qwank

finally got my car back together after a long winter.

Here's the list of repairs/mods that I did over the last few months:

Rebuilt from suspension (ball joints, tie rods, bushings, etc. painted everything)
Speed Direct spreader bar
Borgeson steering conversion
Dewitts aluminum radiator
cut one tight coil off front springs
Painted calipers gold
New brake pads and hoses
8" rear spring bolts
Heim joint competition strut rods
17" Rev Classic 100 wheels (17x8 -12mm offset)
255/45ZR17 Continental Extremecontact DW tires (26")

My final ride height from ground to middle of wheel fender lip is 26.5" front and 27.3" rear.

I had to change my speedo driven gear from a 17 tooth to an 18 tooth to calibrate the speedo for the shorter tires.

finally got it finished, got my inspection sticker and took it for a 30 mile ride.

here's some random pics of everything:



















and this was my mileage when I returned from the test drive

Redwing01

These are quickly becoming my FAVORITE wheels, by the way , awesome 81 you have there!

The Punisher

Looks kick a$$

F22

Great looking wheels! And the Vette looks good too! You got the stance just right.

Arkyvette

Very nice

blackbeauty74

Nice!

qwank

I took it out for another drive a little while ago. It's officially over 100K miles now. I can't wait to take it into work Saturday and do a proper alignment.

3JsVette

The pictures show you have done lots of hard work under the car besides adding the new wheels/tires which look great. I'm sure it was very satisfying to be able to get behind the wheel again.
Enjoy! Nice job.

diehrd

That is sharp I like them a lot

682XLR8

Car looks great! Also noticed the finishing touch on the brake calipers

Rebelrob

Looks good. Remind me of my Coys. Also good job on the tail light conversion.

qwank

Thanks everyone!!

RebelRob, your car was one of my inspirations. I wanted the same setup you have, but The Coy's were on back order until July. My rear tires were bald and over 20 years old so I had to come up with a plan B quick. after a weekend of searching, I came across these 17" Revs. I'm happy with them, although I still wonder what 18s would have looked like.

I did the lights a couple years ago. I like them a lot. I may add a sequential directional kit this year

Raphiki

No, now it's a low mileage like new Corvette!

qwank

Hahaha, yeah I was going to make a joke about that earlier.

It may also be a good time to switch to a 140mph speedo now

Bangkok Dean

On your speedo just add a 1 in front of all the numbers

martinsw

C3 4ME

Any idea how much cutting one coil dropped the front? Did you take a before and after measurement? I've alway thought mine sits a little too high in the front.

qwank

unfortunately, I didn't measure before I cut. but after I cut them I had a height of 27" from ground to middle of fender lip with 27" tires, and it dropped down to 26.5" with 26" tires.

qwank

I did my alignment yesterday. what a pain in the butt!! I removed the A/c compressor and the factory air ducts to make it easier to get to the right front upper control arm.

It took me almost 4 hours to get it perfect, most of that was working on the rear toe. But I'm happy with the results. I used factory specs for everything, but I put the camber at -0.2* in the front. I think castor was around 3.0* on the left and 3.2* on the right. I'll stick it back up on the rack tomorrow after work to make sure nothing settled.

I installed the spreader bar this morning. the car handles 100x better than it did last year before all the suspension mods. Next up will be a set of Bilstien HD shocks.

LannyL81

Where did you get the spreader bar from?

Interested in this for my '81....well....in a couple of months after it is all back together.