With the 2003 American Iron West season over, it's time for an overhaul of the car in preparation of the 2004 season. There are a number of items that need doing, ranging in importance from putting a hood on the car to replacing the bent exhaust tips. I've put together this page to keep track of what we have done, how and why.

First the fuel injectors were removed and sent to Cruzin Performance to get cleaned and have the flow rates measured. This place is run like a well oiled machine. You let him know that you're sending them in, you print out a form that is included with the injectors, that is sent in and a payment is made. Then he cleans them and tests the flow, and you are provided with an url where the data is provided. Final payment is made and the injectors are shipped back.

Next we wanted to swap the Torsen differential with 3.73 rear gearing from our 1998 Camaro into the race car. We put the blue Camaro on jack stands in the driveway and dropped the rear end. We then took both rear ends to Wendell our mechanic and had him swap the differentials. The blue car got the stock 3.42 rear end from the race car. While we had the axle out we had ARP heavy duty wheel studs pressed in to the rear axles and pressed into the front hubs. Chris also had the foresight to pick up 2 new hubs (a known weak point on the F-Body) and had the heavy duty studs pressed into them as well. Two extra sets of studs were also purchased and put in the trailer for a rainy day. With the brakes off, we took the calipers to Don at Superior in Goleta to have them rebuilt. When dropping the rear end we found that the Global West TrackLink mount was broken, so we had a new one shipped out.

Since I have more time than anything at this point I decided to devote some time to degreasing the underside of the car. It started with just the area around the power steering reservoir, then spread to the front passenger wheel well, then to the fender linings, and then I just bit the bullet and tackled the whole thing. At some point I decided I was basically done. There is still the steering rack and K-member that need cleaning, but I'll do that when we replumb the power steering lines and put in the power steering cooler.

Pretty high on the list is to fix the dent that the car got at the Las Vegas event. We bought a crappy little dent puller from Pep Boys, but it was insufficient. I went online and found a heavy duty dent puller. The picture at the website made it look much smaller than it is. The case is like 3.5 feet long. I feel like a cleaner walking around with the thing.

Joel (Pit Bitch) was in town for New Year's, and helped me work through planning the removal of the ABS unit, and plumbing the power steering cooler. For the ABS unit removal, we'll need to connect the front line (which is for the rear brakes) from the brake fluid reservoir, through the firewall, to a brake proportioning valve. From the proportioning valve the line then comes back through the firewall and connects to the middle (larger) line on the ABS unit. The rear line on the brake fluid reservoir will come forward, T off, and connect to the two front lines on the ABS unit. The ideal solution was to have stainless steel braided lines made that would connect everything. However, the M11X1.5 connections on the brake fluid reservoir aren't used much, so finding lines with that size fitting is an uphill battle. Next best bet is to use the existing lines and get some stainless steel hoses that connect the existing ends to one another. I'll get a picture posted when this gets done and include a parts list.

Next project is the power steering cooler. The cooler is going to be placed in the passenger front corner, below and forward of the stock battery location. Since we're going with a '98 bumper cover we can use a fog light opening to get air to the cooler. Joel volunteered to make a vacuum mold that will fit over the cooler that we can run some ducting to. If that gets done I'll get a pic and post some specifics. Due to the strange fittings that the good folks at GM used for the steering rack lines we're going to have to use the stock lines instead of converting everything to AN and braided lines. It sucks, but it is the path of least resistance. We're plumbing the cooler between the rack and the reservoir because this is the easiest place to put it. Ideally it would be between the pump and the rack, since we believe that the pump is where the fluid is overheating. Compromise two for this project.

Parts list if using the stock power steering fluid reservoir: 3/8 LOL hose (not sure what LOL stands for)) 3/8 barbed mender Fittings for oil cooler, likely to be AN-6 or AN-10 with 3/8 barb end If using an aftermarket p/s reservoir (pn 77-250) (for instance), also include: AN-6 with 3/8 barbed fitting for return line AN-10 with 5/8 barbed fitting for line to pump 5/8 LOL hose 5/8 barbed mender

While the exhaust was off the car we are going to have new tips put on and install mufflers. All exhaust components come from Neal at Dr. Gas. Neal runs the 95 AIX car and is an all around nice guy. He drives all the way from Utah to run in American Iron. I can't even handle the trip to Thunderhill.