[Baddawg53]

Alright well all the repairs and upgrades are completed finally.

After my son spun the car off the track in September I had a lot of repairs to make and took that opportunity to do a couple upgrades.

The right side aux radiator was damaged so I took the left side and moved it over to the right, replaced the factory oil cooler with the pwr cooler and installed used improved racings thermostat and plate. A+ stuff from both companies, excited to see the oil temps drop the claimed 50 degrees.

I convinced my wife I needed to spend ridiculous money on shocks that I didn't really need to, enter the MCS 2 way remote coilovers. I ended up with an alignment at 3.6 degrees camber up front, 2.5 rear. Zero toe on front and 1/32 toe in for the rear. The ride height is higher than before, but now I can fit a jack under the car, kinda. The jack hits the side skirts but I can get it under the car. Should help with loading the car onto the trailer and less scraping on Lagunas corkscrew. I'll be starting with all the settings in the middle, sway bars and compression/rebound. The spring are 800lb front and 1100 rear. About 30% stiffer than my last set.

The splitter I made is 1/2 maple plywood. I skipped the splitter tunnels for now because the ones I bought were just a little too long for my liking, I'll keep shopping for some but for now it's just a flat bottom. I used Hartman's kit to mount it and it worked out pretty well. Overall it's pretty good, not perfect but good enough. It's angled down about 1.3 degrees and extends 4 1/2" from the air dam.

Test day Tuesday at Thunderhill East, hopefully everything is good to go so when I tow it to COTA end of May there are no concerns.

[sgreer78]

Originally Posted by Baddawg53

I received the MCS two way remote coilovers, and I found something I wasn't expecting to see. Everything I know about installing these, and every single thing I've read online state that there should be some kind of preload on the springs so the spring doesn't float off the perch at full droop. With these shocks and the 6 inch front spring provided by vorshlag there was about an inch and a half gap between the spring and the perch, which shocked me. That's with the adjusters all the way up. Jason at vorshlag, to his credit was quick to get back to me and explain that this isn't going to be an issue, even when jacking up the car. I don't feel good about it and ordered helper springs to take up the space.

I've never seen this mentioned here so I wanted to put it out there, I wasn't expecting to see this as it is not what anyone says is ok. For my own comfort I won't be running the car that way.

They are beautiful pieces though, and the top mounts appear super high quality front and rear.

You'll be fine. The sway bar will keep both sides in check. Only instance I could imagine it being a problem is if you go full airborn/droop. I've only ever used helpers/tenders on one car and have never had an issue.

[Baddawg53]

Originally Posted by sgreer78

You'll be fine. The sway bar will keep both sides in check. Only instance I could imagine it being a problem is if you go full airborn/droop. I've only ever used helpers/tenders on one car and have never had an issue.

I'm sure it would have been fine, as this is how they ship them to everyone. I did install the helpers, for my own piece of mind. I got the alignment specs I wanted with plenty of clearance for the 315/30/18 tire.

[Dabjbr]

Looking great Mark! Ready to trade blows with you soon!

[kropscamaro16]

the boing sound when u lift it and lower is down is alarming lol but doesnt hurt anything no helper springs on my mcs 1 way setup

[wakespeak]

Originally Posted by VaporPressure

Yeah it's interesting regarding alignment for different tires. When I was running -3.0, the 3Rs inner shoulder corded. But when I switched to pirelli scrubs, the outer shoulder corded with the same alignment. Even at -3.3ish I'm still cording the outer shoulder. I'm assuming the softer sidewall has something to do with it.

As far as ride height goes, this may not be relevant to your situation but my splitter was initially at ~2.5" ground clearance, 0 degrees, and that was too low for the zle. My splitter extends about 6" beyond the zle oem splitter so that doesn't help either. Eventually I'd like to go to MCS in order to get stiffer springs, but for now I'm just trying to raise it 1" and hoping that's enough. If you have a shorter splitter and twice the spring rate, seems like you may be able to keep it at 2.5"?

Hope you can get the tunnels to work. Haven't seen that yet on the camaro.

This sounds like the world I was in before the SLP rear toe arms. I tried changing the camber around but it is was either wearing the outside or the inside. I did -3.0, -2.7, -3.2. With the SLP toe arms -3.0 (0 toe front/rear across all of this) and the front tires are just wearing evenly. The slight bushing give in the stock rear toe arms changes the alignment when compressed is my only conclusion.

Also you need a breaker bar on the front upper strut bolts (2 of them per side) to keep them from loosening up. Torque with the breaker bar till they stop.

[FactoryMatt]

Originally Posted by Baddawg53

I received the MCS two way remote coilovers, and I found something I wasn't expecting to see. Everything I know about installing these, and every single thing I've read online state that there should be some kind of preload on the springs so the spring doesn't float off the perch at full droop. With these shocks and the 6 inch front spring provided by vorshlag there was about an inch and a half gap between the spring and the perch, which shocked me. That's with the adjusters all the way up. Jason at vorshlag, to his credit was quick to get back to me and explain that this isn't going to be an issue, even when jacking up the car. I don't feel good about it and ordered helper springs to take up the space.

I've never seen this mentioned here so I wanted to put it out there, I wasn't expecting to see this as it is not what anyone says is ok. For my own comfort I won't be running the car that way.

They are beautiful pieces though, and the top mounts appear super high quality front and rear.

I've heard ppl say the lower spring perches are level with tire, because vorshlag ships springs that are too long. It doesn't sound like these are, but have you noticed any clearance issues due to the perch height with 6 inch springs?

[Baddawg53]

Originally Posted by FactoryMatt

I've heard ppl say the lower spring perches are level with tire, because vorshlag ships springs that are too long. It doesn't sound like these are, but have you noticed any clearance issues due to the perch height with 6 inch springs?

I actually installed helper springs, and now the perch sits below the top of the tire. There's still enough but not a lot of clearance between the perch and the tire. Running 315's, 1 inch spacers and 3 degrees of camber.

[carguy55]

Baddawg53, I have a very similar setup as you, suspension, aero, engine, etc. How did you run at COTA? I was last their on May 10-11

[Baddawg53]

Originally Posted by carguy55

Baddawg53, I have a very similar setup as you, suspension, aero, engine, etc. How did you run at COTA? I was last their on May 10-11

Man what an amazing track y'all have down there!! I hope I get the opportunity to do it again someday. It's literally got everything you'd want in a track. It was not super easy to figure out, almost purposely misleading when it comes to the line. Another day and a fresh set of tires I think I could have set a really good time, but I'm super happy with what I did. My best was a 2:27.27 and my optimal was 2:25.5, so lots of room to get faster there just with consistency.

The car handled fantastic, especially through the esses. Few issues with a fuel pressure fault code and I think I boiled the clutch fluid (mid day on Sunday clutch wouldn't disengage) but overall super happy.

[carguy55]

Originally Posted by Baddawg53

Man what an amazing track y'all have down there!! I hope I get the opportunity to do it again someday. It's literally got everything you'd want in a track. It was not super easy to figure out, almost purposely misleading when it comes to the line. Another day and a fresh set of tires I think I could have set a really good time, but I'm super happy with what I did. My best was a 2:27.27 and my optimal was 2:25.5, so lots of room to get faster there just with consistency.

The car handled fantastic, especially through the esses. Few issues with a fuel pressure fault code and I think I boiled the clutch fluid (mid day on Sunday clutch wouldn't disengage) but overall super happy.

2:27 is great for your first time there. My best was 2:26 with the car tuned for 450whp. Was on a lap for a 2:25 but got traffic.

[Baddawg53]

Originally Posted by carguy55

2:27 is great for your first time there. My best was 2:26 with the car tuned for 450whp. Was on a lap for a 2:25 but got traffic.

Thanks, I'm definitely happy with what I was able to get, just feels very unfinished. I was on several laps that would have gotten me into the 26's and lost them. 25 is definitely gettable, hopefully I get the opportunity to try again some day. It's just so far away!!


I'm curious what you landed on for your shock settings?
I'm at 12 compression 8 rebound for the front and 9C and 8R for the rear. I was starting to get a little understeer around 18 into 19 towards the end, I know the tires were starting to fall off a little, but I might need to adjust the shocks slightly.

Also I need to secure my reservoirs with those clamps like you have there!! The zip ties are kinda ridiculous. My car is kind of ridiculous, but I love it. I even deleted the sunroof!! If I had known what it would turn into back in 2017 I would have ordered the 1SS 1le rather than the 2SS non 1le, but hindsight is always 20/20.

[Dabjbr]

Agreed, 2:27 was a great first time outing! Wish we had another day and one with zero gremlins. I’m sure you would’ve had your 25! I didn’t even get to ride passenger with you!

[Baddawg53]

Originally Posted by Dabjbr

Agreed, 2:27 was a great first time outing! Wish we had another day and one with zero gremlins. I’m sure you would’ve had your 25! I didn’t even get to ride passenger with you!

You were busy the entire weekend with your duties, woulda been cool to see your assessment and where I coulda done better. Hopefully it wasn't just a 1 time deal.

Your laps were damn good for a completely stock (essentially, besides the wang) car, damn near Randy's. Why haven't you posted it yet?