The next step in the journey was to get the power to the ground. With the myriad of suspension upgrades available, I chose Pegasus and BMR. I had no concern for NVH, so I went with the solid aluminum cradle bushings from Pegasus. These alone made the car feel way more sure of itself with respect to handling and acceleration. They are good looking pieces.
Next, I got some trailing arms and toe rods from BMR, with polyurethane bushings for the arms. Here is a side by side comparison of the OEM toe rod and the piece from BMR. Way stronger looking!
Getting the OEM trailing arm bushing out of the spindle was not complicated, just a little tedious. I used a puller that I bought at Autozone and modified a little to push the bushing out. After it was out, the poly BMR bushing went in with a hammer. Here was my puller
Here are all 3 parts installed.
Here is the link to the DIY write-up that I made for getting the OEM cradle bushings out.
https://www.camaro5.com/forums/showthread.php?t=540578
For the alignment, I sought the specs from a forum member named Justice Pete. I took these specs to my local Firestone, and the best they could get was -.4 camber and .12 toe IN on each side. The toe was exactly where I wanted it to be, however I was hoping for a little closer to zero on the camber. After I added the camber bolts from BMR, they were able to get the negative camber all the way to -.1 on both sides. This was what I was looking for, to put as much rubber as possible to the ground when the car squats on the launch.
So about that burnout... Hurst Line Lock it was!
The first line lock I received had a faulty solenoid. After speaking with Hurst on the phone, they immediately sent me a replacement and didn't require me to send the faulty one back. I called a buddy over and we put it in. We used the connectors and wiring that came with the kit, but also used heat shrink for the connectors.
We spliced into one of the empty fuse spots in the fuse box, and ran the wires through the firewall and inside the center console.
Finally, I removed the front sway bar. Easy, needless weight off the nose, along with open headers with dumps, and the slightly lighter wheels, got my weight down to 3,765 lbs without driver.
I was ready to take things to Beech Bend Raceway in Bowling Green, KY, for a 1/4 mile run at Test and Tune. It was one of the last weekends they were open for the season. I made several passes, one against a modified newer Charger, and a black Mustang. I got annihilated by a blown, white 2015 Mustang.
Here is the pass with the Charger:
Here is the pass with the black Mustang:
So not being able to find the slip for the Charger, only the black Mustang and my first pass against the blown Mustang, I will post these 2 slips up. I was pleased with the results, and the 60' times were strong.
And so, with the season wrapping up, I went home exhilarated, however I was hungry for the 10 second range. I knew that I couldn't have expected any better from a cam only 5th gen with minimal weight reduction, but I also knew it was time to get back to the drawing board and dive into research again to figure out where to go from here!