Oversteer Garage

Ran across this on Speedhunters today:

Since I’m helping Mike Peters (of BubbaDrift and The Awesome Shop USA Fame) with the suspension on his own Drift Camaro this got my interest.

I did a little more digging and ran across an interview at OMGDrift.com. It’s an interesting build. Surprisingly, the car is still running leaf springs! The specs are reproduced below:

Specs
Engine:
-6.2L LS3 Engine From GMPP
-Tatech Engine Management, No MAF.
-Lunati Voodoo 65602 Cam, 227 / 238deg 0.50″ Lift. Max 0.583 / 0.600″
-Lunati Gold Patriot Double Spring Set
-Pacesetter 1 3/4″ Longtube Headers
-3″ Dual Exhaust, Separate.
-475whp / 660nm Torque.

Drivetrain:
-Cluthmasters FX500 Clutch And Their Flywheel
– Tremec T56 From -98 F-Body, Will Be Prepped During Winter With Some Goodies
-Original Rearaxle With 3.72 Ratio, Posi Diff And C-Clip Eliminators.

Body:
-Converted To Looklike 70-73
-Fiberglass Front End, Hood, Doors, Trunklid, Bumbers
-Full Cage, Including G-Braces Extending To Cage
-Fully Stripped, Seamwelded
-Subframe Connectors
-Lexan Windows Except Front Screen.
Car Weights 1305kg = 2870lb With Full Tank And W/O Driver. Weight Ratio Is 50.5 / 49.5% With Driver.

Front Suspension:
-Stiffer Lowering Springs
-Bilstein Shocks
-Stiffer Sway Bar
-Bushings Are Polyurethane In Lower Arm And Sway Bar, And Metal In Upper Arm.
-Longer Control Arms
-Custom Rack & Pinion with Electric Power Steering
-6 Pot D2 Calibers With 305mm Discs
-17×8 AR TT2 Wheels ET0 With 1″ Spacers, Tyres Toyo Proxes R888 235/45-17

Rear:
-Comp Engineering 4-Link
-Rear Sway Bar
-Panhard Bar
-S14 Nissans Coil-Overs Instead Of Shocks, With 50kg/Cm Springs.
-Wilwood Dynalite Brake Calibers With Corvette 12″ Discs
-18″ Wheels, Lot Of Options, All BAD. Tyres From My Sponsor, Finnish CR-Renkaat, 245/40-18, Pattern From Bridgestone RE71, Rubber Compound From Avon Semislicks

We’re going a little more sophisticated on Mike’s car so it’ll be interesting to see how it turns out!

Source: Speedhunters

UPDATE:
Based on Mikko’s information I went ahead and updated the spec sheet as well as dug up the Driftworks.com Forum Build. Check it out here: Drift Camaro Z28

His post #120 in the build thread (on page 6) contains some really good pictures and commentary on his front suspension changes. I’ve copied the information I was most interested in (his words in italics) below for your information, but make sure to check out his thread!

I made new lower control arms, using oldones as base. 7cm longer per side, changed wheels from 8x17et -10 to 8×16 et 8 and tyres from 235 -> 205. Now wheels can turn in THEORY 65 degrees

Then i get rid of old steering box and started to fit rack & pinion steering, i choosed Volvo 240 aluminium core rack, they use these in rally cars here and you can get different ratios to those, I had custom made infernals to that, now 2.5 turns lock to lock, in normal tarvel distance… And added 10cm more lenght to rack, so total travel now 28cm, should be enough….?

Then modified, knucles in right lenght and angle, i made bolt on adapters to knuckles, tested movements few times with those and when it was right made jigs and welded knuckles in those, maintained to keep them symmetrical that way, now it turns that 65 degrees and basically no ackerman at any turning angle. And doesn´t go near to dead angle at full lock, few days well spent

But how to route Steering axle, front crossmember was badly in way. Get 90 degree rotating gearbox to it Pic shows also how i solves upper control arm issue, i moved those from inside of brackets in frame to outside, so those moved 60cm out which correlated lenghtening of lower arms.

And last steering mod was to fit Opel Corsa C steering colum, tilt and elecric Power steering with adjustable sensitivity.