1974 Camaro Z28
Discussion
Rodd Nock said:
This thread partly inspired my own classic yank purchase, need to get my own thread written up asap so we can compare notes 
That's awesome news! What did you go for?Turn7 said:
Is that the dam at Lake Vryny (spelling) ?
It's actually Derwent in the Peak District - it's where the Lancasters practiced with the infamous bouncing bomb.Managed to fit in a quick wheel test fit last night. The spacers from TT tools are great quality and went straight on:
The rears would actually go on without a spacer as the hub is shorter. But just look at the fitment with them!
The fronts are likely to scrub, but I'll get chance to test drive it tonight to see how badly. Just waiting on some tyre stencils now before I get some 'proper' photos.
Turn7 said:
Are you defo coming to Bicester with it ?
I'm not 100% sure yet. I'd like to, but this year is very quickly running away with me!Some quick photos of the wheels on (and with the show plates). I've undoubtedly ruined the way the car drives for now, the fronts keep catching the inner arch so I'll have to work quickly to get that sorted. But do you know what? I don't even care. Just look at it. Jesus.
Thanks all!
).
A lot of you will know of the infamous Midnight club, founded by Eiichi Yoshida and his famous 911. What a lot don't know is that he was first part of the ACC - the American car club. In 1980/90s Japan if you wanted to go fast, you drove something American.
The founder of the ACC was Koichi Okawa, who was also co-founder of famous tuning firm Trust. At a time, his Trans Am (also a second gen F-body like mine) was the fastest car in Japan, proven at 164mph at Yatabe against an S30 240Z and DeTomaso Pantera (these images are taken from Option magazine)
Obviously in many ways Japanese counter-culture has changed over the years with Midnight being long gone, more regulations governing cars and increasing Police crackdowns etc. Arguably the group still most flying the flag these days are the Kanjo racers - a group that focus on handling rather than outright speed which is why they're famous for driving Honda Civics.
These guys wear masks, have Nascar-style nets covering the windows and still goad Police out on the roads. 'No Good Racing' are one of many teams that race the Kanjo loop in Osaka on a night and you'll notice their logo on the plate, along with the Osaka prefecture tag on the left. Their motto is 'bye bye Police'.
I always envisioned the Camaro being a nod to this side of Japanese counter-culture; an American muscle car out of place, at odds with everything around it. About five of us overtook a Tesla Model X plodding along a bypass road the other week and the noise from all those un-silenced V8s caused the driver to brake in a panic after the second car. I was at the back and it's the first time I've been acutely aware of how wild these cars are in todays traffic. Most classic cars these days make a weekend break to the coast every few months and spend a lot of their time either at the side of the road or sedately carving across B-roads. The Camaro just isn't like that. It's out almost every night when the roads are quiet, rain or shine.
Jhonno said:
Is there a story behind the show plates?
Well arguably the thing that really made me obsess over cars in the first place was Japanese street car culture. My own car history for those who don't know has always been JDM since I was 17. I even learned to drive in an AW11 (modified with stupidly loud exhausts, my instructor said they'd never let me pass my test in it! ).A lot of you will know of the infamous Midnight club, founded by Eiichi Yoshida and his famous 911. What a lot don't know is that he was first part of the ACC - the American car club. In 1980/90s Japan if you wanted to go fast, you drove something American.
The founder of the ACC was Koichi Okawa, who was also co-founder of famous tuning firm Trust. At a time, his Trans Am (also a second gen F-body like mine) was the fastest car in Japan, proven at 164mph at Yatabe against an S30 240Z and DeTomaso Pantera (these images are taken from Option magazine)
Obviously in many ways Japanese counter-culture has changed over the years with Midnight being long gone, more regulations governing cars and increasing Police crackdowns etc. Arguably the group still most flying the flag these days are the Kanjo racers - a group that focus on handling rather than outright speed which is why they're famous for driving Honda Civics.
These guys wear masks, have Nascar-style nets covering the windows and still goad Police out on the roads. 'No Good Racing' are one of many teams that race the Kanjo loop in Osaka on a night and you'll notice their logo on the plate, along with the Osaka prefecture tag on the left. Their motto is 'bye bye Police'.
I always envisioned the Camaro being a nod to this side of Japanese counter-culture; an American muscle car out of place, at odds with everything around it. About five of us overtook a Tesla Model X plodding along a bypass road the other week and the noise from all those un-silenced V8s caused the driver to brake in a panic after the second car. I was at the back and it's the first time I've been acutely aware of how wild these cars are in todays traffic. Most classic cars these days make a weekend break to the coast every few months and spend a lot of their time either at the side of the road or sedately carving across B-roads. The Camaro just isn't like that. It's out almost every night when the roads are quiet, rain or shine.
Well there's no two ways about it, the car is undrivable At very low speeds, nothing catches but under a bit of load even at 30mph the front wheels catch quite badly. Last night we got out the arch roller to rectify the problem.
The scrubbing is actually not that bad:
Unfortunately, they're also catching on the inside:
Partly I think this is because the inner arch has curvature that the spacer has now pushed the wheel into - the new setup has only added 1.4mm of diameter to the factory wheels, but has pushed it 25mm further out. So this leaves me with some options to explore.
1 - Increase the negative camber of the front wheels. The car was due an alignment anyway, so this is simply now more of a priority.
2. Reduce the tyre size. I'm currently on 215/60 at the front, so dropping down to even a 215/55 will reduce the effective diameter by 21.5mm. Ideally I'd like 225/50 (-33mm) but it would mean mismatching the tyres. Not a massive issue, but if I can avoid it I will.
3. Mill the back of the spacer by 5mm to bring the wheels inboard.
In all likelihood I'll do all 3 of these to give me the most clearance.
At very low speeds, nothing catches but under a bit of load even at 30mph the front wheels catch quite badly. Last night we got out the arch roller to rectify the problem.The scrubbing is actually not that bad:
Unfortunately, they're also catching on the inside:
Partly I think this is because the inner arch has curvature that the spacer has now pushed the wheel into - the new setup has only added 1.4mm of diameter to the factory wheels, but has pushed it 25mm further out. So this leaves me with some options to explore.
1 - Increase the negative camber of the front wheels. The car was due an alignment anyway, so this is simply now more of a priority.
2. Reduce the tyre size. I'm currently on 215/60 at the front, so dropping down to even a 215/55 will reduce the effective diameter by 21.5mm. Ideally I'd like 225/50 (-33mm) but it would mean mismatching the tyres. Not a massive issue, but if I can avoid it I will.
3. Mill the back of the spacer by 5mm to bring the wheels inboard.
In all likelihood I'll do all 3 of these to give me the most clearance.
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