Gen 1 Camaro/ASA Stock Car Build

Looks outstanding!

noddaz said:

Hey!  Another Maryland person!  With that out of the way, fantastic looking!  Shoot the rocker area with some flat black and no one will see it.  And no classic Camaros died in building this car.  Again, fantastic!

I am pretty sold on the 2 piece rocker now...after thinking about this a couple of days now I can see how I can connect the lower rocker permanently, disconnect the body quickly. It will also be strong this way I think and hold the body on best. This will be a race car so if things go well, it will see decent speeds. 

Thanks for the positive vibes all!!  I have sorted out an electrical mystery this afternoon...

although the car starts immediately, there was a fuel pump switch. Turns out there are two pumps in the cell...the switch is a double throw...there is no on or off...just pump one or two. They both seem to be working well with identical fuel pressures. 

Good day in the shop for pondering.  Regarding the fitting and removal of the body, I am beginning to think that a "quick disconnect" body is not the highest priority.  I would be nice to have ultimate access to everything immediately at the track, but I think it may be outweighed by complexity and ultimately by the rigidity being compromised.  The original Late Model body was fastened with 1.6 Million rivits.  I think i can make this a bit less involved but instead of using many Dzus fittings, I'm starting to think that more permanent fasteners might be a lot simpler and more stable.  I'm still thinking this through, and I welcome your thoughts.

The front clip will still slide off in minutes.  The rear and suspension will still be accessable for adjustments, repair or just cleaning. 

The rocker situation came into focus a little late in the day.  I put a straightedge down the fiberglass to see where it would land...and it's about half way down the frame rail.  This might give me the push to go for a skirt.  I bent a piece of steel to help visualize.  I'm not sure how much advantage this would have with aero, but something like this would have some strength in it to hold the bottom edge of the body in place.

Imagine the 1" steel in the pic below was sheet metal running the length of the rocker.

Jack, WOW.  The pics you previously shared offline left me with questions this thread answers nicely!  Well done!  Can't want to chase you around the track in my LMSC!!

jh36 said:

It's a rainy, cool, fall day in Maryland.  Perfect for the shop and pondering. 

 

Hey!  There is only room for one cool Camaro here in Maryland... I'll hide mine in the garage.

In reply to Mikelly :

I can't wait either Mike!  It will be exciting!!

Gimp (Forum Supporter) said:

jh36 said:

It's a rainy, cool, fall day in Maryland.  Perfect for the shop and pondering. 

 

 

Hey!  There is only room for one cool Camaro here in Maryland... I'll hide mine in the garage.

Hey, I've been following your saga for a while!  I love what you've done with the Gen2. We have a couple of friends in common down here on the eastern shore too! 

jh36 said:

Gimp (Forum Supporter) said:

jh36 said:

It's a rainy, cool, fall day in Maryland.  Perfect for the shop and pondering. 

 

 

Hey!  There is only room for one cool Camaro here in Maryland... I'll hide mine in the garage.

Hey, I've been following your saga for a while!  I love what you've done with the Gen2. We have a couple of friends in common down here on the eastern shore too! 

I feel like a meet and greet, for both us and the cars, should be in our near-future plans.

Gimp (Forum Supporter) said:

jh36 said:

Gimp (Forum Supporter) said:

jh36 said:

It's a rainy, cool, fall day in Maryland.  Perfect for the shop and pondering. 

 

 

Hey!  There is only room for one cool Camaro here in Maryland... I'll hide mine in the garage.

Hey, I've been following your saga for a while!  I love what you've done with the Gen2. We have a couple of friends in common down here on the eastern shore too! 

I feel like a meet and greet, for both us and the cars, should be in our near-future plans.

That would be pretty spectacular.  I need to catch up with you as far as presentation goes, but I would enjoy that a ton.  Plan!  

In reply to Gimp (Forum Supporter) :

I was not sufficiently energized or motivated to get to the shop after work today....I've just been reading about your spoiler in the aero section.  When I bought my body, i did not get the spoiler option because I thought I'd go straight to a wing.  Maybe a mistake.  Regardless, nice thread  on aero and also your main (massive) build thread.  Well done!

noddaz said:

Hey!  Another Maryland person!  With that out of the way, fantastic looking!  Shoot the rocker area with some flat black and no one will see it.  And no classic Camaros died in building this car.  Again, fantastic!

Just bopping around and looked at your profile.  Long ago in a distant galaxy, I lived in Arnold...a little neighborhood called Pines on the Severn.  They may still speak among themselves in hushed ways about my test drives. I think everyone was pretty happy when we moved to the eastern shore.  I almost put my 144 Volvo in the river once.  Nice memories.

jh36 said:

solfly said:

Let's see a wide shot of how it's sitting in there now.

How are you going to handle clearance on the front tires at lock? I like the look. And as was said, paint the rockers black. Or better still, hide them behind side pipes!

vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) said:

jh36 said:

solfly said:

Let's see a wide shot of how it's sitting in there now.

How are you going to handle clearance on the front tires at lock? I like the look. And as was said, paint the rockers black. Or better still, hide them behind side pipes!

The front is going to be cut and flared once I have the body final fitted. This pic was taken with the front clip just resting in place. I'm going to get the main shell positioned well and lock that down. Then I will work on the front, including the quick removal method for the front clip. I hear you on the rockers, but I'm going to fab skirts to tie the rail and the body together. At 160+ mph I don't want to be wondering about everything flying off. I'm easily distracted and that often ends badly for me during races.

In reply to vwcorvette (Forum Supporter) :

Also, the pipes will both come out the passenger side at the lower rear door corner.  I will post some pics as I get that far.  The headers go to two large diameter pipes that dump out right at the door/rocker location.  Since the doors will not be hinged, that will not matter.

We have a new kitten and I work with a few folks in Asia. Between the two, I was up early and in the shop. 
I trimmed up the rockers in a couple of places...chasing contact points. The passenger door needs gutting to fit within the x-brace. Rather than gut the whole thing, I traced the brace and cut the door to fit. 

With a little extra time I played with the rocker idea. My shop tends to materialize old out of state license plates that are useful in such ways.