Don't make us wait too long Dale. :D

I believe it!

Good Ron must be real busy sending truckloads of that sauce out. :thumbsup:

Good Ron is Ron Schwartz (57hemicuda).... Not Ron Sutton... Just FYI

Bad Ron is Ron Meyer (Ron in SoCal).... Not Ron Sutton... Just FYI

Oh I know...

IMO you need good Ron's on both coasts....cuz Badd Ron is a jetsetter.

:thankyou:

Lol Skip, reading this on a plane right now :hello:

Ron,

That is funny. :D

To name just a few...you've got DP, good Rob has a TP, DG a SB 2.2 and I'm watchin 'The Rockford Files.

We're all livin the dream!

#Winning

:walkingdog:

Unlike many of us Dale is actually busting his butt at work and on his car.

Unlike a few he's actually making noteworthy progress too!

:underchair:

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Hg0ymZZjfq..._3504377_n.jpg

:lol:

Let him make up his own excuses.....

and here all along he though QA-1's were the bomba

I wouldn't even run em on my hot rods.

One of the few remaining threads that wasn't all jacked up. Past tense.

Well done fellas.

:action-smiley-027:

Ah, the pile on...

This is like Ken Block lecturing Vaughn Gittin, Junyah on his driving style. :shakehead:


:D

LOL. It's not Dale's fault the car's not back together. It's mine ... sorta. I used a special Howe ball joint housing that allows us to use a much bigger ball joint pin for strength reasons. The factory ones are tiny. Cute ... but tiny.

Anyway ... Howe makes these new lower ball joint housings that fit in 67-69 F-body & '64-'72 A-Body lower control arms ... that fit a much larger, beefier, ball joint stud. I assembled the housings with the correct height stud ... adjusted for zero friction ... and sent them with the total package. When Dale got back from his trip & went to install them ... they slipped right into the LCA ball joint opening with no press fit. :thmbsdwn:

My "WTF" conversation with Howe led to a curious & disappointing answer. Most of the racers running "stock appearing" lower control arms in racing series across America ... are using new stamped LCAs that are foreign made ... that have the BJ hole TOO SMALL. So Howe made this particular ball joint housing smaller ... to fit the imported LCAs. And now ... they don't properly fit accurately made in America LCA's that have the correct lower ball joint size. :warning:

Grrrr. So we're giving the import crap priority? Really?

Anyway Greg ... this reminds me of the conversation we were having earlier about new stuff not fitting.

For anyone that cares ...
The factory BJ opening for the AFX LCAs should be 2.000"
Most ball joints for these LCAs are 2.003"-2.005" for a .003"-.005" press fit.
The new bigger Howe BJ housing was 1.984"

It wasn't a big deal to fix it. I just got 2 new new Howe housings (that use the bigger studs) of a larger diameter & turned the base down to 2.005". Shipped them priority to Dale today.

:cheers:

That sounds just like something that would happen to Lance... Try to do something simple to make something better than it was originally and it turns into a clustermess.

Glad the fix wasn't too cumbersome. Can't wait to see this project come together.

Thanks guys... appreciate the comments!


Lol... I'm okay. I really have done quite a bit of work. It will all come together very soon!



I'm glad that I got some of the sauce :cheers:


Thanks Sieg... I plan to have the car ready so we can meet up at the historic races again this year.


No problem!

Thanks Lance.

Thanks Ron... appreciate that!




Also... I been working on some other upgrades to the car recently. I'm building a new larger spoiler with a splitter similar to the one shown here on "Big Red".

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6068243b.jpg


The spoiler comes back around the side (hard to see in the pic)

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0e4a2283.jpg


I've been wanting to improve the aerodynamics on the car so this is a start... I like the looks of this design.

:cheers:

Are these the LBJ's that have the sevicable ball/stud right? Is there a stud spec chart available? Ive been looking but haven't found it.



Can't wait to see more Dale!!

Try this: https://www.howeracing.com/p-7939-ho...its-k5103.aspx

Thanks Scott, i have that but im looking for stud specs.....I think I have an idea.

Ron, shhhhhh! Too much info here...

Any updates Dale?

Waiting on a call myself. :whistling:

Hi Skip... thanks for asking.

I'll call you tomorrow :)


Over the past several months I have been working towards getting the car back together. Two weeks ago I finished all the updates... one week ago I took the car out to PIR to test the new set up with the new parts from Ron Sutton Racing (new spindles with optimized geometry, new hubs with heavy duty bearings, spec 37 rotors, six piston calipers, custom caliper mounts; adjustable steering arms; custom bump steer spacers; and custom height ball joints).

In addition I bought a new set of Formula 43 18" forged 3 piece wheels and Falken 615K 200 treadwear tires... and for added driver safety I purchased a G-Force Nomex fireproof driving suit, and a Hans Sport II head restraint.

Here is a few pics of the new parts.

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps5b2ac5f1.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps8d2701ff.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psa21c44d9.jpg


New track star spindle bearings on the left... stock bearings on the right

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps18ae4f72.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps0cec4331.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psd1a8879d.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps57a9f25a.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps4557c6c6.jpg

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...ps68d8f18e.jpg


I documented the process of doing all the updates to the front end... including relocating the pivot points on the frame, dialing in the bump steer, and some other stuff I learned along the way. Also I will share new design I did for adjusting the coil spring pre-load (ride height) in less than one minute.


I have been fine tuning the handling on my car for several years now and thought it was pretty good. With the new optimized front end geometry, roll center, and the new parts... the grip in the corners is night and day difference! I couldn't be happier... well worth all the work and expense.

More updates coming.

(Thanks Ron)
:cheers:

Fantastic updates. Those new bearings are massive compared to the stockers. Your attention to detail and well thought out upgrades are top notch. Not sure if I missed it somewhere but anything new on the rear?

X2!

Hope all is well with your son, Dale. :thumbsup:

Thanks for the update Dale. The new wheels will look great on the car.

So you mean... there's hope for my Mustang?!?!?!?!



Yipppeeeeeeee ---- Good update Dale! Glad that was well worth the effort.



I have to say -- while the rest of these guys are GUESSING at what they need for handling improvements by just throwing parts at their cars.... SUTTON actually does the math required - and more importantly - he has the knowledge of what works and what doesn't. I'm really looking forward to putting my car on track to feel the "new and improved" version.

Congrats Dale! :cheers:

Those big un tares fit unda thar?

So it handles much better even with the less sticky tires huh? Sounds familiar... :whistling:

That spindle pin is MASSIVE!!

Can't wait to see the pics and details of the pivot point relocating...along with everything else.

X2 nice wheels

looking good dale.

what did you end up with as far as alignment specs? curious to see your static camber number.

Thanks! The new bearings provide a nice factor of safety whereas the stock bearings were pushed to the limit of the load rating when tracking the car.

No changes on the rear yet... I'm planning to go with a 3 link set up for a future project.

Thanks Skip :thumbsup: My son is safely back in the states after his second deployment to Afghanistan. He maintains the electronic systems on the Boeing AH64D Apache helicopters.


Here is a couple of pictures taken in Afghanistan.

Apache attack helicopter.

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psc7aac721.jpg

These guys are all so young! My son is second from the left on the top row. Their regiments lineage goes back to the flying tigers from world war II. All the Apaches have the shark tooth art work.

http://i1048.photobucket.com/albums/...psf4920f65.jpg

God bless our troops :flag2:


Thanks!

Thanks Greg... yes there is hope! Ron is one of those rare people that not only knows how to design the parts and set up the chassis and suspension properly (through the math)... but he can explain things and communicate to us average guys. It was a great experience working with him. I'll keep an eye out for the updates on your mustang.

Thanks Ron! Oh yeah... tires fit just fine (no rubs). Hope your enjoying the car :cheers:

Thanks Lance... I was impressed with the Falken tires.

The new spindles will have very little deflection compared to the stock spindles.

Thanks!

Thanks Vince... The static camber was set at negative 1 degree, and the toe was set at 1/8" toe out (total) at ride height. With the new geometry and increased camber gain the set up worked out great. On the previous set up I had the camber set at negative 2 degrees.

The bump steer was set to increase toe out to 1/4" (total) when the suspension is compressed to the lower bump stop, and 0 when the suspension is extended to the upper bump stop.

Ron walked me through the process for setting the bump steer using a laser beam on a target 5 feet out in front of the car. Once I got it dialed in then he made the correct size spacers to connect the tie rod to the steering arm. I'll post more details on that later.

Nice, tell your son, thanks for keeping them Longbows operational.

Very nice set up. I love the tall set ups. Can't wait to see the details.

How ya doin Dale? :cheers:

Subscribed.

Love your build. Post up a pic of what it looks like with the new wheels. How did the brakes perform? You didn't upgrade rear brakes did you?

Jeff

Yeah Dale, shoot us an update... hope all is well in the new year.

:cheers:

You OWE us an update Dale...