Weeks Three to Four

The hectic pacing of the project has slowed down going into the third and fourth weeks. Much of the heavy lifting has been accomplished and the focus has turned to the intermediary steps and other details. The engine and rear end were mocked up onto the car so measurements for the new driveshaft could be made. Marcus also figured out what fuel lines were needed and gave me the information to order with XRP. More dramatic progress should be made once the driveshaft and fuel lines have arrived.

Here is what the rear end looks like with the 8.8 differential and axles fitted to the Samberg mounting brace.

I was lucky to be able to pick up this 8.8 Cobra (’02-’03) differential locally, because they are becoming harder to come by. I dropped the differential off to Samberg and asked him to do a full clean and rebuild so all the seals and bearings are fresh. A new set of Ford Racing 3.73 Gears were installed as well. These are supposedly the only gears that do not whine. If I had stuck with the stock FD rear differential, not only would I have ended up with a weaker unit, but re-gearing it would have been difficult due to almost nonexistent alternatives. Pairing up the power and torque of the LS3 with the gear ratios of the Camaro TR6060, the FD’s 4.10 ratio would have certainly been on the higher side.

The new front subframe was assembled and ready for install.

The cool thing about having the entire front subframe out of the car, everything can go back in from underneath rather than over the top. The chassis is simply dropped on top of the subframe via the lift.

A test fit… this picture aroused a couple knee shakes in me.

The front assembly with the long tube headers mounted:

And to bring closure to this post, I leave it with an eye candy of a suspended rear Ohlins DFV coilover.