I bought a pony car missing half the bangers

[Biggins]

The car looks good! I've been meaning to try to get an appointment with that guy to detail my car one of these years!

Have you autocrossed the Camaro yet? I was scheduled to do the canceled Hershey event over the weekend, but I'm itching to get out there and now my first real event isn't until the Pittsburgh Match event.

[clyde]

Originally Posted by Biggins

The car looks good! I've been meaning to try to get an appointment with that guy to detail my car one of these years!

Have you autocrossed the Camaro yet? I was scheduled to do the canceled Hershey event over the weekend, but I'm itching to get out there and now my first real event isn't until the Pittsburgh Match event.

Mike's a really nice guy. My wife was surprised how old he was (a couple years older than me). The way it works is kind of weird. He hand washes the car while you stand there. He has you drive into the garage and then you have to leave (and he makes you take your key) until he's done.

Have not autocrossed yet. Still waiting for the Forgestars. Should probably unlazy myself and order a set of 18s from Tire Rack, too. We've been thinking about Pittrace, but DC event that weekend and Kevin needs to be here for that. So we might do one day, but probably not.

Need to get it aligned, too.

[blee]

Originally Posted by clyde

Need to get it aligned, too.

I can confirm that this is something one can do at home without laying out a fortune in tools or hardware. Will have to post the details soon, once I fix a couple of potential wrinkles.

[Biggins]

Good to know about the detailing...

I rushed to get ready/legal for Hershey for nothing, but I'm really itching to get out there this year. I'll always do PittRace because the karting alone is worth it!

Alignment is overrated (kidding), but I was hearing you could get as much as -2.0 up front?

[clyde]

Mmm...yeah, can align at home, but lazys when it comes to doing the whole thing.

-2.0 in front seems like the expectation after loosening, knocking back, and re-tightening the lower strut mount bolts. Some get a little more, some a little less. Doing that adds some toe out.

I have some specs to use as a starting point. Hopefully, just small toe tweaks from there.

[JST]

I mean, the bad news is the 1LE package, though maybe it will be classed differently than your car and/or not matter?

http://forums.carmudgeons.com/showthread.php?t=147661

The good news is jesus fucking christ the new cars are ugly.

[clyde]

Originally Posted by JST

I mean, the bad news is the 1LE package, though maybe it will be classed differently than your car and/or not matter?

http://forums.carmudgeons.com/showthread.php?t=147661

The good news is jesus fucking christ the new cars are ugly.

I need to look at other places to see if there are more details on what exactly is changed for the 2.0t 1LE, but from what's listed in the Autoblog piece, the only thing that's probably helpful for autocross are the springs. Maybe the shocks, too. Beyond that, the extra cooling and big brakes are good for the track, but only offer extra weight for autocross. Since it says it will have 245s in front and 275s in back, that suggests the front wheels will probably remain 8.5" wide and the rears grow to 9.5". Not sure that's a path to fun quickness...and will require a lot more tire mounting/dismounting to get full life out of them since the wheels can't be swapped front to rear even though you'd be running 275s on all four corners.

For classing...sigh. At this point, it looks likely that the Focus RS will move to D Street next year (along with the other boost buggies). Not sure that's a class killer in regular autocross, but makes the Camaro irrelevant at Pros. Last year, Mark Scroggs did amazingly well in the only Camaro competing nationally, but he's also an alien driver. This year, there are a couple good drivers and some hacks like me that are going to try and we'll all see what happens.

If the car does well enough, I can see the 2.0t 1LE going to FS with the V6 1LE and the regular SS to prevent upsetting the apple cart in DS. If it doesn't do great and the FoRS moves in, I'd expect the 2.0t 1LE to be initially classed in DS, too.

For me...I've been rethinking my SS 1LE plan for next year and thinking maybe I should stick with the car I have and start modding it for either CAM or ESP. If I do that, the 2.0t 1LE is just a more expensive starting point that doesn't bring anything useful to the table.

I don't know.

Edit-
2.0t wheels are 20" which means can't use 18s in "Street" class which will make it launch even slower at Pros (about a tenth per side).

[clyde]

I also need to do a write up of my first month+ experience and thoughts. I had part of a draft written a few weeks ago but didn't finish it.

Have some new stuff including a developing potential issue ("thunk"ing transmission when cold) and, while test fitting a set of race wheels & tires this evening, discovering some GM build quality (or "shit, does the car have a story?") surprises.

Driver side. Passenger side looks similar. A few nuts and bolts look like may have slipped up to 1/8 of a turn. There are also some nuts and some surfaces with paint marks but no marks on the corresponding nut/surface. Did not look methodically enough at the time to determine if suspension parts may have been replaced. Took a bunch of pics at each corner to look at later, but kind of don't want to now.

Can't believe I feel compelled to nut and bolt a brand new fucking car.

[equ]

Originally Posted by clyde

I

Driver side. Passenger side looks similar. A few nuts and bolts look like may have slipped up to 1/8 of a turn. There are also some nuts and some surfaces with paint marks but no marks on the corresponding nut/surface. Did not look methodically enough at the time to determine if suspension parts may have been replaced. Took a bunch of pics at each corner to look at later, but kind of don't want to now.

Can't believe I feel compelled to nut and bolt a brand new fucking car.

Why worry about this stuff? Let it go, it's a new car. Maybe they only mark one side. It's not like you're going for 150mph+ at the salt flats.

[Nick M3]

Originally Posted by equ

Why worry about this stuff? Let it go, it's a new car. Maybe they only mark one side. It's not like you're going for 150mph+ at the salt flats.

He's going to travel thousands of miles from home to abuse the shit out of the car, and then drive it home. It's bad if a corner falls off, even if it's ultimately warranted.