| The first thing I had to do to make this
car safe to drive was to rebuild the front suspension. I purchased poly
bushings from energy suspension, an Addco 1 1/8" swaybar, and moog ball
joints, tie rod ends, sleeves, and idler arm. When I had all the parts
assembled, I started tearing down the front suspension. Low and behold,
all the fasteners came right off, the balljoints even popped with the
smallest tap. The previous owner, faced with a car in pieces, had simply
put it all back together, replacing nothing! Disassembly took minute
instead of the expected hours. After cleaning everything, and painting
the control arms, backing plates, spindes and drums with a blue
Rustoleum paint (don't ask me why, it seemed a good idea at the time) I
had a local shop press the bushings and lower ball joints. I also used a
sawzall to cut one coil off the springs, and picked up 4 new KYB
Gas-A-Just shocks. |
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Guldstrand
Mod
Anyone who's ever driven one of
these cars knows they have a tremendous amount of understeer. Due to the
geometry of the suspension, in a turn, the outside front tire "rolls
under" due to the camber curve. It tips the tire to the point where only
the outside edge is touching the road, and the front end washes out and
slides. Back in the early days of Trans Am racing, Dick Guldstrand's shop
developed this mod, which fit the rules at that time. They redrilled the
mounting ears for the upper control arm bolts, lowering them
substantially, and also shifting them rearward some. The effect of this
tiny change is to completely reverse the camber curve. Rather than
tipping out, the outside front tire now tips in, keeping the full width
of the tire in contact with the road when the car leans in a turn. The
mod also builds in more caster, and changes the anti-dive. For more info
on this, and everything you ever wanted to know about suspension,
steering, naking, and more, visit
PozziRacing, or Guldstrand racing. |
| As my buddy and I are reassembling the suspension (with
a few cold ones in hand) we discuss drilling holes... I'm totally
nervous about it, but he says "go fer it!" (after all, it's not his
car.) Finally, I get out the drill, and the template. I slide the
template over the bolts, center punch for the new holes, and drill away.
Once the holes are drilled, it's a simple matter to knock out the bolts,
press them into the new holes, and slip on the upper A-arm. Then I tried
to move it down into position, and it HIT SOMETHING! I run to the
computer, and put up a post on Team Camaro for David Pozzi. Remember,
it's 11 PM central, on a Saturday night. David comes back within
minutes... I need to cut the ears off the A-arm mount, thru the original
bolt holes, to provide the nessesary clearance. Out comes the sawzall,
off comes the ears. The following Monday, it's off to the alignment
shop. |
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| It feels like a new car! The suspension is
tight and responsive, and even with the old 215-65-15 Firestones on 15x7
rallye's, the understeer is nearly gone. The car feels completely safe
now, drives great! Note to antone doing a sfront suspension rebuid: Put
the front swaybar on FIRST. There's lot's more room to work that way.
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Exhaust System
This one was a milestone. Up till now, I had a choice. I could have
done this as a stock, #'s matching restoration, and made it like Chevy
did. I chose not to. Being a simple HotRodder at heart, I picked up a
set Hooker Competition Headers (1 5/8" tubes, CERAMIC COATED) and a
Flowmaster American Thunder Exhaust System part # 17139. This
system is spec'd for 1969 Camaro's, and uses dual Delta 40 mufflers
located under the backseat, and full to the rear tailpipes with polished
stainless steal tips. Systems spec'd for 67-68 dump straight down behind
the rear tires, as was stock for those years. This system is also
specifically NOT for convertibles. In fact, Flowmaster doesn't make one
for verts. The h-pipe won't allow the mid pipes to be installed high
enough to clear the floor brace, I left the floor brace under the
workbench. Both the headers and the exhaust system went on easy and fit
well. (This is a 327 car, no air, w/ power steering.) |
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