Hank said
"And those have great suspention?"
Ed says
Well Shelby and the Group 44 guys did put a little pressure on the Penske/Donahue team during the Trans-Am days with their "great" collective suspensions.
Hank said
"Later model Chevelles,Nova etc, all had crap for brakes if they had drums all around. Ok for a grocery getting ,but not for street racing for sure,I would make 1 pass & brake shoes would be toast,& that was when my car ran 14's & short shut down areas."
Ed says
No- no, the real crap brakes were on the four lug Corvair and '62-'63 Chevy lls--one road test recorded 60 mph to 0 in 194 swerveing feet (thats 12-'54 chevy car lengths). And when you're fresh outta '54 Chevy, a 12 volt starter and an "instant on" transistor AM radio its a very good trade (note-I did'nt say stereo, reverberation, cassette, or even 8-track).
For gymkana racing, Chevy ll owners had to find a station wagon just to see what a front sway bar (5/8" dia) looked like. But down the lane at the local bone yard was a blue oval (oval is also a four letter word) Mach 1 with an easily adaptable 15/16"dia front bar, anna flimsey 1/2" dia rear bar.
My Chevy ll buddy had the mach 1 front bar and home made a rear bar from a piece of "stressproof" 1" dia rod. It was a simple link type setup similar to most front bar set ups. With heavy duty monkey ward's shocks all 'round, and some home made short third, or steering arms (a Corvair trick)for quicker steering, my buddy stepped out into the gymkana circuit.
Gymkana racing was not as finite as drag racing in those days (1974ish)and lumped all non-Cadillac domestic cars together. His powerglide 194 possom motor (equipped with a legal 194 head) six banger, 3.08 posi(also legal), and E70X14s gave no handicap to the Camaro/Firebird boys be they Z-28, or Trans-Am versions. It had to be tough on a new Z-28 owner to see and HEAR the split manifold RAAAAP around the course locked in low range especially when its better time is announced. Trans-Am owners didnt feel the sting, something about that 261 (thats a good Chevy number) cubic inch advantage.
As I've said before, Camaro owners had it made!
But what this has to do with the original thread is beyond me- and true to form I tried not to let facts or protocol affect my story! Oh yes, I remember, this is what you can do if you're stuck with a '62-'63 chevy ll, '64 and later owners dont even have to redrill their hub/drums for the neater wheels (they sort of have it made too!)
