Twist Machine Camaro Update

[Steve Chryssos]

Sorry boys and girls, I'm feeling wordy tonight!

Owned since 1981, the current iteration of my car was started in 1999 and "finished" in 2002. New York winters suck, so the car receives tweaks each year when the weather gets too cold and the plow trucks wreck the roads. So just picture if most every winter, your car looked like this:
http://homepage.mac.com/streetfytr/.Pictures/Photo%20Album%20Pictures/2007-05-09%2011.26.49%20-0700/Image-93135547FE5A11DB.jpg

That picture is from the Bullrun Contest upgrade in 2007. Engine, drivetrain, rear suspension and cockpit were all pulled to allow for a number of reliability improvements as well as a new rear cage structure and fuel cell. What a fiasco! Two months worth of work crammed into 10 days for a contest that we only "might" have won. We didn't. The shoe-in seemed to be a bisexual swimsuit model with size XL bolt ons who also wrenches and races. Given that this was the Bullrun, she seemed like the perfect candidate. We didn't stand a chance. Instead, some gomer with a Datsun 240 Z wearing a Ferrari body kit won. Sweet car, but he pathetically referred to it as a Ferrari--non stop! Very annoying. His win was beyond mysterious. In the end, all we had was an upgraded car and a new friendship. And that's plenty.

Anyway, after 28 years of ownership, this car is chock full of stories like that. Theft and recovery, a near fatal wreck, Power Tour and countless "What seems to be the problem, officer?" stories--the list goes on and on. Wrenching on that car even spawned a business--Twist Machine. The American Dream. All the while, we'd put it together and take it apart. Rinse and repeat. Buddies and I.

The 2007 redo sparked a unique friendship. Jake Parrott shut down his then body shop business to help me prep the car for a contest with no guarantees. Looking back, we were practically strangers. Just fellow members of internet message boards called Lateral-g.net and pro-touring.com? Who does that? Bust ass to help a long distance acquaintance? That takes some character. Jake's effort and skills as a fabricator leave me forever in debt. Thanks Jake.

This years winter upgrades are a little late. I waved goodbye to the car last September after RTH4. I only saw it once when Jimmy Mulvey and I went up to Maine to work on THE NEW CAR. ;) In two years, Jake's body shop business has evolved into Jake's Rod Shop (http://www.jakesrodshop.com). There's a wait list if you want in. We've both been too busy to work on my car and too busy to care.

But spring is in the air. Leaf springs, that is. They gotta go. Jake's Rod Shop will be installing a Jake's Rod Shop Torque Arm rear suspension system and shocks. The gi-normously humungous stainless steel fuel cell, custom built by another good friend John Parsons, will be replaced with a normal sized cell. Gotta make room for the panhard bar. We'll also replace the eight year old, rock hard Nitto NT555 tires, with some Toyo R888's.

The upgrades will be short and sweet. I'll chronicle the suspension swap here. Don't expect any wow-wee show car stuff, this car has always been rough around the edges. I like it that way. At a time when our country seems to be run by slick barbarians (congress), I thought I'd share a little humanity--car guy style--while bragging on a guy who won't brag about himself. Here's some teardown pix. Keep that camera handy Jake!!


http://homepage.mac.com/streetfytr/.Pictures/Posting/depravedupdate/IMG_3294.JPG
The DSE 3" leaf springs sit perfect. But you give up some ride quality to get the stance. With the torque arm, I'll have it all.

http://homepage.mac.com/streetfytr/.Pictures/Posting/depravedupdate/IMG_3297.JPG
Little by little I get rid of almost 30 years of amateur mods. These muffler hangers are an embarrassment. Somehow they never failed.

http://homepage.mac.com/streetfytr/.Pictures/Posting/depravedupdate/IMG_3301.JPG
Jake has removed the Competition Engineering upper shock crossmember and the front brace of my custom cell mount. The CE shock crossmember has been in place since the late 80's--long before DSE made a much better design. Exhaust clearance was never quite right with this crossmember. And the 9" would just kiss it on bump. Not enough to do damage, but enough to make a loud noise. BANG! More than anything, I will be glad to get rid of this crossmember. It simply was never designed for lowered cars. BANG!

http://homepage.mac.com/streetfytr/.Pictures/Posting/depravedupdate/IMG_3302.JPG
The Moser 9" rear will stay. So will the Baer 12" brakes with PBR calipers. Hey! In Y2K, these were the hot setup! Yes, my brake line tabs are hose clamped in place. Hopefully my welding fairy will tack them in place.
Thanks for looking,
/Steevo

[Spiffav8]

It's all good stuff brother!!

[GHOSTDANCER]

Subscribed Can't wait to see how it turns out. :thumbsup: :cheers:

[skatinjay27]

cant wait to see more pics...
your car was and will always be one of my top faviorate cars!
it was the car that turned me onto pro-touring/g-machines.

[Cread01]

can't wait to see more pics. This is one of my favorite camaro's around.

[Speedster]

Steevo -

Your car is like Project X. Always something new going on. My son still has the shot of him next to your car on the wall in his bedroom from HRPT 2006. It's one of his favorite photos. You are a legend...

[Rick Dorion]

Cool, Steve. I'll be following this for ideas. Your car is an inspiration and, I too, hope to get in line at Jake's in the future. He's been a great help in my new therapy program.

[Datsbad]

Its about time this ride gets some updates Steevo !
Looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

Jake being a one man band probably doesnt sleep much these days. !
Keep up the good work ....

[awr68]

Awesome! Those updates will be real nice!! :cheers:

[Flash68]

Love that car.

[Rybar]

Looks good Steve, please tell me you are mini-tubbing at this stage?? :thumbsup:

[Steve1968LS2]

Always loved your car Steveo.. it was a inspiration to my BP build.

Can't wait to see the mods!

[DFRESH]

Steve, why did you choose the torque arm suspension? I know you mentioned ride quality, but what else, in your opinion will you be gaining or hope to gain from going that route? I know many of the guys here are very loyal to DSE, Lat Dynamics, etc. and feel that they are the best respectively, however I've learned from years of mostly drag racing that "best" doesn't necessarly fit all conditions and driver types. I've seen leaf spring cars at open car events across the country hammer the other setups, and vice versa. Driver and car setup is obviously a huge factor.

I was hoping Rupp was going to use the new BMR setup on Track Rat so we could see how that would actually work out since it is a mix of torque arm and watts link. Since you are using a similar (same?) setup and you actually use your car at the track and on the street, I am really curious about your choice and why. I have some friends who work or have worked with torque arm suspensions and swear by them for applications like yours (mine) but I haven't made the purshase yet. With SpeedTech and BMR coming out with these, I am anxious to see some testing and get opinions on them. Frank at Prodigy was going to be doing some testing with the SpeedTech setup at some point, but I am happy to see that you are going this route so that we can see your opinions also, if you are willing to share them.

Love your car and the products you offer, especially the new guage bezels.

Thanks Man.

Doug

[skatinjay27]

jakes 69 test car has his TA set-up on it but like steve said jakes a quiet guy and never posts about it... theres videos of his car running on the track with it too.

[XLexusTech]

jakes 69 test car has his TA set-up on it but like steve said jakes a quiet guy and never posts about it... theres videos of his car running on the track with it too.

I had the fortune of being able to witness this suspension in action. I was impressed after watching Jake thrash around the track passing race prepped cars. I did see a write up on the BMR in super Chevy this month the watts link is interesting.

I did read somewhere that it is tough to build a bad Torque arm. So a good reason to go with a Jakes Rod shop version is Jake himself

[Steve Chryssos]

Steve, why did you choose the torque arm suspension? I know you mentioned ride quality, but what else, in your opinion will you be gaining or hope to gain from going that route? I know many of the guys here are very loyal to DSE, Lat Dynamics, etc. and feel that they are the best respectively, however I've learned from years of mostly drag racing that "best" doesn't necessarly fit all conditions and driver types. I've seen leaf spring cars at open car events across the country hammer the other setups, and vice versa. Driver and car setup is obviously a huge factor.

I was hoping Rupp was going to use the new BMR setup on Track Rat so we could see how that would actually work out since it is a mix of torque arm and watts link. Since you are using a similar (same?) setup and you actually use your car at the track and on the street, I am really curious about your choice and why. I have some friends who work or have worked with torque arm suspensions and swear by them for applications like yours (mine) but I haven't made the purshase yet. With SpeedTech and BMR coming out with these, I am anxious to see some testing and get opinions on them. Frank at Prodigy was going to be doing some testing with the SpeedTech setup at some point, but I am happy to see that you are going this route so that we can see your opinions also, if you are willing to share them.

Love your car and the products you offer, especially the new guage bezels.

Thanks Man.

Doug


Thanks Doug,
I want a system that's easy to install, tunable and solves my car's current performance limitations namely, understeer at the auto-X, wheel hop at the drags, and poor ride quality. I'm not a good driver. I need a system that will help me get the back of the car around. I need a system that will help me get back in the throttle sooner. I like that a torque arm bolts right to the front subframe--the strongest point on the car--as opposed to stock or welded in sheetmetal points. Torque arms will flourish because they offer great handling without floorpan intrusion. As a hot rodder, real world packaging is a higher priority than anti-squat percentages. That's a worthwhile compromise--and I think most hot rodders will agree. Torque arm brake hop is a non-issue on our cars. Wheelbase is sufficiently long and so is the length of the torque arm itself.

It's ALL compromise.

The Lateral Dynamics 3 link gets top praise for its kinematically free design. It deserves that praise. On the way to earning that praise, fear mongers had us believe that roll bind--inherent to a four link--would cause our cars to flip over and burst into flames. In other words, handling with a four link is somehow unacceptable. I think its safe to say that Detroit Speed has thoroughly, frequently and publicly dispelled that pile of nutty brown bull$#!t. The same holds true for Air Ride's tri-four bar arrangement. On paper, the tri four bar is a step below a parallel four bar, but our own house car has shown that it can run with DSE in the turns. And it kicks ass at the drags. A torque arm setup can also be kinematically free, so detractors will hyper focus on anti-squat percentages and hypothetical brake hop.

I think we should delete the word "best" from these conversations because our cars embody compromise. The best geometry might yield the hardest installation or the highest cost factor. Best here, worst there. A tri-four bar is cake to install, but the geometry is not "best". Replace that word with "priorities", and for me a torque arm rises to the top. Great handling, tune-ability, excellent packaging (i.e. exhaust and no floorpan intrusion). And if severe wheel hop at the drags becomes wheelspin? I'll be happy. I've wanted a torque arm forever. I'm like a kid on Christmas eve waiting to open his present.

[Ummgawa]

Stevo

Your car and you are definately "Originals". Great to see the ride getting updated.

[Steve Chryssos]

Wait 'til you see the new car. Definitely radical.

Thanks for all the kind words everyone.

[Steve Chryssos]

Looks good Steve, please tell me you are mini-tubbing at this stage?? :thumbsup:

Oops! Sorry Ryan, I missed your post. No no mini-tubs or 335's for this car. It has one of THE first aftermarket subframes ever made. Built long before any subframe that accepts 275 front tires. I don't like mixing 255 fronts with 335 rears or even 315's. So we'll stick with 255/285's.

[Steve Chryssos]

Alright! It's almost done. Getting ready for the MSC. The Jake's Rod Shop Apex Pro-TA rear suspension system is in place. As promised, the stock 41 year old floorpan is 100% intact--no cutting whatsoever. And I have full length tailpipes that cap off a nicely tucked exhaust system. My particular installation included a one-off fuel cell that is not relevant to any other installation. The stainless steel cell was originally built for me by John Parsons. Jake had to shorten it to make room for the rear crossmember.

http://web.me.com/streetfytr/iWeb/TwistMachineLLC/2009%20Upgrades_files/IMG_3885.jpg
The main crossmember locates the torque arm. It comes fully welded and notched for exhaust clearance.

http://web.me.com/streetfytr/iWeb/TwistMachineLLC/2009%20Upgrades_files/IMG_3906.jpg
The rear crossmember accepts Jake's custom valved Bilstein absorbers as well as the panhard bar. Yes, there's room for tailpipes.

http://web.me.com/streetfytr/iWeb/TwistMachineLLC/2009%20Upgrades_files/IMG_3921.jpg
The torque arm bolts to brackets welded to the axle housing. There are 3 links. The torque arm and the two outer links.

http://web.me.com/streetfytr/iWeb/TwistMachineLLC/2009%20Upgrades_files/IMG_3915.jpg
Jake's Rod Shop is the only brand that includes this serrated/block panhard bar adjuster. Ordinary panhard bars need to be disassembled. With this design, just loosen the hardware to adjust the height.

http://web.me.com/streetfytr/iWeb/TwistMachineLLC/2009%20Upgrades_files/IMG_3920.jpg
Here's a decent shot of the the rear link mounts. What you can't see is the TA brace that bolts to the 9" center section. AKA pumpkin; AKA ham; AKA pig. To make the most of geometry, end link brackets weld to the axle housing.

[Steve1968LS2]

Nice, looking forward to seeing it in a few weeks. :)

[Steve Chryssos]

More:
http://web.me.com/streetfytr/iWeb/TwistMachineLLC/2009%20Upgrades_files/IMG_3936.jpg
The Apex Pro-TA lets you tuck a full length exhaust system. To save time and money, my old Flowmaster 3" system has been pieced back together. Over the winter, I plan to do custom headers and an oval tube 3.5" exhaust system.

http://web.me.com/streetfytr/iWeb/TwistMachineLLC/2009%20Upgrades_files/IMG_3933.jpg
A lot of rear suspension systems do not allow room for tailpipes leaving you SOL on noise reduction. Tailpipes are critical for me. I refuse to choke on fumes.

http://web.me.com/streetfytr/iWeb/TwistMachineLLC/2009%20Upgrades_files/IMG_3889.jpg
This poor fuel cell has been hacked and tweaked more times than I care to remember. Jake shortened it front to back to make room for the rear crossmember.

http://web.me.com/streetfytr/iWeb/TwistMachineLLC/2009%20Upgrades_files/IMG_3967.jpg
Yes, the cell will be painted. But never mind that. Check out the custom trunk pan around the cell. Jake's Rod Shop built the sheetmetal and framework from scratch and then finished it with filler and schultz paint.

http://web.me.com/streetfytr/iWeb/TwistMachineLLC/2009%20Upgrades_files/IMG_3950.jpg
Jake's out there hammering my car right now. I'm not. With leaf springs, the car used to suffer from severe wheel hop and a driveline vibration at triple digit speeds. Early reports indicate that both issues have been resolved. I can't wait to drive it.

[Vegas69]

Very nice....the only thing I see tha makes me a little uneasy is the way the coilover is mounted to the rear end. Looks like a long thin spacer. I'd prefer an aluminum block or steel block with a shorter stud.

[OLDFLM]

Looks very cool Steve and sounds like it's solved all your previous issues!! :thumbsup: Can't wait to get the torque arm on my car and feel the difference first hand! Always love to read your write-ups... it's like hearing the narrator from "Rides" in my head! LOL Extremely well written and detailed install!! :cheers:

[68protouring454]

Very nice....the only thing I see tha makes me a little uneasy is the way the coilover is mounted to the rear end. Looks like a long thin spacer. I'd prefer an aluminum block or steel block with a shorter stud.

custom cnc mounts are on the way(i have over 4k street miles on my test car, with over 700 laps between nhms,watkins glen and mt. tremblant circuits with no issue), but what you dont see is the 1/2 thick plate the the single shear lower shock mounts bolts into behind the trailing arm bracket. btw the spacer is 1.375 long

[Kendall Burleson]

Killer setup the mounts are killer but I love it. what about pinion angle change?how is that done?:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[Vegas69]

custom cnc mounts are on the way(i have over 4k street miles on my test car, with over 700 laps between nhms,watkins glen and mt. tremblant circuits with no issue), but what you dont see is the 1/2 thick plate the the single shear lower shock mounts bolts into behind the trailing arm bracket. btw the spacer is 1.375 long

I know you have beat the hell out of it just making an observation.

[Rybar]

Looks like a really nice setup. :thumbsup:

[comp-spec]

Nice Steve
If it runs like Jakes did when I seen Jake drive his ...... WOW

[Steve Chryssos]

Run up there and take it for a spin, Pete. No wheelies though!

[Vegas69]

Notice no sway bar....are you running one on yours Jake?

[DFRESH]

Thanks for the updates Steve. When will you be able to get in the car and give your opinion?

Can you PM me the cost of Jakes setup?

Thanks Bro

Doug

[68protouring454]

nope no sway bar, sway bar is not the only tuning method.

[Vegas69]

Gotcha....a soft ride on the street requires a softer spring and the sway bar is the band aid on the track. Maybe I'll hold off on that sway bar after all.

[comp-spec]

Run up there and take it for a spin, Pete. No wheelies though!


Ya!!!!!
JAKE, I'M ON MY WAY

[Mikael A]

Very cool Steve cant wait for a ride.:woot: