OK, cancel that order of help. Turns out, there is a specific tool for the job, not mentioned in the directions. Yay VBP!



Anyway, my local, friendly autozone employee set me on the right path (I love that place).


So, I have one side of the front done. Tie rod ends, sleeves, upper and lower control arms, bushings, and new sway bar.



The sun is at this point in the sky where it shines right in my face when I'm on my back, and plus, my legs are getting burnt again, so I'm taking a break till 6pm or so, and then I'm gonna knock out the other side. Should be able to finish by dark, as I now know exactly what I'm doing.

 

Kevin,
Good news! I finally finished my suspension about 2 weeks ago and had to repair my brakes. My hardline for the pass side needed to go; that was a trip. I finished that Tuesday and got her back from the alignment shop last night.

Anyways, after advice from the wisdom of the Forum, I set my ride height to 27" front, 28" rear (fender lip to ground) and set the spring rates to the 2nd stiffest (notch 3 of 4). WOW! What a difference! I'm very pleased with my set up. She shakes the ever-living s**t out of me over broken pavement, but corners pretty flat when I push her around. As for bottoming out, yes, my exhaust in the rear hits. All of my wonderful exhaust wrap to protect my rear spring is clearly full of road rash. A speed bump in my work parking lot made a sound I would rather forget, but once again, it was just the exhaust (I took her fast for testing purposes). I don't seem to be bottoming out anywhere else, including the bump stops, so I'm cool with that. Looks like I'll need to dump the exhaust ahead of the wheel like we've talked about.

Definitely shave your steering bump stops though. I had to do a few 5 point turns where normally 3 would suffice. That will be done when I check for loosened bolts and whatnot.

 

That's almost exactly what I have set up. A little higher in the rear, out of need, due to huge rear tires, and I have the spring set to the second stiffest setting. Figured that would be a good place to start, right?


Besides, I don't imagine it needs to be OVERLY stiff unless I really want to slam it to the ground for a day at the track, which is rare for me, as the closest one is lime rock,and that's a bit of a drive for me. And yes, the front was just light years easier than the rear.



A question....what do you mean by shave the bump stop? I have not had a chance to drive mine yet, as I am being held up by a broken piece of plastic in the steering column that is on order, and god knows how long it'll take to get here. I have my alignment done, though, by rolling it back and forth. I have a slight toe in on the front wheels, and for now, a small amount of camber angle on the wheels. I want to drive it before I get too crazy with that stuff, though. As for steering radius, person before me had monster sized tires on it, so that, even though I am running rather large wheels with low pro tires, the total radius is smaller. Before, she used to rub on sharp turns, now, not at all.


Sorry to hear about the exhaust. Did that cost you much? I went to a car show last weekend, or before that, maybe, and talked to a LOT of guys who have some nice custom rides, and they all seemed to think that dumping it in front of the rear wheels is the way to go. They said so long as it's not loud, cops don't give a crap. Cops seem to be out for the ricers, not the classic muscle guys

Way I'm going to do that is, have the mufflers parallel with the frame half way back, as there is nothing in the way there, and then custom piping that will bend out and done. For now, it won't be visible, but some day later (read, when I take the paint off, and start getting it ready for new paint (read, a couple years from now)), I will look into cutting the glass, and having some fab work to make the exhaust tip come out all sexy like, up in front of the rear wheels.

 

Whoops, typo, have the pipes bend out and DOWN.

 

What I assume is meant by shaving the bump stops is cutting them shorter. If you were rubbing and aren't now, keep her the way it is.

I may turn down the stiffness. I can't bring coffee to work now due to the ride. I want to check the stops for rubbing to see if they need a trim.

I also didn't loose my exhaust and I couldn't care less about it. Consider it sacrificial material so when I go over a bump and hear the exhaust hitting, I know I'm close I'm doing an LSx swap so the old exhaust will be scrapped. I'll have a new one fabbed up and most likely dump in front of the wheels. I don't plan on glassing it into the 1/4 panels. That seems like too much work, time, and money for me. But hey, if done right, that will look sweet. Kudos to you, my friend, if you can pull it off.

 

A little light reading on composite mono springs and mounting techniques.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corvette_leaf_spring

 

In the rear your camber bolts are not in the same position, one is all the way down while the one on the right is in the middle position, you want to make sure they're both in the position so you get equal camber curves left and right side of the car

I had same problem with exhaust, what I plan to do is just run straight pipes back but have them empty in a 90 degree angle horizontally before the rear tire. So basically just a straight pipe from the headers back to before the wheel, and just a 90 degree tip emptying it side ways under the car, cheap and easy.

 

Thanks for pointing that out.......Man, I never even noticed it, and I went over everything twice before starting that front!



And yes, for exhaust, that is exactly what I am doing, for now. Some day down the road, though, I want the tips to be seen, race car style. So sexy.





Some day.