Some of you may know I bought the VB&P monospring front conversion.

Well, I got through the removal of my right-front A arms this weekend, and installed the VB&P tubular A arms in their stead.

Everything went pretty much as expected. I dropped the coil spring by supporting the lower A-arm with the floor jack, then separating the ball joint and undoing the inboard mounting bolts. The whole thing just lowered down pretty as you please. The 550 lb spring didn't have very far to expand, actually - probably only an inch or so beyond where it was at the A-arm's lowest exension when it was connected.

I was happy to discover that the upper A-arms will come out the hole in the inner fender wall with a bit of twisting and turning. I was not looking forward to pulling the A/C compressor and other stuff that might be in the way if I had to pull them out the engine compartment.

One minor curiosity... The VB&P HD lower ball joint casting didn't quite fit the inside of the lower A-arm tip perfectly. The casting nub, where the rear bolt goes through on the side, was off the inner wall about one washer's width (can you guess what I put in there to take up the space?). I'm guessing the VB&P A-arm welding jig was off a little. If I hadn't noticed this and just tightened the bolt, it's probable I would have broken the casting of the ball joint.

Another oops came when one of the VB&P lockwashers supplied with the lower A-arm front bolts expanded and squeezed out from under the bolt head when I torqued it to the specs provided by VB&P. I used the original lockwasher in its place. I'm hoping that was a fluke and the hardware isn't inferior. It LOOKS good, and the bolts all have the requisite 6 marks on the heads, but as anyone who's done custom work knows, looks can be deceiving.

The only other minor snag I've seen so far is that the lower mount on my Koni shocks is a little wider than the bolt holes in the VB&P lower A-arm. Shouldn't be a problem to make the slots in the shocks a little deeper with my die grinder. I got these Konis some time ago, and they're adjustable. If I crank them all the way to their stiffest setting, it is practically impossible to move the piston shaft, so I think they'll be good with the monospring setup.

More as I do it!

By the way, my old A-arms had VB&P poly bushings I had put in a LOOOONG time ago... They were still tight! I had visions of finding them in crumbles, but it was not so. Scrunchy sounds notwithstanding, this poly stuff wears well indeed.

-Noel


[Modified by Noel Carboni, 2:41 PM 2/18/2002]

 

Hey, Noel,...still chopping away eh??? snicker...
I got my monster back on the road now, finally, everything more or less works....handles like a dream....what is amazing to me is the amount of flex in the frame itself when turning the wheel while parked....those big 255 tires put a hell of a lot of stress on the frame, the rack moves about 3.8 inch side to side, and it's the damn FRAME flexing, not my mounts...interesting....
it's not even broken damnit...
I"m thinking of an additional lateral support a thwart ships to the opposite/passengers frame rail....just on general principals....
I have to check on someone's shark with stock steering to see what that does sometime...bet it's about the same, as that pittman arm is just as low as my rack...especially when hitting the drag link final positioning....

GENE

 

Hey Noel,

I'm in Florida too (near Tampa) and about to do the same install (well as soon as Ecklers ships the upper A-arms anyhow). Keep me posted to any other issues you run across, and send some pics too ;)

 

When you get closer to being done you might be able to answer this better.

If you place the adjustments of the mono spring stiffer does it tend to also lift the front end? My other question is: Was your solid roller a custom? I now see why you have the ability to attain high speeds on the straights. You must have a 3.875 stroker.

 

Chopping? "Re-engineering", Gene, "re-engineering"... :D

I have the VB&P spreader between the upper A-arms. Is that along the lines of what you're thinking?

Yep, after a fashion. It a grind being used by a California engine builder I befriended (and bought it through). It's been a while now, and I've lost track of him. Heck, I don't even remember his name any more... :( Anyhow, he specialized in bored/stroked 400 engines and called it his "magic cam". It runs the cylinder pressure up to near-detonation levels quite nicely. I have chassis dyno results showing 490ish lb-ft of torque.

Here's the spec sheet...



-Noel


[Modified by Noel Carboni, 7:12 PM 2/18/2002]

 

That looks like a nice cam! :) I have DD2000 now and i've run lots of simulations. when I had my cam made i just went off of the best knowledge guess. I went for a split duration and higher lift than you. 240/248 @.050 112 I talked to Monty later about free flowing exhaust and how it might effect the end numbers. You have forty cubes on me.

I also went for high flow heads which would require less cam to make the same amount of power. I really went too mild. I have 13-14 inches of vac. at 900 rpm idle. I also drive my car on long trips and had some concerns about gas miles. I still have averaged. 18+ on 1000 mile trips with my 825 Race Demon.

Your 1/4 time is slower than I would expect, but your mph is up there so you must have power. :) With slicks and a higher stall ......... I would expect a 11 second machine. I need to go manual tranny someday.


[Modified by gkull, 8:23 AM 2/19/2002]

 

Noel...I'd be very interested in hearing what comes of this new front VB front end. I might have to reserve a place in my suitcase next time I come over there again. It's looking close too.
Thanks.

 

Noel, What I learned about shocks during my install is that the issue with VB springs is not compression, it's rebound. In other words, if the the shock is not designed to dampen the rebound of the spring, your car will bounce like crazy.
I ran Konis with coil springs and with a TRW rear Fiberglass spring and loved 'em. But they did not dampen sufficiently on the rebound to prevent bouncing with the VB springs. So, after trying several brands and discussing it with Paul Lisinsky at VB, I am now using Bilstein Sports (purchased thru VB) and they are just right.
Good luck with the Konis but beware of bouncing and porpoising.

 

Thanks. I'll watch out for the bouncing. Fortuntely, shocks are almost trivially easy to change...

-Noel

 

FYI - Once the front spring is in place, you have to remove the spring to change shocks.

 

I know my car is quicker than 12.85, but I've only driven it down the 1/4 mile a few times, and I had some trouble getting it to hook up, so the fault is probably with me. :)

-Noel

 

Oops. You're right. Thanks for setting me straight. Still not a BIGGG deal, but more trouble than with coil springs.

-Noel