they all do that Bee Jay. Don't worry about it. Put the wheels on the car and drive it.

 

:Iagree, don't be running running the car in gear with the wheels off the ground!
It's a known bad thing

 

Looking good BJ! That Vette is gonna have a nice looking a$$. Were the struts part of the original plan? I don't remember hearing about them. You need to get that project finished and get the car off the lift. I ordered a Corsa exhaust system and it would sure be easier to install using your lift.

 

Hey Craig. Happy New Year! Welcome to the C3 forum, where men are men and the women like it that way. I already had the strut rods. The car is off of the lift. We gotta do your exhaust and Johns LT1 Opti-spark tune up.
Bee Jay

 

OK, it's done. Here are some pictures just before I take the car down. Everything is bolted up except the sway bar. I took it for a spin and everything works. The only problem is that the right side is 1" higher than the left. I measured at both the frame and the top of the wheel well. I crank the left spring nut about an inch, but it's still not level. And it looks unprofessional with one nut at full extension and the other cranked way up. No problem. I put the car back up on the lift, and I swap ends on the spring. That should either solve my problem or make the right side low. Well, I let the car down, take it for a spin, and the left side is still low. I think I can move the spring over a 1/4" inch or so, and equalize the ride height. I need someone to do the Physics and Geometry. Which direction do I move the spring to bring the left up, or the right down?
Bee Jay

 

Very nice man. As to the uneven ride height...It was even before you put all the parts on it right? If not, possible frame issues.

Also, I had the same problem on my '76 when I went through the rearend with urethane bushings, new spring, offset trailing arms etc. had about 3/4" difference. Not sure what happened, could have been the alignment, but it sits perfect after driving it a bit.

So that batwing and cover is bolted to a regular iron case ring and pinion or a Dana 44? Which is stronger? I'd like to upgrade to a Tom's setup eventually myself, but I don't think they do the upgrade for a Dana 44.

 

I had the same problem when the car was new. It's how I got a gymkhana spring installed under warranty. Yes, it sat level before the new offset trailing arms and batwing. I don't know what would cause it to sit uneven like that. The batwing was installed with **** precision.
Now that I have a batwing mount, I may find me an aluminum rear end with at least 3.33 or 3.55 gears and save another dozen pounds.
Bee Jay

 

BJ,

From what I've heard, the lower ride height on the driver side is fairly common. I just measured mine and I have 3/4" difference. Check the C4 forum. I remember reading a thread about it.

 

I'd suggest checking/setting ride heights with driver's approx weight and full load of fuel on board (as per Chevy Power book). Yes, you'd be a little off whenever a passenger is on board (how much depending on their weight), but then you ought to be leaving a bit more margin with your driving on those occasions anyway.

 

Bee Jay,

I always enjoy your projects as you always provide great tech for the rest of us to learn as you learn and enjoy. Great job

 

Man, your handle sucks. You should go with Black Death, or Fury, or the Shadow. What you have now is like Cucumber. Be careful spending time up in here, you'll want a big block C3 soon. Judy will say no this time. C3s are both Sport Cars and Muscle Cars! Just yanking your chain.
Bee Jay
PS I don't like one side sitting lower than the other. I think I can just move the spring over a slight bit and fix this. I think I will start another thread on the topic.

 

Thanks FatCat. I ask about a million questions around here and on the other Vette forums, so when I do something, I know what I'm in store for. I try to document my projects, especially the difficulties and discoveries and with pictures, so that the next person to try will be better prepared. I do the same thing on the Porsche and Ferrari forums. I have to be very careful, offer some bad or incorrect advice, and they humiliate you. But I appreciate the appreciation. You made my day.
Bee Jay

 

Well, I got the car down and running last weekend. I’ve since been driving it to work daily, and on Sunday, I drove it to San Luis Obispo with Sylvia as a passenger (About 130 miles round trip). Everything is working great, and with new wheel bearings and new trailing arm bushings, the cars comfort cruise zone has moved from 75-85mph to 85-95mph. Several times on the road to SLO, I looked down at the speedo and had to bring my speed down significantly. It tracks fairly straightly, so the alignment must be close, but I need to get it aligned and the tires balanced. The car ran just a little on the warm side, the water temp hovered at 220-230 degrees, and the oil temp was at about 190-200 degrees at highway speeds. I think those will come down significantly when I bolt the front spoiler back on. I need to build a couple of brackets so that I can mount my modified rear sway bar as close to the trailing arm as possible. The batwing brackets took about a 1/8” clearance away and my sway bar end link is rubbing against the frame. I get this strange squeak sound every time it rubs up against the frame and bracket. The rear is sitting one inch lower on the driver’s side, and I will attempt to address that this weekend. But no noticeable frame flex from eliminating that crossmember. But I declare the batwing project complete and done. I'm 35lbs lighterThanks to Twin Turbo for his drawings and measurements, Gill for all his help and his bracket design, and his fabricating skills, and to Eric for his help and tools, and to Norm for his welding skills. Any one wanting to try this, feel free to ask me any questions.

What’s next? Maybe I’ll just drive it and wash and wax it for a while………..NOT.

I have this Edelbrock RPM Air Gap intake manifold on the shelf, and I think my computer controlled HEI has arrived. But if I pull the manifold and distributor, I only have to pull the water pump and timing cover to do the Hydraulic roller cam conversion. The roller cam is about $200 from Scoggins Dickey Chevrolet, but the conversion lifters are about $450. So maybe I will hold off on doing the Dist. and intake until I can afford the cam and lifters.

I definitely need to get some Magna Flow mufflers installed. Those stainless mufflers are expensive. But I can’t hear what Sylvia is telling me while we drive to SLO. These Flowmasters would have been perfect when I bought the car at 21, but at 51, they are too loud. A C5 Z06 pulled up next to me in the Best Buy parking lot, I started to ask him if his engine is running? That's an old Harley joke, but I was actually jealous of how quietly his car ran, and he could prolly kick my Corvettes ***. Noise aint necessary.

Bee Jay

 

Sounds good man I read this and some of your other threads, you are making a hell of an effort. Just out of curiosity did you ever consider a SRIII frame? I know they are cost prohibitive and take a little bit of the fun out of it. But it would definatly address many of the things you have worked on and accomplish a few others. This is just a question though, I think you are doing great how you are.

 

Aw man. If cost was no object, I'd buy an aluminum large displacement small block, 396 or 427 ci. Then I could say, "I have a 427 Corvette". I guess an SRIII frame with an LS7 would be possible if cost was no object. Heck, if money was no object, I'd buy a new ZR1. No I wouldn't, a Lambo Gullardo.No I wouldn't, a McClaren F1 or Ferrari F40, and a few Get out of jail free cards. Now you got me dreaming. I'll settle for a hydraulic LT4 Hot Cam and lifters, and some affordable 295-35/18 tires for my 10 1/2 " ZO6 wheels. And one day, I gotta do up this interior. And maybe some day, a $4000 paint job.

 

You know I was looking at it and the Stage II SRIII frame is actually not too bad a deal I mean figure it out The suspension is done upgrade to C4 stuff, it has a D44 in there and brakes plus a hell of a frame for about 14K and you get to throw almost any motor in there.

Some of the stuff I was looking at would keep me close to that price and it would just be a patched together C3 frame with twist issues. I'm seriously doing some investigating.

I want to do a LS2/T56 swap anyways so it'll make life easier too. IDK I'm just in the figuring + dreaming phase. lol

 

Oh and if money were no object I would buy a ZR1 and a ZO6, plus a couple of Caddies. I could possibly fix GM's cash flow issues if I won the Power Ball. lol

 

Great thread Beejay

I have a couple of questions for you if you don't mind?

I also have a lowered 'vette ( '71 ) and have been looking at how to gain suspension travel, i then stumbled across your thread and read the GM Corvette Chassis Preparation PDF
http://www.corvettefaq.com/c3/ChevyPower.pdf

The GM book says you can remove the stock rubber diff carrier mounts and put steel plates in and you have some freedom to raise/lower the carrier, do you or anyone else know anything about this? I appreciate the rubber is there for a road car but could thinner rubber be substituted?

In regards to your conversion to the later ali carrier and forgetting the weight saving, was raising the diff the primary purpose? if so is this the only way to do it? I'm not fussed about the weight saving so for me it's a lot of work to get 1/2"

Hang on, i've just realised this won't increase suspension travel, only help to bring the half shafts straighter on a lowered car confusing myself now!

ha ha, anyway let us know what your motives were, thanks and good work! Aaron.

 

The Chevy Power book is referring to disks like these...



Raising the diff is meant to improve the angle of the half-shafts on lowered C3's, as once they go below level at the diff ends during travel rear toe moves increasingly towards toe out. Don't know of any current source for them, but if you choose this route I've got dimensions for fabbing up a set. They can be made of steel or aluminum.

IIRC, Bee Jay converted to the batwing primarily for weight reduction, raising the diff while convenient. Don't overlook pinion angle if you raise yours by any means. Hope that helps.


TSW

 

I did the batwing conversion mostly for weight savings. I had planned on raising the diff by 1" but discovered that 1/2" is the max without modifying the floor of the storage area. I hope to lose even more weight when I bolt on an '80 to 82 diff.
Bee Jay