1970 GTO Version 2.0

[Ummgawa]

What a Wicked GTO. I have spent the last 2 hours pouring over this thread. Thanks for all the details, pix, fixed foul ups and do betters.

Real jaw dropper of a conversion. The first build was awesome. This one really made the GTO something unique. Thumbs way up.

[jeffandre]

Andrew,
I remember loving your car when I first came to the site in 2002! Real world car, driven hard. Now it is over the top. The weight you lost in the front, as well as the updated suspension parts and tires will definitely show improvements around the cones and on road courses.

I recall an ancient post where Jeff Schwartz drove your car at an event and set a great time. Wonder what he would be able to do now??? Not that you cannot drive the car well, but you know what I mean, Jeff is an experienced race driver.

Again, fantastic job on updating a terrific car!!!

[Roadbuster]

Andrew,
Your car is cool gotta love the Poncho.

Thanks for posting all this information. It has been an invaluable resource as I work on my own project, although it is moving at a much slower pace.

Jon

[Conekiller13]

Well Andrew, I got just got done spending the better part of the day reading this thread.........I'm a little late to the party here. Love the new motor, the new brakes, the new wheel color. Not real hip on the upper control arms but hey, that's why We have options......

Anyway, I remember the conversations We had way back in 2001-2 as We were both building up the A-body's when not too many others were. Mine is finally coming back together after being apart for the better part of six years after spinning a rod bearing at track day (damn stock oil pan). So I'm hoping to have some update photo's posted her and at Lateral-G soon.

I say bring the ride height down and go up to 650 on the front spring rate. That's what I was running and it allowed low running with no problems and was actually a nice ride. I was running 450lbs in the rear but have dropped down to 275lbs as I have converted to AFCO coil overs..........

Glad to see the Goat has your interest again.

[cdoggy81]

Hey Andrew, any updates, ET slips, speeding tickets, etc....????

[andrewb70]

Hey Andrew, any updates, ET slips, speeding tickets, etc....????

No updates at all. I may go to the drag strip on Saturday. The weather should be perfect for some nice runs.

Daniel,

Thanks for all the nice words. I really wish that I didn't have the coilovers in the front. It would give me better options for springs. I think going to stiffer springs might be in my future. The rear can definitely use more spring and I think I can safely go to 650 in the front. This might be a good spring time project. No pun intended...LOL

Andrew

[FirstGenZq8]

One of the things that I really want to do before RTTH (Run through the Hills) in September is to give the wheels a makeover. I have 3 piece Kinesis wheels that can be taken apart. The great thing about being able to take the wheels apart is that it makes it very easy to clean them or give them a new look. Here is the wheel taken off the car:



The outer lips were once polished but have since dulled. Not very pretty at all. The centers look OK but I want a slightly different look. There are 40 bolt around the circumference of the wheel. Once the bolts are taken out, the center separates from the inner and outer rim.





The wheels get very dirty on the inside from driving. Don't ask me how this happens, but there were actually dead bugs stuck to the inside rim. Here is a dirty rim:



Here is a rim after some time with Purple Power and a red scotch brite pad:



I am going to clean up all of the inside rims and paint them silver. The pain will make clean up much easier. The outer rims will get re-polished for a nice, bright finish. The centers are going to get hard anodized and Teflon coated for extra durability.

I also measured the front wheels for the C6 ZO6 brakes that I have coming from Kore3. It's close, but it will clear.



Andrew

andrew, i love all of your detailed posts. any chance that you've weighed your wheels when you've had them off of the car?

[andrewb70]

andrew, i love all of your detailed posts. any chance that you've weighed your wheels when you've had them off of the car?

I weighed the wheels when I first got them. The rear 18x10.5" are about 22 pounds.

Andrew

[Conekiller13]

Andrew, the other option is to go to a conventional coil over in the front. That's what I'm doing. I'll be integrating the upper mounts into a roll cage (at least that's the plan) but I was looking at Tyler's upper mounts for the Camaros and while a little tall, I think they could be made to work. With a conventional coil over You pick up a couple different rates for the price of one set of high rate regular coils. One of the reasons I've stayed away from the bolt on coil overs is lack of spring choice. The conventional could give You more travel allowing for a nicer ride too. I'm surprised You have so little caster available. On My car with Global West uppers I was at about +6.5 caster on each side at about -3.1 static camber. With those adjustable uppers do You know what the geometry works out to, specificaly camber curve vs. a fixed length control arm with a specific designed curve?

Oh.........yea. The new brakes are freakin' awesome. The pricing seems unbelievable compared to other systems of that size.

[andrewb70]

Andrew, the other option is to go to a conventional coil over in the front. That's what I'm doing. I'll be integrating the upper mounts into a roll cage (at least that's the plan) but I was looking at Tyler's upper mounts for the Camaros and while a little tall, I think they could be made to work. With a conventional coil over You pick up a couple different rates for the price of one set of high rate regular coils. One of the reasons I've stayed away from the bolt on coil overs is lack of spring choice. The conventional could give You more travel allowing for a nicer ride too. I'm surprised You have so little caster available. On My car with Global West uppers I was at about +6.5 caster on each side at about -3.1 static camber. With those adjustable uppers do You know what the geometry works out to, specificaly camber curve vs. a fixed length control arm with a specific designed curve?

Oh.........yea. The new brakes are freakin' awesome. The pricing seems unbelievable compared to other systems of that size.

Daniel,

When I had the car aligned we could have dialed in more caster. I just didn't see any need for it. We could have also easily added more camber. I actually have a set of shims that I install when autocrossing that increases the camber to about -2.5 degrees and also bumps the caster another .5 degrees, or so.

I haven't done any camber curve analysis with these control arms, but I bet Tyler at ATS, or Marcus at SC&C have. Maybe one of them will chime in and give us some answers.

Andrew

[Conekiller13]

Daniel,


I haven't done any camber curve analysis with these control arms, but I bet Tyler at ATS, or Marcus at SC&C have. Maybe one of them will chime in and give us some answers.

Andrew

That would be cool. Did the ATS spindles not work with GW arms? I got the impression from earlier posts You were unable to get enough caster with those hence the change to the new arms.

[andrewb70]

That would be cool. Did the ATS spindles not work with GW arms? I got the impression from earlier posts You were unable to get enough caster with those hence the change to the new arms.

The ATS spindles didn't work with the Global West arms that I had. GW does make arms that will work with the ATS spindles, but they are different than the arms that I had for the b-body spindle swap. It has something to do with the king pin inclination angle.

The arms that I got were inexpensive, offered easy alignment adjustment, 2 alignment setting, and worked with the ATS spindles. It was a no brainer for me.

Andrew

[Conekiller13]

Makes sense. I suppose that means My arms wouldn't work either since they are as old as Yours. I'm just still not hip on the whole adjustable lenght of the arm bit. Oh well I'm a ways off finacially of upgradding that area anyway .............wheres that damn lottery ticket?

[andrewb70]

Makes sense. I suppose that means My arms wouldn't work either since they are as old as Yours. I'm just still not hip on the whole adjustable lenght of the arm bit. Oh well I'm a ways off finacially of upgradding that area anyway .............wheres that damn lottery ticket?

I suspect that your GW arms would not work either. What is it that bothers you about the adjustable control arms?

I took the car to the track this Saturday. The weather was awesome. Clear skies, dry, and high 60s. I only made 3 passes because my time was limited and there were a ton of people at the track. All passes were made without fooling around with tire pressure or shock settings. Drove it right off the street, into the staging lanes. My first pass netted the best MPH to date; 112.31 MPH. The second pass netted a my best ET to date:

60' 2.064
1/4 12.602
MPH 110.97

This is my last trip to the track for this year and I am very pleased.

Andrew

[Ron S]

With that MPH that thing has probably got a 12teen or 12.0 in it.Get the 60foot down,and that thing could possibly break into the 11's.My Cuda only went 111MPH and went 12.30,and they probably weigh about the same.I've seen acouple of lighter cars get into the 11's at 110 MPH.I do love that car though,you should be proud.Ron

[andrewb70]

With that MPH that thing has probably got a 12teen or 12.0 in it.Get the 60foot down,and that thing could possibly break into the 11's.My Cuda only went 111MPH and went 12.30,and they probably weigh about the same.I've seen acouple of lighter cars get into the 11's at 110 MPH.I do love that car though,you should be proud.Ron

Thanks for the kind words Ron. I am very proud and pleased with the car. It performs very well for having a stock cam and being such a tank. I think my next project will be a T56. PPG makes a close ratio, helical cut, dog ring gear set. I am eager to check it out at the PRI show.

Andrew

[hotrdblder]

ANDREW, killer results congrats
please tell me more about this t-56 gear set

[andrewb70]

ANDREW, killer results congrats
please tell me more about this t-56 gear set

Thanks Jake!

http://www.ppgearbox.com.au/page.asp...1&productid=33

Andrew

[tom_a]

Congrats Andrew. As said before I dig the car. Now that you have some miles on the the Falken tires what do think about them?

[andrewb70]

Congrats Andrew. As said before I dig the car. Now that you have some miles on the the Falken tires what do think about them?

Tom,

I have no empirical data on the Falken. I can tell you that they are not noisy on the highway and they are WAY grippier (whatever that means) than my 6 year old Nittos. LOL

Andrew