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Originally Posted by PatrickfromMD
I’d love to see this 4 door Camaro, do you have a link?
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Four Door Camaro
Quote:
Originally Posted by PatrickfromMD
You recommend lowered springs with a higher spring rate to compensate. How is the ride, I like the idea of lowering the CG, but would not like a much harsher ride.
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That is the real value of the ZETA / ZETA II architecture. With full Pedders urethane, coils, dampers and sway bars the ride is BMW M or AMG solid but not boy racer harsh. My G8 has coilovers and is dropped over 50mm / 2". A number of Camaro owners have already been in the G8 for demo rides and a few I flipped the keys to (very rare). Not one has mentioned harsh. Typically they say rides great and handles better.
There is more to this than just ZETA and Pedders. Many won't like what I say next, but as we believe it to be true I'll say it anyway. Real race cars weigh less than 2,000 pounds. A F1 at the end of a race must weigh in at 659 KG / 1,400 pounds. It is one of the reasons you see them driving into gravel, to add weight and make sure with the wear on the tires and almost empty fuel tank they meet minimum weight. With a driver in the new Camaro, the car will weigh in at almost three times an F1. The tires on the Camaro would need to be around 30" wide to be comparable.
The same is true in NASCAR. A race ready Car of Tomorrow racing today weighs in at about the 2010 Camaro weight. Compared to F1 a NASCAR is a very very fast street car. It is also under tired -- the tires are too small for the weight, braking HP and RWHP. They eat tires. The harder you spring them, the faster they wear tires. You'll find intentionally coil bound vehicle at NASCAR running for the pole. They are very fast, but setup that way tires won't last.
This is a long winded way of saying that rock hard is not a good setup for most passenger cars driven fast. The tires are too small and not capable of handling the high spring and damping rates. Pedders does not make parts for race cars. Pedders makes street parts that some find work very well in racing applications.
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Originally Posted by PatrickfromMD
You mention dampeners, are you referring to the shocks? Are they necessary, I’d like to save those for the next installment if possible.
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Being involved with the Aussies has corrupted my automotive vocabulary. Dampers happens to be one of the words I really like to use from down under because it is a more accurate description of function for shock absorbers and struts. Springs absorber shocks. Strut and shock absorbers damp the rate at which the spring responds.
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Originally Posted by PatrickfromMD
The rear sub-frame inserts and radius rod bushings. The parts do not sound expensive, but what about a typical install?”
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The rear sub-frame bush inserts on a lift are about 90 minutes as are the radius rod bushes.
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Originally Posted by PatrickfromMD
Lastly I read about the IRS differential needing bushings, is this part of the sub frame inserts, or is this another item to consider.
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There are eight pieces in the sub-frame kit. The differential bushes are a different kit and consists of three bushes.
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Originally Posted by PatrickfromMD
Oh, one more thing. DO you have suggestions of a wheel and tire size? The Camaro looks wise, it would seems to like about another inch of width in the front, and perhaps 1.5 to 2 in the rear. What would the chassis like?
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My G8 arrived with 19x8 rims and 245/40 tires. We have bumped those up to 19x9.5 with 265/35 XL Micheline Pilot Sport IIs. This required a fender roll in the rear and nothing more than a zip tie to pull in the roto-cast front plastic fender liner even with the about 60mm drop in ride height.
ZETA II has been upgraded to accommodate higher loads from increases in wheel / tire size, bigger brakes and more powerful engines. My GUESS is that the same will be proportionately true with the Camaro.
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Originally Posted by PatrickfromMD
Ah yes, the FI thread, I saw William offered to race you. You should accept, but only if you pick the track (I’m sure you will choose one with lots of turns hehe)  |
I am old and slow behind the wheel so I'll be bumping William Holden for a few car lengths here and there.
