IRONWORKS is building my custom C6 suspension 69 camaro

[nvr2fst]

Hey Guys,
Im redoing one of the camaro's Ive had for years now and I decided to commission Ironworks in Bakersfield CA to do there magic!
Rodger and his crew with the help of Eric Turner have spent several hours designing the chassis set up through Solidworks and initiating fabrication to where it is today.

Ironworks will be posting most of the photos so enjoy!

[nvr2fst]

RPM TRANSMISSIONS provided the trans/diff set up as follows;

TR6060 trans with 3.42 diff, geared equivalent to ZR1

Both the trans and diff were set up per RPM transmissions version of a Stage V set up which is as follows;
Full micropolish of internals components of trans and diff gear set
Hand fit sliders and hubs, bronze fork pads
Internal lube system modifications
Extreme duty pump modifications to improve cooling and fluid flow
QUAIFE upgrade in lieu of standard clutches
300M output shafts, left shaft modified to fit Quaife

Thanks Rodney and the guys at RPM for there support. These guys are top notch in the tranny world!

http://www.rpmtransmissions.com/index.html

[Motown 454]

They build some beautiful stuff at Ironworks . This sounds like asweet project to watch. Thats some serious drive train.

[ironworks]

Alright Guys I have been holding out on your for alittle bit. We got a 1969 Camaro body in here a few month ago on a pallet. After doing an initial mock up of the car, we decided on running 335 20's in the rear and 285-19's in the front, Like a ZR-1 Corvette. The customer supplied the C6 transaxle from RPM transmission. Here is the initial mock up.

The Overall Tire sizes are not exact since we dont have 335/25/20's just laying around, but you will catch the vibe we are going for.




As you can see the blue tape stripe on the bottom of the rocker, we decided that wedge sectioning the car 1" would give us the desired stance. By doing this we made the bottom of the rocker, the door gap and the speedline of the front fender all parallel and level at ride height. We made the cut inbetween the door hinges. Here are some pics.


The cut through the door

The door reinstalled


More to come, Enjoy

[ironworks]

Once we had the car mocked up on the table at ride height we started mocking up the basics of the car to get and game plan for the floor and front suspension pickup points.



Just a mock up engine we had laying around.


We landed the engine where the bell housing line is even with the windshield wipers, if that gives you an idea of how far we set the engine back. About 4 inches. :D

[ironworks]

Then we started to lay out the design for the floor and how we would incorporate the suspension design for the pick up points into this. So we decided to build the main framerail structure inside the rocker to act as the frame rails that would go inside the Rocker and build low profile crossmembers that would be even with the bottom of the rocker. So nothing would hang below the rocker. Plus the design of these allows our floor to be 2" below the stock height of the original floor. Plus it will give us tons of lateral support and resist chassis flex. :thumbsup:

Paper mock up from the blue print printer.


Crossmember jig fixture


Floor mocked up on table




Mocking up the Floor in the car


We should begin to start bending tubes and getting the lower suspension pick up points located in the next few weeks.

Enjoy

[ironworks]

Good monday morning, I have few pics of the floor mocked up in the car. You can see the beginning of the tubing getting slid through the holes and bent and fit into poistion. We hope to finalize the front suspension pick up points this week to get to cutting the front cradle and really start with the tubing lay out. In the pics you can see the openings in the floor for the billet floor panels that will go in the car. I plan to incorporate things like the mounting bosses for the seat and pedals into the top side of the billet plates.









Thanks

[ironworks]

The floor is looking really good. We have been fine tuning the suspension Geometry in the Optimum G with Bobby Alley. We located the Front bar and have begun to design the Lower control arm pick Up points in Solidworks. We are going to have to modify the Trans axle mount on the Rear diff to clear the Lower control arms with the instant center angle the lower control arm create.

[ironworks]

This is the Solidworks modeled floor section coming togther, getting ready to pull the trigger to get the car caught up with this. The Front cradle is kicking my ass and we will have to machine the rear transaxle mounts off the diff for the desired track width, But all is well.

[ironworks]

We took some Inspiration from The war project and make some recess pockets into the trans tunnel. The front and rear crossmembers have been tack and landed and the plates have been fit to the main tubes. Plus in the back of the dark pictures you will see the start of the tubes for the Airjack.







You will also see the modified rear transaxle mounts.

[ironworks]

We are going to town on the rollcage, You will notice we notched the body to suck the rollcage into the quarter panel even further. We rolled the rear down bars and those will land in the wheel tub support that will go out to the tail panel. We have been working on some things like removing all the interior structure and prepping to build that structure to our taste. We have some tubes out to the rear tailpan and just working to locating everything. Enjoy the pics.







Just to be clear the "dirt track","Max Max" window cages will not be staying. We used that for the exterior structure to support the body as we removed the interior structure. Spot weld after spot weld.

[Motown 454]

Every time I check out these sites I'm more and more amazed . Dave this is going to be an awesome ride. I can't wait to see more..

[nicks67camaro]

Wow that floor looks awesome. Its a shame to cover it in carpet!

[Samckitt]

Awesome build.

[SamHatco]

Holy engineering, Batman! That is certainly spectacular is the only thing that comes to mind. Great work. This will most definitely be a one off resto mod.

Sam

[srh3trinity]

I know the use of dimple dyes is more for strength and structure, but it adds so much visual interest to these Ironworks projects. It looks awesome, this should be a great project to follow.

[tones2SS]

WOW! Dave that is going to be one mean car!
Rodger and the guys @IRONWORKS can really do some great work!

[Bryce]

im curious, what is the final weight of this car?

i really like that subtle bend on that roll bar. does that still pass NHRA and SCCA rules. I know NHRA has a 30* max bend.

[ironworks]

Probably 3200 3300 lbs. Depends on drivetrain and interior components.

As far as NHRA goes it will never go fast enough to require a Certified cage. 9.99 is pretty fast for and IRS street car.

The SCCA the rules state 1.75" .120... so we are good. If he is ever going to do anything that will require an SCCA cert. It would sure be cool, but with all this effort put into the car I really doubt it.

How could you build any cage with out going over a 30* bend. I have heard of maximum number of bends in like a main hoop but never and Bend angle max. The total degrees for the main hoop pretty much has to be 180* with 4 bends and way you go. The front down bars have to total 90 degrees with 2 bends.

[Bryce]

Probably 3200 3300 lbs. Depends on drivetrain and interior components.

As far as NHRA goes it will never go fast enough to require a Certified cage. 9.99 is pretty fast for and IRS street car.

The SCCA the rules state 1.75" .120... so we are good. If he is ever going to do anything that will require an SCCA cert. It would sure be cool, but with all this effort put into the car I really doubt it.

How could you build any cage with out going over a 30* bend. I have heard of maximum number of bends in like a main hoop but never and Bend angle max. The total degrees for the main hoop pretty much has to be 180* with 4 bends and way you go. The front down bars have to total 90 degrees with 2 bends.

good point the IRS is not allowed faster than a 11.90 (open track days are different than a NHRA race) if i remember correctly. And that is the same point a 4pt is needed.

the 30* was the rear support bars that connect to the main hoop and go to the trunk. It was a new rule for NHRA last year.