87 GNX rear suspension questions

[dixiespeedway]

hi guys, my names grant campau, i am a tech official at dixie motor speedway in birch run michigan. last friday we had a racer try and pass off a rear suspension i know isnt a gnx, but he wanted proof.

the class this car is requires a complete stock partial frame, all suspension components must be stock and in stock location. you can mix makes from ford to gm and so on. this particular car has a camaro front subframe, and is claimed to have the g body 87 gnx rear sub frame. but, the rear torque arm is not stock, it has heim joints on all mounting points, and the panhard bar is on the wrong side. all connected to a nine inch rear end. the axle is legal, the rest of the suspension components are not.

what i was wondering, is if anyone that owns a gnx could help me out, i need pictures of the torque arm showing its design and that it has bushed ends. i also need pictures showing the rear frame brace and the panhard bar, which is also bushed. if you could also measure the frame just after the rear frame hump. i have looked all over the internet and found no actual pictures of the torque arm, or any measurements. if you could please send pictures to goat_1020@yahoo.com it would be greatly appreciated. thank you in advance.

 

[GNBRETT]

This is all I have.

 

[dixiespeedway]

anyone have a side view of the torque arm? and could you guys email me the pics? idk how to print em off of here.

 

[Heg87t]

Hey,

This site has some diagrams & pictures.

https://secure.mysuperpageshosting.com/kirbanperformance.com/gnx.htm

 

[dixiespeedway]

ahhh most excellent!!! that will work perfectly.

 

[dixiespeedway]

thanks guys for all your help, we presented the information to the racer and his car was disqualified for both weeks. sad that we lost a car , but best for the other racers. thanks again.

 

[charlief1]

Just wondering, how well did it do with the modified suspension? I prefer paved but all we have down here is dirt.

 

[dixiespeedway]

well, it did pretty well actually. during the features he would pass 14 cars (full invert) and come up to third place. during the heats he would be more than 3/4 of a lap ahead of the whole field. this suspension was not on a g body chassis. it ended up being an A body monte carlo. the triangulated 3 link torque arm thats in a GNX wouldnt be good for circle track because the rear axle needs to be able to move up and down. the ford style with the single upper third link works better but doesnt put the power to the ground like the one in the GNX does. the car owner wasnt happy with us on friday. but, hes taking this car to another track.

 

[notacarlo]

Turbobuick.com/Dixiespeedway 1

cheating monte driver 0

 

[charlief1]

well, it did pretty well actually. during the features he would pass 14 cars (full invert) and come up to third place. during the heats he would be more than 3/4 of a lap ahead of the whole field. this suspension was not on a g body chassis. it ended up being an A body monte carlo. the triangulated 3 link torque arm thats in a GNX wouldnt be good for circle track because the rear axle needs to be able to move up and down. the ford style with the single upper third link works better but doesnt put the power to the ground like the one in the GNX does. the car owner wasnt happy with us on friday. but, hes taking this car to another track.

There are several tricks that would make it out perform a standard 4 link and I was going to try and get the GNX design around the techs here but when I asked they poo poo'd it. I've got a project in the shop right now. I'll take a pic tomorow if I get a chance and I think you'll sh!t when you see what is considered street stock down here.

Turbobuick.com/Dixiespeedway 1

cheating monte driver 0

LOL He wasn't cheating, he was creatively inturpreting the rules, that's all. :biggrin:

 

[dixiespeedway]

the standard A and G body rear suspensions arent really that good, you have to have your ride height absolutely perfect or else the triangulated upper links will cause the rear end to bind and theres some nasty wheel hop comming out of the corner. ive seen a lot of guys put the mono ball bearings in the trailing arms to fix this. but, its only lasted a week and they had to put bushings back in, again, not legal haha. but the track where i race at allows those kind of tricks.

post some pics of your rear suspension. are you allowed to swap clips from one car to another?

 

[charlief1]

Not allowed to swap clips but the rules are open to interpretation. I'll post a pic tomorow and like I said you'll sh!t. Do a search for Heart of Texas Speedway and read the rules. Very open and kinda stupid but it is exciting. Kirk hit the wall at 95 mph last year and walked away (thank God). I saw him hit and didn't believe it. Every one was standing and it was silent until he got out and then cheers for him. Good build for what he did.

 

[charlief1]

Chasis pics

Took a little longer than I figured but here's the pics of what we've been doing lately. This is considered a street stock car if you can believe it.

 

[dr_frankenstein]

now I get it. this explains everything!

A.j.

 

[charlief1]

You see why I sent you the mail on the suspension now Aj? I really do know what I'm doing.

 

[dr_frankenstein]

Well I never took ya for a roundy rounder.... so I see your experiance with the track bar. I have cranked the math and it looks good. so we shall see...

Thanks for the roundy round flashback! LMAO feels like highskool!

A.j.

 

[charlief1]

Well I never took ya for a roundy rounder.... so I see your experiance with the track bar. I have cranked the math and it looks good. so we shall see...

Thanks for the roundy round flashback! LMAO feels like highskool!

A.j.

I'm not but the guys around here are. I'm a road guy. Used to run several classes including FF1600 in the 80's. Started in a GT1 Vette that could run 10.125 in the quarter. We had a wild hair night after getting the car together so we wanted to see what she'd do.:biggrin: It would've been faster with an auto but for the courses we used a Doug Nash 5 speed so the shifting was slower.
The guys around here are a bit redneck and this is what we do for fun unless we try it on the street. You wouldn't believe the looks as people see this thing flying down the road. 1 almost ran off the road they were so distracted. We needed a test drive to check out the engine.:biggrin: