Dragvette Before and After Pics
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2008
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Nice! When you get and chance, can you take a close up pic of the upper link attachment to the Van Steel control arm? Do you have any clearance issues between the upper strut and the bump stop frame mount or floor of the car?
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Instructor
Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 133
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From: New Braunfels Texas
First part of next week I plan to have the tires off and will get some shots. I did use Van Steele offsets as well as QA1 single adjustable shocks. I haven’t seen any clearance problems but I haven’t done a thorough check. I will say, it’s very easy to change camber. Also, I pulled the c-clips and that helps a lot.
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2008
Posts: 1,565
Likes: 111
First part of next week I plan to have the tires off and will get some shots. I did use Van Steele offsets as well as QA1 single adjustable shocks. I haven’t seen any clearance problems but I haven’t done a thorough check. I will say, it’s very easy to change camber. Also, I pulled the c-clips and that helps a lot.
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2008
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Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 133
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From: New Braunfels Texas
Very nice. I’m going to go with the Rival S also. What backaspaing you running. When I pulled the c clips I slipped the side yokes out until I had about an 1/8” still past the spider gears. That allowed about 1/3” of side yoke outside the diff. Should translate to a bit more room. I took a piece of flat steel and drilled a hole in it and I I mount it on the rotor. Then I can spin it around and measure to the frame to get my max BS. I’ve been crunching numbers using specs from Tire Trac to find total backspacing (backspacing of the wheel + overhang of the tire).
Race Director
Joined: Dec 1999
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From: Forked River NJ
I'm curious on if they fixed the upper link to frame clearance issue. I had this on mine one summer and every small dip in the road or bump it sounded like somebody smacked the frame with a hammer. The upper link mount on the arm was hitting the frame. Mine was a little lower than stock but not much. I worked with them for a while but it was just not working. I did use stock arms at the time so you guys with VS off sets should have a different experience than I did. It was a good setup just allowed very little wheel travel. I now run VS coil over setup on all 4 corners.
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Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 133
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From: New Braunfels Texas
I know it says in the literature that can be a problem. I was originally going to keep my stock trailing arms but one was cracked length wise so I just forked up the money for new ones. You’ve sparked my interest in this. I’m building a non specific car that I’d like to be respectable in the 1/4 mile as well as turn respectable lap times. Jack of all trades so to speak. I have a 420 lb spring so hopefully it won’t travel that far.
Le Mans Master
Joined: May 2006
Posts: 9,993
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From: League City Tx
I'm curious on if they fixed the upper link to frame clearance issue. I had this on mine one summer and every small dip in the road or bump it sounded like somebody smacked the frame with a hammer. The upper link mount on the arm was hitting the frame. Mine was a little lower than stock but not much. I worked with them for a while but it was just not working. I did use stock arms at the time so you guys with VS off sets should have a different experience than I did. It was a good setup just allowed very little wheel travel. I now run VS coil over setup on all 4 corners.
It is a bad *** setup for drag racing though, and it will keep the wheel in place if you break a u joint...
Last edited by ajrothm; Jan 19, 2018 at 06:47 PM.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2017
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From: New Braunfels Texas
Yeah. I’m more focused on straight line. Had a low 11 sexy mustang in my teens. I’m older now and have a conscious and can’t make a Corvette purely a straight line car. So to be a jack of all trades you have to compromise in areas to be average at everything. I felt like the Dragvette would accomplish that for me.
Drifting
Joined: Jun 2008
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Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2000
Posts: 3,909
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From: Clymer PA
Do those spring bolts look correct? They look to tight to me. Is that for better handling (to limit suspension travel)? To me that spring looks to be wound to tight.
Last edited by bence13_33; Jan 20, 2018 at 01:42 PM.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2017
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From: New Braunfels Texas
I’ll check on this Monday morning. I’m a fire fighter and started a 48 hour shift today. I still need to bleed the brakes and set the shims for toe.
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Instructor
Joined: Aug 2017
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From: New Braunfels Texas
If your talking about my spring bolts, that’s how tight I had to tighten them to get the half shafts to the “Greenwood” recommended angle. They are 8” bolts and will be cut down to almost flush when the ride height is set.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2017
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From: New Braunfels Texas
On a different note, this marks the end of replacing all the bushings in the entire car. I started in the front and replaced upper control arm and lower control arm bushings. All four ball joints, all four tie rod ends, and the idler arm. Front sway bar bushings. Transmission mount, all eight body mounts, and the complete Dragvette rear suspension. The front saw QA1 coilovers and the rear QA1 shocks as well. All single adjust. Even the differential support bushing was changed. The crossmember bushings were the only bushings I left. I have a thread titled “My Sumbrero Fix” were you can see my solution for a stripped nut in a sumbrero. One of mine was stripped via a previous owner. I’ve been undoing a lot of Bubba. I also changed the rear wheel bearings during this project. The goal was a mechanically sound car. Steering column and brake system is next.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2017
Posts: 133
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From: New Braunfels Texas
The reason I say all that is a lot of the anomalies in how the body sat on the frame were solved by doing this. The suspension in relation to the frame is better off too. Before I had to tighten the rear spring bolts noticeably different lengths to get the half shafts the same angles. I was pleasantly surprised at how close they are now.👍🏻👍🏻
Last edited by DIY-79; Jan 20, 2018 at 02:30 PM. Reason: Miss spelled word
Safety Car
Joined: Aug 2000
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From: Clymer PA
Yes that is what I was referring to. It just looked like it was bowed almost to the point of going the opposite direction which is the only reason I raised the question (maybe it's the angle of the photo). Interesting.
Last edited by bence13_33; Jan 20, 2018 at 02:34 PM.
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Aug 2017
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From: New Braunfels Texas
It’s very close. It’s something I too am concerned about. The tighter the bolts are screwed the flatter the spring became. I’m hoping I’m past the 1/2” recomended offset between the upper u-joint and lower u-joint and can loosen the nuts some. Monday a lot of questions will be answered.