The OneLapCamaro - 2012 Updates... we're back at it!

[James OLC]

With the 2012 Tire Rack One Lap of America quickly sneaking up on us I thought I would update everyone (who’s interested) on our progress with The OneLapCamaro. It’s been a challenging off season and we ended last year with a bang (followed by a depressing trickle of hydraulic fluid) at the OUSCI so we have our work cut our for us to get everything ready.


The first thing that needed attention (aside from the aforementioned bang that we’ll get to later) was the rear end. Last year we had “issues” with the axle bearings during the One Lap of America which put us down for a day (thanks again Frank) doing emergency repairs (and missing our turn on the high banks of Daytona). The failure was all the more frustrating because we had one of the (if not the) first Baer Floaters kits sitting back at the shop waiting on the final piece of the puzzle to become available. We also had one of the (if not the) last known Lateral Dynamics 3-Link housings sitting in wait.


Well, long story short, the final parts for the floater assembly came available in the fall and we immediately shipped everything to the crew at Currie Enterprises for final fabrication and assembly. After rebuilding the center section (which “Mary and I” managed to fill with real neat looking bearing mush) the Lateral Dynamics housing got laid out on the jig and the Baer Floater assembly was installed and new axles were ordered from Speedway Engineering (for the record, and just in case anyone wants some tech out of this, we are using the wide-5 style axles which are identical in most respects to the NASCAR and Nationwide axles, just without the machining for an inner seal).


About a month ago the (almost ready to go) assembly arrived:

[James OLC]

One of the first things that we noticed was that at some point in time Lateral Dynamics changed the bracing they used and we (well… David) were going to have to make some minor(ish) modifications to the housing to allow for the Hellwig adjustable rear sway bar to mount up in the same way that it does on the existing housing.



This brace in particular was going to have to go



Well in no time flat it was out of the way



And brake lines were being bent



And finally today the housing was painted and is ready to be installed



Hopefully we’ll get the rear end installed over the next few days. I’m in California this weekend doing my part in improving The OLC Team (by attending Skip Barbers’ three day race school at Laguna Seca) so I’ll be helping out at night on this and the R&R of the transmission for a new Centerforce DYAD Clutch and a badly needed throw out bearing).

I’ll try to post some detailed shots of the Floater mechanics tomorrow…

[sokoloka]

I’ll try to post some detailed shots of the Floater mechanics tomorrow…

Looking forward to shots of this.
Do you have a project update thread on the original build of the OLC?

[Greg from Aus]

Looks great James, that should solve a few problems.
How is the 69 coming along?

Greg

[Bryce]

By cutting off the brace you lightened the housing, good job!

[LM7_67]

Good stuff! Is there any concern about the LCA brackets flexing without that brace?

[sik68]

I am so excited to be following and rooting for team OLC again this year! Just stay on the limits of traction and sleep deprivation the entire time and you will be great

[Bryce]

Good stuff! Is there any concern about the LCA brackets flexing without that brace?

You may have some flex because the LCA angle in, you could measure the angle and calculate the lateral force on those brackets. If you installed the LCAs closer to the axle tube then there would be less of a moment on the bracket. I am not sure what hole makes the LCA horizontal?

[Nessumsar]

I've been watching the various posts on FB, good stuff James.

[SicMonte]

If this year is anything like what I witnessed last year....we are all in for a good time!!!!


GO TEAM OLC!!!!!!

any new shirts available??

[BuddyP]

Good Luck James! Looking forward to OLA

[James OLC]

Looks great James, that should solve a few problems.
How is the 69 coming along?

Greg

We should have some updates on the OLC2 soon - we took a bit of a break but we've had some parts coming in over the last couple of weeks. Once the Tremec T-56 Magnum arrives Rodger can work on the final engine setback and weld up the headers. Blake should have the Chicane SpeedTech floater at RTTC if everything falls in to place.

Good stuff! Is there any concern about the LCA brackets flexing without that brace?

Not particularly but we'll monitor it for the first couple of track days just to be sure. The brackets are pretty stout and are boxed so they should be fine - plus the OLC's housing didn't have the supports to begin with - this is a change in the design that Lateral Dynamics made (or moved away from) at some point.

If this year is anything like what I witnessed last year....we are all in for a good time!!!!


GO TEAM OLC!!!!!!

any new shirts available??

We're hoping for a good year! We had some disappointments in the off season but I'm working on some options now that should put us in better shape for making a legitimate run at repeating for a third class victory - fingers are crossed.

At this point I'm not sure if T-shirts are going to happen. We didn't have a great response last year so we didn't print any and without major sponsors this year I'm not sure we'll take the chance. We might work on something different but that's up in the air right now.

[James OLC]

As promised – some more detailed pics… David got the housing installed in The OLC today so we’ll try to have some more final assembly pics soon. I have to say that the more I see this setup, the more I like it!

An emergency brake might be cool one day – if nothing else it’s great to have the option.


An assembled end




A complete end less the drive plate


The drive plate


Bearing


Bearing


Assembled with axle, less drive plate

[Greg from Aus]

Great looking set up James, mine is on the water at the moment,and it should be here in a couple of weeks.

Greg

[LeighP]

Very nice!
Hey, if you go the T-shirts this year, I'll be in....I really like my original one lap shirt.

[Ron S]

Hey James, have always loved this car, always thought of it as a much, much classier version of my Mustang. LOL Was checking out these pics because I'm getting ready to do a full floater also for my blue car, I put a Moser floater in the AMX I'm building.

One thing I didn't like the Moser stuff when I got it was the fact that I was running 1/2 studs with 5/8 holes on the drive plates. So when the torque of the axles pushes the drive plates, the only thing holding the drive plate to the hub is the little tapered hex screws. I know Payton King has the same set up I do on the AMX and has already sheared the screws once. My plan is to take the extra set of bolt pattern holes and tig in some 5/8 hardened dowels to interlock the the drive plate to the hub.

Your setup has massive stud holes in the driveplates, it does have 5 tapered screws instead of Mosers 2, hopefully that makes a difference, although it looks like your hubs are aluminum vs. Mosers steel. I hate writing negatives in on someones cool new parts, I am truely just trying to watch your back, knowing how much you drive your stuff. Ron

[Wes.Drelleshak]

looking good James, I cant wait to see how much faster the car gets just from the floater upgrade.

On the BAER floater set up do you have to set axle end play? Will the end of the axle hit the spindle or will the drive side of the axle slide into the spindle?

[James OLC]

looking good James, I cant wait to see how much faster the car gets just from the floater upgrade.

On the BAER floater set up do you have to set axle end play? Will the end of the axle hit the spindle or will the drive side of the axle slide into the spindle?

I'm not expecting to see much of an speed improvement over last year - we never had any substantial issues with pad knockback but we did (obviously) have issues with the bearings. This should ensure that we have that problem solved and what little knockback we did have should e eliminated.

You do set the end play with the Baer setup and if I understand your question correctly the drive side of the axle slides into the spindle.

[James OLC]

So David got the rear end assembled and installed in the OneLapCamaro last weekend while I was “at school” down the road…



One thing to note is that the calipers are mounted in a trailing position and not in a leading position as we had them last year… our bad… we had them on backwards! The old APs were set up to be leading but the Baer 6R’s (and, I assume all 6 series) are designed to be trailing (as delivered). While it’s possible to set them up to be leading (the piston sizes determine orientation) we assumed… incorrectly. All better now!





At the end of the day the floater rear weighed about 20 pounds more than the fixed axle – most of that is attributable to the E-brake pieces but the axles contributed a bit as well. While I really didn’t need the extra weight, it’s probably best to have it on the back of the car.

[James OLC]

At last years OUSCI we lost the throwout bearing in the second run of the speed stop challenge. Not really sure what happened but besides dumping all of the hydraulic fluid out behind it, we did learn that a high torque starter is capable of rolling the car enough to bump start it without the clutch… Someday, somehow that information might be helpful.

I ordered up a new (stock) GM slave cylinder and decided to change to clutch out at that same time. I had never been happy with the McLeod RST clutch to it was an easy call to seek out a new Centerforce DYAD clutch as an upgrade.



I’m actually still waiting for the clutch to arrive, but since Mary had one ready to go for the ’73 that was waiting for a couple of other parts… well… ok… I borrowed it for a few days….



This is a work of art….



and is rated to hold over 1,300 ft.lbs….



This is the first clutch that I ever bought (ok… stole) that came with a blueprint sheet complete with not only build specs but installation guidelines as well – awesome customer service from Centerforce. It even has a couple of patents behind it…