto parts store had outside lights so I could see, they had most everything we needed parts-wise, etc. Two hours later we were back on the road with the trailer spare mounted on the hub w/new lugs.

After stopping for the night, got to Texas the next day around 9pm. Loaded everything up, with a few moments of "how in the hell is this all gonna fit". You can't see it in the pictures, but the rear of the truck is full to above the beltline with a bunch of tools my buddy was selling... A local friend is getting most of them (unless I can talk him into trading me on the compressor). Car was pretty full as well. After loading everything up, we stayed up way to late catching up.

Got up "early" the next morning and headed out. We stopped at a local trailer place and picked up a new spare & spare tire carrier. Between the late start and that, we only really got going out of Austin, TX around noon or so. Drove to somewhere in AK and spent the night.

The next day (Tuesday), we drove the rest of the way to some of Laura's family in KY. Got there in time for dinner. Spent the evening meeting them (me) and catching up (Laura). Next morning we got up, had a leisurely breakfast with them, then headed out. Got home last night around 6pm or so, back at work today. Tomorrow I'll work from home (Youngstown, OH) so that I can do the running around to get the car registered and such. This is kinda a pain... You need to go to the licence agency so that they can verify the vin (since its coming from out of state), then to the courthouse for the title, then back to the license agency to get plates. Efficency in action... :-)

Anyway, after the work on the "serious" car (ES MR2 autox car) gets done, I'll be digging into the camaro. The stock brakes, Spoon torque arm (probably), trailer hitch, and sparco driving seat are gonna get sold. I don't need the hitch and the sparco driving seat is easily the best reclining seat I've sat in, but I want something that has sub belt holes & is fixed back for track stuff. This car will be a "play" car, used for track days, some autox maybe, etc.

That's enough for now! :-)

Mark

[KeithO]

Nice post, Mark. I enjoyed reading it. I'm also glad you got the car finally. I look forward to running some laps with you when it is ready...

[BigEnos]

Check your front hubs. I wonder if the play in them and the subsequent orientation change in the brake disc are pushing the pads back in the front calipers?

Other than that, congrat's that's a hell of a find! (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/beerchug.gif)

[marka]

Howdy,

A x e l, my buddy, tells me that he replaced the front hubs in search of fixing this problem... The issue was still there, so he suspected something with the rear calipers. As a test, he unbolted the rear calipers, stuck a piece of flat stock in between the pads, and hung the calipers out of the way. The problem went away completely.

That lead him to believe that the issue was related to something with the rear end of the car. axle's not an idiot, and I can't fault his approach, so I tend to agree with him.

The problem, btw, is that after hard cornering he had a very inconsistent brake pedal to the point where he often needed to pump the brakes once or twice to get any pedal at all. He had other folks with fbody track day/race cars drive the car as well, and they confirmed it wasn't something they'd ever experienced with their cars (I don't know their qualifications).

His inspections of the various rear end components didn't identify anything wrong... the c-clip axles moved a bit, but didn't seem to move excessively, etc. If he had been going to stick with the car, he was going to upgrade to a 12 bolt to get a different axle retention system to try and prevent any side to side movement of the axles at all.

So... I need to tear into it and figure out what's going on.

Mark

Howdy,

Btw, I had to spell my friend's name "A x e l" above because something is "helping" me and translating it to "axle"...

Mark

Howdy,

Btw... I'll ditto the various "Thanks to Sam" stuff people write... I called him late Sat. night when I couldn't figure out how the bearing buddy dust caps on the trailer hub came off, and also again Monday about three hours outta Austin to start ordering some parts... :-) The parts in stock were sitting on my doorstep when I got home Wednesday night... :-)

Mark

This post has been edited by marka: Mar 9 2006, 09:42 PM

[trackbird]

Btw, I had to spell my friend's name "A x e l" above because something is "helping" me and translating it to "axle"...

Mark, I have set up the "Bad Word Filter" on the board to correct common typo's. Meaning h t e instead of the (had to add spaces to avoid correction), h v a e instead of have and a x e l instead of axle, so that's what's fixing your post. I didn't think we'd ever need that word spelled that way so I put it on the list.

Nice looking toy. I see Wilwood front brakes on there and a roll bar as well. Looks good!

[nape]

I'd say it was a helluva deal even with the drive to Texas!

Ought to be a fun ride. Thanks for the pics, I think I'm going to have to steal the tire rack design (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[PF Flyer]

After years of racing these F-bodies in SCCA T2, I can say from a crew member stance, it is the side movement of the axles (from cornering) that push the caliper pistons and pads back causing the pedal feel.

It gets more pronounced the thinner the pad gets. Our driver/owner would just pump them once to get them re-seated, then apply to stop. 10 bolt, c-clip characteristic.

[z28jeff]

After years of racing these F-bodies in SCCA T2, I can say from a crew member stance, it is the side movement of the axles (from cornering) that push the caliper pistons and pads back causing the pedal feel.

It gets more pronounced the thinner the pad gets. Our driver/owner would just pump them once to get them re-seated, then apply to stop. 10 bolt, c-clip characteristic.

What is the fix? New axles/c-clips?

[PF Flyer]

... well one is replacing the factory axles with a Moser replacement. Beside the 'fracturing' that can (and does) occur with the factory axles, you'll get a better tolerance all the way around.

... and two, there really isn't one, except to keep near new pads in place and watch rotor wear. There usually isn't much wear on the retaining pin inside the spool, but it should be checked regularly.

[trackbird]

Todd at TCE (the brake company) has, or did have, C clips in various thicknesses to help remove some of that slop. I know him through corner-carvers.com, but he has a website as well.

[TxAgZ28]

Congratulations on the car, Mark! Should be fun come race day (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

[marka]

Howdy,

I'd say it was a helluva deal even with the drive to Texas!

Ought to be a fun ride. Thanks for the pics, I think I'm going to have to steal the tire rack design (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/biggrin.gif)

Yeah, I'm pretty happy with the deal. Plus the drive was turned into a bit of a vacation, so both my wife and I had fun going to get it.

I can't take credit for the tire rack design. That's our very own Mr. Strano's setup... :-) If you do it and the trailer is dedicated to cars, I'd put the tires a little lower though. Sam mentioned that putting tires in the rack definately affected his mileage.

Mark

[BigEnos]

That is Sam's trailer, didn't recognize it at first. Sam, isn't that think like a year old? Sure is rusty! I think it's already worse than the old one I used to tow. That one was at least 6 or 7 years old and the same brand.

[marka]

Howdy,

That is Sam's trailer, didn't recognize it at first. Sam, isn't that think like a year old? Sure is rusty! I think it's already worse than the old one I used to tow. That one was at least 6 or 7 years old and the same brand.

Not quite... That's Sam's old trailer (which he's had since I've known him) that he recently replaced with a new one because this one was looking crusty... :-)

A local friend of ours bought it and I borrowed it from him. Despite the looks and the wheel coming off, its basically a good trailer. Though hopefully Sam will use a different welder for the next tire rack... :-)

Mark

[BigEnos]

Howdy,
Not quite... That's Sam's old trailer (which he's had since I've known him) that he recently replaced with a new one because this one was looking crusty... :-)

A local friend of ours bought it and I borrowed it from him. Despite the looks and the wheel coming off, its basically a good trailer. Though hopefully Sam will use a different welder for the next tire rack... :-)

Mark

Yeah I think he had captain popcorn weld that one (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/tongue.gif)

I thought that was the new one because of the deer strike damage. I thought he hit the deer with the new one. Maybe he hit a deer with both of them. Seems to be lots of them up his way.

[Crazy Canuck]

congrats.... seems like a great purchase... now, we'll need pix (IMG:http://www.frrax.com/rrforum/style_emoticons/default/smile.gif)

[nape]

I can't take credit for the tire rack design. That's our very own Mr. Strano's setup... :-) If you do it and the trailer is dedicated to cars, I'd put the tires a little lower though. Sam mentioned that putting tires in the rack definately affected his mileage.

Mark

Thanks for the heads up.

I'll keep that in mind whenever I finally buy my own (I'm borrowing too).

[35th_Anniversary...]

Nice view of the new stadium, did they already tear down Busch stadium?

[Sam Strano]

Y-all are smart-asses....

That trailer is a '94. It's gotta have 150 miles on it, pulled though salt, snow, sits outside all year. It looks rough but tows great (even apparently with one wheel gone).

The tire rack is my design. I don't weld, and don't claim to. The welds are shitty, largely because the argon line came off the Mig, which we didn't know at the time. But it holds and took a deer hit that bend that steel to break any of the welds.

I had a line of folks wanting to buy that trailer from me... Looks bad, but new tires, newer brakes and I always kept it greased goes a long way toward resale.

[marka]

Howdy,

Y-all are smart-asses....

That trailer is a '94. It's gotta have 150 miles on it, pulled though salt, snow, sits outside all year. It looks rough but tows great (even apparently with one wheel gone).

The tire rack is my design. I don't weld, and don't claim to. The welds are shitty, largely because the argon line came off the Mig, which we didn't know at the time. But it holds and took a deer hit that bend that steel to break any of the welds.

I had a line of folks wanting to buy that trailer from me... Looks bad, but new tires, newer brakes and I always kept it greased goes a long way toward resale.

Yep. It doesn't look all that great, but all the right stuff is there. For the price, our mutual friend got a damn good deal.

But the welding on the tirerack is another deal altogether... :-)

Mark