|
|
Hotchkis Race Pack Suspension Kit - Handle It!Here’s one way to make a new Camaro look and perform like a rock star From the December, 2011 issue of Camaro Performers By Steven Rupp Photography by The Author
|
|
When GM introduced the newest iteration of the venerable Camaro it was hailed as a huge leap forward in performance. Packed with a 400-plus horsepower LS3 engine and a ultra-modern IRS suspension, it certainly has enough acceleration and handling prowess for the average car junkie. But if you’re reading this magazine, then chances are you’re gonna want just a bit more. The Hotchkis TVS Race Pack... The Hotchkis TVS Race Pack (PN 80117, $2,350) offers everything needed to get a Camaro turning flatter and quicker. It also helps stiffen up the chassis, which is important if you plan on working your Camaro hard in the curves. Now, the new Camaro certainly gained quite a bit more horsepower, but it also put on a ton of weight, and that poundage is to handling what Kryptonite is to Superman. Start tossing nearly two tons of Camaro through the hard twisties and things like body roll and chassis flex team up to spoil the party. Luckily, the aftermarket is full of companies that feel your pain and work hard to address the limitations of the factory suspension. One of these companies is Hotchkis Sport Suspension, and they came out with a host of parts to help make the good-handling SS Camaro great: Chassis braces to fix the flex, stiffer springs, and heavier bars to tame the roll. The parts are offered a la carte or in performance-matched kits. For this test we found a bone stock ’11 SS Camaro, baseline tested it, and then stuffed it with a Hotchkis’ Race Pack suspension kit. Once installed, we took the Camaro back to our test venue and blasted around, through, and sometimes over, some cones. After all, we dig cool-looking parts as much as the next guy, but if they don’t up the performance level, then what’s the point?  Removing the front struts...  Removing the front struts is surprisingly easy. First, we disconnected the sway bar end link from the strut and then unbolted the upright from the strut using a 24mm wrench.  We then lowered down the car...  We then lowered down the car and used the 24mm wrench to unbolt the strut from the strut tower. With that done, the assembly was free to be removed from the Camaro.  The spring isn’t under much...  The spring isn’t under much tension but to play it safe, we used a spring compressor. If you don’t have one, simpler versions can be rented or you can take the assembly to your local suspension shop and they will do it for a few bucks.  Here’s the stock spring next...  Here’s the stock spring next to the new Hotchkis piece. It’s was pretty easy to see that the new spring would drop the ride height about 1 inch, but less obvious was that the new spring had a stiffer rate of 210 pounds.  With the strut out of the...  With the strut out of the way, it was the perfect time to drill the rear-mounting hole for the strut brace. We first drilled a 1/8-inch pilot hole and then finished up with a 3/8-inch bit. The forward hole is easy to drill from inside of the engine bay.  With that done, we could then...  With that done, we could then reinstall the strut with the new Hotchkis spring. Certainly not rocket science and the Hotchkis instruction manual was very detailed.  After completing the spring...  After completing the spring swap on the driver side, and drilling the hole for the strut brace, we installed the Chassis Max brace. If we ever decided to add something like a Magnacharger, the new brace will easily clear it.  The stock front sway bar was...  The stock front sway bar was a royal pain to remove. Hotchkis feels the easiest route is to raise the engine a bit. Once we wiggled it out, we slid in the new 1.25-inch hollow bar, which is 210 percent stiffer than stock.  The Hotchkis Race Pack included...  The Hotchkis Race Pack included very nice greaseable bushing brackets, but we decided to upgrade to their CNC billet 7075 aluminum pieces. The upgrade is a couple hundred bucks, but they’re so cool, it’s worth it.  The Race Pack also includes...  The Race Pack also includes these heavy duty sway bar end links. They feature high-quality three-piece PTFE-lined heim joints for smooth, quiet operation, specially machined metric high-articulation spacers, zinc-coated grade-10.9 hardware, and CNC-machined aluminum sleeves with machined wrench flats.  The new links are adjustable,...  The new links are adjustable, so it’s possible to pre-load and corner balance the suspension. They will also better resist flexing compared to the stockers.  The new rear spring installed...  The new rear spring installed on the factory strut just like the stocker. The spring is cold-wound high-tensile steel and came powdercoated because rusty parts just look shabby.  With the front done, we moved...  With the front done, we moved to the back of the SS. Like the front, it employs a coilover strut arrangement. We first unbolted the lower control arm from the upright so it could be swung down. We then unbolted the top of the strut from the frame and removed it.  Like the front, the rear also...  Like the front, the rear also offers a 1-inch drop, and for better performance, the spring rate ratchets up to 440 pounds.  And just like that, the rear...  And just like that, the rear spring swap was done.  Unlike the front, the rear...  Unlike the front, the rear OEM sway bar was easy to remove. The new Hotchkis hollow bar is 1 3/8-inch diameter and has three settings: 500-, 600-, and 800-percent stiffer than what came on the SS.  Like the front, the rear came...  Like the front, the rear came with a pair of Hotchkis’ super badass, adjustable billet end links. To get the right length, we adjusted them to the same distance as the stock links.  With the links installed on...  With the links installed on the new sway bar, we were officially done with the suspension upgrades.  The last piece of our Hotchkis...  The last piece of our Hotchkis upgrade kit was the Chassis Max chassis brace. The first step to getting it installed was ditching the stamped steel tunnel brace.  The Chassis Max brace is constructed...  The Chassis Max brace is constructed of lightweight elliptical aluminum tubing to help preserve as much ground clearance as possible. Installation was simple since the kit used existing mounting points.  A small spacer bar was used...  A small spacer bar was used to secure the chassis brace to the rear suspension cradle. For now all the fasteners were left finger tight.  With both sides of the chassis...  With both sides of the chassis brace in place, we then installed the new tunnel brace. Once in place, we went back and tightened up all the hardware.  The chassis brace did a great...  The chassis brace did a great job of tying the front frame into the rear cradle assembly. Besides looking pretty cool, the brace should significantly reduce subframe flex, which lessens wheel hop and increases traction.  After aligning the car, we...  After aligning the car, we put this project firmly in the Before installing all these fancy parts, we took the bone-stock SS to our test track to get some baseline numbers. The slalom we used was 420 feet long consisting of cones spaced 70 feet apart. To keep it all fair, we ran both tests on the stock tires that came on the Camaro from the factory. With the stock suspension, our best blast through the pylons was 6.17 seconds or 46 mph, which for a stock Camaro, was pretty damn good. After all of the Hotchkis goodies were installed, that number was slapped down to 5.90 seconds or 48.5 mph. Now 2.5 mph may not sound like a lot, but it’s actually quite a bit when you’re talking a short slalom like ours. More importantly, the Camaro now felt more balanced and predictable in the transitions.  [Before]  [After]
|
Hotchkis Sport Suspension
8633 Sorensen Ave
Santa Fe Springs
CA
90670
888-735-6425
562-907-7757
www.hotchkis.net
| |
|
|