Sean's 78 Camaro Z28

[Clutch]

That car looks so good!

 

[Injectedcutty]

That car looks so good!

Agreed Eric. It's photogenic in pics, but looks killer in person!

 

[UNGN]

On all my street cars I set up static Negative camber of -.5 degrees or so. It will reduce understeer and outside tire edge wear, but isn't enough to prematurely wear the insides. The factory positive camber is to make the car plow and the tires squeal so you'll slow down.

I also have ramps made from 2X10's nailed to a pair of 4X4's to make it easier to slide under the car to adjust things. Nothing quite as embarrassing as getting trapped under there by the airdam and trying to wiggle out.

 

[Opie Knievel]

I'm by no means an alignment expert but I've read that a slight amount of negative camber helps with handling. UNGN has a lot of experience. I'd probably give his recommendation a try.

 

[UNGN]

I'm by no means an alignment expert but I've read that a slight amount of negative camber helps with handling. UNGN has a lot of experience. I'd probably give his recommendation a try.

My city went on a beautification project about 8 years ago with their natural gas royalty money. They replaced the continuous, bi-directional left turn lanes on all of the major streets with landscaped concrete dividers, with specific, unidirectional left turns. This meant I could no longer Left turn directly into my neighborhood, but had to drive past the entrance, U-turn a couple blocks up and drive back.

Some of my cars, like my brand new at the time 5.0L Mustang couldn't U-turn without plowing towards the opposite curb every time. Positractions, especially locker rear ends make the plow even worse. A brand new performance car that can't U-turn without plowing straight towards the curb is embarrassing. I bought camber/caster plates and put about 1 negative degree of camber in the mustang and it will U turn on a dime, now.

 

[Clutch]

My city went on a beautification project about 8 years ago with their natural gas royalty money. They replaced the continuous, bi-directional left turn lanes on all of the major streets with landscaped concrete dividers, with specific, unidirectional left turns. This meant I could no longer Left turn directly into my neighborhood, but had to drive past the entrance, U-turn a couple blocks up and drive back.

Some of my cars, like my brand new at the time 5.0L Mustang couldn't U-turn without plowing towards the opposite curb every time. Positractions, especially locker rear ends make the plow even worse. A brand new performance car that can't U-turn without plowing straight towards the curb is embarrassing. I bought camber/caster plates and put about 1 negative degree of camber in the mustang and it will U turn on a dime, now.

U turns? Left turns? Illegal here go right 3 times take a jug handle. Lol no wonder other states think we can't drive

 

[UNGN]

U turns? Left turns? Illegal here go right 3 times take a jug handle. Lol no wonder other states think we can't drive

Probably can't find a shop to put in -.5 degrees camber, either, because that is "out of factory spec" and those specs were determined by God, himself.

 

[Texas82GP]

That car looks so good!

Thanks Eric. We really appreciate it. It took me about 6 months to get over the shock of the car being that brilliant blue instead of the grey epoxy primer.

Agreed Eric. It's photogenic in pics, but looks killer in person!

Thanks buddy. I'm really pleased that you and Brian got to see it in person.

On all my street cars I set up static Negative camber of -.5 degrees or so. It will reduce understeer and outside tire edge wear, but isn't enough to prematurely wear the insides. The factory positive camber is to make the car plow and the tires squeal so you'll slow down.

I also have ramps made from 2X10's nailed to a pair of 4X4's to make it easier to slide under the car to adjust things. Nothing quite as embarrassing as getting trapped under there by the airdam and trying to wiggle out.

Thanks man. I was hoping you would chime in. It's obvious you know what you are talking about. Yeah, your ramp idea is good. I'm just glad the Camaro isn't any lower than it is. I was able to get enough of my enormous carcass under the front of the car to get the job done. We will follow up on your recommendation and will adjust the camber to -0.5 to -1.0 degrees. The caster looks ok to you?

I'm by no means an alignment expert but I've read that a slight amount of negative camber helps with handling. UNGN has a lot of experience. I'd probably give his recommendation a try.

Chris, it's good to have you in here and to hear from you. How is the poor-man's Monte? I miss that thread. I agree with you. UNGN knows what he's talking about. I don't think we'll ever drive the Camaro or my GP as fast as he drives his.

 

[Texas82GP]

Update time. We had a pretty good day on the Camaro today. Our focus for today was the brakes. In one of my last posts when this thread was last active I talked about how the adjustment of the rear brakes (discs from a 79-81 WS6 equipped Firebird) was off and how I bought an extra caliper to use as a Guinea Pig to try to learn how to make them 'ratchet' to take out the slop. First thing this morning, Sean got the car picked up and on stands. He got the rear wheels off the car. I got under there and unhooked the emergency brake cable. Then I pulled the springs for the E-brake levers. It took a lot of time and patience to figure out how they work and how to work on them. In the end though, we got there. I wish we could drive the car. I think it is going to be transformative. I haven't felt like those rear discs have been right since we brought the car back to life. Now I'm confident the emergency brake will hold the car and I feel confident that Sean is going to be blown away by how much stopping power he has now that the slop is taken up out of the rear brakes.

Once we were done with that we flushed the entire brake system. It's hard to believe the system has been up for a little more that four years. The fluid in the rear reservoir was a little cloudy. The front looked pretty good. We ran about a quart and a half through the system.

After we got done with that it was early afternoon. We didn't really have time to get into a big project so we picked a small one. Sean glued down the rearward portion of the trunk mat. I think he drew some inspiration from me gluing my new trunk mat down. He didn't glue the front section down because he has some jute padding up there and there isn't really a problem with the mat bunching up in the front. He wanted to glue the rear portion of the mat since it has a tendency to bunch up when we load and secure the spare and the jack. A few pics from that small project...

We're going to let the glue dry overnight before we reinstall the spare, the jack and the tool set. Tomorrow we are going to pull the driver's side door glass and work to replace it with a new piece. We want to get both side windows replaced and adjusted, get both of the new windows tinted, and get the door panels and armrests installed before the Camaro Thrash week runs out on us.

That's it for now gents. Hopefully I'll have a good update tomorrow night. Until then, thanks for checking in.

Best,

--Jared

 

[Wraith]

Vote for for blue wheels and a minimum of -.5 degrees of camber, G-bodies tend to go positive under real compression. Hell, most cars I build start at -1.0 on camber.....

Keep up the good work! Not sure how you pull it off between the Grand Prix, Camaro, and Galaxie....