Old Soul 71 Camaro build

[c4racer2]

I picked up a really well built 1971 Camaro last week and I'm excited to start the build to bring it closer to my vision.

The theme of the car is going to be vintage looks, modern suspension, brakes, transmission and vintage hot rod SBC motor with good street and track manners. The car is going to be mainly a street car, but as a former long time autoxer turned HPDE junkie turned NASA race series participant in CMC, the car has to handle well and be at least capable of the occasional autox or tame track day session.

I've been hot rodding cars for 35+ years, and built a few from ground up including a road race 1991 Corvette.
Took a decade off to get the kids through schooling and now I'm ready to start playing with cars again!

I have a 2016 Camaro SS convertible that I am debating if I will keep long term - my plan would be to drive this one about as often as I drive that one, which for the past 2 years has been 5K miles a year. We'll see how I do once I get through the initial phase of my build plans.

Car currently has a 406 that makes 500hp/500tq and a manual TH350 with 3200 stall. Hotchkis suspension. 4wheel disc. 10 bolt with Eaton posi and Moser axles.

Initial focus is T56 Magnum install plus some odds and ends like power steering, power brakes, and some slight tweaks to the motor and exhaust.

Next phase will focus on the suspension - looking at the DSI quadralink and add coil overs and tubular A-arms to the front

Final phase is a bit fuzzy - potentially additional power, upgrade wheels, convert to EFI, track oriented mods like baffled fuel tank - depends how the car is working and where I want to use it at that point.

It was featured in CHP in April 2010 with the story title Old Soul, so I figure keep that name for this build thread.

A few initial pics below. Updates should start this weekend with the exhaust system - I will post as that progresses.
Currently has a cobbled up mostly 2.5" system with 2.25" collector reducers and 2.25" flowmaster 40 series muffles which are very loud.

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[Benttube]

Great looking car. What size are the tires/wheels, combo looks great to me.

[c4racer2]

255-45-17 on 8” and 295-45-17 on 9.5” vintage wheels V40

And thanks ! I agree the car looks great to me. I take no credit - this is how I got it.

[$Mike70Z-28]

nice car.. looks great! keep up the posts on the changes looking forward

[c4racer2]

Started exhaust work to move from hacked together 2.5 / 2.25 combination and 40 series flowmasters.

Going with the Pypes X-pipe header back system with MagnaFlow mufflers. Waiting on Pypes header collectors - original ones I ordered were not long enough. For anybody using that system, the 12" header collector is the way to go - in my initial mock up I am cutting these to 6" and 9" (aprox) as the headers do not exit evenly flush. Hooker supercomp 1 3/4" with 3" collector.

Currently in shipping jail - seemed to have missed the Friday shipment cut-off at Summit Sparks warehouse and waiting for them to come on line today and Fed-Ex to show up for morning shipments - hopefully it starts moving today and I get it tomorrow or Wednesday.

I was originally going to wait until these came in - but I am not considering doing a full mock-up install using the collector connector sections I cut off the old system. That way if I need to slightly adjust the system with longer front section I can make that adjustment before I make the cuts to the Pypes header reducer sections. I keep going back and forth on that - probably doesn't make too much difference as I can make adjustments on the front section or back section as needed to get it perfect.


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[c4racer2]

Got the exhaust system on yesterday. Sounds great - still plenty loud, but more mellow now. Must be quieter because I can hear the fuel pump running with the engine running from outside the car - never noticed that before the exhaust was so loud!

The fit was good, but I ran into one clearance issue with the straight Pypes collector reducers - the passenger side was too close to the TH350 crossmember - actually touched it. So I ended up using the connector from the front of the old system which was welded together and had a downward angle of 10-20 degrees. That gave enough clearance. I may re-do that when I swap the T56 in depending on where things end up with crossmember location and such. So I'm leaving it all connectors rather than welding it. Seems to be tight and no leaks.

Clearance is very tight at the trans crossmember, maybe .25-.33" at most. Clearance to body is 1/2" on pass side and more on the other. The system is a bit tweaked to the pass side due to the crossmember clearance issue. Hopefully the T56 crossmember will be better not worse there!

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[c4racer2]

Did the first test drive. so much better during cruise conditions! Still no sleeper at full throttle. And idle is a bit noisy too - but I think a roller cam with less duration at low lift will help that out too. Overall very livable and quieter than my last big inch big HP small block car that had 3" exhaust and same magnaflow mufflers.

[c4racer2]

realized I haven't done any updates on this thread. I have a lot going on with the car.

Pulled the motor to do some clean-up, re-seal, check-up and a few other odds and ends.

On the motor I swapped the rockers with Comp Cams because I had them and like these better than the ones on the motor.
Swapped intake for a ported version I had on the shelf since it matched the ports better than the stock one.
Heads are TFS 195
Added Canton road-race pan - the one for Chevelle chassis. 7 quart.
Changed the oil cooler sending unit to move into a -10 AN hose set-up. Also picked up a new Fluidyne cooler.
What else - full re-seal. Pretty much that's it on the motor.

A few photos:

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Last one is the real reason I pulled the motor. New Tremec T56 Magnum close ratio is ready to install in place of the TH350.

[c4racer2]

Also upgraded to power steering from manual steering. Went with a PSC pro-touring 700 series box with 12.7:1 ratio. Feel is really good - very nice weighting and very precise and responsive. Used a KRC racing pump and associated drive set-up.

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[c4racer2]

Next project while the motor is out is brakes. Since I needed a solution for a clutch master and wanted to run a dual master manual brake set-up, I landed on this nifty little bracket from NoLimit engineering. And I've been working with Ron Sutton on a StopTech based system that will be available for stock second gen spindles. Along with that needed 18" wheels so picked up a set of the Rocket Racing Attack in 18x10 and installed Nitto NT04 tires in 275/35 and 295/35 size.
6" backspace. Same size wheels front and rear. Looks like will run a .25" spacer in back and fronts should be OK as-is.

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[c4racer2]

And finally a few shots of the T56 install. Using SpeedTech trans mount and tunnel cover. So far only did rough mock-up to clearance tunnel.
Working on aligning bellhousing. using Centerforce DF clutch and Tilton 6000 series TO bearing and a RAM 25lb billet steel flywheel.

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[c4racer2]

Brakes coming along. StopTech new kit design by Ron Sutton for stock GM tall spindles. 14” rotors and ST60 calipers.

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[c4racer2]

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[ErikSOCAL]

Are those brake kits still available?
Interested to see how they fit and work, does look like a nice set up.

[c4racer2]

This is a new kit that will be offered - my car is a tester for it.
It’s really nice stuff.

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[c4racer2]

brake bracket from No Limits Engineering in TN assembled and installed for mock-up.
This is set-up for stock pedals and uses a Wildwood balance bar for the brakes with dual masters.
The threaded rod they sent is not long enough - this was designed for a 1st gen although they supposedly have installed in a few 2nd gens before. Also the clutch master hole is right where the stock fuse box is - so I had to relocate that 1.5" lower.
Now it all clears and there is just one small wiring loom I need to slightly relocate in the cabin and I should be all set.
It's a pretty nifty design - but far from a bolt in. Not that I expected it to be.

Now on to plumbing lines!

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[c4racer2]

Plumbed front brakes. Used stock repro line kit and only had to bend one line from master to the T block.

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[c4racer2]

Working on oil cooler w 185 thermostat. Realized my headers don’t clear the side exit adapter. Ordered one with outputs I can adjust towards front. Also learned you cannot block off these adapters. Blocks off oil flow into top end of motor.
Good to know!

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[c4racer2]

Also got bellhousing aligned within .008 concentric and .001-.002 parallel on both axis.

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[c4racer2]

Got brakes final assembly done both sides along with new DSE UCA and bilstien shocks. Also mounted and did half the plumbing for oil cooler and 185 deg thermostat.

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[c4racer2]

Bench bleeding masters using the bracket.
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[c4racer2]

Motor with T56 back in the car.
I installed clutch and bellhousing on motor. Had car on 18” blocks on the tires. Went over front with the motor and mated trans from below with a trans jack. Went smoothly. Tilton 6000 TO bearing assembly on the trans.
Speedtech trans mount. Very well designed part. Very adjustable and located the trans perfectly. Currently sitting at 2.5deg negative with no spacers. Nose is still 1.5” high at least. So will come down a bit from that.
Only snag is I have to move the driveshaft safety loop back 6”.
Interferes with the big sonnex yoke.

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[c4racer2]

Driveshaft loop removed. Was welded on. That was fun.
I’ll bolt it on next time.

[c4racer2]

Clutch hydraulics installed.

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[c4racer2]

Got a new driveshaft built and installed. Wired the trans and wrapped up some other misc wiring changes in the interior.
Oh my how I love doing underdash wiring.
Also made a few adjustments to pedal height on clutch and brake now that systems are bled and I have a better picture of travel.

Time to get the exhaust back on and fluids in the trans and fire this baby back up.

I found I had mislabeled the 3 wire HEI wiring from the MSD. Connected as per msd diagram. Unless the module is customized or something. Can’t imagine it is.
I also removed a bunch of wiring for the drag racing stuff nitrous and line lock that I don’t need.
So hoping none of that was serving other purposes I wasn’t aware of.

Working on hot rods built by someone else is always an adventure!

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[Motown 454]

Nice!! good job.

[c4racer2]

Motor / trans sitting at 2deg negative. So should be a good starting point. That’s without any spacers in the mount.

Plenty of exhaust clearance.

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Car is on the ground and ready to test fire tomorrow. All fluids done and final checks.
Will look at my to do list - seems like I got everything. Fingers crossed. So many changes makes a first fire a bit nerve racking.

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[c4racer2]

Motor / trans sitting at 2deg negative. So should be a good starting point. That’s without any spacers in the mount.

Plenty of exhaust clearance.

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Car is on the ground and ready to test fire tomorrow. All fluids done and final checks.
Will look at my to do list - seems like I got everything. Fingers crossed. So many changes makes a first fire a bit nerve racking.

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Plus I cant find the bolts for the hood !
5 months it’s been apart. I had a pretty good system but somehow this slipped thru the cracks. It’s gotta be in my shop somewhere

[c4racer2]

Never did find them but had some new ones that worked.

Fired up no problem - got timing adjusted and brought to temp. No leaks. No issues. Minor lifter tick for a few minutes but went away so all seems good now. Motor hasn’t run for 5 months. I did swap rockers so it’s a fresh valve adjustment. Hyd flat tappet cam.

Moved car a few feet so clutch works !

Need to put in a clutch stop per tiltons instructions before driving it. And maybe install a steering wheel would be a good idea.

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[Tpichevy]

What brand brake master are you running? Is it hard to adjust for your brake setup? Car is looking great! How much turning radious did you loose going with with wide wheels/tires up front?

[Motown 454]

Everything looks great! Glad the fire up went good. Funny about the hood bolts, same thing happened to me. We ended up shortening some bolts. Then a year later I found them bagged and tagged like they were supposed to be. Only problem Not where they were supposed to be. The car is looking great.

[c4racer2]

Haven’t driven it. So don’t know about turning radius. But they don’t rub so likely none.

Wildwood masters for brakes and clutch. Separate front and rear masters with a balance bar full manual brake setup.

And adjust what? What do you mean by adjust? Masters don’t have an adjustment. I have an adjustable pedal linkage so I was able to put the pedal where I wanted it.

[c4racer2]

Everything looks great! Glad the fire up went good. Funny about the hood bolts, same thing happened to me. We ended up shortening some bolts. Then a year later I found them bagged and tagged like they were supposed to be. Only problem Not where they were supposed to be. The car is looking great.

Thanks. It was weird. I found 4 bolts in a bin behind the car that I used for various things I thought must be them. Tried getting them started for 30min. Then realized it was a smaller bolt after all and used new bolts I had recently picked up. Still haven’t found them. Really strange. I found everything else without issue as I only used a few places to store things. Not those dang bolts!

Got the clutch stop done per tiltons instructions. There is less than 4” travel and engagement is 75pct into that. Feels pretty good so far. Reverse works - I used the brake light signal per the bowler instructions. But I’ve heard that may over power that circuit. I don’t see how that could be possible - it sees 12V and the current is only dependent on the resistance of the circuit. Seems whatever 12v source is used to power it will result in the same current.

Also got my DSE steering wheel installed.

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Stance is looking pretty good - May still settle half an inch or so. Have not driven it yet. The front wheels really tuck in nicely - doesn’t look like there is a 275 tire under there !

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[c4racer2]

Got a shakedown cruise in. Everything working well except no brakes. Turns out the balance bar is complete biased to the rear so the fronts aren’t even working much at all. Need to correct that before I take it out again. That was a bit scary. Easier with a manual trans tho. Ha. The trans and clutch worked great. Very similar engagement point and feel to my 2016 SS. I set a clutch stop so there is only about 3.5” of total travel and the clutch comes in at about 3” pedal travel. Shifting is great. Reverse lock out works. Speedo works but I need to calibrate it. Autometer electric.
Once I get some working brakes I can get some more miles in. And bed the new pads and all that too

[c4racer2]

Got a shakedown cruise in. Everything working well except no brakes. Turns out the balance bar is complete biased to the rear so the fronts aren’t even working much at all. Need to correct that before I take it out again. That was a bit scary. Easier with a manual trans tho. Ha. The trans and clutch worked great. Very similar engagement point and feel to my 2016 SS. I set a clutch stop so there is only about 3.5” of total travel and the clutch comes in at about 3” pedal travel. Shifting is great. Reverse lock out works. Speedo works but I need to calibrate it. Autometer electric.
Once I get some working brakes I can get some more miles in. And bed the new pads and all that too

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Bottom one is rear. You can see front is barely moved and rear is bottoming out the master. Not good.

[c4racer2]

At rest I had them the same length. But makes sense the rear pushes easier because it’s a 1/8” smaller piston.
So it needs to be setup more like figure one at rest so they are even at full braking. Wildwood directions were not helpful in this area.

https://us.bicknellracingproducts.com/files/Chassis/Brake%20Balance%20Bar%20Setup/page31.pdf

[c4racer2]

I have determined there is no way to get this brake system to work with a 13/16 and 15/16 master combo - can't skew it enough at rest to even them out under max braking and the rear still bottoms out first. So I need to swap in the 15/16" master for the rear brakes. I will still skew it at rest because I think part of the issue is longer distance to travel plus 1/4" tubing for the back so it's just more fluid volume plus the stock type calipers have more slop before engagement with the rotor - so probably will need to skew.

Right now it's probably 80-90% front activation when the rears bottom out. The first set-up was more like 20% fronts when the rear bottomed out. So I'm close even with the smaller rear master. Even sized masters should let it work properly. I will try to get the masters to bottom out together.

[c4racer2]

Swapped the 15/16" master in. I have it very close to even under full brake push. Pedal feels great. I have it skewed as far as it will go to give rears a longer pushrod. Factory style brakes and more fluid to the back and a 1/4" line isn't helping. But seems pretty good right now. Need to test drive it again. It will be so much better with the StopTech rears.

[cornfedbill]

Nice build.

I'm just curious since I need to move my power steering pump up to the head for clearance. What pump and bracket are you using. I notice it is on the left cylinder head.

Thanks.

[c4racer2]

It’s KRC. A few others make a bracket tho.

[c4racer2]

It’s KRC. A few others make a bracket tho.

https://www.krcpower.com/

[cornfedbill]

https://www.krcpower.com/

Thanks

[c4racer2]

The pads on these ST brakes have very low bite until they are bedded in - so that's next on the agenda.
But got it out for a longer shake down cruise this morning. All is working good - except the clutch is slipping a bit when driving in gear with small throttle stabs. So I need to take a look at whats doing with the TO bearing. It feels good with 1/2" or so of play before the clutch starts to push in - but haven't inspected it yet.

Centerforce DF clutch. I understand they need some break in time, but this seems like excessive slipping to me - could be a bad disc, or could be the TO bearing is too close to the clutch.

[c4racer2]

Found the smoking gun. The pin that keeps the Tilton TO bearing assembly from spinning is too long and it hits a weight on the clutch, which prevents it from engaging fully.
Not sure I can fix this without a trans R&R, but at least I know what is causing it and it's an easy fix.

[c4racer2]

Trans has to come out for sure.

[dontlifttoshift]

How is that not making a hellacious sound?

[c4racer2]

Oh I don’t think those weights really spin. They are on the pressure plate with a ring. Reason I don’t think they spin is this hasn’t broken loose yet with half a dozen drive cycles.

[dontlifttoshift]

Is your pressure plate bolted to the flywheel? If you answered yes, those weights are spinning with the pressure plate.

[c4racer2]

Ya that makes sense. Don’t know but it’s not making noise the pin looks intact and it’s touching a weight - very hard to see in there with a mirror and flashlight

[c4racer2]

Pulled the trans this afternoon. I think that pin was hitting and not letting those spin. Or maybe it was just damn close to hitting. No evidence of damage on the pin. But took more careful measurements and I was off about 3/16”. So I had no clearance and pushing the fingers at least 1/8” at rest. Literally went in 2 or 3 full turns with the bearing assembly. I have more confidence that I now have 1/8” Clearance. Plus I can now use the shorter pin so it’s out of the way of the fingers for sure. It’s almost 1/2” shorter. So feeling pretty good about this.

Time to button her back up and re-test.
Should be driving it over the weekend.



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[c4racer2]

Second time did the trick. Clutch now doesn’t slip. Woo hoo. Although I almost ran the car out of fuel on the short test drive. Need to get a bucket of fuel in her before doing more testing. But all seems good now.

[Motown 454]

Glad to hear it’s all set now, good luck with the test drive.

[c4racer2]

Got it out long enough to verify it
Works properly and no longer slips. So happy about that !

[Royalty Rides]

Next project while the motor is out is brakes. Since I needed a solution for a clutch master and wanted to run a dual master manual brake set-up, I landed on this nifty little bracket from NoLimit engineering. And I've been working with Ron Sutton on a StopTech based system that will be available for stock second gen spindles. Along with that needed 18" wheels so picked up a set of the Rocket Racing Attack in 18x10 and installed Nitto NT04 tires in 275/35 and 295/35 size.
6" backspace. Same size wheels front and rear. Looks like will run a .25" spacer in back and fronts should be OK as-is.

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The wheels and tires fit with stock subframe and no massaging of rear lips?

[c4racer2]

Yes. But the rear is a 4th gen so it’s .5” wider than stock. So equivalent to 5.75” bs on a stock rear. Oh and shocks relocated inboard of springs as well. But stock tub no issue with the seatbelt hump at all and fenders are not rolled at all. I did not end up needing a spacer btw.

[c4racer2]

Got a longer shake down cruise in the car with more gas in the tank. All seems good on the trans and clutch front. Good feel, shifts nicely, confirmed no slippage. Looks like I will need to adjust the carb tuning a bit for a manual trans - the loose converter before covers up a lot - now the engine may actually see wot as low as 2000-2500 rpm where before it always flashed to 3K. Got it up into 5th even. Love the lower 5th gear vs the Fbody version. Has a .80 5th which is pretty usable. Not sure how much it will ever need 6th at least not with 3.42s. Seems like a 3.70 or 3.89 gear will be the way to go.

[c4racer2]

Went out early this AM and did the brake bedding. Had a bit of a scare with a CHP cruiser sitting on my remote testing road - but was only doing maybe 50 in a 45 so he didn't blink - despite the fact there was a late model Mustang right next to me. I was worried he might think we were racing - we weren't at all. I was just about to do my #9 out of 10 stops when I saw him. So I bailed on that and went out on the freeway and cooled them off for 10min, then came back further down that same road to get the second 10 stop cycle in.

Anyway - still don't get enough clamping force on the front brakes. Can't quite lock them up. Since I'm out of adjustment on the balance bar and using same size masters on both, I think my next course of action is swapping the 1/4" rear line for 3/16" to match the front line. Seems like that will help because it's less fluid to push, so will effectively bias back to the front. I think the rear master is still bottoming out before the fronts reach full clamping. Anyway - I'd like to get the pushrods about even at full braking.
But at least the car is safe to drive on the street. Got some highway runs in as I was cooling the brakes and it's pretty nice having a 5th and 6th gear. Got into 6th - runs about 2100rpm at 75 or so. Not dead smooth there as you can feel the carb still toying with the idle circuit, but by 2300 its pretty good. Actually just cruising this motor at 2500 on the highway is pretty good - it's very happy there, isn't too loud, runs right at the thermostat 160deg. Oil got up to 200 - that's without a cooler.
Overall got a good 90 minutes of driving in including some stop and go. Got gas, calibrated the elec speedo twice - seems pretty accurate now using my bike GPS as the reference.
Once warmed up the carb actually works pretty decently with this set-up. Takes a bit more clutch slip than a stock LS / LT1 car - but not bad. More gear would be helpful overall. I'd say definitely either a 3.70 or a 3.89
Pretty nice to drive with a good manual I must say. Fits the motor nicely, adding a bit more gear is a minor tweak to get it perfect. It's pretty good even with the 3.42s.

[c4racer2]

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[c4racer2]

After consulting with Ron these were designed to work as a front / rear pair and won’t work well with stock or other brand mix. So I need to get that 9” going so I can install the entire brake package and do it right. Plus I would like a little more gear and a parking brake would make the car a lot more useable.

I’m happy the car works very well together otherwise - so upgrading to a stronger rear which it needs with 500+ ft lbs and a manual - along with the complete 4 corner brake package will really make the car pretty complete.

For now. Heh.

[DKz Garage]

The car looks great!

[c4racer2]

Thanks. Ya I’m pretty happy with the new wheel / tire package. Really gave me the look I was going for.

[c4racer2]

I spent some time re-adjusting the balance bar and got it to even at full braking. So now it actually works quite nicely.
It's still a compromise with the factory style rear discs, so the end game is still to get the 9" done next with the matching ST40 rear brake kit. The car will also enjoy lower gears - 3.42 is too mild for this motor, it wants more gear with a manual trans. Totally different from an auto w/ big stall converter.

Did more test driving today - one more brake bedding cycle and some highway driving to cool them. Car stops basically like my 2016 Camaro SS with Brembo's now. So it peels the eyes to the lids under braking and rolls them back into your head under full power. Quite the car. Quick blast in 3rd on freeway from 3500rpm and it's up over 80 before you can blink, and can stop even faster.

I really like the feel of the manual brakes. I would say the effort is very similar to the 2016 SS, but with about 50% more travel. But the sweet spot is about 75% into the travel and it's very easy to manage braking in that area of travel - very linear and excellent bite, all with very mild pedal pressure that feels no harder than a power set-up in a new SS - maybe even slightly less pedal pressure is needed actually. Very happy with this so far and it will be even better with matching rear brakes for sure.

Car runs and drives great - it's really so driveable now - the major changes made have added up to a major improvement - T56 transmission, shocks and LCA's, brakes, power steering and 18" wheels with 275/295 NT05 tires have all completely transformed the car from where I started. Cruises on the highway effortlessly - 70+ using 6th and when there is traffic and stuck under 70 using 5th.

One item uncovered - wheels slightly rub at full lock on the DSE UCA. So either need to grind that section down slightly or run 1/8" spacers. For now I'll throw on a set of .25" since I happen to have a set and see how that works. Should have caught that before but initially I had the inner fender on and just didn't see that when I checked full lock.

[c4racer2]

Wrapped up the interior. Used the speedtech tunnel and installed with 3M body seam sealer and sheet metal screws. Kinda sorta removable if needed to access wiring. Also not sure if I can access the top 2 bolts from under the car to pull trans. Always used the access hole before. So that will be interesting.

Anyway came out great. And spent some more seat time in the car and took a few photos too. Even better driving experience now with a full interior too!!

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[c4racer2]

Few more shot today.

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[$Mike70Z-28]

Very nice looks real good a+a+a+ enjoy it

[c4racer2]

Not much of an update. Been driving it more. Bled brakes again and had tiny bit of air. Better pedal now. Pretty happy with the brakes.

Added the correct mirrors for the car. Plan to leave them black for now. May black out front and rear. Window trim and door handles to match.

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[Motown 454]

Wheels look sweet! Enjoy!!

[MUSCLECAR]

Good progress and good pics too! keep em coming!

[c4racer2]

Time for a proper rear end and to complete the StopTech brake package. Found the exact build I was planning all set-up for a 2nd gen leaf spring car from a fellow PT.com member who is going to a full DSE back-half set-up and we worked out a nice transaction on it - shipped it from MT to CA using Fastenal and now it's in my shop ready for brake mock-up.

I need to remove the axle bearings to get the backing plates behind them - thinking best way to do that is drop the axles and backing plate / parking brake assemblies to a local rear end shop and have them do that for me.

I mocked up the brake package without the axles to see how it all goes together - seems pretty straightforward.
These rotors have integrated drum hubs on the backside for the parking brake, so they are a bit thicker than a normal rotor hat. .35" is what I measured. So as a result looks like this will be about .5" wider track than a stock second gen axle wheel to wheel mounting distance about 61.75"
Turns out that will be about perfect since I'm replacing a 4th gen axle with 61.875" width. With that rear my wheels do not need any spacer - 18x10 with 6" bs and a 295 tire. I picked up a set of 1/4" spacers that I may end up using but probably won't need them. We'll see when it gets installed.
Leaf mounting pads are correct stock spacing. I have a pair of UMI springs going in - 2" drop and 175lb springs with Delrin bushings and shackle kit and a DSE shock mount for inboard shock mounting which is what the car has currently with the CE traction bar set-up which will go away.

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[c4racer2]

Also - has anybody used the DSE shock mounts that locate the shock inboard of the leaf spring? Is this how they are oriented? The pair I have seem to put one shock in front and one behind the axle - that wasn't what I had wanted to do originally, but I guess that will work. Any issues with that?

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[Cshenker1121]

Nice ride man, definitely an awesome looking Camaro [emoji108]

[c4racer2]

Nice ride man, definitely an awesome looking Camaro [emoji108]

thanks!!

[c4racer2]

Next step took 2 years, but I hope it was worth it!

updated front suspension:
DSE upper control arms
UMI lower race control arms with raised spindle mount
UMI bump steer kit
UMI tall mount coil over kit for 2.5" race spring / shock package - welded in to frame above stock coil mount
Viking DA shocks and 750lb (or there abouts - forget exact numbers) springs
refresh steering linkage parts w/ moog / pro-forged replacements

road test pending - finally all buttoned up and all loose ends addressed so ready to road test.

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[c4racer2]

After fixing a little snafu with getting some air in the clutch master cylinder, I was able to get a shake down test run in today.
So far so good - all operated normally, didn't push the car but it's also totally not aligned either. But no strange sounds, no rubbing, no issues at all.
Other than the 2 year old gas, but I have since pulled all that out and will start from fresh from here.
I may need to clean the carb - I can't tell if it's working or not - the motor will idle on it's own which is a good sign but again the gas is pretty questionable at 2.5 years old at this point. So time to get fresh gas - see how it runs. I have a rebuild kit for the carb if needed - demon 750 4150.

But it drives really nicely - even hit a few speed bumps and nothing hitting or rubbing so it also seems I have a reasonable starting point for the ride height where I set it.

Once I get a few more drive cycles in I will go ahead and dig into replacing the rest of the steering linkage and adding the UMI bumpsteer kit.
Then I think it's ready for an alignment.

Step by step, but at least the car is driveable again if nothing else!

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