Jeff's '79 Camaro.

[Jsvob03]

Yeah, i know its Not an s12, but its my garage, if you don't like it, GTFO. ..and wipe your feet!

Anyhow, On here i'll detail all the plans as I go along. I'll start with where i'm at. The car is just nasty at the moment. Rust everywhere, maybe one caliper is working, runs on like 4 cylinders (currently has a 350). Steering column is all fuckered up.

Now onto the plans (that are likely to change.)

ENGINE: 327. 4bbl carb likely in the ballpark of 650-750 cfm. Motor will wind up to 8000 rpm, with the help of sturdy valve springs, cams, crank might be stock (if its forged.), and a balanced and blueprinted rotating assembly. motor will be bored, unsure if it will be just to clean, or go like .030 or something. more details to come.

TRANSMISSION: 6-speed out of a newer corvette. driveshaft will be 1 piece aluminum. more details later.

DIFFERENTIAL: still a toss up here. Could be a Ford 9" adapted to a Canted-Lever setup. Might also use something GM from a newer vehicle, but no matter what, it will be IRS! No corvette rear ends. mono-leaf just isnt me.

EXTERIOR: Can you say Fiberglass? Hood, Doors, Trunk, Rear quarterpanels IF I CAN get them. why you ask? weight. Windows will be lexan. Wheels are undecided yet, but you can bet that they wont be cheap.

INTERIOR: Possible roll-cage, but this isnt a drag car, so its not likely. More likely to have the factory dash, with minor tweaks (trim, colors, etc.) Seats will be stock, maybe not from a 79 camaro, but definately from a GM vehicle, so it looks close to stock. Power windows & locks (maybe).

SUSPENSION: This is where the money is at! Front will be of a SLA-suspension. Control arms will be made of T-whatever aircraft aluminum. Adjustments will be made VIA set screws (very similar to toe adjustments on rear of current impalas.) this is so i can dial my suspension into whatever i want. It will be on Springs. I dont like air. I will be runnning a Rack n Pinion for steering. sorry, no pitman arms here. The rear suspension is likely to be a canted lever set up using a modified ford 9 inch. It will be fully adjustable (camber, toe, wrap-up) I am undecided on sub-frame connectors, but may be forced to, due to the power the car will have (at least 400hp).

What is the purpose of this car? I want to be able to drive it when and where i want. It will NOT be strictly for track, but will be designed for road-course style tracks. In a sentence, it will have the Power of the classic american muscle car, Handle like nobody's business, and look very close to stock. yeah, its gonna rock.

Pics to come...

[Arro]

Hey Jeff, did you read where I talked about aluminum vs. steel driveshafts in that other thread? Unless you're gonna be strictly drag, aluminum isn't a good choice for a street car.

Oh, and

[vg30e_x2_200sx]

I agree about the control arms. There will be WAY too many stress cycles and you will likely have a failure when you least want it. (to me that would be anytime)

There are a lot of companies that make tubular control arms that are TONS lighter and stronger than stock ones. They are made from tubular steel. Not aluminum.

EDIT:
Oh and I have seen the talk about the aluminum drive shaft and I'm surprised about this one. I have one stock on my S-10 4x4. I can't believe they would put that on there of there would be even a chance of it failing.

[JonB]

Get some pics up! Any links to pics of the suspension set up you want? I have a GM F-2 also and am curious as towards what suspension you mean. Do you mean SLA strut from an F-4 or somthing using stock piviot locations.

 Do you plan on doing heavy modding for your rear end? Like custom floor and trunk pans? I'm pretty sure you could use a Corvette IRS and use coil-overs in place of the stock leaf. I see alotta Fords have IRSs but I haven't seen alotta GMs. Are they out their? Sourcing the half-shafts will be the trick. You could always redrill hubs and rotors from the more common 4.5 to the GM 4.75, but it gets to be a bitch in replacement parts. 'Vettes use a universal type shaft which isn't to costly for customs, still not good though, but the price of splining CVs can get pretty bad. And also from what I understand; alotta thought has to be put into the balance and weights of half shafts to stop wheel hop/axle tramp on IRS cars

 I think my freinds IROC F-3 has an aluminum driveshaft from the factory. I also see alotta factory cast aluminum A-arms. But couldn't tell you more than that about thier reliability.

[200sxkitcar]

Wow, I was going thru the Summit catalog, and saw a good deal of what you mentioned, and obviously you aren't afraid to spend some cash.

But the car will be fantastic when finished.

I would love to have a V8 that could spin to, and make power, at 8000rpms  

[Jsvob03]

just a quick update.

I finally got the car to my new house. what a rusty mess. I'll try to get pics this week.

http://www.totalcontrolproducts.com/gBar.html  

thats the site that makes the rear end suspension.

and lastly, the motor will be Twin turbo.. im decided on that.. i'll update later when i have time, lol.

[vg30e_x2_200sx]

How much are you planning on dumping into this thing? If you are going to turbo it then I would suggest getting something like an Accel DFI. It will make tuning sooo much easier than using a blow through carb set up.

And the responsiveness will be just that much better.

[brewster240]

why the corvette zf trans when you can get a later model t56?

[vg30e_x2_200sx]

How new is newer on the trans? The C6 variant has a divorced transmission. That would be an interesting build into a 79 Camaro for sure.

[brewster240]

i was refering to firechicken/camaro/gto etc.

the vette t56 would be cool as hell though if you were willing to do enough chassis work to make the transaxle work.