The Camaro Club (UK)

I’d been looking into brake upgrades, and some more suspension aids, as the handlmg is limited by the geoemtry you can get with the standard suspension arms. So i decided to try the SPC adjustable upper arms, which provide camber and caster adjustment way in excess of just the standard shims, and reduce weight too. Nice looking pieces..
(these were modified a few months later to shorten the front section of the Arm to get more castor. SPC now offer shorter front section to do this)



Also a good time to add the Howe rebuildable tall ball joint, having a longer shaft alledgedly helps handling by increasing effective spindle height, and improves the suspension motion arc.



The main job was the big brake upgrade, which used C5 Corvette calipers and discs, and conversion kit from Custom Works with caliper bracket, new custom hubs and hoses.



It uses the chunky 12.75” Vette discs and I found a set of good condition 2nd hand calipers from a crashed 2002 car.



The spindle needs to be modified and the parts then just bolt up.



Mark at Dreamshack did this work too, with me assisting and we fitted new longer studs to the hubs to go metric and match the rears, which were converted by using the spacers. Yellowstuff EBC pads were fitted to the Corvette calipers too.



These brakes are way bigger than standard and finally fill the 18’ wheels out. After a few teething problems which turned out to be just a dodgy brake master cylinder, all was good and the new brakes felt really good.

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

Next big trip, and main reason for brake upgrade, was The Petrolhead Alpine Tour in September 2010. Sneaking into the Eurotunnel here.



Huge 8 day roadtrip taking in 2500 miles across France, Germany, Switzerlad and Italy and visiting all the famous mountain passes like San Bernadino here..



And the very high Stelvio..



As well as places like the Mille Miglia Museum. Luckily on the only wet day.



This was without doubt the most exciting driving experience I think I’ve ever done, and the whole atmosphere, the roads the 2-way radios you’re equipped with, and the sheer speeds we were driving at on properly scary alpine routes just combine to make it the best trip ever.

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

After the Alpine tour, and one quite scary moment on the Fluella pass involving a truck on the wrong side of the road, I decided I would get a roll cage fitted. So back to Mark at Dreamshack, who’s main business is building VW based sandrail frames so knocking up roll cages are a doddle.



He also fabbed up the front G braces to triangulate between front suspension points and the bulkhead for added chassis rigidity.



The battery was shifted to the boot (Ok… . trunk) and a shift light added, as I realize you can’t see the rev counter on track easily.



After the roll cage and G bars were fitted a track day at Snetterton (above) revealed the handling balanced had changed due to the stiffening of the chassis, so I added an adjustable GenII rear sway bar from Custom Works. A brilliant way of tuning oversteer/understeer.



With some aggressive geometry set up by Autopontiac, and the new rear bar, another track day at Abingdon showed the car was really balanced now.

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

I picked up some nice new front seats (another Ebay bargain) from a guy breaking his Skyline drift car, and some nice 4 point harness's.



A few more events this summer, including my first visit to Bruntingthorpe at an Asda sponsored charity day taking people for rides. I got up to about 135 on the straight and realized my gearing is just to low, could get anywhere near into 5th gear in time.



Also took injured soldiers out for rides at Headley Court in 2011.



Another track day, this time at Bedford Autodrome, great underated circuit.

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

My car even got a feature in the American Auto Club UK magazine



More runs and track days followed during 2012, even in the ice and snow.



Getting into 1st gear had always been hard, and the wear on clutches always seemed a bit much, and finally I lost 1st gear one day, luckily locally, So the gearbox got a rebuild rebuild and new clutch summer 2012, and a new slightly smaller diameter clutch master cylinder fitted, which has helped give more throw to the clutch, pedal is a bit harder though.
I was working in the alps for nearly 3 months, so parked up over winter 12/13' while I was away.

February finally had the new rear gears the car was begging for fitted, so now it's 3.42 at the rear, with so much better drivability and shifting through the cogs at the right speed for the corner is less of an issue.

A few weeks a later the rear disc conversion got fitted in March 2013, using the kit from SSBC purchased ages ago from Si1979, finally fitted here.



Upgrade to Motul RBF600 brake fluid (serious high temp race stuff) and fit an adjustable proportioning valve to set the rear/front brake bias.



Few more chassis repairs



Trick spherical front leaf bushes from Custom Works that I’d had laying around for 18 months were finally fitted,. Supposed to help articulate the spring in the mount to help keep the rear inside tyre flat.



Brands hatch track day June 2013 showed the new rear brakes work well, and spring mods help as power can maybe be put on a bit earlier out of a turn.

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

Stu, thanks for the posting this build / project / progress! Great story with it too and glad to see you get so much enjoyment out of it. You surely have persisted with all the issues you've had, a lot of people would have given up on it but it sounds like you've really worked through the issues and got to somewhere much better than when it started out. Good inspiration and i think anyone with a Camaro should take part in some of the activities you do. The Alpine 2,500 mile trip sounds amazing and no doubt it's hit my bucket list Glad to see all of the good times had with this Camaro, sounds like it's only just starting though!

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Those look unused!
Oh wait... crashed you say...

Also... is this your car? http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=pl ... 7Eo#t=238s

haha.. yes crashed Vette donated the calipers... I'd have been brillo padding all day to get the discs like that !!


yes, guilty on the video.. Think you can spot Pezza's red 4th gen there too..

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

Awesome. I remember seeing the vid and thinking MMmmmm Camaro...
Really nice car.

sweet ride what bm wheels did you have on the car?