Project SicMonte

[howehot]

Have you ever seen anyone open the air box behind the bumper for more air flow. I'm not sure if it would provide more air through the radiator and in this case your trans cooler. I placed mine in front of the left front tire and never went over 170 at OUSCI, the only venue I have run with it installed.

The reason I ask about opening the aribox is the thought of installing an inter cooler if I supercharge my LS1

[gammapunk]

What year F body is that sway bar from? Did you have modify anything to make it fit? I have a 84 MC SS I am trying to decide what to do sway bar wise.

The bar is a Hollow 36mm front sway bar from an 80's IROC Camaro. Since no one make a 36mm sway bar frame bushing I had to use a 1 3/8" bushing from Energy Suspension. It is a great upgrade!!

Thanks for the info! I found the GM part number. It is 14094344. (now if I can just locate one). The poly bushing for a 36mm dia. can be found at Kirban Performance SKU# 7111. Great post on your car! It is awesome.

[SicMonte]

Have you ever seen anyone open the air box behind the bumper for more air flow. I'm not sure if it would provide more air through the radiator and in this case your trans cooler. I placed mine in front of the left front tire and never went over 170 at OUSCI, the only venue I have run with it installed.

The reason I ask about opening the aribox is the thought of installing an inter cooler if I supercharge my LS1

I've never seen anyone open up that airbox b/c I think it is there to direct airflow from the grill to the radiator. I felt kind of weird cutting the holes in it for the trans cooler lines even.

If your location really does cool as well as you say...I may be moving my cooler this winter then!!! It was hitting 230 degree at Mid Ohio...but I was pushing the car to it's limits with Danny Pop in the car as my instructor. Car did amazingly well though.

[SicMonte]

Well after much though I have come up with three real world scenarios for my car....

1) Keep my SBC and put a T56 behind it...

2) Put in a budget LS with a carb and put my current 200R4 trans behind that...

3) Keep my engine and trans the way it is and build up my 8.5 rear end that I have sitting around.

Given the fact that the rear that is in my car now is a stock-ish 7.5 10 bolt....I think I am going to build up the 8.5 and let it eat. It will get a tru-trac center section, 30 spline axles and the Baer SS4 brake set up. I might even throw in an aluminum driveshaft just to be cool...as well as a hand brake instead of a floor parking brake.

[Tony_SS]

I like #3.. build the foundation then go from there.

[xxxturbo6]

Have you ever seen anyone open the air box behind the bumper for more air flow. I'm not sure if it would provide more air through the radiator and in this case your trans cooler. I placed mine in front of the left front tire and never went over 170 at OUSCI, the only venue I have run with it installed.

I have mine in the same spot but on the passenger side and i'm also running a large "S" blade fan on top of the trans cooler but I don't have a trans temp gauge to see what my temps are...
My trans seems to be working fine at all the auto-x events I have attended without slippage or anything.



Scot W.

[xxxturbo6]

Well after much though I have come up with three real world scenarios for my car....

1) Keep my SBC and put a T56 behind it...

2) Put in a budget LS with a carb and put my current 200R4 trans behind that...

3) Keep my engine and trans the way it is and build up my 8.5 rear end that I have sitting around.

Given the fact that the rear that is in my car now is a stock-ish 7.5 10 bolt....I think I am going to build up the 8.5 and let it eat. It will get a tru-trac center section, 30 spline axles and the Baer SS4 brake set up. I might even throw in an aluminum driveshaft just to be cool...as well as a hand brake instead of a floor parking brake.

# 3 would be my choice as well......

[SicMonte]

Looks like I wil be changing up my trans cooler location then. I like the fact that they are on their side and not vertical like mine is.

[Norm Peterson]

Just don't have the carb drawing air that has been heated by the tranny cooler.


Norm

[carguykeith]

Might as well do the rear now, I blew one up going in reverse with my old basically stock big block and some 275 BFGs. Your making more power and have a lot more tire, so it's just a matter of time...

I am REALLY happy with how my rear came out (aside form the original disks I tried). Looking at my costs sheet it wasn't that bad if you can do all the labor, here is my beakdown:

Truetrac: $400
Gears & bearings $300
Axles & eliminators $500
billet rear cover $150
1350 pinion flange $50
LCA reloc brackets $75
Rear disks (2nd set)$450

So grand total was under $2k and it should be good for around 800HP! You can see most of it in my buildup on page 2 but if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them.

[SicMonte]

Might as well do the rear now, I blew one up going in reverse with my old basically stock big block and some 275 BFGs. Your making more power and have a lot more tire, so it's just a matter of time...

I am REALLY happy with how my rear came out (aside form the original disks I tried). Looking at my costs sheet it wasn't that bad if you can do all the labor, here is my beakdown:

Truetrac: $400
Gears & bearings $300
Axles & eliminators $500
billet rear cover $150
1350 pinion flange $50
LCA reloc brackets $75
Rear disks (2nd set)$450

So grand total was under $2k and it should be good for around 800HP! You can see most of it in my buildup on page 2 but if you have any questions I'd be happy to answer them.

So why did you decide to go with the C clip eliminators and the LCA relocation brackets?

[carguykeith]

Both are for the drag track, but really should be done for any kind of racing.

The eliminators keep the axles in the tube much more securely than the stock little c-clips. They also should help with bad knock back, particularly the Strange "circle track" axles/ eliminators I'm running. You could also go with weld-on big ford ends that will do the same thing and give you more brake options. No matter what, I would highly recommend not keeping the c-clips.

The lower control arm relocation brackets fixes the anti-squat problem caused by the stock geometry and lowering the rear suspension. Ideally you want your lower control arms parallel with the ground, take a look at yours and you can see the advantage of lowering the rear mounts.

If you do a search on here for "knock back" and "relocation bracket" several threads should pop up with more info if your interested.

[xxxturbo6]

Both are for the drag track, but really should be done for any kind of racing.

The eliminators keep the axles in the tube much more securely than the stock little c-clips. They also should help with bad knock back, particularly the Strange "circle track" axles/ eliminators I'm running. You could also go with weld-on big ford ends that will do the same thing and give you more brake options. No matter what, I would highly recommend not keeping the c-clips.

The lower control arm relocation brackets fixes the anti-squat problem caused by the stock geometry and lowering the rear suspension. Ideally you want your lower control arms parallel with the ground, take a look at yours and you can see the advantage of lowering the rear mounts.

If you do a search on here for "knock back" and "relocation bracket" several threads should pop up with more info if your interested.

Doug,

This is what you will want to do if your planing on going with a rear BAER brake set up. Most of the leading rear end manufactures sell this kit.. If you just went with regular c-clip eliminators you wouldn't be able to run the BAER brake system in the rear due to the axles being pushed outwards too much and BAER don't have a proper bracket available right now for that but they are working on one at this time...

[Norm Peterson]

With the relo bracket you can also bring the axle roll steer down to something halfway sensible for autocross. On this on chassis with similar rear suspensions, using fairly conservative settings on relo brackets is one of the few mods that benefits both anti-squat and axle steer at the same time.


Norm

[SicMonte]

Doug,

This is what you will want to do if your planing on going with a rear BAER brake set up. Most of the leading rear end manufactures sell this kit.. If you just went with regular c-clip eliminators you wouldn't be able to run the BAER brake system in the rear due to the axles being pushed outwards too much and BAER don't have a proper bracket available right now for that but they are working on one at this time...

Scot: What do I need for the rear Baer SS4 kit? Im buying it from you so you tell me what I need. I'm bringing the 8.5 rear into the shop this weekend to start on it.

[xxxturbo6]

Scot: What do I need for the rear Baer SS4 kit? Im buying it from you so you tell me what I need. I'm bringing the 8.5 rear into the shop this weekend to start on it.

I am awaiting a call back from Strange with the correct part numbers for you..

[carguykeith]

xxxTubo6 is right, my braking options were pretty limited going the way I did, just note that going to ford ends does not eliminate knock back concerns in and of itself. I looked up the Baer kit you are planning on using and it describes a system that is a fixed caliper but acts like a floating one, this may take care of knock back but I would talk to a baer rep or dealer to confirm.

Here is a good thread about fixed calipers with weld on ford ends and knock back, they are Wilwood brakes but same issue: https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...oating-Caliper

[SicMonte]

Hey everyone.....please click on the link below and hit "like" on the pic and "share" the pic on your own facebook page too if you would! I'm trying to win a photo contest that ridetech is putting on. Thanks!!!!

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?f...type=1&theater

[SicMonte]

Talked to a tech guy over at Moser about what it would take to build up the 8.5 rear end I have. He recommended using their #7750 Ford axle ends...custom axles...tru-trac...this...a little bit of that.

In the end the costs were adding up and it made me wonder if building the 8.5 is even worth the money. For a bit more I could go with a way nicer rear end that would hold a lot more power....but it would cost more.

What do you all think?

[Todd in Vancouver]

Talked to a tech guy over at Moser about what it would take to build up the 8.5 rear end I have. He recommended using their #7750 Ford axle ends...custom axles...tru-trac...this...a little bit of that.

In the end the costs were adding up and it made me wonder if building the 8.5 is even worth the money. For a bit more I could go with a way nicer rear end that would hold a lot more power....but it would cost more.

What do you all think?

I was just reading through your post and was thinking the exact same thing. Your in that far why even bother building a 8.5? I would upgrade and then never have to worry about it again in case you go crazy down the road and end up with a turbo, supercharged, nitros LSX killer engine from hell.

IMO,