The Camaro Club (UK)

I reckon the best solution was one I saw with thru floor welded ones that just bolted at the front to the frame... In reality a new section of frame rail under the car, but with the option to remove the subframe if needed..

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“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

if i had the money id love one of this bolt in bad boys

http://schwartzperformance.com/1970-1981-f-body/
Your F-Body’s uni-body construction is inherently weak. Our G-Machine Chassis isn’t.

The sheet-metal that your suspension components and engine are mounted to begins to flex dramatically once you add more horsepower, higher spring-rates and better brakes. With our G-Machine Chassis, your engine, rear-end, steering and suspension are isolated from the body. The G-Machine Chassis becomes the main support for your car and the uni-body structure simply becomes added support, helping to tie together the G-Machine Chassis.

The G-Machine Chassis is available for 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980 & 1980 GM F-Bodies:
Chevrolet Camaro
Pontiac Firebird/Trans Am

Installation is simple.
You are not required to cut your floor-pan
The only required cutting is of minor brackets
The only required welding is of four mounting plates
The only required drilling is of two bolt-holes in the rear frame rails

Want wider tires?
All G-Machine Chassis allow fitment of up to 345mm-wide rear tires if you minitub the wheel wells
The Moser full-floating 9″ is narrowed to 56″ hub-to-hub to allow a deeper dish on the rear wheels

Very nice Andy. Would be good if I won the lottery tomorrow

I am going to make my own PTFB style frame connectors. I much prefer the way they bolt into the front and rear rails. Will be much stiffer than the CE ones I have now, and its only cost me £30 in materials, and will probably take about a day to fabricate. Might even get them poweder coated for a change.

Weathers going to be crap again this weekend, so doesn't look like I'll get much done again!

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

Finally got some good weather, and some parts....

Got some new springs, isolators, balljoints etc so I could put the front suspension back on. Springs are Moog 5664, just a tad shorter than the originals...



Bit of a battle getting it back together, but at least the springs don't need much compression to get them in, once I'd figured the best way to do it (trolley jack!). Just got to thread the shock in now and that's one side done.

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

Well squeezed a bit in before heading off to Bonneville this week. Nice weekend for it...

Finished making my subframe connectors. 3mm plate and 75x50x3mm box. Not too heavy but a lot more substantial than most of the bought ones. Bolted in front and back, 2x M12 at the back and 4x M8 at the front. Quite chuffed with the result. Squirted some paint on them today, so they can go on when I get back.





Also sorted out my steering boxes, pulled the pitman arm off the old one and the 3rd gen one. Which wasn't that easy to be honest, but got there eventually. Cleaned it all up and painted and fitted today.



Oh and I reshaped the front spring eyes on my leaf springs to make the bushes fit properly, nothing a big hammer and a large vice couldn't sort out. Hopefully they were a tight enough fit.

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

ahh so you are alive and well! thought you'd fallen asleep!

good to see more progress

All good work...

I think the pitman arm is supposed to need a special puller from what I remember, so not suprised it was a b*itch..

Sub frame connectors look nice, and very solid.. Hope they fit nice and snug to the floor..

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“You only live once, but if you do it right, once is enough.”

I used a 10 tonne hydraulic puller to get the pitman arm off, still wasnt enough though. Had to heat the old one up with oxy-acetelene and hit it with a big hammer to get it off. Then I sliced the 3rd gen one through to the splines and still had to pull it off. Trouble is the splines are also tapered so that didnt help.

SFC's sit less than 1/8" from the floor, they step up at the front level with the back of the front subframe. So at their lowest they are about 55mm below the floor. Hopefully no lower than the exhaust will be....

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

Well, I've been a bit quiet recently as I have been in the USA for 3 weeks.

The first order of business when I arrived was to visit some junk yards... Man am I jealous of what the guys in the US have at their disposal! Went to Ecology and Pick Your Part in LA and both had several second gens in various states of destruction, all completely rust free. I wanted a rear axle shaft and a pair of 12" disc front spindles from a bigger GM car. I found an axle shaft already removed, so grabbed it, $20. Found 2 sets of 12" spindles and had them off in no time, $100 a pair with the rotors. The other pair are for a friends TA. I wont see them again for about another 6 weeks as they float across the atlantic, but I wouldn't have been able to get those parts in the UK very easily at all.

Looks like I'll be pulling that spindle off the right side after all and fitting the 12" ones sooner than I thought! Cheap brake upgrade I hope, certainly cheaper than the SSBC option!

I fixed the sway bar mounts, drilled them out 11.5mm and then welded some bar to the top of some M10 high tensile bolts and threaded them through from the inside of the frame rail. Easy enough with everything else out of the way, used a bit of wire to get the rear one in near the steering box. Had to notch the new brackets to get the bushes sitting right on the pivot sections of the TA sway bar though. No big deal.

Put the left side front suspension together last night, nice and simple barring a small argument with the bottom wishbone.

Next I may take a look at the modifications to the gas tank in preparation for fitting fuel injection and fitting my aftermarket gauge sender. Gonna fit a 'sump' to the tank to do away with the need for fitting a swirl pot etc under the bonnet. Should be a much neater install, hopefully.

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.

Today I thought I'd make a start on the gas tank modifications for fuel injection. Starting with making a small baffled 'sump' for it. Used an old tank thats been well vented and been standing open a good few years. No worries about vapours in this one This should allow me to run an inline fuel pump at the back of the car, with just a feed and return line under the hood.

Its about 10"x7", drilled 2 1 1/4" holes in the tank under where the sump is fitted then welded it on. The take off at the front of the tank is the fuel outlet. I added another to use as a tank drain, figured it might come in useful one day. The tank has an old breather line welded into the top, which I plan to use as the fuel return. The gas cap I have has a breather so no problem there either.

Doing this job did remind me how much my TIG welding skills suck. Must find some time to practice Another mod is needed to fit my new fuel level sender

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My '80 progress thread - hugger orange! Now with LQ9 power - forged pistons, LS2 rods, 236/242, .621/.612, flowed and milled 317 heads. MS3X

4L80e, 12 bolt, 4.11, Moroso brute strength posi, steel shafts.

Subframe connectors, g-braces, solid body bushes, carbon hood and front bumper, custom door cards, Autometer gauges.