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  #121  
Old 12-08-2016, 08:26 PM
WSSix WSSix is offline
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Thanks for updating us, Terry. Love reading the information and seeing the work.
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Current rides: 2000 BMW 540i/6 and 86 C10.

Former ride: 1979 Trans Am WS6: LT1/T56, Kore 3 C5/6 brakes, BMW 18in rims
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  #122  
Old 12-08-2016, 09:15 PM
gofastwclass gofastwclass is offline
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Excellent ideas, fabrication and execution. Thank you for sharing.
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  #123  
Old 12-09-2016, 04:10 PM
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96z28ss 96z28ss is offline
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Very cool build.
Is this car being built for track days, or is there a series that this will run in?
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  #124  
Old 12-11-2016, 03:06 PM
Jimbo1367 Jimbo1367 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Flash68 View Post
Very interested to see how you manage heat with this for the driver.

So much cool going on in this build.
He doesn't care, hes not driving it. LOL
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  #125  
Old 12-11-2016, 04:37 PM
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GregWeld GregWeld is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Jimbo1367 View Post
He doesn't care, hes not driving it. LOL




Yeah! No kidding!!
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  #126  
Old 12-11-2016, 06:23 PM
S.White S.White is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by 96z28ss View Post
Very cool build.
Is this car being built for track days, or is there a series that this will run in?
It'll be used for track days and time attack type events.

Regarding the exhaust and heat concerns, the plan is to "double wall" the floor there and pack insulation between the layers if needed. If that's not enough, we'll vent the tunnel and/or add more insulation.
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  #127  
Old 02-07-2017, 08:52 AM
Fair Fair is offline
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Project Update February 6th, 2017: I have been pretty busy with running Vorshlag, adding content to the new website, starting a second business, and remodeling my house that is about to go on the market. So the spare time I used to use to write these build thread updates has been in short supply. Work on the 69 Camaro has been moving along at a steady pace (dictated by the owner) and I needed to catch up, a lot. While my wife was watching Superbowl 51 last night I broke out my laptop and put this together.



Lots of good work to show on the Camaro - the body went back on the chassis and it was off the fab table for good! This time we show the body going back into the frame, the dual 3" exhaust routing through the tunnel and to mufflers out back, and finally aluminum flat bottom undertray panels being built.

BODY ONTO CHASSIS, DRIVETRAIN INSTALLED

This was exciting - reunification of body and chassis! At this point the unibody was so trimmed away and light that it was really easy for 2 people to lift it. Using 4 people it could be spread apart and fit around the roll cage structure and frame rails in half a minute. Once this was tack welded to the frame rails it wasn't ever coming off the frame again - this isn't that kind of body. A composite body is usually made to be removable, but this steel unibody will need to be welded to the frame - hence the reason for painting the areas we did.



Now it was time to put the engine and transmission together for the last time before it is fired up. Now we didn't spec or supply any of the drivetrain bits outside of the innards of the ford 9", so Ryan went over every detail to double-check what was brought to us.



There are normally two dowels in the back of the block on an LS3 crate engine like this. But these had been man handled in a previous life and were mangled beyond repair, so they were removed and replaced. You don't want to forget to fix something like this after the drivetrain is assembled and back in the car.



I didn't get any close-up pictures of the clutch, but its a 5.5" triple disc setup that uses a hydraulic throw out bearing/slave cylinder and a unique bell housing for the g-force transmission. A very small diameter clutch with limited engagement range and a transmission without synchros means this is a setup best suited for track use - and little else. But those things also mean it will be light and strong.



Just a shot of the engine bay with mounts in place but the motor out (above left) then with the LS3 engine back back in there. Up to this point in the build the fabricated transmission crossmember was only tack welded together and held in with some clamps. The reason for the unusual shape of the transmission crossmember will be apparent below, when we go over exhaust routing.



Now it was time to final weld that crossmember and add the threaded bungs for it's mounting bolts to the chassis. These bungs were created from some steel round bar in the lathe - machined with a face to butt up to the tubing, threaded through a hole. Then a hole was drilled in the tubular chassis member and these were welded in place, on both sides of the tube. Now the bolts for the crossmember had somewhere to thread into. A bolt and nut would simply crush the square tubing, and welding in an anti-crush sleeve was not a whole lot less work than making these threaded bungs. These bolted connections can now be done into a blind area where accessing the nut would be difficult.



the custom ordered 3.5" diameter aluminum driveshaft arrived while the body was at paint and could now be installed. Up until now we had only seen a PVC pipe mocked up in place.

HEADER FINAL WELDING, TRANS TUNNEL, EXHAUST

The headers needed a little final welding so the ends were capped, the interior was flooded with an insert gas (Argon) and Ryan TIG welded all the remaining joints. The headers were then installed onto the engine



Another batch of parts the customer supplied included the Aviad external, belt driven oil pump, which came with some bracket parts and pulleys to fit an LS3. With the now narrower frame encroaching on that space it needed to be re-mounted so the adjustable bracket turn buckle was machined and built to tuck the pump in between the frame rail and block.

continued below
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  #128  
Old 02-07-2017, 08:56 AM
Fair Fair is offline
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continued from above



With the transmission and driveshaft in place, now it was time to start building the inner transmission tunnel. Due to the very low ride height and flat bottom undertray design planned, we routed the exhaust up inside the transmission tunnel next to the driveshaft.



This seems like a controversial part of this build, but we have a plan, and we do this all the time on cars like BMWs. The E36 M3 above has dual 3" exhaust into a 4" oval exhaust, up in the tunnel, and the E46 M3 on the right has dual 2.5" into a 3.5", also above the bottom of the floor. This is one of the reasons we elected not to use a carbon fiber driveshaft on the 69 Camaro. The yokes are always bonded to the CF tube and exhaust heat could be an issue there.



The partial tunnel structure shown is made from tubular steel and will later be skinned in aluminum. It will be a bit taller than stock but no taller than some more modern chassis we work with. This tunnel structure gives room to stuff the twin 3" exhaust pipes above the bottom of the floor. And before the arm chair quarterbacks chime in - the tunnel will have ample insulation to the driver/passenger, to keep exhaust heat at bay. All of this is being done to make the bottom of this car truly flat. The payoff will be worth the effort.



Magnaflow stepped up with a sponsorship for this build, without much prompting, and supplied the various tubing, bends and mufflers.



The Long shifter assembly was modified and installed, then the shift handle and shifter assembly were mocked up on top of the tunnel structure. Ryan then quickly built the driver's side collector extension around the shift rods and added a 3" V-band connector. Then he built the passenger side collector extension and V-band, with some bends and turns to get that side of the exhaust to "crossover" to the driver's side of the tunnel - which has more room.



Back to the driver's side now, where the exhaust is routed under the arch on the transmission tunnel, then turns up. At right you can see Ryan welding up a lot of bends. This is one of my favorite pictures on this entire build...



This shows the complex routing going on within a handful of inches. First, a crossover to get both 3" exhaust tubes on the same side. This is turned into an X-merge of both pipes, but not the traditional type. Admittedly space constraints made this all look pretty compact but it will be worth it when the flat bottom panels are built.



The shot from underneath shows how critical each of these bends had to be calculated, measured, marked, cut and tack welded.

continued below
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  #129  
Old 02-07-2017, 08:57 AM
Fair Fair is offline
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continued from above



Here you can see the clearance to to the shift rods as well as to the driveshaft yoke. What may not be evident is that the drivetrain is shifted off center in this chassis, away from the driver. This designed in drivetrain offset is normally done to give additional clearance from the steering shaft to the exhaust and to counter the driver's weight. In this case it made additional room to route the exhaust on the driver's side, buried up in the transmission tunnel.



These two round Magnaflow mufflers were mounted in the back seat area, above the axle housing. These will eventually be hidden under panels but are still visible during construction. Ryan built the stainless steel double saddle mounts for both the front and rear of each mufflers. These will be secured to the saddle mounts with a spring on the top side.



The shot above shows the routing for the exhaust from the headers, collectors, to the crossover and X-merge.



Now it was time to connect the X-merge section of the exhaust to the mufflers. A pair of V-band clamps were added, to allow the center section of the exhaust to be disconnected from the muffler end.



Some of the last steps of the exhaust were done after the flat bottom panels were added (see below), but the picture above shows the extent of the exhaust fabrication at this stage. The exit of the two mufflers was later routed into the rear diffuser, which I will show in a future post.

FLAT BOTTOM PANELS

A flat bottom undertray is a modern aerodynamic device that is used to lower drag under the car as well as feed air to a rear mounted diffuser, which we are adding (I tease that at the very end of this post). Below is the complete set of flat undertray panels built for this 69 Camaro, which are unique to this custom tube framed chassis. The chassis structure was built with flat panels in mind, so there weren't any weird mounts that had to be made - the flat panels fit right to the underside of the square structural tubing of the floor and frame rails.



Unlike some home built undertray panels which use flimsy materials like Alumalite or plastic, we are using 1/8" thick 6061-T6 aluminum sheet. This is slightly heavier but is MUCH stronger than materials you can buy at a sign shop. These will also make the chassis stiffer. After seeing Alumalite panels rip off at speed, we went with stronger material that can withstand the aero forces we expect to see.



Ryan started the first 4x8' sheet by cutting it longways, to make the two main panels that travel fore aft under the cabin. Our sheer isn't long enough to make an 8' cut, nor is the throat on our bandsaw big enough, so he made that cut with a jig saw and a steady hand. Then he laid out the shapes needed from templates made using craft board.



The panels were then cut, clamped to the chassis, and mounting holes drilled through the panel and into the tubing. Many of these will have blind rivets, and the main outer panels shown will also be bonded to the (painted) chassis before they are riveted in place. Some panels will be removable for service and have threaded fasteners with flush heads on the bottom. During fabrication the panels are all held in place by removable Cleco clamps - which you can see hanging under the car, and look like bullet casings.

continued below
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  #130  
Old 02-07-2017, 08:58 AM
Fair Fair is offline
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continued from above



Once the two main fore-aft outer panels were added the center panel was added at the back between them. Then a removable panel needed to be built for the transmission area. To mount this a set of "doubler plates" was added to the outer panels. These then house threaded mounts for the transmission panel to bolt onto, and the whole seam remains flush.



This transmission is another piece that had been bought for the car long before we were enlisted. This transmission was ordered in the "straight up" configuration which causes the bottom of the housing to hand down much lower than the dry sump pan or bellhousing. Most racing transmissions like this can be ordered in a "sideways" configuration that allows the "bottom" (or side, depending on how you look at it) of the trans to align with the bottom of a short dry sump oil pan. Yes, in this configuration it is the lowest part of the car. We will make a partial skid plate at the front of the trans at a later date, but Ryan kept pushing forward with the flat panels for now and let the casing poke through as shown.



You can see from the image above how much higher the bottom of the dry sump oil pan sits than the bottom of the G-Force transmission. Sometimes you have to work with what you have, and this is still a great transmission. A little skid plate at the front won't totally disrupt the airflow, and exposing part of the trans to the under car air stream will help with cooling the fluid inside.



Between the transmission panel and the lower panel of the front splitter was a gap that needed one more panel, a removable piece under the engine oil pan. There are some areas shown that allow for suspension travel and tire turning, which we cannot cover up, but otherwise the assembly of undertray panels make for a seamless flat surface from the tip of the splitter to the rear axle area.



Again, most of the panels can be unbolted for service - which is visible above with the trans and oil pan panels removed.



After seeing the exhaust boxed in above the undertray panels, even more will ask: will the exhaust heat trapped inside all of these panels make the cabin hotter?? We have planned (see above right) for ways to get some of that heat out of this tunnel as well as shielding between exhaust and the driver. Normally on a tube framed flat bottom car (think: GT1, Trans Am, etc) the exhaust takes up the passenger side door area and exits out the side, but on this car - made for 2 occupants, a blown diffuser, and no "wide body" - that's a little tougher. We are planning a track test before final paint that will allow us to test and monitor temps in several areas.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Next time I will show the dozens of panels designed and built for the interior - to cover the transmission tunnel, to build a firewall, to enclose the dry sump tank, and more.



We will also show the mounting of the defroster, wiper motors, dash, and some much needed "false floor" panels to rest your feet on - and stand on as you enter/exit the cage. The undertray panels are NOT the floor you will see from the inside, that's another set of panels. So we spent the next few weeks in "panel making hell", which isn't exactly the sexiest fab work. It is all very necessary to keep fire, heat, and fluids away from the passenger cabin - and I'll show that next time.



Here's a tease of the rear diffuser, which was recently completed. The flat bottom floor feeds smooth air to the diffuser, which should make some downforce.

Until next time,
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