Camaro Summertime Update: Part 1

Wow, this summer has flown by without an update here? We’ve been buy with life, and with racing and working on the car, and there’s a lot to cover to get back up to speed. Let’s dive right in, with the first of a 2-part update that will cover –

– A plethora of SCCA and other autocross and track events
– A few setup changes, including new rear gears and axle bearings
– Our plans to get better, faster, stronger for the winter

A quick note before we get started – the Optima Ultimate Street Car shows for this season start August 28th on MAV TV! We’re counting the days, and hoping to get some TV time with the little red beastie in the Texas episode. Keep an eye out for it, and we’ll definitely post an update. Speaking of Optima..

A Bit of Optima Cleanup

Let’s start with a few more pics from the event that surfaced after the last update, both from the Speed Stop – look at that camber!

NASA at TWS

In other track-related but less Camaro-related news, we got one more trip to Texas World Speedway in the Z in April with NASA, running their HPDE (High Performance Driving Experience) program. Word was that the track would shut down to make way for a giant municipal development in June, but delays have pushed that back until at least the first of the year. Barring any unforeseen circumstances, we’ll be able to get at least one more trip down there in November before the ‘dozers roll.

Onward into Summer

Other than replacing a few exhaust bolts that vibrated out Sunday of Optima, the car hadn’t been touched going into May (not even washed!). We opted to hit the Texas Region SCCA event at Texas Motor Speedway to get back in the swing of things. The event went well, aside from a rather lacking turnout in our class, CAM-T (Classic American Muscle – Traditional), leading to…

The Texas SCCA Pro-touring Challenge!

We ended up taking it on the chin from the CAM-C guys during trophies for not getting more pro-touring cars out. So, we put the call out for the future SCCA events, and it still stands – come out and have some fun with the largest autocross series in the area!

(If you stick around for trophies, they even have free beer – who can turn that down?!)

Texas SCCA info: http://www.texasscca.org/soloautocross

SCCA Event 2 Recap

Only managed to get one pic and one video during the day, and of course the video was the run after the quickest one. It was the one with the hellacious spin at least:

The car did well, I got hung out a few times looking for more time than I should have been in certain spots, as evidenced above. At the end of the day, we took 1st (and last!) in CAM-T, and finished with the quickest ‘American Muscle’ time of the day. Appearing in that box at the bottom of the results sheet was a first, and pretty satisfying after a close battle with Jon Beatty in his Mustang during the day.

Texas SCCA Event #2 Results

Bring the NOISE

A final amusing note, this was the first SCCA event we’ve run with the car, and they measure sound levels even when there is no limit at the site. To fulfill my bucket list dream of running at Laguna Seca someday (typically 80-90 dB limit), we’ve, um, got some work to do?

Luckily, none of the sites we run at regularly are sound restricted. Either way, it’s probably a good thing we ditched the side dumped 3″ SpinTechs in favor of Magnaflows that dump under the car.

Brake changes

Around this time we spoke again with Mike from Wilwood about our setup. His recommendation was to step down the size of the master cylinder for the fronts in search of a bit more pedal travel and easier modulation. Right now the fronts are kind of an on/off switch, with a very, very fine line between too little and nasty lockup. The new pieces came in a while ago, but we haven’t slowed down long enough to get them swapped out. Big thanks again to Mike from Wilwood for his help and knowledge both during and since the Optima event!

Mid-Summer Updates

We noticed during the street driving and road course portions of the Optima event that something was amiss in the driveline. The car is so, let’s say, lively(?) inside going down the road, it’s generally fairly hard to narrow down where any of the sounds are coming from. This one was loud, it was high pitched, and it sounded to both of us like it was coming from the transmission for a number of reasons.

It turned out to be the rear end (a much better alternative to the transmission). The 4.11s we had installed last are over 20 years old, and have been installed in at least 4 different rear ends. Including one other time in the car and in the shop truck, these poor things had been setup and torn down countless times.

Long story short, they were beyond their useful life, and had begun the gradual process of self-digestion. Lash had opened up substantially, and gear marking compound barely produced a pattern on either side of the tooth. The housing was also filled with glitter. Close call..

New Richmond 3.70s are in now, opening up a bit more top-end in 1st and 2nd gear (from 46 up to 51 in first, and 70 up to 78 mph in 2nd). This makes gear selections better both on tight Optima/Goodguys type courses and our usual free-flowing Texas region layouts (at Optima I rode the rev limiter at the top of 1st in multiple spots, giving up a fair amount of time).

Added bonus: you no longer need earplugs going down the road. Win-win!

While that was going on, I also addressed an unfinished item from the original thrash earlier this year – getting some paint on the non-stainless bits of the exhaust. The tips were finish welded, and VHT flat black went on all the mild steel parts. Minor issue, but one that had been bugging me nonetheless.

Once everything was wrapped up there, it was time for the June SCCA Texas Region event (happy Father’s Day, dad!).

Leading up to this, running with the full-decaled racecar look had been fun, but the time had come for it to go. Can’t just throw it away, though, so we cut down some scrap splash board and made two garage art pieces.

After a few trips down the road to check and run in the gears, and a quick wash, it was into the trailer and ready to be thrashed again.

Would the gears work better? Would the track get washed away in the epic “Texas Flood of ’15”? These questions and more will be answered in…….part 2!

Optima Ultimate Street Car 2015: TMS Day 2 Recap

Let’s start this by repeating what I started with yesterday in the Day 1 Recap: get your car ready, and do one of these events! You will have fun, you will learn how to be a better driver, and you will do more with your car than you ever thought possible.

Now, on to day 2: the Falken Tire hot lap challenge, on the 1.1 mile, 7-turn road course.

Sunday may have been our most anticipated and unsure part of the weekend. I was anxious to get some track time in the car, but also a bit leery of how well the relatively puny 12-inch Wilwood brakes would hold up. I was also unsure of what the relatively small road course in the infield of TMS would be like, particularly after running at the most epic 2.9 mile Texas World Speedway last month.

In the drivers meeting (started promptly according to the schedule again – these guys are good), rules were set forth for each run group, flags were explained, pretty much the standard track day fare. We were running intermediate, or blue, which meant point-by passing on the straight, and each group would get a total of 5 15-minute sessions. Expert and novice were split into two groups each, while intermediate would be a somewhat crowded 18-car single group.

The first part of the day started a little rocky, with cars going off or breaking down in each of the first two groups and leading to some delays. Big time credit to the USCA, as this could have set the whole day askew and led to a late finish or lost sessions, but they kept the grind going and still ended the day ahead of schedule.

Things started with a 3 lap orientation at around 50 mph, led by Jimi in a big bad..Dodge 200 rental fleet special! We had found oil in the engine bay that morning, so this brief trip out allowed us to be reassured that it was just from the high-G, high-rev autocross tossing the breather reservoir around and dumping a little out the day before.

Intermediate Group to Pre-grid

Before long it was our turn to head out. Session 1 was a bit of a mess, with the blue group being 18 cars deep and no times to go on for grid procedure. The bigger mess, however, came on lap 6 as I reached for 4th gear on the front straight and was greeted by a shifter that was attached to – nothing.

All 4 bolts had managed to back out of the top section, allowing the stalk, two pieces of aluminum, the bolts, and the two steel pieces that locate the stalk and their respective springs to all come undone on track. Something was on our side, as the pieces that fell out did so in the hot pit and not at 90+ mph going into turn 1.

While we were in the process of putting the puzzle back together, Mike from Wilwood came up to chat with us and ended up getting his hands dirty helping us keep all the pieces together and back in the car. He would end up sharing a wealth of knowledge with us, and I’m looking forward to putting it to good use – big time thanks!

The missing bits were returned by two different people (thanks to Lance and the other gentleman whose name I didn’t get!).

We ended up with a fairly unrepresentative 47.5 in that session, which would haunt me for the next two as it was used to grid us in both 2nd and 3rd sessions. Going into the 4th, we were sitting on a 43.588, which was reasonably competitive in GTV – but I knew there was a lot more to be had with some luck on traffic.

In the 4th, through a bit of work creating space, I was able to get a mostly clean lap and a 43.001 (video below). By this time, the car was getting exceedingly warm about lap 5 or 6. I actually pulled off to let it cool this time, but couldn’t better the 43 after going back out and catching traffic again.

Finally, the last session of the day arrived, and after some thoughts of skipping it the temptation of open track was too much to bear. This paid big dividends, as only 7 or so cars went out, and we were gridded 2nd behind Jay DeLuca in his 2015 Vette.
Jay and I had been pretty close in time on open track, so I knew this would be a fun one. It proved to be just that, as we both turned in our best times of the day, mine being a 42.982.

Unfortunately, the GoPro wasn’t cooperating during that session, so here’s the 43.001 from the third.

Awards Ceremony and Thoughts

Un-freakin-believable. Throughout the awards ceremony we were hearing the names we’ve heard on the shows and read on the website posts and blogs. Then, on to the Hot Lap challenge in GTV – 3rd place goes to Bret Voelkel with a 43.9. Dad and I looked at each other, knowing our time of 42.9, and exchanged dumfounded looks – SECOND. We got freakin second in something!

The biggest surprise came later, though, when the results for each class were announced. Car number 51, 3rd overall in GTV. No words.

Going into the weekend, I had two goals: finish somewhere in the top half of the 19-entry class, and roll the car back into the trailer in one piece Sunday afternoon. For all that our little Camaro has done, this has to be the hardest it’s been run in the 6 years it’s been together, and it took every bit of it like a champ.

The exciting thing is, there’s still a ton of work to be done. The suspension, the brakes, and the driver all have a lot of development work left to be done, and it’s going to be an absolute blast every step of the way.

Thanks for reading, and a huge thanks to everyone who offered kind words and helping hands this weekend – is it time to do it again yet?!?

Optima Ultimate Street Car 2015: TMS Day 1 Recap

Where to even start? First of all, if there’s an Optima USCA event in your area, and you’re on the fence about going – GET OFF THE FENCE! Everything about this weekend was just fantastic, from the operation to the attitude and helpfulness of all involved both within USCA and the participants, it’s one of the most fun experiences we’ve ever had with the car.

Ok, with that out of the way, how did things go? We couldn’t be happier with the results. Let’s start with Saturday today, and wrap up Sunday in a second post (there’s kind of a lot to cover).

Saturday: Tech Inspection, Autocross, Speed Stop, & Judging

We arrived at the crack of dawn. Well, before the crack. Way before. The schedule to said to arrive no later than 7, and that turned out to mean that gates would open at 7 (live and learn, better early than late, etc.) Once in the gates, we scrambled to get the truck parked, the car unloaded and into the garage, and soon we were off to tech inspection.

The process was fairly thorough, and no major hiccups were found so we were on our way to getting the various decals put on. This was one part I was kind of dreading, but everything went smoothly and we had plenty of time to stand around and BS a bit before the drivers meeting.

The meeting started promptly at the time prescribed, and Jimi welcomed everyone and explained how the weekend would go. Saturday, everyone would split up based on car number, with odds heading to speed stop and evens to the autocross in the morning. Being #51 this really worked to our favor. I was able to get the feel for everything in the speed stop, which I assumed going in would be our weaker event given that I hadn’t done it before.

This ended up being the case, and we managed a 10.991 on the 4th of 8 runs. While this event started as a pure test of acceleration and braking, it’s morphed into a very simple autocross over the years. This was one was a run out that had us tickling the rev limited in first before a hard braking zone, then a right turn back almost 180 degrees, hard acceleration into an offset, and finally the 40×20 stop box. It’s much more a handling and braking test rather than pure braking now, but still fun.

Seeing a short line for judging, we decided to hop over there and get that taken care of. The hope was to get back and get a few more shots at it afterward, but we weren’t able to get back in time.

Speed Stop final: 10.991 – 7th in GTV

Design & Engineering Judging

You get funny looks when you mention that the car you’re autocrossing also did the distance on Drag Week. You get even funnier looks when you say basically the only things that are different are the front springs and the differential in the back. These looks can be good or bad, but in the case of Mike Copeland from Lingenfelter and Bangshift Chad, the host of the MAV TV series that covers the events, I think it worked in our favor. Each remembered the car, and in the case of Chad at least, it paid dividends before the weekend was over (more on that later).

Judging went smoothly after we got our turn, with the admission that it’s no Rolls, but I’d drive it pretty much anywhere with a great big sweaty/shivering smile on my face.

Autocross

After a brief lunch, and a quick walk through the (by Texas autocross standards) pretty tight course, it was time to take on the cones. The first several runs were really frustrating, as it’s been forever since I’ve run a really tight course, and on top of that, I’ve never had to negotiate elements anywhere near as tight as the 180s and offsets along the back were.

After a few runs, several cones, and some head scratching, things started to fall into place. Five runs in, a 45.559 was the best we had, and we decided to head to the garage to investigate some unusual sounds coming from the rear end. No major issues were found, so it was back to the course to get a few more laps before time was up. This paid off, as the next to last run we picked up nearly 2 tenths.

Autocross final: 45.361 – 4th in GTV

Video from the Autocross and Speed Stop

Road Rally

This was one of the best parts of the event for me, as it’s been forever since we’ve just driven the car. As hard as it is to get in and out of, and as loud as it is going down the road (though, not nearly as loud as it used to be), it’s still an absolute joy to just cruise in. The seats are incredibly comfortable, it trucks along at 70 around 2,600 RPM, and it’s just fun in general to ride around in a full caged car with 5 points on if I’m honest.

The route took us to Pole Position indoor karting, where Holley had sponsored discounted karting and Rudy’s BBQ for everyone. Since none of us had had enough driving that day, the karting was on shortly after the group arrived. Lots of good racing, both of the kart and bench varieties. A great end to a fantastic day (even if I didn’t manage to take home a first place time in any of the 3 races).

After the short drive back up the road, it was time to call it a day and get some sleep – the big track and a bit of uncertainty was up next. More on that in the next post!

Camaro Autocross Update: Part 3 of 3 – Spoiler Alert, Rain, and Optima!

Where were we? Right, quiet exhaust, new tires, some suspension adjustments, and new brakes were all in place – it was finally time to go make some noise!

Our schedule for the first part of the year was relatively simple, and aimed at one goal: the Optima Ultimate Street Car event at TMS March 28th and 29th. First up was Equipe Rapide’s first event of the year in February.

The forecast was hit or miss all week, and as we got closer it was apparent that we would need some luck on the run order to get a dry session (as we all know, the best way to ensure perfect weather is to leave the car at home). Sure enough, our luck held true to form and we drew last group, which fell during the heaviest rain of the day.

How did it go? Read on to find out.

With no windshield wipers, and the goal being to learn a bit about the changes to our setup, it just wasn’t possible or logical to try to run the car, so we hopped into the Japanese branch of the Acme fleet, the 350Z, and splish-splashed some of the slowest, driftiest runs of the day.

The good thing in Texas is that there’s always a next one, and that came two weeks later.

All-weather Camaro

No windshield wipers hadn’t been too much of a problem up to this point. Drag Week was dry, and other than one accidental encounter on a Sunday outing it had never seen rain. Optima and autocross run rain or shine, so they moved to the top of the priority list.

The fiberglass hood has a lip all the way around that prevented the wipers from moving, so that was the first item on the list. To the bodysaw, again.

After a few times on and off, some extra trimming, and some detective work with a toggle switch to run the wiper motor, things were motivating properly. Seeing in the rain: check.

Watercross Part 2

Nothing like getting to test a new feature the very next trip! Our next event was NTAXS at Lone Star Park (our second home at this point).

The weather forecast, again, deteriorated all week, leading up to morning showers the day of the event. I was hopeful of getting some dry runs in, and thankfully the rain moved out and provided a mostly dry session in the afternoon.

The only minor issue was some tire rub on the drivers side front under load, but some, ahem, finessing, with a small crescent wrench and a big hammer between sessions seemed to solve the problem.

Tech inspection proved interesting, as we were asked “Where’s all the rest of the STUFF at?” when the inspector looked under the hood.

Still a lot of work to do on the driving front. I’m still overcompensating for the differences from the 350Z, which results in a lot of overdriving and anticipating some of the more evil things that it thankfully doesn’t do anymore.

The drastic increase in swaybar stiffness, combined with adjusting the uppers in the front has calmed the car down dramatically. There’s very, very little roll side to side, and it seems to have cured the front dive/rear end hike under braking as well. Much more responsive turning, and way more predictable through the corner.

Words are fine and well, but what did it look like? Here’s video of the fastest run, which was good for 3rd in class behind a Z06 and an M3 (We’ll take that!).

One more thing: Downforce!

The last (at least we think last) thing on the pre-Optima wish list was a spoiler. This was already in the plans for autocross duty, but with road course speeds that should top 100 mph, the notorious Camaro rear-lift was a bit of a concern. Plus, I mean..it will look cool.

During the off week before the NTAXS event we nabbed some surplus Parts Plus posterboard and started the mockup process.

This piece measures 8″ high in the center, and mounts on piano hinge with adjustable struts running forward about the way the tape is done for support.

After scrounging our scrap pile, we didn’t have a suitable piece of aluminum, so we hit up OnlineMetals.com for a piece cut to our specs. This provided us with a square, straight-edged piece, and eliminated a ton of work – all for around $60. The material itself is .100″ thick 6061-T6.

We sourced two pairs of Wehr’s struts from Performance Bodies to provide the strength for the setup, along with some piano hinge from the Lowe’s cabinetry department for lower mounts.

Our secondary decklid was swapped on (more on this and the perils and buying stuff on eBay later), and the marks we made previously for the template were recreated.

Each mounting screw required a hole all the way through both layers, which was then opened to 5/8″ on the inside to accommodate a washer – 4 separate drilling tasks per screw.

Placement was determined in part by how the inner structure is made – we lucked out with the holes falling outside the weatherstrip for the most part.

With the hinges in place, the blade was sat in position and marked for some additional clearancing. We added a relief cut at each hinge, allowing the aluminum to sit down over each and flush with the deck.

Once everything was happy there, we marked and drilled holes for the hinges, starting from the center and working out.

Finally, we placed the outside struts in about the spot that felt right and attached them to the blade, then moved to the bottom side of the decklid to evaluate our options. This ended up being our one ‘oops’, as they were a bit too short to make it where they needed to be on the deck. The secondary holes will be useful if we ever want to stand it up higher, at least.

Our original plan was to use 4 struts, but looking at the beefy hardware included and how busy things got with all 4 of them up there, we settled on 3. There is some give in the blade thanks to the tolerances of the rod ends, but nothing too bad.

Recalculating…

The plan for the second decklid was to add a matte black stripe down the hood using vinyl wrap. A low cost (red flag), eBay (red flag) listing for wrap material was found, and ordered. After many days in limbo, the material arrived on Friday – a WEEK and 2 days from Florida, on 2-day priority. Thanks USPS!

Once the material was unrolled and the first section peeled back, problems were immediately apparent. Modern wrap material has a whole host of features that make it possible to actually wrap a car. This had none of those, as it was regular old sign vinyl (live and learn). Time is of the essence, so the spoiler will be permanent on the painted decklid.

Still pretty badass, if we say so ourselves.

IT’S TIME! Test n Tune & The Optima Search for the Ultimate Streetcar 

The work is done, it’s time to play! The North Texas Camaro club helped organize a Test N Tune day on Tuesday, and the fun starts bright and early Saturday morning at TMS. We haven’t been this excited/nervous/anxious/excited (did I already say excited?) since Drag Week. Think dry, fast thoughts for us!

Camaro Autocross Update: Part 2 of 3 – Offseason Work Begins

When we last left off, we were headed into winter with a lot of plans, which I came to break down into a few simple objectives, in order of completion:

– Rolling (relatively) Quiet (new exhaust)
– Rolling Flat (swaybar mods)
– Rolling FAT (new tires and wheels)
– Stopping Reliably (upgraded calipers for road course duty)

There’s a ton of other possibilities, but with other projects and the holidays combining with the relatively short Texas offseason, this seemed like an achievable list. Did we get everything done?

Read on to see..

Speak Softly

The original 3″ exhaust setup uses SpinTech mufflers, which are only sort of classifiable as a muffler (see examples here and here) and dumped in front of the rear tire. A simpler way of putting this is that with the windows down it’s LOUD inside. And outside. And down the street. And..you get the picture. We added some baffles into the pipes last year, but it was still loud enough to earn the name “that loud red 2nd gen” at the Camaro club event.

In addition to the extreme noise levels, the setup severely compromised ground clearance because of how the front section dipped down around the frame. The solution for both problems came in a move to smaller 2.5″ tubing (3″ was a touch overkill for the 377 anyway) and re-positioning a relief-cut x-pipe rearward, allowing the mufflers and turndowns to be located under the center of the car between the trailing arms.

Short of building a custom set of headers, this is as good as it’s going to get ground clearance wise. So far, it has worked out swimmingly. We gained around 1.5″ of clearance, which is huge. Combined with the stiffer springs up front, we’ve managed to lower the car a touch and still haven’t scraped them.

Best of all, the sound is much more tame, but still plenty aggressive once the tach starts climbing.

Rolling Flat

Next on the list was solving the, to use a nautical term, listing issues it had in the corners. After the first trip, we unhooked the rear Competition Engineering swaybar to make the rear more compliant, and thus, more grippy. This softened everything up and allowed a substantial amount of body roll, so something had to be done up front.

After evaluating several options, including mounting a custom bar above the framerails and getting a Speedway blade type bar, we settled on modifying the existing Suspension Techniques 1.25″ bar with adjustable links.

Using the swaybar rate chart on Speedway’s site, we were able to gauge how much shortening the length of the bar would increase the rate, and settled on 5 adjustment points. We also eliminated some of the few pieces of urethane in the suspension, moving to rod ends on custom machined endlinks.

Increased stiffness in the front means that we can now bring the rear bar back into the mix, and the result is a significantly stiffer car in both turns and transitions.

Rolling Fat

On to the rolling stock situation. Our original plan, thinking that space was limited more than it ended up being in front, was for an 18×10/275 combo up front, and 18×12/315 or 335 combo out back. After some test fitting and measuring using the rear Enkeis from the 350Z that we had been running before, a much, much cheaper (though slightly heavier) set of 18x11s were sourced from XXR. We’ll be rocking 315s all the way around, and this left room in the budget for brake upgrades.

Since we initially got it on the road, the wheels we’ve had have never been what I had in mind, but what we could work with at the time. I’m..in love with these already.

Of course, along with stuffing this much tire under the front comes a few challenges. On the inside, the swaybar was acting as a steering stop (less than ideal). Outside, matters were mostly ok except at the back of the fender, where the tire hit the lip at the bottom the wheel opening. No worries, that’s what air tools are for, right?

And, a few minutes later..clearance, Clarence! We ended up opening this up a fair amount more, but the end result is hardly noticeable.

We did a matching cut on the drivers side, which is a reproduction fender that is made completely different at the back, but still lacked a bit to be desired for clearance. We’ll paint these exposed edges with POR-15 to protect against rust, and maybe add an aluminum trim piece to tidy it up later.

Then, it was time for road testing – and gratuitous amounts of pictures, just because. It actually drives great on the highway, way better than I expected with a bit a toe out and that much rubber up front.

Stopping Reliably

With the Optima Ultimate Street Car event at TMS, which includes road course sessions, being on the to-do list for the year, a brake upgrade was in order. The front Dynalite 4-piston calipers are a great drag racing piece, but we just don’t trust them to whoa this car down very many times reliably given how small they are. Fortunately, Wilwood’s kits for these cars are largely interchangeable, so we were able to swap in 6-piston calipers with little headache.

These utilize the same 12″ rotor, and we have the capability to move to a much thicker 14″ rotor down the road if needed. That will involve a complete swap as it takes different calipers, though. This setup is still relatively economical on the consumables, and should be safer for prolonged track time.

The plan is to feel everything out in the slower orientation session in the morning and go from there.

It’s Almost Time..

That’s it for part 2 – check back soon for the final installment when we’ll get rained out, rained on, do some final prep work, and still manage to have a little fun in the midst of it all.

Camaro Autocross Update: Part 1 of 3

Wow, it’s been a while since we updated on the status of the shop high speed delivery car (life, and shop time, tend to get in the way of the website). Let’s start with a recap of the end of last season, including the first 3 trips out with it.

A promising start

Our first outing was with the Equipe Rapide Sports Car Club in the massive asphalt jungle of Lone Star Park in Grand Prairie. All in all, for the first runs this day couldn’t have gone any better.

Eased through the first run – well, first half of the first run, and picked up from there (see the video below for how quickly things escalated). The car feels great overall. Pretty docile, really, compared to what I was expecting, both in terms of handling and getting the power down.

We had a great turnout of old iron at this event, with 6 entries in the CAM class. It was cool to have several reference points, and we ended up 4th in class. Not bad for a starting point, but there’s loads of room for improvement in both the car and my comfort level with it.

We came away from the day with a list of updates and adjustments to make, as expected, but overall it was a very successful first trip. On to round 2!

North Texas Camaro Club Event

The North Texas Camaro Club invited us out for their autocross at Texas Motor Speedway, and we had an absolute blast and got a ton of seat time. This was exactly what I needed at this point with the car, the majority of our changes seemed to make for positive results. Brakes were much improved thanks to both bias adjustment and a change to Polymatrix B pads, as you can tell by a few lockups in the video below. Rear grip was much better with the rear sway bar disconnected, as well.

Swapping in stiffer springs up front (650#) reduced a lot of dive under braking, but the car was still way loose all over both in corners and lateral acceleration. We formulated some plans for both issues, including building some adjustment into the front sway bar and eventually moving to an outboard mounted coilover vs. the QA1 ProCoils as we’re at the max spring rate already.

Overall, one of the most fun days at the track ever. We got 14 runs in (and could’ve gotten more), didn’t have to corner work, and had lunch on site! Hard to beat that.

Minor setback to finish the year

After two relatively uneventful trips, our last time out flat didn’t go to plan. After playing with some restrictors in the KRC power steering pump chasing a bit stiffer steering feel, it became apparent we had created a severe issue. Long story short, after two frankly scary runs with the pump struggling to keep up on return back to center (and subsequently losing power assist), we called it a day.

Offseason Plans

After the last event, the weather turned and that ended up being it for the year. That meant it was time for the work to begin, and the list included:

– More tire – if everybody’s running 315 and 335s, we pretty much have to as well
– Quieter exhaust – hearing what the car is doing on course is a plus
– Swaybar adjustability up front, and reconnection of the rear bar
– Downforce – a USCA-legal spoiler out back
– A whole mess of other miscellaneous things

Check back in for Part 2: The work begins! Until then, here’s a quick teaser of what’s to come.

50 Year Anniversary Party for Acme Auto Parts

We opened our doors 50 years ago, in 1964, and we decided we needed to do a bit of celebrating. We invited you out, and you came through big time this past Saturday, helping us throw the fastest party Downtown Sherman has ever seen!

Clay Millican was on hand signing autographs and showing off his bad hot rod, our awesome Parts Plus partners W M Automotive warehouse came out with a parking lot full of tools, Wix Filters brought a truckload of giveaways that included some awesome Richard Petty Driving Experience passes, and a number of our awesome customers came with their beautiful cars.

It was a day we will never forget, and we want to thank everyone that has played a part in the 50 year history of Acme Auto Parts for making it possible!

Welp. Here Goes Nothin’

Well, 5 years and change after getting it on the road for the first time, we’re officially registered for its first autocross this Sunday.

Consequently, last weekend involved a pretty good thrash to get ready. Items on the list included:

1. Buttoning down the updated shifter boot and floor panel
2. Toning down the exhaust to a reasonably obnoxious level
3. Getting it aligned

The nature of the thrash being what it is, there aren’t many pictures of the work. Luckily, a thousand words is worth a picture, so read on to see what we did.

Tinnitus, and its prevention

The exhaust silencing was pretty simple. We used 2.5″ tubing, split it and offset the pieces, then clearanced the edges to more or less cover the the full inside diameter of the pipe as a sort of whoopity-doo baffle as it exits.

Since the car only has an X-pipe, Spintechs, and 3.5″ oval dumps in front of the tire, there was plenty of room to improve. After a quick blast up the road, it seems like this relatively simple solution has toned it down substantially. The proof will be in us not getting kicked out Sunday. There’s no hard decibel limit at this site, but flat-out obnoxious cars are up for a slap on the wrist. No more bleeding ears: success.

A different kind of booted

Next up was the Racequip flame retardant shift boot, and a new custom aluminum floor panel (because nothing bolts on, of course). This will get a coat of SEM trim black and some nice button head fasteners down the road, but raw aluminum and mismatched stainless bolts will do for now. No more hot air to the face going down the road: success.

Getting things in line

On to the business of alignment. Removing the dust caps to attach our Longacre alignment tool revealed that the drivers side spindle had started to contact the cap ever so slightly, leading to pretty shimmering grease outside the outer bearing. Nothing throwing a few sparks can’t cure.

With that out of the way, it was on to the fun part – finally dialing some camber into those fancy control arms we installed way back when.

Base setup will be -3 deg camber, just under 4 deg caster, and a 1/16th toe in. Changes at the track this time around will be limited to shock adjustments on the single adjustable QA1s and brake bias changes using the newly installed Wilwood magic knob.

And, finally, how she sits (well, this was before the alignment, but you get the gist). The proudly ‘Made in Japan’ Enkei 18×9.5/10.5 wheels, admittedly, look much more at home on the shop misfit 350Z, but I can get used to the look if they’ll stick and go.

As they say – Here goes nothin’..

The Waiting Game, Thawing Out, & Autocross School

So what’s new with the Camaro? Not a whole lot, actually. We’re currently in the midst of some time-space issues with our transmission order (currently 2 months into a 4-5 week delivery estimate), but we’re finding ways to pass the time as the weather gets better.

Texas Thaw 2014

With the shop car in pieces (and too new for the ‘Thaw) we took the truck out for some straight line fun. The stated goal of the trip was to go and have a good time – let it run what it runs, not work on it, and most importantly not get pissed if things didn’t go quite as planned.

We entered the Hot Rod (heads up, single green light start) and Bracket classes, and thankfully this year were parked by a speaker and could actually hear the calls over the PA. We proved to be a bit out-gunned in Hot Rod, doing well until meeting a particularly nasty yet totally unassuming Tri-5. The bracket race went better, with a few win lights on the day.

All-in-all, it was a bit slower than what we (well, your esteemed author, at least) had hoped, but it was consistently running high 7.90s and 8.0s – still not too bad for a truck with AC, a booming stereo, and the capability to road trip in comfort.

Most importantly, though, much fun was had with a huge turnout of both cars and spectators, along with many of our customers coming out. We didn’t open the hood once except to pull the air cleaner off, and tempers stayed even all day: Great Success.

Texas SCCA Autocross School

With the new focus on going around corners, the Texas SCCA Solo Novice Autocross school proved the ideal way to get Paul a massive amount of seat time with limited opportunities for embarrassment. This event is put on every spring, and is without a doubt the best way to get started in the sport.

The day starts with a short classroom session covering event procedures, basic driving techniques, and other essentials. Then it’s on to the seat time: a solid afternoon in the car with 1-on-1 instruction from many former regional and national class champions. At $85, this is the absolute cheapest way you will ever pick up speed on an autocross course.

After Paul got a significant amount of time in the car on Saturday, we co-drove on Sunday during the coldest autocross of the year (I say this having done an event in mid-January while sweating). The Hankook RS3s we currently have on the shop’s Japanese stepchild 350Z work fantastic in Texas summers thanks to their ability to resist heat buildup – this, however, becomes a MASSIVE hinderance when the mercury hovers around 45 and the sun is hidden by clouds.

The event itself was a bit of a struggle, fighting with the stone cold tires and wrapping our heads around the increased workload of two drivers, along with an extremely short and tight course. Definitely looking forward to warmer temps and some upgrades to the Z to get closer to the frantic pace of the very competitive STU class.

Oh yeah, Camaro Progress

We’ve also managed to get some time in the shop amongst the fun. Most recently, the 5.83-shod spool out back was swapped for the 4.86-equipped TruTrac helical diff. While we were there, a once-over was done on the axles and other wearable items, thankfully finding no surprises.

Thanks to some extremely good fortune (or flat out dumb luck), the previously mentioned RS3s and Enkei 18’s from the 350Z will also fit the Camaro with a bit of help from spacers. This means longer wheel studs were in order all around, along with a switch to the Ford car bolt pattern Wilwood generously provided (5×4.5 or 5×114.3) in the front hubs. We tackled this, along with bearing and other consumables inspection while everything was apart.

Finally, the freshening up of the 377 continues on. An initial leak down test found a few cylinders that needed some TLC, and further inspection after teardown revealed some rather startling valve spring/valve seal interference – an issue that was well on its way to flushing nasty bits through the bottom end and becoming a major, major headache. This motor has always been good to us – this might possibly be the biggest example of it.

A full bottom-up refresh is mostly done, and once the transmission (sore subject) finds its way to us, we’ll be set to start slapping pieces back together.

Some other odds and ends included cleaning up some of the scarring on the Fidanza flywheel and Centerforce clutch and pressure plate, along with some inspection to make sure it’s still got plenty of life to go back in. We’re also looking to alleviate some brake fluid seeping issues in the hoses running from the brake and clutch reservoirs to the masters, along with cleaning up the mess this has left under the dash.

The list is getting shorter (I think – wait, did we ever make a list?). The goal is to keep working on our driving skills in the Z as we reassemble the Camaro, and hopefully make it out to at least a few events with the Camaro for shakedowns before the summer’s over. We’ve been kicking ourselves that we couldn’t make the Ultimate Street Car Association event at TMS, and it is definitely high on the to-do list for 2015.

Boy am I ready to drop the clutch in this thing again. Patience is a virtue – and we’re accepting donations if you have any to spare.

Texas Thaw 2014 Photos

It’s that time of year again (or it was yesterday, at least), when the temps rise and hot rods from all over the southwest leave their garages on a pilgrimage to North Star Dragway in Sanger, Texas for the annual Texas Thaw car show and drag races, which benefits the USO and Unite for Troops.

It’s easy to forget what year it really is at Texas Thaw

This event draws a bigger crowd each year, and proves the nay-sayers that carry on about drag racing being on the decline wrong. The track was packed and cars filled with spectators consistently filed in all day long. We took our 63 Chevy C10 for some racing fun, and I brought along the camera bag to capture, as best is possible, the sensory overload of the day.

A barn (or field?) find resurrected

It really doesn’t matter what your automotive taste is, there is something for everyone. From traditional classics to the outright weird, full-on racecars to subtle cruisers, the ‘Thaw has it all.

All shapes and sizes

We managed to grab a few win lights with the truck, and kept the attitude for the day light by not worrying about the timeslips (which were a bit off of what we were hoping for). Overall, there’s nothing like the Texas Thaw, and we can’t wait for next year.

Goldfinger’s classic ride of choice

Check out the full gallery of photos from Texas Thaw 2014 by clicking any of the images above, or at the Shutterspeed Photo Site:

• Texas Thaw Gallery 1
• Texas Thaw Gallery 2