3rd gen Camaro

[MarkJ]

Got some gloves to put the wheels together with just to make sure I didn't put fingerprints on them. Had to remove the stock fuel tank so the axle would fit plus it would have been ridiculous to leave it there anyway. I will have to scratch a fuel tank once I get the axle properly located and some truck arms installed. It's going to be dicey to get the right stance and still get the truck arms looking like they are in the right position. That's the trouble when you try to make a stock chassis into a Banjo chassis. But a Nascar kit chassis would have not worked either.

[MarkJ]

I had to make some saddles, so to speak, to be able to locate the tires in the middle of the wheel openings. They can easily be removed after I get the axle located to attach the truck arms to it. they also allow the tire to be at the right stance. I had to add a new floor above the axle where the springs will be located. I will have to add a new rear wall for the opening where the new fuel tank will be located. There will just be enough room to install a track bar. It's actually coming together better than I thought it would. I was afraid I was going to get to a moment where, uh oh, this is not going to work at all, and just have to end the build after over a year of working on it.

[MarkJ]

I had to remove the floor that I had added because it was too close to the axle and there wasn't enough room for the shocks to be mounted and be too short.  The springs will be mounted on a pedestal on a landing on the front wall. There will just be enough room to squeeze them in. The real car has them mounted that way.

[MarkJ]

Started on the truck arms. I will need to add the fuel tank so I can locate and install the mounting point for the track bar. They actually had them on both sides of the car, and they are located very close to the front corners of the fuel tank. I will have to add a bar to the floor to hook the shocks to. My ref pictures show both 2 and 4 shock setups for the rear axle. I'm choosing the two-shock setup because I'm doing a car that ran at Michigan. And I'm lazy. If you look at that horrible ref picture hard enough, you will see the track bar mounts. They are square rods with holes in them on each side, close to the front corners of the fuel tank.
 

[MarkJ]

Here is a better ref picture that I enhanced with the markup tool. 

[MarkJ]

Started making the fuel tank and realized I don't need to make a top for it. It's impossible to see. Also installed the truck arms to the axle. The long one won't be as long when I figure out how much to shorten it for the frack bar installation.

[MarkJ]

As always with these scratch-built parts you find that what you thought were the dimensions of a part don't turn out that way after you fit the part to the chassis. I had to make the tank smaller front to rear and also in its depth. I will need to add a wall to the back of the rear axle compartment and also add 3 reinforcement square bars to the tank. I also realized from some new ref photos I found that the truck arms are not straight. They have a bend in them that I'm not sure how many degrees it is but its right after where the spring is mounted on the truck arm. the two ref photos are posted below. I will have to redo those truck arms. I'm thinking they also need to be a little thicker than the square bars I was using, but not by much.

[absmiami]

Great stuff -  your saddles are a neat trick - never saw that before - need to get out a little more often … 

[MarkJ]

1 hour ago, absmiami said:

Great stuff -  your saddles are a neat trick - never saw that before - need to get out a little more often … 

Thanks, Andrew. Every now and then I can come up with an idea or two. I appreciate you stopping by and giving some input. Gets lonely in here sometimes.

[MarkJ]

Got the tank done just need to finish up the planking around it. Then it's on to finishing up the axle.

[kensar]

If by chance you didn't realize it - you are a scratchbuilder!

Continuing to follow this build.

[MarkJ]

17 hours ago, kensar said:

If by chance you didn't realize it - you are a scratchbuilder!

Continuing to follow this build.

Thank you, Ken. So glad you stopped by to give the build a glance. It's always good to have a fresh pair of eyes to check it out and if you see a glaring mistake, please feel free to share it. I can miss a lot of stuff till it is too late to go back and fix it. Sometimes I will find a new ref photo that lets me see something I could not see before. Thanks again, and I hope being a scratchbuilder is a good thing.

[MarkJ]

Continuing on. The tank and areas around it are done. I fixed a void in the compartment near the floor on the frame rail. Had to make a triangular patch to fill it and then putty the seams. I need to add the track bar brackets to each side to have a place to mount the track bar to the truck arm. I guess there are two brackets to use depending on whether the car was to be run on an oval or road course. Just guessing. This car was run on a 2-mile trioval at Michigan.

[Pierre Rivard]

3 hours ago, MarkJ said:

Thank you, Ken. So glad you stopped by to give the build a glance. It's always good to have a fresh pair of eyes to check it out and if you see a glaring mistake, please feel free to share it. I can miss a lot of stuff till it is too late to go back and fix it. Sometimes I will find a new ref photo that lets me see something I could not see before. Thanks again, and I hope being a scratchbuilder is a good thing.

Being a scratch builder is a very very good thing

[MarkJ]

2 minutes ago, Pierre Rivard said:

Being a scratch builder is a very very good thing

 

Thanks, Pierre. Thats good to know. If I could be half the scratch builder, you and Ken are, I'd be very happy.

[MarkJ]

I got the track bar brackets finished and installed. 

[MarkJ]

Made some truck arms and springs. Located the axle and added the truck arms. This is tricky because I want to build the whole axle assembly and paint and maybe plumb it before I install it in the chassis. It would be hard to paint if I just started building it into the chassis as I went along. The truck arms need to be cut to the right length and some mounting bushings added to the front of them. I think I can add the shocks after the axle assembly is installed. The track bar should also be able to be installed after the axle is installed.

Edited October 24, 2024 by MarkJ

[MarkJ]

Got the rear springs finished. Adding the U-bolts that hold the axel to the truck arms. I need to figure out exactly where to put the springs on the truck arms, there is not much room under there.

 

[MarkJ]

You have to be careful with the hot quick setting glues. If you have the plastic stressed in anyway and hit it with some of that Mr. hobby glue with the blue brush bottle it will act like a knife and the part will fall off. happened to my left side truck arm where the u-bolt goes through the truck arm. Luckily, I was able to glue it back with good old testors in the orange tube. Strong but takes overnight to cure. Always something happens to slow down the process.

[Pierre Rivard]

I love those springs. Cool!

[kensar]

Very nice work there, Mark.

[MarkJ]

Thanks, Pierre and Ken. I appreciate your input very much.

[MarkJ]

Got the springs mounted on the truck arms. They will be more compressed when the axel is installed in place, but the pedestal will still be partly showing. I guess the pedestal is actually the jack screw for adjusting the springs for too lose or too tight conditions. I will drill some holes in the floor for the jack screws to go in. locating these holes correctly might be a challenge. They have to be correct fore and aft and also left to right. If not the spring will sit crooked.
 

[Mattilacken]

Nice work! Your fabricated parts looks beautiful! 

[MarkJ]

Thanks, Anton. I appreciate the kind words.