Even though this Camaro’s subframe is nicely detailed, it isn’t overly complicated, and it gives the car a great stance. The owner is leaving a lot of handling performance on the table by retaining the stock control arms (because of the unwanted flex from the stamped-steel arms and the poor geometry) but the aftermarket coil springs, larger sway bar, and new bushings help tremendously.
The following is a comparison between a mild build and a wild build.
A full roll cage with racing seats is a good sign of an all-out Pro Touring build. Roll cages offer great rigidity to the chassis, but actually create a hazard if you plan to drive on the street. Even a tiny fender bender could slam your unprotected noggin against the tubing.
Mild
Chassis and Suspension
Subframe connectors
Front suspension rebuild (new ball joints, tie-rods, control-arm bushings)
New coil springs with appropriate spring rate and ride height
High-quality shock absorbers (front and rear)
Larger anti-roll bar
New Pitman arm and idler arm
Disc brake upgrade
New leaf springs with appropriate ride height
17 × 8–inch wheels with generic street tires
Engine and Drivetrain
Aluminum intake manifold
Performance carburetor
Mild camshaft and lifter upgrade
Headers and exhaust
Aluminum radiator and electric fan(s)
Overdrive transmission
Wild
Chassis and Suspension
Subframe connectors
Detroit Speed hydroformed subframe assembly
Tubular control arms
Adjustable coil-over conversion (front and rear)
Splined anti-roll bar
Rack-and-pinion steering
Large-diameter brakes with six-piston calipers
Four-link rear suspension
Roll cage
18 × 10 and 18 × 12 wheels and high-performance tires
Engine and Drivetrain
LS engine swap
High-performance oiling system
Aftermarket cylinder heads and valvetrain
High-performance camshaft and lifters
Custom engine control module (ECM) and wiring harness
Complete fuel system
LS swap headers and custom exhaust
Aluminum radiator and electric fan(s)
Overdrive transmission (with high-performance clutch set)
Rear-end gears with appropriate ratio
For some of the detail-oriented portions of a Pro Touring build, such as wiring, plumbing, and the like, you need a few specialty tools. For brake lines and fuel lines you need a small tubing bender and a flare tool. You can always buy a brake line or fuel line kit but it’s much cleaner if you bend the lines and route them to your liking. As for wiring, you need cutters, strippers, and crimping tools, along with a soldering iron, a good continuity tester, and a lot of patience.
If money and space aren’t an issue, a big lathe can be a lot of fun. Obviously, this isn’t the average tool for a Pro Touring build, but if you have machining experience you can certainly crank out some cool stuff.
As mentioned in earlier chapters, the stiffness and strength of the components play a large role in making a car handle and perform well. The same can be said for the vehicle’s chassis and body structure, which is the backbone of the entire system. If the chassis isn’t strong enough to support the abuse, you may be leaving a lot of performance on the table, even with high-dollar suspension components. That’s why it’s important to prepare your car’s frame or unibody structure for hard cornering, hard braking, and hard acceleration.
First things first: You must always start with a rust-free car. A little rust in the front fenders or, maybe, in the quarter panels isn’t an area of concern, but any time you see a vehicle with rusted floorpans, trunkpan, or rocker panels it’s best to stay away. If there is significant rust in these areas, it likely means that the chassis structure has been affected by rust also. Regardless of the chassis configuration (full frame or unibody), rust weakens the metal significantly and creates all sorts of problems down the road. For West Coast guys this isn’t usually an issue but any car guy east of the Mississippi River has dealt with rust at some point in his life.
It’s never a good idea to start with a total rust bucket, unless you plan on gutting the body and sitting it over a custom tube chassis. At that point, the body is just a shell and the chassis is brand-new so rust is no longer a concern. Obviously, it takes a special breed of car guy to go all out on a tube chassis Pro Touring build. But trust me it’s been done.
The automobile was originally designed with a body-on-frame configuration. By the 1960s, many manufacturers were making the switch to unibody designs, maintaining the body-on-frame design only with larger cars. For General Motors, the B-Body (Impala and other similar models), A-Body (Chevelle), and G-Body (Monte Carlo) featured a full frame.
If you’re building a truck, a Corvette, or a GM A-, B-, or G-Body, you’re dealing with a vehicle with a body-on-frame configuration. That means the chassis is a separate structure from the body, which is an ideal setup in terms of strength. This full frame can also be affected by rust but it isn’t nearly as fragile as the chassis structure of a unibody design. Full-frame cars are generally heavier than unibody cars but provide a great platform to build upon.
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