1974 Camaro Z28
Discussion
I had the tyres fitted at the weekend and the spacers turned up at my house yesterday, so hopefully some more updates on that soon.
I'd committed to helping out some local creatives last night who wanted to shoot the Camaro and Ricks Mustang for their own portfolios; something I'm increasingly being offered as the car comes along. We headed out to the Peak District for a few hours while the Sun was low.
The Camaro actually had its first break-down here. It was one of the first cars in the world to have a switch which required you to hold the clutch down in order to start the engine. I've always thought this was really quirky until last night, when the switch failed leaving me stranded on a single track road. We quickly cut and bypassed the switch, so that's something I'll have to decide whether I want to re-add further down the line.
I didn't take many photos as this wasn't my shoot, I just tried to grab a couple of really quick stills around what the guys needed and the opportunity was there.
It was a great night and I really enjoyed watching the guys work - I'll try to share some of their stuff here as it becomes available. We enjoyed a night drive home through Sheffield and I've got to admit the cars really suited the industrial backdrop. Unfortunately at about 0100hrs and about a mile away from home, the car started making a horrendous noise that forced me to pull over. I had a quick check but couldn't see anything obvious, then when I started the car back up the noise had gone. About a mile further down the road it started again but by this point I could roll it home.
I'll try to explore this tonight and see if I can pinpoint the issue and hopefully test-fit the wheels.
I'd committed to helping out some local creatives last night who wanted to shoot the Camaro and Ricks Mustang for their own portfolios; something I'm increasingly being offered as the car comes along. We headed out to the Peak District for a few hours while the Sun was low.
The Camaro actually had its first break-down here. It was one of the first cars in the world to have a switch which required you to hold the clutch down in order to start the engine. I've always thought this was really quirky until last night, when the switch failed leaving me stranded on a single track road. We quickly cut and bypassed the switch, so that's something I'll have to decide whether I want to re-add further down the line.
I didn't take many photos as this wasn't my shoot, I just tried to grab a couple of really quick stills around what the guys needed and the opportunity was there.
It was a great night and I really enjoyed watching the guys work - I'll try to share some of their stuff here as it becomes available. We enjoyed a night drive home through Sheffield and I've got to admit the cars really suited the industrial backdrop. Unfortunately at about 0100hrs and about a mile away from home, the car started making a horrendous noise that forced me to pull over. I had a quick check but couldn't see anything obvious, then when I started the car back up the noise had gone. About a mile further down the road it started again but by this point I could roll it home.
I'll try to explore this tonight and see if I can pinpoint the issue and hopefully test-fit the wheels.
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.
LeighW said:
I'd reduce the spacer slightly and see if that solves your problem, assuming it doesn't create brake clearance problems. My Firebird has 225/60/15 on the front, they don't rub even on full lock, so I think the offset is your issue. Mine's not as low as yours though!
I'm limited quite heavily by the size of the front hubs, so I can remove 5mm of the spacer (although the studs are 23mm long so I'll have to trim those) but that's about the limit. Your rolling diameter should be 651mm at those sizes, my previous set-up was 663mm and had no clearance issues at all. The new setup is 664.4mm but is scrubbing in two places. I don't think its the extra 1.4mm alone, but the curvature of the inner arch hitting the wheel as it's been spaced out if that makes sense.ZedLeg said:
Could you not just massage the arch with a hammer and dolly?
Look on the floor in the first pic LeighW said:
Yep, that's what I'm thinking. I'm assuming from your pic that the inner arch rubbing is just on full (or close to full) lock?
Probably half-lock for a brief moment, so it's not terrible but I wouldn't want to chance it at speed. For now I'll put the keystones back on the front. I've ordered some shims for the alignment too.
Jcwjosh said:
Wow that is really cool information !
Would love to hear more about these racing teams and where i can find out more
There's a lot of information scattered around, but youtube is as good a source as any. Would love to hear more about these racing teams and where i can find out more
For the ACC, Midnight Club and the general origins of this aspect of street racer culture, loads of great archive footage in this:
His channel is worth exploring too for other relatively unknown stories. Particularly recommend these two if you haven't heard of them before:
Walter Wolf Countach:
Bosnian 'Ghost' Camaro:
Bonus one of his if you're into JDM culture in particular is the "real" Devil Z story:
A different channel, but a video on the Kanjozoku racers:
Managed to get the front spacers back on after being milled by EDA, taking 5mm off the fronts. With some adjustment shims I've also dialled in a bit of negative camber at the front and rolled the arches which has helped hugely with the scrubbing, but not completely cured it. I do have a bit of an alignment issue side-to-side which I think might be caused by worn body bushes, so that's the next thing to investigate but at least for now the car is drivable.
However, issues with the daily driver have taken priority and after 11 years of having an Ignis Sport as a daily, I finally said goodbye to the best one I've had at the weekend. Unfortunately the heritage support from Suzuki is pretty terrible, with long lead times for parts that are unnecessarily expensive (maybe I'm just spoiled with GM parts being cheap and plentiful for the Camaro?), meaning as a daily driver that I rely on, the Ignis has become less of a viable option. I'd been without the car for 5 weeks waiting on gear-shift cables which was the final nail in the coffin for the plucky little bruiser. So, with a heavy heart, these are the last pictures of what has been a truly fantastic little car to own.
It's not all bad news though as it was time for a new daily. I think I've managed to find something that sits alongside the Cam quite nicely
However, issues with the daily driver have taken priority and after 11 years of having an Ignis Sport as a daily, I finally said goodbye to the best one I've had at the weekend. Unfortunately the heritage support from Suzuki is pretty terrible, with long lead times for parts that are unnecessarily expensive (maybe I'm just spoiled with GM parts being cheap and plentiful for the Camaro?), meaning as a daily driver that I rely on, the Ignis has become less of a viable option. I'd been without the car for 5 weeks waiting on gear-shift cables which was the final nail in the coffin for the plucky little bruiser. So, with a heavy heart, these are the last pictures of what has been a truly fantastic little car to own.
It's not all bad news though as it was time for a new daily. I think I've managed to find something that sits alongside the Cam quite nicely
Yeah, hugely different to the Ignis but quite unbelievably a straight-swap. It's the 3L diesel, but has DVD player/sat nav, Boston sound system, electric/heated memory seats.
I wasn't convinced of it until I had a drive and now I'm absolutely sold. The roads round me are bloody awful and I'm constantly sat at 10mph less than the speed limit in traffic anyway, so the Ignis had become a bit of a chore to commute to the studio in. This morning in sideways rain with a warm backside and my questionable music choices on full blast was bliss.
I wasn't convinced of it until I had a drive and now I'm absolutely sold. The roads round me are bloody awful and I'm constantly sat at 10mph less than the speed limit in traffic anyway, so the Ignis had become a bit of a chore to commute to the studio in. This morning in sideways rain with a warm backside and my questionable music choices on full blast was bliss.
Bit of car prep at the weekend ready for a local show - 'accelerate'. It's a great event with a real diverse mix of cars and businesses that exist locally, even with a few OEMs on board this year. The Cam was on the Ravenworks stand, showing off the work Rick has done to the car during its restomodding. It has highlighted that the car is probably ready to come off the road for a bit of tidying over winter, the splitter re-coating, a bit of tuning etc.
We shared the space with some more friends of ours - the wrap pod, and set the line-up to have the Soarer as the centre-piece as a collaborative build between both brands.
I'd also done a bit of design work for Rick to launch some new T-shirts
Photo-spot on the way in, couldn't resist!
We shared the space with some more friends of ours - the wrap pod, and set the line-up to have the Soarer as the centre-piece as a collaborative build between both brands.
I'd also done a bit of design work for Rick to launch some new T-shirts
Photo-spot on the way in, couldn't resist!
No massive news to report, the Camaro has been for a timing tweak with EDA and is now running much better. Still a few jobs to tick off the list over winter:
- Getting the splitter recoated then PPFd
- Rebuilding the front brake calipers (rebuild kits have arrived)
- Alignment with MAP
- Order body bushes and replace
The Camaro has been taking a bit of a back seat with work getting in the way, so this week I took a few days off to head up to Scotland with the pup for her birthday. I figured it'd be a good trust-building exercise with the 300C that I'm taking down to Cornwall next year. So with that, a few pics incoming. The lens broke on the first day so I've had to really fight the equipment to get these in the wind and rain up there
The car was absolutely faultless, swallowed the trip up with ease and even while making progress through Glencoe in the weather, the pup was fast asleep on the back seats. I've really grown to love this car, I can see why the owner base are so obsessed with them! For good measure, a few photos of the mini wolf having fun in Loch Linnhe.
With the little cottage we were staying in:
Back to more Camaro related content soon!
- Getting the splitter recoated then PPFd
- Rebuilding the front brake calipers (rebuild kits have arrived)
- Alignment with MAP
- Order body bushes and replace
The Camaro has been taking a bit of a back seat with work getting in the way, so this week I took a few days off to head up to Scotland with the pup for her birthday. I figured it'd be a good trust-building exercise with the 300C that I'm taking down to Cornwall next year. So with that, a few pics incoming. The lens broke on the first day so I've had to really fight the equipment to get these in the wind and rain up there
The car was absolutely faultless, swallowed the trip up with ease and even while making progress through Glencoe in the weather, the pup was fast asleep on the back seats. I've really grown to love this car, I can see why the owner base are so obsessed with them! For good measure, a few photos of the mini wolf having fun in Loch Linnhe.
With the little cottage we were staying in:
Back to more Camaro related content soon!
Ravenworks rebuilt the front brake calipers and repaired the headlight buckets which had cracked and dropped out (meaning the headlights were literally being held in by the wires!). This seems to be one of the few parts I can't get new in the US, so having the lads be able to fabricate this was a lifesaver!
Hitting a pothole was the final straw for he bucket which snapped clean off:
Ravenworks to the rescue:
Template made to accommodate for fixings/spring:
Made up and ready for paint:
Better than new:
Also drawing up some plans for some more fab work...
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