Weekend Warriors

The idea of modifying our quarter-mile terrors into road hugging, corner-carving machines is very appealing. As such, many of us have upgraded a shock here or a control arm there to create a more stable and consistent street performer. But sometimes, those of us in the 1320 crowd venture out into twisty-turny land, never to be seen again. Trying to understand why people go from quarter burning to corner turning is like trying to understand why hot chicks drive Hondas: Making the connection isn't always easy, so you might as well step back and appreciate it for what it's worth. We saw these three cars tearing up the course at Pocono Raceway and were impressed with the absence of big-buck road-race equipment on board. These three guys road race on the cheap, struggle through a ton of trial and error, and reap the benefits of well-thought-out modifications. All three third-gens have a different purpose, yet share many of the same parts. Take a look.

Corner Carving CommuterMark Frouhar's 1985 Pontiac Trans Am

Mark Frouhar has owned his '85 Trans Am since high school, but it took the 28-year-old project manager until the '99 F-body gathering in St. Louis to really get turned on to the road racing scene. After entering his T/A the following year at Memphis, he started looking for more races to attend. Unfortunately, many of the well-known events fill up the first day they're open. He learned about EMRA where you can just show up and race, and the hook was set.

"This type of racing is so beneficial for someone new to the hobby," the Jersey City, N.J. resident states. "You're there learning to drive the car, and instructors are on hand to give you pointers. The only thing you're racing is the clock, so you aren't banging fenders with people out there. You just show up, go 140 and go home."

The silver T/A lived its former life as a 305/auto trans combo. Since then, the slushbox has been canned for a T56, and the swapped-in L98 has been through two rebuilds. When the wrong valve springs were installed onto the swapped motor and it broke a valve, Frouhar had G & R Performance Engines in Long Island build a stroker short-block, and he added AFR 190 heads, a Lingenfelter-worked SuperRam, and DFI to the 383. Mark gets plenty of time to enjoy that power, as the 130,000-mile T/A logs 340 miles a week, weather permitting.

Frouhar believes in a K.I.S.S. approach to better lap times, and changes to the suspension include Koni shocks, stiffer springs, solid bushings for better response, and Bridgestone Potenza RE730s mounted on 17-inch OZ rims. Spohn's torque arm and lower control arms and a Global West panhard bar work with the stock sway bar to keep the unruly rear planted in the turns. He prefers to drive his 'too stiffly-sprung' T/A to the events, as well as to work during the week.

"My compromises are more towards racing," he explains. "For instance, I had my camber set at zero for Lime Rock, but I was getting push on the street tires. So I loosened up the top of the strut towers, moved a jack underneath the lower control arm and loosened the top shock tower nuts, and moved them inward. Although it wears the tires quicker, it really helps in low-speed turns. The car is a little stiff to be on the street with Global West's Del-A-Lum bushings in the front control arms and the stiff springs, since my daily commute is 60 miles. When I first started road racing, the shocks were so soft, and I almost blindly followed other people's advice as to which ones to replace them with. But I did my homework and bought adjustable Konis. I started with them completely soft, but now they're full hard. I think that if you're making mistakes, you will be better off in a stiffly suspended car. I drive real fast on the street, and even in triple digits going over uneven roads, the car doesn't bounce."

Mark chose Eibach's Pro-Kit in place of the stock springs--but even then, the rear was still bottoming out.

"I needed more stiffness in the rear, so I swapped in GM NNM springs. They're stiffer than the Eibachs, which were around 109-177 pounds per inch. No one seems to know what the rating is for these, but I'm liking them."

Moving on to something a little less suspenseful, one of the best improvements he made was bolting up Baer's 13-inch Track Kit in place of the stock front brakes, and replacing the rears with a Fourth-gen 1LE system. Through trial and error, he has moved on from the PBR pads included with the brake kit.

"After those were worn out, I threw on a set of (GMPP) Durastops. They lasted all of one weekend and exhibited serious fade from 130-80 mph. Next I tried Hawk Blues, which were fine, until I went to Watkins Glen. It's a demanding track in respect to braking, and although they didn't fade, the Blues were so harsh that they cracked a rotor. Right now I'm playing with a set of Porterfield Endurance pads. They stop well for now, but we'll see how they hold up."

Frouhar has posted a 1:10 lap time at Pocono, a 1:12 at Lime Rock and a 2:39 at Watkins Glen. He estimates that there is about $30,000 total wrapped up in the car, but is quick to add that the only modifications farmed out were the paint and the roll cage. The stock sway bars are still in place, and he uses the same tires for the track as he wears on the street to avoid trailering the car. He has this bit of advice to pass along to possible enthusiasts:

"Two things--safety and brakes. You either get people who get out there and think it will be easy, or they're terrified. Nobody made you go out there, and you control the danger factor. Be prepared."

Mark Frouhar owner: 1985 Pontiac Trans Am

10-inch wide OZ rims and a Suncoast ram air hood accent Frouhar's sleek T/A. This daily driven F-body has turned a best time of 1:10 at Pocono Raceway (north).

The L98-based 383 breathes cool air from the twin hood nostrils, thanks to this ram air setup. A SuperRam intake provides enough low-end torque to accelerate the Poncho out of slow corners.

Torque Down Low and An AutoRob Greig's 1986 Chevrolet Camaro IROC

Rob Greig is a jet engine mechanic from Lindenhurst, N.Y. who picked up this then-70,000-mile 305 Camaro in 1996 for daily driver use. He drag raced the IROC before a friend competing in EMRA invited him to Lime Rock three years ago.

At first glance, you wouldn't think this stock-looking car would provide much in the handling department. The red IROC rides on 16-inch rims, and ducking underneath the PPG-enhanced body would reveal stock front springs and the factory sway bar. And this thing is supposed to handle?

"When you've got aluminum bushings in the A-arms and Teflon washers against the frame, you might not need bigger sway bars," the 30-year-old Greig explains. "Back when I was skating around corners, just playing with the camber helped out immensely. You can't overlook the small things."

Certainly not overlooked is the Z's powerplant. A .030-over 400 that was originally meant for his 1980 Camaro street car provides the thrust. Once the boys at Custom Design Performance in Columbia, Conn. were done with the short-block, Rob bolted up a stock TPI unit, which sits atop the 406 and breathes for aluminum Trick Flow heads. Thanks to the torquey mill under the Harwood hood, this Z has run 12.7s in the quarter with the factory chip still in the ECM. The abundance of low-end torque provided by the TPI's long runners also helps him overcome the inability to select his own gears, as a built TH-700R4 with a lock-up converter handles the Z's shifting.

"I'm definitely at a disadvantage running an automatic, although it doesn't make as much of a difference on the big tracks. It does on smaller circuits like Pocono, though--the closer ratios of a manual would be much better in the corners. Right now the only thing keeping me from a T56 is money."

There were enough ducats in the $7,500 budget for Eibach springs, polyurethane bushings, SLP rear control arms, a Jegs adjustable panhard bar, a Spohn torque arm, and boxed factory front control arms. Fine-tuning all of these components was the hard part.

"I bought Eibach's Pro-Kit and because it lowered the car, the front end was bottoming out. So I put the stock front springs back in. The front of the torque arm uses a Heim joint in place of a bushing, and it's a real solid piece. Along with the lower control arm relocation brackets to create negative pinion angle, it allows me to decelerate into corners and accelerate out of them with the rear end glued to the track."

The Camaro has come a long way thanks to those suspension tweaks, but the biggest improvement he's seen has come from trading his street tires in for a set of BFGoodrich R1 road race tires. Along with the 12-inch Baer brakes riding on the front end, these two mods worked wonders on the IROC.

"What was kind of funny was I didn't really put much effort into the car at first, and had great results. It was only when I started to get serious that I really had to work to see results. The difference in the car's handling was night and day with the competition tires, and as far as the brakes go, the stock ones just weren't cutting it. I chose the Baer kit because everything--spindles, rotors, you name it--were included. All you do is bolt 'em on. I now use stock '88-96 Corvette brake pads with this system, which is nice because all I have to do is go down to the GM dealership when a set is worn out."

The lowering springs and a roll cage make donut runs a little more complex these days, so it's been a couple of years since Rob's Z has seen any major street duty.

"After I started to get into the roll cage stuff, it became a real hassle to crawl in and out of it. And with aluminum A-arm bushings on a lowered car, it just wasn't as comfy anymore. So I bring it in on a trailer now, but it is still streetable."

Even with the auto trans, Rob's Z has posted 1:05s at Lime Rock and 1:04s at Pocono's North course. As far as the drag/road racing debate goes, he's a goner, and willingly admits that the added challenge of turning left and right far outweighs the rush provided by straight-line acceleration.

"To me, road racing is substantially better. You race more and it's much more challenging. And I think you run into less drivetrain breakage this way. I got bored driving in a straight line for such short periods at a time.

"I think the best advice I could give would be to not go crazy and spend a ton of money on your car. I did everything except for build the short-block and weld the cage. You should go out there with an instructor on stock tires, be real conservative, and first see if you have the ability to do this. I don't care how much money you have, your ability is what matters."

Rob Greig owner: 1986 Chevrolet IROC Z28

The stock 305 wasn't cutting it, so a punched-out 400 was built and dropped in. The new 406 sends enough torque rearward to the 3.23 gears to trap 106 in the quarter; the difficult part is getting around a road course with a TH700R4--that's why they call 'em slushboxes.

Rob painted the Z red himself, after enlisting Jerry Gottlieb to help smooth out the body. That's Harwood's fiberglass hood hanging on for dear life.

High-Mileage HaulerKevin Crain's 1982 Chevrolet Camaro Z28

There are two numbers you should know regarding Kevin Crain's 1982 Z28: 5,000 and 300,000. The first represents the amount of money that it took this systems manager to build a road/drag racecar--he did every modification himself except for the rear end. The second represents the mileage--311,000 to be exact. Put them together, and this mild-looking Camaro's performance simply doesn't compute. There are many upgrades that help to ease it into old age, including Spohn's rear control arms and an adjustable panhard bar, Edelbrock's torque arm and IROC wheels wearing Yokohamas on the street and BFG R1s on the track. He swapped in a complete T56 setup from a wrecked '97 T/A himself for under a grand--no small feat when you consider it was enhanced with a McLeod clutch. To attempt a rational explanation why a car this elderly is hoofing it around road courses, here's Kevin.

"The car belonged to a friend of mine in college. When I bought it in 1995 with 200,000 miles, it still had the Cross-Fire injection and a 3-speed automatic. Talk about a real clunker--it actually caught fire on the way home after I bought it. I tuned it up and drove it for a few years, and then bought a totaled GTA in 1998. I took the L98, built it up to 355 cubes, and stuck a 700R4 behind it. I moved to Jersey and started using it for my daily driver, and it would run a high 13 in the quarter while passing the dyno emissions test. I started burning chips for it and playing with software, and at Memphis in 2000 it went 13.2 at 102 mph. That's when I got involved in road racing, because the F-body club had rented Memphis Motorsports Park for drag, road, and autocross racing. I liked the fact that the instructors were familiar with the F-body platform and the course was flat, it was a good place to learn. And I got the bug!"

Since Kevin was working with a strict budget, he wanted to learn as much as possible about suspension geometry and handling theory before delving into the project.

"I started playing with the front springs first. With GM pieces, I couldn't find a compromise between ride height and stiffness, so I started doing research. I learned that on V8 cars, you should go with fairly stiff springs. But many companies don't advertise spring rates, which makes it a lot harder to choose a set. I found out that Moog will tell you anything you need to know about their springs--wire diameter, spring height, whatever--and I found two parts from them to try. One set was 780 pounds per inch and the other was 706 pounds per inch. I started with the strong ones, and the car was understeering badly in turns. I went to the other set, and after cutting off half a coil because my front end was too high, the ride was perfect.

"Next I looked at the front sway bar. When I went to Memphis, I was using the 32mm GM piece with urethane bushings. I was getting a ton of oversteer, so I picked up a solid Hellwig 1 5/16 bar and it was too much. With no A/C, a fiberglass hood and aluminum heads, my front end was much lighter and it was pushing through turns. I've since bought a 36mm hollow GM bar, and although I haven't tested it on the track it feels great on the street. With the rear springs, I swapped in GM's NUX coils from an RS Camaro. The car likes softer rear springs and the stiff Hellwig rear sway bar. Once I dropped 2 psi from rear tires it was finally dialed in."

One aspect of Crain's Z that goes against conventional wisdom regarding road racing is his utilization of the stock brake system. Keeping within the confines of his budget, Kevin was able to test a few sets of brake pads before settling on Porterfield's R4S compound.

"They're a street-oriented pad that doesn't need a lot of heat. They're also easy on the rotors and don't fade. With those sorted out, I can concentrate on keeping the stock hydraulic brake system operable and I don't have to drop a ton of money."The Z covers 180 miles of north New Jersey roads a week, and compromises such as more ride height than Kevin would want for the track are necessary to make it an all-around performer.

"As far as ride height goes, on a race course you want the car as low as you can get it. But you just can't do that to a daily driver. The Moog springs established a smooth ride and I can race and drive it on a daily basis. It's all about finding that balance, I think it's 90 percent spring, and the sway bar and brakes are the other 10 percent.

"For those who would like to know more about this sport, find a local amateur group, like EMRA, NASA or SCCA. Autocrossing is a great way to start and learn where the limits of your car are. Step two would be instructed road racing paired up with an instructor. The big thing is to know your car, and you can use the autocross to get a feel for where the cornering limits are. Then you can hit the road course and put it all together."

Kevin Crain owner: 1982 Chevrolet Camaro Z28

This plain-looking Camaro runs low 13s at the drag strip, adds to its astounding mileage every week while commuting, and was kept to a $5,000 budget, including the engine and T56 trans swap!

GM's LT4 Hot Cam gives the L98 350 some much-needed power. Kevin burns his own chips for the car, which has paid off handsomely with increased horsepower and better gas mileage.