Re: New 1LE Owner
 

Not sure many folks are interested - but oh well :)

Fitted some bolt-in UMI sub-frame connectors today. Required some minor slide-hammer work first as the front frame 'boxes' where 'squished' a bit - I assume from lots of floor jack use over the years.

I think some 5 point harnesses are next on my list - the stock seat is not holding me well during Autox and I find I'm bracing myself on the steering wheel. One more autocross event this year, and then the car will be parked up for the winter.

Re: New 1LE Owner
 

You would probably have more people following the build if it was in a different forum. I don’t think many people come to “New Member Intro” to look around. I could try moving it to a forum with more traffic, and retitling it as a build thread.

Other problem is there aren’t many “regulars” on this site any more. Maybe a half-dozen of us are here all the time, mostly trying to help. 90% of the posts are from new members asking for help wth a new LT1 purchase, and it’s a “one post and done” situation. A lot seem to post a request for help, and never sign back in to acknowledge they received a response. Depressing.

Re: New 1LE Owner
 

No it's all good - I don't really post updates expecting a response and if I have a question I'll post it in one of the technical forums.

I come here daily to check on posts and will probably continue to do so while I have the Z28. There's a wealth of information in old posts, and I can find most stuff with a search. Hopefully the site never goes away for that reason alone.

Re: New 1LE Owner
 

I agree with the need for better belts or seats. When I am driving my SS on track I find I am holding (bracing) on to the steering wheel too much. My car has the leather seats that are slippery so I use a piece of no slip fabric under my butt to try to help the circumstances. My old track car had a Kirkey racing seat with five point belts and it really held me in place so I could just use my arms for steering inputs, like one is supposed to do.

I am headed out to Sonoma raceway next weekend (Sept. 7th) for a group 3 track day. I just installed so new Toyo R1R track day tires and I'm looking forward to some fun!

Re: New 1LE Owner
 

We just signed up for our first HPDE weekend at Summit Point at the end of April. My wife will be driving the car Saturday and I will be driving it Sunday. We have to miss the season opener for our local AutoX region, but we've been wanting to get the car on a road course ever since we bought it. Can't wait!

I'm going to buy new tires for the season and I will be doing a full fluid change (oil, trans, rear and brakes) before the event. Any other tips/tricks/advice/money I should spend before hitting the track?

Re: New 1LE Owner
 

Hi Pontiacs,

Your ideas for changing fluids is about right. Of all of them the brake fluid is the most important. I changed my brake fluid a couple times to be certain I got all the water out of the system. I am just running Castrol Synthetic DOT 4 brake fluid (black bottle). It is not the highest dry temp fluid but it is the heir to the LMA product line and is very resistant to moisture contamination.

Did you ever get the belts you were thinking about in a previous post? I just recently swapped in my Kirkey racing seat from my old car and even with the stock three point belts the difference was amazing. I made the seat brackets fit to the stock mounting points so I can put the seat in in about a half hour before I go the to the track. I tried using the racing seat on the street but it is a bear to crawl in and out of so I swap the stock seat aback in for street use.

Re: New 1LE Owner
 

No - still on the fence about that. I know better seats and harnesses would help, but there's a fine line there between street/weekend race toy and dedicated race only car. I'm not sure I want to go down that rabbit hold just yet (that may change after our first HPDE event).

I am running Falken 615K's currently and they have been great, but they are due for replacement. There's not a lot of choices in 200TW tires in 275/40/17. What's your thoughts/impressions on the Toyo's?

Re: New 1LE Owner
 

I am satisfied with the Toyo's but have not got anything recent to compare them to. I doubt they are any better or worse than the highly regarded Falkens. I chose them because Toyo sponsors so many things for the race groups in NASA which is where I run.

To be honest I have not had the nerve to drive the car beyond the tire limits yet. As I had mentioned previously my SS had a bad over steer problem when I first took it out and while I think I have that under control I have not pushed the car so far that I am sure. Spinning out at 60+ mph is not something I am looking forward to! I am even thinking about going to join up with a local autocross group just to get a chance to drive the car over the limit in a slower setting.

Good luck with the upcoming track day, I am sure you will have fun!

Re: New 1LE Owner
 

The HPDE days were cancelled due to COVID.

The first Autocross event of the year in our area happened last weekend. 150+ cars split over 2 days. It was hectic! The organizers grouped the cars by class for the heats so we had to run our car back-to-back again. We didn't even get time to shut it down between runs. With 6 runs each that meant 12 runs on a 60 second course with only a couple of minutes idle between runs. Fortunately it was only mid 70's all day so the car had no problems. Our last runs were our fastest and I was only .3 of a second ahead of my wife.

Couple of obligatory photos;

https://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c...psap7jqf9g.jpg
https://i29.photobucket.com/albums/c...psnbq3xsal.jpg

Re: New 1LE Owner
 

Pontiacs,

I am glad yo got to run again. Nice photos, don't hesitate to post more!

My local track is still closed so we con't yet have any track days scheduled. NASA keeps tentatively scheduling them then canceling them! Soon I hope. . . .

Re: New 1LE Owner
 

Even with all the cancellations, we've managed to squeeze in 3 x events so far this year. We have another one coming up on Sunday the 5th and then a 2 x day event the following weekend. We headed out to the airport at Phillipsburg PA last weekend to run with the CPR SCCA. There were 70 + cars and we had a great time. The track was very fast and suited us both well. It's getting harder and harder to keep the rear from sliding and I think that's a combination of us both getting faster AND our tires being pretty much done. More obilgatory photos;

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...080&fit=bounds

And a video of my wife narrowly avoiding taking out the timing lights;

Re: New 1LE Owner
 

Thanks for the video; it looks like your wife is having a good time and running pretty fast! The car sounds great, nice exhaust growl.

Keep posting, it is the closest I am coming to motorsports lately.

Re: New 1LE Owner
 

No problem - we're trying to squeeze as many events in as we can seeing as our scheduled HPDE days were cancelled. I mentioned in my last post that we needed tires and today was proof that they are overdue!


https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...tocross_29.jpg

Re: New 1LE Owner
 

Couple photos from the weekend (wife driving);

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...tocross_42.jpg
https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...tocross_36.jpg

Re: New 1LE Owner
 

Finally getting new tires fitted this week. I don't trust my local tire shops to put the Camaro on the lift without crushing the fender mounts so I'm going to drop the 17's and the new tires off to them. To do that I swapped the stock 16's back on to the car temporarily. First time I've had the stock wheels on it and I can't get used to the look;

https://hosting.photobucket.com/imag...Shirley_06.JPG

I have the stock caps for the 16 inch wheels - but they wont fit over the ARP studs :facepalm: