Updates to the LM7 67 Camaro

[LM7_67]

My car started off mostly stock and original, but it eventually got the 5.3L LM7/T56 combo (that thread can be found here: http://www.ls1tech.com/forums/conver...l-lm7-t56.html ), full Hotchkis suspension, and Lee Manufacturing steering box. For 3 years the car looked like this:


But with Super Chevy Phoenix and the Duel in the Desert event approaching, I decided to make some radical changes to improve performance on the autoX course. That is where this thread picks up: the modifications that led up to the Duel. Speedtech Tubular upper control arms, base-C6 front brakes from Kore3, L&H Kustoms billet hubs, and 275/40/17 NT05s all the way around. (Yes, it is possible to run a 275 on the front of a stock subframe Camaro with the right combination)

First step, get stuff out of the way!


I’d like to thank David Pozzi for this idea. I saw it in one of his posts years ago and decided to give it a try since I didn’t want to see what a pickle fork would do to my aluminum spindles. It worked like a charm!


Old vs. New. This illustrates exactly why I switched to the tubular arms: tire clearance. Without that bend in the leading tube it would not be possible to fit the 275s.


The new UCAs required very minor clearancing of the mounts with a grinder. So much for having a 100% stock subframe. Passenger’s side (driver’s is about the same):


Everything’s back together and ready to go. I also spaced the steering arm away from the spindle at this point with washers. After an alignment, it was ready to go on to the next phase!


I was originally going to use turned-down drums hubs for the Corvette brake swap, but after reading a couple failure stories, I decided to go with billet aluminum hubs. The L&H Kustoms hubs came with ARP hardware and billet grease caps.


These should definitely hold up better than the originals.


Old brake components removed:


Conversion bracket from Kore3 in place. This piece required very minimal grinding on the back to clear the larger geometry of the L&H billet spindle.


New hubs and rotors in place. These are just a little bit more performance oriented than the stuff sitting on the ground there.


Calipers bolted up and the brakes complete aside from swapping the master cylinder to one with a smaller bore, replacing the proportioning valve with an original style one that could be “gutted,” installing the adjustable proportioning valve under the floor pan right behind the driver’s side rocker panel, and bleeding the system.


With appropriately sized adapters bolted up, I could set the car on the ground and bed the new pads/rotors.


There ya have it: 275s all around on a stock-subframe first gen.


First test drive was approximately 2 hours before we left for California to meet up at Spectre for the Duel in the Desert event. The brakes performed without issue throughout the drive/event. Aside from changing the fuel pump at 7am Saturday morning, the weekend went off without a hitch.


Thanks for checking out my thread! That’s all for now. I may post up some old modifications if I feel the posting itch before new mods happen.