All that is left to do on this side is the upper mount plate on the front side (copy of the rear, real simple) and some cleaning up of the metal. Then on to the other side. After that I'll have to finish my custom lower arms. On those arms the shock will sit closer to the ball joint (wheel rate & spring rate closer) and the mounting hole will be a good bit lower for more travel, this mount is just a mockup so I could install it w/ the stock arms.

 

Looks good, Like that custom upper A-Arm. How is the shop comeing along?

Neal

 

shop is coming along fine, roof goes on next week:



The reinforced concrete floor has already been poured and ground absolutely flat & smooth. (you can see it in the pics behind the plastic sheets)

I slapped on an old rim for the fun of it (sold ym stockers, this is the only rim w/ tire I have left )

 

You sir, are a mad-man. Nice work, but...I'm pulling the hair out of my head just trying to rebuild the stock suspension.



D. Ocean
Miami, FLA

 

That upper a-arm is going to be one of the most adjustable ever on a vette. That is more like what should be on a race car. Nice setup.

 

Nice job, TT. I hope you plan on doing your own alignment. If I drove up to Bubba's wheel and tire with that, they would have it driving in sideways.

The shop is looking good, what size it it. Feet not Meters.

 

Really nice work!
But is that upper mount for the coilover strong enough?

 

the "spreader bar" will go between those 2 towers, the "towers" are tied into the frame and stock control arm mount and they are made up from an inner box section and outer sections to tie it into both sides of the control arm tower, it's plenty strong. If you mean that the bolt only goes through one plate, another plate will be welded on the other side and a plate will go over the 2 to make it a box shape, inside is another section of thick wall square tubing (you can see it in some of the pics)

 

Looking Good Twin Turbo. I am glad I read further down the posts and see you are putting a plate on both sides of the upper shock mount. I didn't like just one side. The springs need 3 3/4 inch clearance, while they say they are 2 1/2 inch spring they are actually 2 5/8s which affects fit.
When you choose the position for the upper mount did you make sure the suspension will bottom before the shock does? When choosing the upper mount positon I completely collapsed the front suspension, then collapsed the shock and gave the shock an extra 1/4 inch to prevent collapsing.
I ended up with 400 pound springs in the front.
Anyway Marck you are doing a nice job. The spreader bar could cause a problem. As much as I would like one I just can't find an opening across the front of the motor. Could have to do with the 3 inch belt.

 

-twinturbo-

any idea on what the name of the wheels are in those suspension pics?

 

Did you drop the inner A arm mounts?? This would be the time.

 

I thought of all that, the suspension collapses before the shock does, I did it the same way you did, collapse the shock, mount it and then position the upper mount a tad higher. I also have enough clearance for the springs, that's why I had to notch the frame again. It looks close in one of those pics but remember the lower mount will go outboard another 1,5 to 2" so it'll be okay. The spreader bar won't be a problem, I have plenty of clearance for the pulleys there, unlike your blower belt which makes it near impossible. The springs are 2,5" ID, not OD. Do you have 2.25" ID springs? My spring pads are pretty wide, the spring is only marginally wider than they are and I intend to run my front end pretty low w/ not that much suspension travel.

 

No, the inner mounts are in the same place, the bolts are in a different place, no need to drop them w/ the adjsutable ball joint. I have seals for the ball joints so I can grease them and not worry about dirt getting in. Look at the angle of the upper arm now, it's a pretty aggressive angle compared to the lower one.

77 I think they are western cyclones but they could be turnines also, there are several of those wheels that look the same with differences in the amount of spokes, if the spokes extend into the milled of rim edge ..and so on. Do a search on google, there's a guy that refurbishes those wheels, you'll be able to identify them there.

 

The springs are 2,5" ID, not OD. Do you have 2.25" ID springs? My spring pads are pretty wide, the spring is only marginally wider than they are and I intend to run my front end pretty low w/ not that much suspension travel.

No my springs are what they call 2 1/2 inch springs which is the ID but they turned out to be 2 5/8th Id again causing a sloppy mount on the cut designed for 2 1/2. I checked and all the springs seem bigger then they say. As for OD I seem to remember you need 3 1/2 inches plus clearance or about 3 3/4 inch total. I can see you have lots of clearance.

 

You must have bought afco springs, they are 2 5/8, I'm going w/ either eibach or hypercoil, most likely hypercoils because I like the blue better than the red. I don't have that much clearance though, it's pretty tight. If I need more clearance I'll cut out that angled part and weld in a curved section, I have some thick walled pipe somewhere that I can just cut a section out and weld in, a curve inwards would give more clearance.

EDIT, look here:
http://www.stockcarproducts.com/afspg1.htm

 

Marck,
Beautifull work - I love the design!!!! I love the execution!!!! Very few people have the understanding of the engineering, the fabrication talent, and the tenacity to pull this off at home. Looks like your suspension is really coming together!!! Before you know it, you'll be out for a test ride

A couple of questions:
How long have you owned the car/ been planning these modifications?
What negative camber gain/curve will you get out of this design?
Are you using the stock spindles, or have you modified them to change your kingpin angle? (I know you plan to use wide rims with a lot of positive off set).

Looking Good!!! Sweet!!!

 

I was just looking at some old Vette magazines from 1976. Your setup looks very similiar to what Greenwood was running then.









Sorry about the poor picture quality.

 

I have owned this car since 97 and have been working on this project since summer 2002, I got rear ended and ended up pulling the entire car apart.

I don't know the camber curve yet as it's fully adjustable with the adjustable upper ball joint, I will have to tinker with different settings and see what it likes best. I still have stock spindles, no king pin angle change. I will run wide tires so it will have more scrub radius, that will result in heavier steering but also more stability. I'm going to run an appleton power rack so if I feel I need more assist I'll just swap out the servo. It's not like I'm intending to take the car for long cruises and some training of the arm muscles never hurst As for parking or making u turns..well let's not think about that I can always power slide in a u turn

Budman, I think the shop is about 27 * 16

Kid Vette, those are great pics, do you have more of those. Where they have holes for a bar across the front I will mout a spreader type bar, not a big beam like they have. If it turns out to need more stiffness I'll use 2 spreader bars. Their mounts are closed, impossible to remove the arms without taking them apart. I left my insides open and was going to have a backing plate to go over it to make it a closed box section (you can see the open side in some of the pics) but I may weld it all shut like that as my arms are really easy to remove, just pull the anchor bolt on one side of the cross shaft and I can easily pull them out.

 

Here's one more picture with caption. Doesn't show much that the others don't. Just wish I owned these three cars now!!!



Three generations of GT cars: left is ’73 Trans Am car with new nose grafted on, center is new ’76 rear radiator model taking shape, right is ’74-’75 IMSA GT car currently being used to test new components under actual race conditions.