The Defiant Ones, Part 3: The Gray Ghost

[ls7gto]

Re: The Defiant Ones, Part 3: The Gray Ghost

the car was in pontiac for the woodward dream cruise a few years ago, ill search for the photos somertime soon.

[SpiderGearsMan]

Re: The Defiant Ones, Part 3: The Gray Ghost

you can't bend a semi floater for rear camber
a full floater can bend a little
junior johnson in 92 had a multi piece drive hub and bearing that a fan designed for him , explains bill elliotts success in #11 in 1992 , it became public by the summer of 92
the radial racing tires required lots of rear camber
how about a defiant ones on greg sacks winning the firecracker 400 in 1985 ? runing a cheated up gary nelson monte carlo ss

[terry russell]

Re: The Defiant Ones, Part 3: The Gray Ghost

cool my kind of racers
terry

[richardlwitt]

Re: The Defiant Ones, Part 3: The Gray Ghost

As memory serves me, in the late 70's - 80's this car belonged to a local Cadillac dealer in Cumberland, MD named Louie Spoerl. I remember it very well as I went to school with his kids and pitted next to him at Summit Point a lot. Louie campaigned it in the old AS before it became GT1 and then GT1 before buying a Corvette. Last I had heard the family still owned the car; however that has been some years ago. Louie also competed at Daytona in the Fire-Am with the auto trans with Adams and crew, I don't have any other details, but remember it as one awesome racecar.

[ch1ll]

Re: The Defiant Ones, Part 3: The Gray Ghost

All I heard about Trans Am those years was how Donahue was cleaning up.
Wouldn't that car be a little nose heavy with a destroked big block?

[Blazerteam]

Re: The Defiant Ones, Part 3: The Gray Ghost

A great story from the sixties,and too bad tghey didnt use a Chevelle with a 303 instead,as MR4 speed says..that would have ruled.

Also,i have seen rear ends with camber..but the axles have been machined convexed on the splines to work.

We need pics of this beast as it is today...

[Tazracing]

Re: The Defiant Ones, Part 3: The Gray Ghost

whom where the other two involved.?

[Brian Lohnes]

Re: The Defiant Ones, Part 3: The Gray Ghost

The two that worked with Herb Adams? Their names are in the story.

[Tazracing]

Re: The Defiant Ones, Part 3: The Gray Ghost

The two that worked with Herb Adams? Their names are in the story.

missed the link..
got it

[horsewidower]

Re: The Defiant Ones, Part 3: The Gray Ghost

You can camber a solid rear, usually done by heating or welding on one side of the tubes. You can only induce a very small amount without very quickly causing wear issues on the bearings.

Like many things in racing, it'll add performance but require additional maintenance.

[nickleone]

Re: The Defiant Ones, Part 3: The Gray Ghost

The original story in Car & Driver said the rear was bent to get camber. The tollerences in the rear were wide enough to get it to work.
Some Trans AM teams were said to cut the rears and make the tubes bolt on and use tapered shims to produce different camber settings for different tracks.

Nick

[horsewidower]

Re: The Defiant Ones, Part 3: The Gray Ghost

Very, true. The stuff that went on, modifying those cars to be competitive, was probably far more than what I've experienced.