CRG Discussion Forum
Model Specific Discussions => Trans-Am Camaros => Topic started by: Jay Rowlands on February 16, 2016, 07:46:47 AM
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Hi Fellas,
I haven't been on here in years. Please forgive me if I'm not performing proper forum posting etiquette. (I'll learn).
Does anyone have *photos* and/ or info on the specific areas Penske's master fabricator Ron Fournier cut the holes to dissipate front end lift? I have seen photos of the rear wheel wells, the rear of the door and the rear quarter panel's door jam- but I haven't seen any photos of the front of the door, the rear of the front fender, front wheels wells etc. Did they also cut holes in the lower firewall?
Mark Donohue mentioned the mod in his book, The Unfair Advantage, to which he said this: "we opened up the front fender wells, cut holes in the door pillar and door panels, and ducted air through them all the way back to the rear wheel wells". I'm hoping someone out there has more detailed info they can share. Photos of the door pillars/ front of the door/ front fender wells/ firewall? with these holes would be awesome.
Thanks in advance for any help/ info on this topic. Thank you Jon for creating this 1st- Gen Trans Am Camaro Forum. Do ya have any photos of this stuff from your teenage tech days at the track??
Best,
Jay Rowlands
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Jay,
Sorry, I have been out of town. I believe there are some pics of the holes you are looking for in the 1969 Trans-Am Season Review thread. If you can't find exactly what you're looking for there, then I probably don't have a picture of it.
-Jon
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Just last week I talked to the man that might have those pictures or at least knowledge of how and why. I'll see if I can get an answer.
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Hi Jon, thank you. I scoured the 1969 trans Am Season Review thread and could not find any photos related.
Doug- thank you too, cool- any info or pics related to the firewall-lower cowl, front fender well- rear of front fender/front of door areas is what I'm interested in. I really want to see what they did there. Appreciate your time- thanks.
Jay
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(http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss309/1967z28/Ron%20Lathrop%20photos/1969MISTrans-Am008.jpg~original)
Photo is found to be posted by Jon in the Wolverine 1969 thread, it is in the second post of the thread.
http://www.camaros.org/forum/index.php?topic=8328.0;all
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Hi, thx Trans Am, this is one of the common photos I mentioned above. There seems to be a handful of photos depicting the rear wells and rear door jam out there. I'm looking for details/info/pics of the opened up front fender wells, holes in the back of the front fenders, lower firewall/cowl, door pillar and front of door...
Thx to all reading this post-
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The problem is that those of us not inside Penske had no idea what was going on. We could only focus on what we could see ... the rear wheel wells. As for the front, I have done everything I can with the negatives and other then Roger's butt (previous image) this is the best I can do with the front wheel well. Sorry, Ron
Opps, image (rescanned) is too large to attach. It is #72 in my 1969 MIS coverage.
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Here's the photo but I can't get any of the holes to be visible playing with the contrast.
(http://i586.photobucket.com/albums/ss309/1967z28/Ron%20Lathrop%20photos/1969MISTrans-Am072.jpg)
Photo by Ron Lathrop
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there was an feature article on the '69 Penske Camaros in I think Car Life magazine, '69.not exactly what your after, I seem to remember there was a cutaway drawing of the car included which showed those holes in the front, there were also a number of photos of various aspects of the Camaro also. can't get to my copy at the moment. I'm sure Jon will have it, or it's already been posted here.
Mike (group/7)
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Maybe part of our problem is the actual wording in The Unfair Advantage: "For one thing, we opened up the front fender wells, ... ." Does not say there were holes in the front wells ... sez the front wells were opened up. But the question is more about the holes in the door pillars and door panels. And as pointed out, we've all seen the holes in the rear wheel wells. I believe Group 7 is right about some magazines' cutaways ... .
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here's a link to the January 1970, Car Life Magazine article on the '69 Sunoco Camaros. I might have been wrong on holes in the front end ? hope this is some help. Penske most likely wouldn't allow this info to come out during the '69 season, by this point they had committed to the AMC Javelin program for 1970.
http://www.pozziracing.com/car_life_article_penske_69.htm
Mike (group/7) in Canada
edit: I didn't read the whole article, there may be a clue in the text.
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Ron, Jon, Mike- thanks for all of the input guys. Yes- maybe you're correct in the way interpreting the text "opening up the front wheel wells"....I did come across the Car Life article in a book I have (CAMARO MUSCLE PORTFOLIO 1967-1973). In the photo close up of the front disc brake/brake cooling duct I can see what looks like an "opened up" wheel well to the rear near where the down tube of the roll cage attaches to the front subframe. It looks as if the rear part of the wheel well has been relieved/removed all the way up to the subframe itself...
In a related note: I have been in touch with Ron Fournier's daughter via email and she is going to pass along my questions to Ron next time he stops by. How cool would that be to hear details from the man who actually did the work?! Way cool. I'll let you know if/when/what info I find out.
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There was a site on the web that had a ton of photos of the Penske 69 car when it was for sale at some point, but I cant remember the site. It may have been Canepa's site but I thought it was someone else. I downloaded some pics from there- they were hi-res, beautiful pictures and there were some great shots of the front fenderwells with the tire off. I printed one of those pictures to relieve the inner fenders on my street a/s tribute car. I cannot for the life of me find the digital copy and if it was Canepa's site those pictures are no longer there. I was looking at these photos within the last 3-4 months so they were accessible up until just recently. I will see if I can find the print and scan it. I do remember from the pictures that the inner fender was cut out as mentioned above and there were NO holes as opposed to the rear wheel wells and doors/ door jambs.
Hope this helps a little bit
Dean
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Jay,
Ron Fournier is a great source to go to and he took a lot of photos of his own work. Whether he will share them with you is another question, but maybe a verbal description will be enough.
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I have seen some pictures in the past but can't recall were. I think an internet site. This is the only one I have now, I believe #9 was Ronnie Bucknum's car.
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I found this while digging around for some info on flaring camaro fenders.
This is from Ron Fournier's site. Pictures are kinda small but can see a little bit of the fenderwell area
http://www.fournierenterprises.com/custom/In_The_Shop2.htm
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Is that an aluminum subframe, or is it painted silver for a reason?
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The subframe is painted gray in that photo. The shiny silver object is a fabricated aluminum brake duct.
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What was the reason for painting the subframe grey? Seems like extra unnecessary work, right? (if it didn't make you go faster, why waste your time)
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Probably painted the sub-frame grey so as to spot any cracks immediately. Bill Jenkins did the same thing on his race cars for that purpose.
Jim
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The color is Battleship grey and it is normally used so you can spot oil leaks fast.
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What was the reason for painting the subframe grey? Seems like extra unnecessary work, right? (if it didn't make you go faster, why waste your time)
Many.. if not most... race cars get painted with that light gray color.. even the interior in many cases.