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Old 05-24-2016, 12:04 PM
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Default Roadster Shop SPEC Camaro

A brief introduction and background on the SPEC Series chassis line up:
With our previous focus being building high end, very detailed chassis and suspension components, we realized that there was a very large market that we were missing. With our extremely labor intensive method of building chassis, we simply could not compete with many of our competitors building square tube chassis that required a fraction of the time and cost. In order to be more competitive, we could have resorted to cheaper, overseas components but had a hard time sleeping at night knowing that we would be delivering an inferior product simply to get the price down. So, our decision was made to engineer a a new chassis line up that was targeted at an under $10,000 price point and would still use the same high quality components, detailed fabrication, strength, and ride quality of our Fast Track and REVO chassis lines. The SPEC Series was born. The SPEC Series is a budget minded chassis that still retains the Roadster Shop's principles of quality, craftsmanship, and performance. Through engineering, production based designs, and an array of modern technology the goal was accomplished.

The car:
To begin the process we wanted to start with the cars that we felt had the largest potential market and could benefit the most from a complete chassis. The 1st gen Camaro, C10 truck, 55-57 Chevy, 59-64 Impala, and 64-72 Chevelle were selected as the initial offerings. The Camaro and the C10 would be the first into development.
We set out to find the best, cleanest original cars to design off of, which proved to be more involved than we planned. The first “all original, untouched original paint, survivor” 67 Camaro from California arrived and turned out to be a complete bondo bucket. The only thing it had survived was a trip to sub-par body shop for a fast paint job and make over to look “all original” . We located another all original 69 Camaro from the south west and had it shipped in. Well, that one was all original except for the 2 quarters that were put on and the patches in the floor. Neither would do for the start of a chassis design. After a little more looking, I found an incredible 68 Camaro with killer patina hiding all the way at the back of the Good Guys show in Indianapolis. I went back to the car 15+ times trying to find the owner to make an offer on the car, but no one was ever with it. Finally as we were finishing tearing down after the show, I saw the car again with someone standing next to it. I flew out of the truck and ran to the car to discuss it with the owner. After some talking and prying, I was able to get him interested in selling the car. A few weeks later and a few phone calls back and forth, we agreed upon a price that we were both happy with and made the deal. This turned out to be the cleanest Camaro that we have ever seen. All original panels, zero rust, perfect faded satin patina and a really cool look with the nose and rocker stripes.













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Old 05-24-2016, 12:41 PM
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The car was then disassembled in order to begin 3D scanning.


The entire floor, underside, and sides of the car were scanned with our Faro Arm to generate a complete 3D model of the car.







Some of the initial point cloud raw data directly off the scanner
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Old 05-24-2016, 04:24 PM
gofastwclass gofastwclass is offline
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Very cool. I like the scanner.
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Old 05-25-2016, 07:04 AM
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Very cool that you're showing the process involved in designing the SPEC chassis. We demo'd a FARO arm with the laser scanning capability at work a couple weeks ago, but the laser is overkill for what we do. Very nice piece, though.
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Old 05-25-2016, 07:44 AM
grendel grendel is offline
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In for the ride.
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My garage builds, with some hack and professional love thrown in:

68 GMC C1500
Haulin more than the mail

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Old 05-25-2016, 09:17 AM
bikerman9967 bikerman9967 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Graham08 View Post
Very cool that you're showing the process involved in designing the SPEC chassis. We demo'd a FARO arm with the laser scanning capability at work a couple weeks ago, but the laser is overkill for what we do. Very nice piece, though.
they are but cant hold accuracy under .007 it seems. for cars they are overkill
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Old 05-25-2016, 09:58 AM
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Using the Faro Arm, followed by many hours of 3D modeling, we produced an exact 3D model of the underside of the car. Having this model we could then plug in our suspension, engine, and trans models and start designing the frame to contour around the factory floor. There was an extensive list of goals that we set out to accomplish on this chassis design. In addition to our internal suspension geometry and performance goals the big points that we aimed for were:
  • An affordable price point under $10,000 for a complete chassis with suspension. (Brakes and 3rd member are additional)
  • A true, simple bolt-on chassis with out any floor modifications.
  • Much need strength upgrade that structurly ties the entire car together
  • Low, aggressive ride height
  • Keeping the frame rails tight to the body so nothing was hanging below the car.
  • Ability to work with all of the different LS engine and transmission combinations
  • Ample clearance for exhaust
  • Accommodate a 345 rear tire (when mini-tubbed)

There are currently 9 other 1st Gen Camaros in the shop which gave us plenty of data to compare across all cars. We were able to design a complete chassis that was 100% bolt on with zero body modifications. We added additional body mounts that bolt into existing holes and/or mounting points on the stock Camaro body for added strength and support.

Here are some screen shots of the completed chassis design under the Camaro floor model.











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Old 05-25-2016, 10:30 AM
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califconstruct califconstruct is offline
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Wow, that's amazing..!

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Old 05-25-2016, 11:54 AM
Dave95z28 Dave95z28 is offline
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What's the weight of the Spec Frame/Suspension compared to a stock sub, leafs and maybe subframe connectors?

Does it add much weight?

Dave
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Old 05-25-2016, 01:06 PM
Zoomin Zoomin is offline
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Love the concept. The 1st gen Camaro's really leave a lot to be desired in the chassis department.
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