1981TA

iTrader: (7)

We averaged 1:14 lap times (my buddy John driving). To give an idea what that's like, 1:14 is the SCCA AS record for this course, 1:11 is the GT2 track record. The car performed flawlessly. In this video, the first lap was a 1:13, then we hit traffic, got another clean lap, then more traffic, then more good laps.

In all, it was a great day and everyone there had a blast. It was the first track day where we didn't have to do major adjustments or fixes between sessions. Those who saw us at the 2012 MFBA trackweekend at Road America know what I'm talking about. The car is well sorted out now, we just have to do the normal things now: check tire pressure and temp, make shock adjustments and then drool over the other cars as they scream by in other run groups.

lucahemi

Awesome! how much does it cost to run there?

1981TA

iTrader: (7)

It was 250 for the day, plus we went through about 35 gallons of gas (the car was a bit thirsty). I think most cars will go through far less than that.

Joseph Freda

Looks like a fun course and your car looked hooked up!

gscherer78ta

iTrader: (1)

The video was inspiring. You were passing a lot of good road cars there.

Can you share some of your set up info with me- I'm just starting with my
'78 TA and would like to know where some of the low hanging fruit is. What camber settings are you running? What wheels and tires? I'm looking for wheels and tires to get better contact than my factory 15x8 with 245/60 BFG TA's provide but am having trouble coming up with a wheel that will just bolt on without me ordering a custom, $$$. Do you run spacers?

Thanks for the info!

1981TA

iTrader: (7)

The wheels were easy:

• Track - 2002 Camaro SS 17x9, with Continental EC-DR 275/40-17s on them (got at a steep discount from Hoosier Tire online, discontinued tires).
• Street and foul weather racing: 4th Gen Corvette 17x9 saw blades. On those, I have Continental Extreme Contact DW 275/40-17s. Tire Rack loves me.

In order to fit those wheels, however, you'll have to do some suspension mods.

• Rear isn't too hard: Use a BFH to deal with the seat belt bump in the tire wells.
• The front will require tubular upper and lower control arms. There are several options, and I went with Global West. Don't get poly bushings. Get Delrin or "Del-Alum." The UCAs get you better caster geometry and more space for deeper wheel offsets.
• both front and back will require 2" spacers. I got mine off ebay for $100 a set of four.

Now that the tires and wheels fit, you'll probably want it to handle well.

• For starters, I have stock WS6 sway bars front and back. Both have Poly bushings. They work fine, although the front bar is one heavy SOB
• For the rear, I followed the advice of Keith @ CustomWorksPerformance.net, and used Hypercoil composite springs, steel axle locator pads and Delrin upper rear shackle bushings. The lower rear shackle bushings are rubber. Front spring eye bushings appear to be poly or a really dense rubber. Shocks are Viking DAs. The springs saved nearly 70 pounds in unsprung weight, compared to the GW L-3s they replaced. That had a HUGE impact on handling.
• The rear axle is a normal 8.5" GM 10-bolt with a torsen / TrueTrak diff and Moser bolt-in 30-spine axles. The 30-spline diff is for a 90's era B-body or light truck and will fit an earlier 8.5 housing with correct bearings. Talk to Moser. The stock axle ends had to be chopped off and special Ford-style Moser ends were welded on. What did this buy me? C-clip elimination, a much stronger axle, and a clutch-free diff that doesn't need a rebuild after every track weekend. (I wore out two posi clutch packs prior to this)
• For the front, I'd done a slow build, getting parts over a period of years. Some things would change if I did it now, all in one shot. Springs are GW stock coil replacements. These lowered the car about 2" and work very well with the GW LCAs. I later got QA1 DA shocks. had I done it all now, I'd get GW LCAs made for coil-over shocks, so I could have some space to adjust ride height.
• Front brakes were replaced with a Wilwood kit I got from Jegs. It had 12.15x81 rotors and 4 piston dynalite calipers. They were great for drag racing, and saved 25 pounds per corner in unsprung weight. Awesome. Road racing however, quickly brought one big issue with it: heat. I had trouble shedding heat from the rotors. I fixed that with 3" cooling ducts. I also cooked the dynalites last year. I bought bigger 6-piston calipers and titanium brake pad shields to fix that problem. Titanium is a poor conductor and effectively reduces the speed by which heat from the brake pads soaks into the caliper. Had I to do it over again, I'd consider bigger rotors. Keep in mind, I had 16" GTA wheels until this winter. The low dollar route would be to convert the car to C5 front brakes. Custom Works has conversion parts available.

Take as much weight as you can off the nose of the car. the LS1/T56 combo was good for over 200 pounds, compared to the iron 305 SBC,, TH350 and boat anchor torque converter that it replaced. On mine, everything forward of the core support is aluminum. I had a treasure trove of structural tubing and L-extrusions laying around, and I just went to town with it. The radiator is a cheapy aluminum / plastic deal from Rock Auto. The hood is fiberglass. The Braille battery on my firewall saved over 50 pounds over the stock battery + trunk mounting kit + 16' of cable.

gscherer78ta

iTrader: (1)

Thank you for such a comprehensive explanation! That is awesome information and just was I was hoping to get. While I'm a long way from making my car a dedicated track car, this give me an idea of what to do.

My plans at this point are to get new wheels to increase the grip, add subframe connectors and then get as much seat time as I can while I determine what to do next.

Greg

1981TA

iTrader: (7)

Connectors are definitely the best first step (and pretty cheap too). 2nd gens flex quite a bit, and even more so with T-tops.

FASTFATBOY

iTrader: (23)

Amazing how slow a good smooth driver looks on camera.

I know it's not slow.

Great vid.