3/16/10 Here is the newly completed and hopefully the last version of the front suspension. The new upper arms use the stock (polyurethane replacement stock) bushings and then come staight out to end in some tube ends from Ballistic Fabrication. Then rod eyes (rod ends with no pivoting ball) thread in for adjustablity for overall length of the arm. The balljoint plate has a welded bung accepting the same screw in ball joints as the last version, and everything else held together with new Grade 8 hardware. They aren't the easiest to adjust but I don't plan on doing it very often so it's not a big deal. You can also see what I am trying out for a tie rod, it's just some DOM tubing and weld in tube ends with rod ends making the tie rod ends. This picture shot before I got it set up better, the end connecting to the steering arm should be more toward the rear of the car giving me some clearance for the wheels when the rack is at lock. I am going to try this setup out for a bit, the next step in correcting a few minor issues might be modifying the steering arm itself to correct any bump steer issues or clearance issues, or possibly trying to get some Ackerman steering attributes out of the car. The last is a lofty goal, but who knows what time might have in store, right now I just want to get her back on the road.
1/8/10 Here is what I have so far on the new upper control arms, I am going to remove some excess material to lessen the weight but i am happy with the design so far. The idea goes like this, I will run two bars straight out from the original upper arm pivots, cap those with threaded tube ends, I am going to triangulate the bars for strength, one bar connecting the outer end of one control arm to a point more inner on the other, then the rod eyes pictured will bolt into the ball joint plate, threading in or out the rod eyes will adjust the camber. At least that what's going to happen in theory, we'll see how it plays out in reality.
10/07/09 I've been avoiding working on the steering, not for any particular reason, maybe because I don't get long periods to work on teh car so I've been focusing on smaller projects I can accomplish with the time I have. Anyway, this is a shot of my tie rod in progress. The new location of the steering rack put it forward of the new steering arm, that is the reason for the necessary rearward jog in the tie rod. Next steps are setting the car at ride height and removing the springs. Then the suspension and steering can be put through it's range of motion to make sure nothing is binding. You can also see in this picture the sway bar isn't hooked up right now, I need to figure that out after testing.
10/27/08 The rear of the car is coming along, I first located the rear end and then the coilover crossmember, then the rest of the bars to support it. I have the upper mounts constructed, one is in the photo below waiting to be tacked into place. Next on the list is to finish mounting the uppers, then the lowers which are pictured below as well. I am planning on adding some additional bars for stability but I am not sure of the placement yet.
10/17/08 My Moser M9 rear with Detroit Trutrac posi and 3.70 gears is sitting in the rear waiting for mounts and trailing arms. I ordered it with GM "A" body upper tabs (Chevelle as Moser refers to it) and no lowers, they supplied me with the Chevelle lowers which I think I am going to use instead of making my own, I do have to figure out some geometry first. I am not sure how much antisquat to try and build in with the uppper arms. The lower arms will be run as close to parallel with the ground as possible, they will be my own creation using some 4130 tubing, one end with poly mounts to the body and the other with rod ends for alignment purposes.
The upper arms are Edelbrock adjustable arms from the "A" body.
I am shooting for 2 degrees down on the pinion angle to start which will be adjustable later the upper mount location is decided and fabbed. Not picured is the coil over package from Qa1 that will be installed as well.
09/14/08 Finally ordered and received my coilovers and have started to mount them. They are Qa1 Promastars single adjustable with 300lb springs. I welded up the mount on the lower A-arm and am working on the mount on the shock tower (or upright), no pictures of it right now as it's not very good looking yet. I'm excited to have the front of the car sitting under it's own weight soon!
5/28/08 The little things are taking a while to sort out on the front end, I figured out the sway bar links and as you can see on the left I got some rod ends for the steering linkage but have some other parts on back-order from Summit.
I am still working on the lowers, I have to order my Qa1's to make sure the lower mounts are correct but I finished up the sway bar mount today.
5/12/08 I decided to re-do my A-arms for a more finished look, I used DOM tubing from Shapiro Supply here in St. Louis. The Ball joint sleeves are from ebay (ovalspeedfabrication). I got the tubing for the bushing mounts to match the id of the stock mounts so I can reuse the new polybushings(DOM 1 1/8" x .120) tubing. The upper a-arm tubing is DOM 7/8" x .083. The lowers are going to be DOM 1" x .120 and I will post pictures after I get them complete. I am still working on a fixture to weld them up.
04/20/08 Finally got the sway bar mounted up, see following picture. Need to get some rod ends and fab up some linkage to hook the sway bar to the A-arms. The Addco bar is 1" diameter, the spacing on the mounts was far enough apart that drilling the stock swaybar mounts to accept them didn't seem like a good idea so I made a new set of mounts from some 1/8" plate, I might need to add a little reinforcement but it looks good so far.
04/2008 The length of the hubs and spindles put the wheels out too far so I had to take 2 3/8 inches out of the upper and lower control arms. The picture below shows how I went about that. I know this affects my camber gain but I don't forsee it being a problem within the travel the suspension will see. Also I have plans to modify the steering arm inputs to minimize bump steer from moving the rack.
I also added polyurethane bushings from British Parts Northwest to the steering rack and a-arm mounts.
The only things I need now are some Qa1 coilovers and the hardware to hookup the 1" Addco swaybar I picked up from Victoria British.
03/02/08 Got the front suspension figured out this weekend. I adapted the upper and lower control arms to add screw in ball joint sleeves. The pinto screw in ball joints allow me to use Wilwood's new ProSpindles and brakes. The ProSpindles use Mustang II geometery and allow for bigger brakes and the hubs allow for more wheel choices. I am using the stock rack, moved for engine clearance and will adapt it to the steering arm soon.
|
