Part X

1989 RS Camaro

With the wiring now out of the way, we turned our attention to our latest aquisition - Wheels and Tires! As we mentioned in a previous installment, we had borrowed a wheel and slick from our friend to get an idea of what tire/wheel combination we would be able to run. We determined that a 10.5 x 29.5 slick on an eight inch wheel with 4.5 backspacing would work for us. Of course the safe way out would have been to stick with a 9" tire on that wheel, but when you're looking to put as much tire patch down as you can, well, you have to go out on a limb a little.

Phil was pretty convinced when we first started Saturday morning that these were not going to fit and to actually tell the truth, he was right - they didn't just bolt on. But with the application of the cutting wheel and suitable beating of certain areas with a hammer, they fit just fine now. We ended up cutting out the side of the spring box, the front area of the inner wheelwell which will need some patch material and we rolled the lip of the wheelwell itself up to pick up another 1/2 inch of clearance. Overall, the combination looks really good on the car and will certainly help with any traction problems. But we do acknowledge that this is the maximum tire that we can put on this car without getting into an entire backhalf type deal. And just for good measure, we put a tape measure across the tread of the tire and found that they actually measure a little over 11 inches wide. That puts a total of 22 inches of tire on the ground, something that we both really happy about.

Next on the list of things to do was the installation of the safety harness. Nothing really huge, although some drilling had to be done to mount the crotch belt to a main flooring rib, but it's one more item that is completed and ready to go. Phil decided to go with G-Force belts; I have the same type in the dragster and really like them. The quick-release hub has a smooth action to it and the belts are easy to adjust even when you are suited up and have gloves on. Nice stuff.

Just another shot of the belt installation. The seat has also been bolted down now and after Phil gave it a quick trial fit, I think he found that everything was within easy reach and that it has a comfortable feel to it. The one thing you want when setting up your racecar is making sure that the driver is comfortable with everything that he has to touch and handle once he is belted in place. Nothing more dangerous than having to over-reach for something or have something in an awkward position. By the way, in this picture you can see where we had to chop out the inner part of the fenderwell to fit the tire. This is the area that will need some sheetmetal patching.

Last item for this update is the master cylinder installation again. We had to remove everything to make the connector for the cylinder and the brake pedal itself. We also had a minor problem with the roll-control, but finally figured it out and fixed it. The master cylinder has been bench bled and we only need to finish up the installation of the final brake lines to have the brakes finished. You can also just see at the top of the picture the mounting of the ignition coil inside the cowl area. The idea is to get the coil as close to the engine distributor as possible, but also keep it cool. This location serves both purposes as the main ignition lead will come through the large hole left over from the windshield wiper motor and plug directly into the distributor plus the flow of cool air in this area will keep the coil operating at maximum performance. We also masked off and painted the cowl area with rattle can gloss black paint to finish it off.

So, while we didn't get done what we had expected for this weekend, we did manage to accomplishment quite a number of items that had to be completed. Maybe in our next installment that engine will finally fall together.

Check out the latest update in Part XI