STANCE

Riding Low

For many years, tire and wheel sizes were adjusted in the search for optimum balance, with 10" wide front wheels and 12" wide rears providing the best combination. F41 front springs and a factory 5-leaf "Daytona" rear spring with 15/16" front stabilizer bar and 5/8" rear bar also worked best. The 5/8" wheel studs were added after nearly losing a left rear wheel to broken factory 7/16" units after an autocross. The wheels and tires were upgraded to 9-1/2" x 17" front and 11" x 17" rear Boyd's custom-built billet 3-piece wheels with 275-45/17 and 335-35/17 tires. 17" wheels were a gigantic and difficult size to locate in 1991 when they were installed! 

Vette Brakes & Products transverse composite leaf springs and other suspension pieces replaced the autocross combination in the mid 70s, which smoothed out the ride and eliminated a lot of weight in the process. They, too, were later upgraded to VB&P dual-mount springs.

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Mounting an early Camaro fuel tank under the frame provided two clear benefits: It cleaned up the rear deck by eliminating the fuel filler door, and it moved something on the order of 126 pounds of fuel 12" lower in the chassis for a lower center of gravity

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Stopping Power

Nightwind was featured on the cover of the very first Vette Brakes catalog, (later to become Vette Brakes & Products), as it was also the recipient of one of the first three sets of Vette Brakes stainless steel sleeved calipers ever made. They were later fitted with experimental Teflon-coated pistons, but all were eventually replaced with Stainless Steel Brakes aluminum calipers, saving 7 pounds of unsprung weight per wheel over the stock cast iron calipers.

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6-Speed

The removable crossmember fabricated by Grant Goheen to accommodate the Richmond "R.O.D." 6-speed transmission would have been ideal for use with the Muncie 4-speed, also...I wish I had thought of it years earlier!