Lots planned for this winter. I'll post some progress as I go...
Engine and trans are out right now. I was planning to change cam, but something else is in the works that has changed my mind on that... Rear main seal was leaking, and the trans never shifted well, and I thought it needed shims behind the slave cylinder. Also had some vibrations that I couldn't track down.
Measuring everything up, shims were not needed, however I checked the runout of the input shaft and discovered .030" total runout!!! (.015" off center) That explains several issues... poor shifting, vibration, and maybe contributed to the rear main seal leak? The trans will be dropped off this week for a rebuild, and beef it up for what will be needed for what's coming later.
On somewhat of a whim, armed with a tape measure and a level, I decided my rear suspension needed some attention. Upper arms were at way too steep of angle with the car being very low and having a Moser 9" housing. Brake hop was a problem (as discussed in the Waumandee Hill Climb video thread) Also, the earlier addition of a Watts link was inducing some roll-bind that was getting harder to control as each set of tires seems to be stickier than the last. In these pictures, everything is just tack welded in place. Additonal bracing and gussets will be added.
Dropping my measurements into AutoCAD, it appears the ideal setup will be bottom hole on the housing, and middle hole on the chassis. That will result in the instant-center being 48" forward of the axle, with 99% anti-squat. Upper link will be 11" long. It's as long as it can possibly get without cutting into the back seat. I may end up cutting off the top 2 holes of the axle bracket. I doubt they will ever be used.
The 3-link design has no bind, and the arm being offset to the right counters the torque of the engine and plants the right tire harder, and hopefully more evenly between the 2 tires. (torque applied to the pinion naturally tries to lift the right rear, offset upper link will push it downward)
-- Edited by Derek69SS on Monday 28th of December 2020 11:24:26 AM
-- Edited by Derek69SS on Monday 28th of December 2020 12:09:28 PM
This will probably end up being a 2022 season upgrade due to budget, but I'll share it now anyway...
I bought these AFR 245cc heads and Jesel shaft mount rockers from TPIS's 416" LS 2011 Engine Masters Challenge engine. The build will be duplicated, but with an aluminum block and an intake that will fit under my hood. They made 700hp at 6500, and 622ft/lbs at 5200. They are "used" but dyno time only.
-- Edited by Derek69SS on Monday 28th of December 2020 12:15:34 PM
Cool and exciting updates! Now we will need a thread for Cale's car when the current LS makes it into his 55!
Derek69SS said
Dec 30, 2020
As a semi-responsible parent, Cale will get no more than 250hp and an open-differential while in school.
No power steering, manual transmission, and no cupholders.
Jon H said
Dec 30, 2020
Kind of tough parenting.
Lost in the 60s said
Dec 31, 2020
Jon H wrote:
Kind of tough parenting.
Yeah, that will most likely change by then anyway. Depends on how much hp the "other" kids have...
Larry Lucast said
Dec 31, 2020
I first learned about engine swaps when my dad said he would not replace my 6 cylinder with a V8. So I did it myself. And it ran, to my complete amazement.
Derek69SS said
Jan 2, 2021
I finished up the welding on the frame crossmember tonight, but ran out of welding wire before I got to the axle housing.
Not every weld is pretty, but I am confident they are burned in well, and structurally sound. I will be painting all of this area white so it can be easily inspected for stress cracking on a regular basis.
It's May, and I'm still not ready... I moved the battery to the trunk, but will probably not finish the fiberglass stuff until next year.
I shared this on my facebook page, but should add it here too. I bought fiberglass hood, trunk, and bumpers which will take about 120lbs off the car.
I have modified the hood to vent air out into the low-pressure zone at the front of the hood, which will draw out the trapped high-pressure air that would otherwise have to go under the car to escape. This will help cooling, and reduce air pressure under the hood, reducing aero-lift at high speeds. With the stock hood, I have been up to 143mph in this car, and compounded with the 8:1 steering ratio, it's terrifying...
Wow, 143 MPH, sounds exciting!
Nice work on the hood.
Derek69SS said
May 4, 2021
I'll put my 12:1 steering box back in it before I try that again. The 8:1 starts getting sketchy above ~110.
more ambition than brains said
May 4, 2021
Impressive!
Karl
dashboard said
May 4, 2021
Derek, your fabrication skills continue to amaze me.
Derek69SS said
May 5, 2021
This was my first attempt at fiberglass work. I watched 3 youtube videos on how to do it, took a deep breath, and started cutting holes in my brand-new parts.
I made plenty of mistakes, and learned a lot in the process, but the nice thing with fiberglass is you can just layer it on and grind it off until it's right.
Derek69SS said
May 17, 2021
I ran out of time and ambition to get the body work done, so I put all the steel parts back on for now. Yesterday was my first autocross for this year, and first impression of the 3-link is that it works very well, but changed the balance of the car quite a bit, which I think I can fix with stiffer rear springs.
I ordered all new hoops for them today, so I'll be running 18x11 on all 4 corners with 6-1/2" backspace, and will require 1/4" spacers all around.
Hopefully I get them before the UMI Autocross Challenge. :)
Derek69SS said
Jul 12, 2021
I sprayed the hood and trunk in black epoxy primer and mounted them up this weekend. I'm going racing in PA in a couple weeks and figured I could use that 68-lb weight reduction. 42lbs off the front, and 16lbs off the rear. I've also added an adjustable pitch 10" high (rule limit) rear spoiler.
I will not have the new wheels ready before the UMI Autocross Challenge, so I mounted up the new 295/35 Yokohamas on my old wheels for this event, and will have to swap back to the 275/35 Federals before Road America in August, then back again for the rest of the season... glad I bought a tire changer!
Paint for the hood and trunk will probably have to wait until winter now.
Looks more like a dedicated race car all the time.
I'm going racing in KY on the 23rd. Private event at Beech Bend drag strip.
more ambition than brains said
Jul 13, 2021
Impressive!
Karl
Derek69SS said
Jul 13, 2021
Lost in the 60s wrote:
Looks more like a dedicated race car all the time.
I'm going racing in KY on the 23rd. Private event at Beech Bend drag strip.
It's rapidly approaching that line where I need to decide how much further I want to go with it... there's not much more I can do without seriously sacrificing its street-car status.
Beech Bend is a cool track, I ran there at LS-Fest in 2019.
Derek69SS said
Jul 27, 2021
The lightweight and aero mods were worth the effort, I pulled off winning an invite to UMI's King of the Mountain event next month by a margin of 0.059 second over 2 days best times added together.
I finished 6th in class, but the top 5 already had invites so I was the fastest of those looking to earn the "Golden Ticket"
Lots planned for this winter. I'll post some progress as I go...
Engine and trans are out right now. I was planning to change cam, but something else is in the works that has changed my mind on that... Rear main seal was leaking, and the trans never shifted well, and I thought it needed shims behind the slave cylinder. Also had some vibrations that I couldn't track down.
Measuring everything up, shims were not needed, however I checked the runout of the input shaft and discovered .030" total runout!!! (.015" off center) That explains several issues... poor shifting, vibration, and maybe contributed to the rear main seal leak? The trans will be dropped off this week for a rebuild, and beef it up for what will be needed for what's coming later.
On somewhat of a whim, armed with a tape measure and a level, I decided my rear suspension needed some attention. Upper arms were at way too steep of angle with the car being very low and having a Moser 9" housing. Brake hop was a problem (as discussed in the Waumandee Hill Climb video thread) Also, the earlier addition of a Watts link was inducing some roll-bind that was getting harder to control as each set of tires seems to be stickier than the last. In these pictures, everything is just tack welded in place. Additonal bracing and gussets will be added.
Dropping my measurements into AutoCAD, it appears the ideal setup will be bottom hole on the housing, and middle hole on the chassis. That will result in the instant-center being 48" forward of the axle, with 99% anti-squat. Upper link will be 11" long. It's as long as it can possibly get without cutting into the back seat. I may end up cutting off the top 2 holes of the axle bracket. I doubt they will ever be used.
The 3-link design has no bind, and the arm being offset to the right counters the torque of the engine and plants the right tire harder, and hopefully more evenly between the 2 tires. (torque applied to the pinion naturally tries to lift the right rear, offset upper link will push it downward)
-- Edited by Derek69SS on Monday 28th of December 2020 11:24:26 AM
-- Edited by Derek69SS on Monday 28th of December 2020 12:09:28 PM
This will probably end up being a 2022 season upgrade due to budget, but I'll share it now anyway...
I bought these AFR 245cc heads and Jesel shaft mount rockers from TPIS's 416" LS 2011 Engine Masters Challenge engine.
The build will be duplicated, but with an aluminum block and an intake that will fit under my hood. They made 700hp at 6500, and 622ft/lbs at 5200. They are "used" but dyno time only.
-- Edited by Derek69SS on Monday 28th of December 2020 12:15:34 PM
Cool and exciting updates! Now we will need a thread for Cale's car when the current LS makes it into his 55!
As a semi-responsible parent, Cale will get no more than 250hp and an open-differential while in school.
No power steering, manual transmission, and no cupholders.
Yeah, that will most likely change by then anyway. Depends on how much hp the "other" kids have...
I finished up the welding on the frame crossmember tonight, but ran out of welding wire before I got to the axle housing.
Not every weld is pretty, but I am confident they are burned in well, and structurally sound. I will be painting all of this area white so it can be easily inspected for stress cracking on a regular basis.
It's May, and I'm still not ready... I moved the battery to the trunk, but will probably not finish the fiberglass stuff until next year.
I shared this on my facebook page, but should add it here too. I bought fiberglass hood, trunk, and bumpers which will take about 120lbs off the car.
I have modified the hood to vent air out into the low-pressure zone at the front of the hood, which will draw out the trapped high-pressure air that would otherwise have to go under the car to escape. This will help cooling, and reduce air pressure under the hood, reducing aero-lift at high speeds. With the stock hood, I have been up to 143mph in this car, and compounded with the 8:1 steering ratio, it's terrifying...
Nice work on the hood.
I'll put my 12:1 steering box back in it before I try that again. The 8:1 starts getting sketchy above ~110.
Karl
This was my first attempt at fiberglass work. I watched 3 youtube videos on how to do it, took a deep breath, and started cutting holes in my brand-new parts.
I made plenty of mistakes, and learned a lot in the process, but the nice thing with fiberglass is you can just layer it on and grind it off until it's right.
I ran out of time and ambition to get the body work done, so I put all the steel parts back on for now. Yesterday was my first autocross for this year, and first impression of the 3-link is that it works very well, but changed the balance of the car quite a bit, which I think I can fix with stiffer rear springs.
We had a pretty stacked CAMT class yesterday.
Looks really good sitting there in the sun...
I picked up 6 more CCW Classic wheels for the Chevelle last night.
Backspacing is completely wrong, but with 3pc wheels, I can buy new lips and barrels, and sell the ones off these wheels.
-- Edited by Derek69SS on Thursday 10th of June 2021 12:27:17 PM
Hopefully I get them before the UMI Autocross Challenge. :)
I sprayed the hood and trunk in black epoxy primer and mounted them up this weekend. I'm going racing in PA in a couple weeks and figured I could use that 68-lb weight reduction. 42lbs off the front, and 16lbs off the rear. I've also added an adjustable pitch 10" high (rule limit) rear spoiler.
I will not have the new wheels ready before the UMI Autocross Challenge, so I mounted up the new 295/35 Yokohamas on my old wheels for this event, and will have to swap back to the 275/35 Federals before Road America in August, then back again for the rest of the season... glad I bought a tire changer!
Paint for the hood and trunk will probably have to wait until winter now.
I'm going racing in KY on the 23rd. Private event at Beech Bend drag strip.
Karl
It's rapidly approaching that line where I need to decide how much further I want to go with it... there's not much more I can do without seriously sacrificing its street-car status.
Beech Bend is a cool track, I ran there at LS-Fest in 2019.
The lightweight and aero mods were worth the effort, I pulled off winning an invite to UMI's King of the Mountain event next month by a margin of 0.059 second over 2 days best times added together.
I finished 6th in class, but the top 5 already had invites so I was the fastest of those looking to earn the "Golden Ticket"
Friday's best:
Saturday's best: