Alright guys (and gals). This has been a while in the making, but I have finally got it (just about) done. Front Camaro spindles and struts installed on the G8. Sounds easy enough, right? Well it is now.
First off, why would you do this?
1.) Zeta II got stronger components and better geometry (stronger control arms, ball joints, spindles, hub bearings, strut mounts, etc...)
2.) Direct bolt on Brembo upgrade (unless you already have CTS-V or GXP Brembos, and I will get to that.)
3.) Strut selection - holy hell there are a bunch available for the 5th Gen.
4.) Parts availability - no explanation needed.
5.) Cool factor
If you have a higher mileage car and need some front suspension work anyways, and have maybe been considering upgrading to the Brembos and better struts, now is the chance to do it all at once.
What you will need:
2010-2013 Camaro spindles w/ hub bearings and ABS wiring, lower control arms, radius arms, rotors, calipers, G8 upper strut mounts, and the Camaro strut of your choosing. You could use the stock Camaro FE3s if you wanted, and that was my original plan, but I ended up with BC coilovers for the adjustability instead. You will also want to get all of the Camaro bolts and nuts just to make sure you have what you need. All three of the strut mounting bolts are different sized from the G8.
Now the kicker. Because the ball joints on the Camaro are all larger, including the ones on the outer tie rods, we have to swap outer tie rod ends. No big deal - get the 2010 Camaro ones. New ones are cheap, and you probably needed them anyways. However, as you will see in the pictures, there is a difference in length. The G8 uses a short inner and a longer outer tie rod then the Camaro does. The combination of the short G8 inner and the short Camaro outer does not leave enough thread to safely connect the two. So we need the Camaro inner - but the threads where it connects to the rack are larger than the G8. $#%&@!!!!!
So began the hunt for a solution. I didn't want to have to replace the rack and get that deep into it not knowing what else I would run into. I didn't want to have to machine the rack or tie rod ends to make it work, because that would be a PITA for most people to repeat. After hours on the internet searching and chatting with Moog tech support, then talking to them on the phone, then digging through their catalog, I found an inner tie rod that has the correct thread on both ends and is long enough to do the job. Wouldn't you know it - it's off of a Camaro. Moog PN# EV260 for the 2002 Camaro (and about 11 billion other GM vehicles) has the 14x1.5mm outer thread, the 18x1.5 inner thread, and the length to get the job done. As a matter of fact, it's about .75" longer than the 2010 Camaro inner tie rod. You will probably have to shorten it about .5" to get enough adjustability to get your toe alignment right, but anyone going this far should have no problem doing that. That's it. That is the magical part that makes this all work on our cars.
You can reuse your G8 brake line if you choose, and it fits in the bracket on the Camaro strut, but you might have to zip tie it to make sure it stays.
You will have to splice the wiring for the ABS sensor because the plugs are different, but this is two wires (+ & -) and is very simple. I am waiting on the body side Camaro pigtails now so I can cut the ends off of my stock G8 sensors and make short jumpers between the G8 body wiring and the Camaro sensor. Then it will be plug and play, and will keep me from having to cut my body harness or the sensor harness for the sensors that I'm using. Then the car COULD be returned to stock if needed. (Picture added on page 3)
My parts pile - I will be doing the rear cradle/ diff swap in the next couple of weeks. Thanks to those who have already blazed that trail.
How-to here:
http://www.g8board.com/forums/showthread.php?t=96529
The Camaro uses a taller spindle (by about 3") and a shorter strut. Camaro sway bar endlinks are a little longer than the G8 to make up for this, but I was able to rotate the stock sway bar up far enough to keep the G8 links for now. I will update if there are any interference issues during suspension travel, but it was only about 1.5"
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