Old Soul 71 Camaro build

[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.



Get Outlook for iOS

[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.

Attachment 162033

Attachment 162034

Attachment 162038

Attachment 162035

Attachment 162036

Attachment 162037

Attachment 162039

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]

[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!