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-   -   Introducing my '69 Chevelle (and myself) (https://www.lateral-g.net/forums/showthread.php?t=19847)

gmorris 04-09-2009 01:09 PM

The first drive went pretty well all things considered. Just a few issues to deal with this weekend:

Stalls under hard braking...likely need to drop the rear float level a bit
I want to install my 10º bushing in the distributor so I can bump my initial a bit more and re-tune my idle mixture
The bilstein shocks are even worset than I thought tehy would be. Not nearly enough damping for the spring rates I'm running...unfortunately they were purchased prior to some changes in my suspension plan. I hoped they would be good enough for this summer and then replace next winter but it was pretty bouncy and rolly last night. May have to step up to proper dampers sooner than I hoped.

Otherwise I was happy with it. I took it pretty easy since it was the first drive and I wanted to verify the brakes and steering were good plus break in the clutch a bit. Maybe this weekend I'll be able to open her up a little more.

Flash68 04-10-2009 01:48 AM

Wow that is a stunning Chevelle. Great project!

7TSS 04-10-2009 10:10 AM

Awesome job! :thumbsup: :bow: :hail:

Now you get to enjoy it. Have fun.

jhiphopjunky 05-06-2009 08:46 PM

NICE RIDE!:thumbsup:

Kendall Burleson 05-15-2009 12:19 PM

Good Job love it.:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

monza 05-15-2009 02:35 PM

Super nice! :thumbsup: How's it running now?

Great to see another PT car hitting the Cowtown streets in style. We'll have to exchange contact info and go play cars.

Rybar 05-15-2009 03:18 PM

Congrats that is a Kick-Ass Chevelle. :thumbsup:

CamaroPat 05-15-2009 10:21 PM

Amazing! Great choices on everything, turned out AWESOME!!! I know what you mean about endless winters. There is a silver lining though, it gives you half of the year to dream up and implement changes to make that sweet ride even better. Hope you get the ride sorted out. I'm sure once you do it'll be amazingly quick. :thumbsup:

Vegas69 05-15-2009 10:35 PM

Nice looking car...that 540 has got to kick some major ass with those r888's. I bet it pulls hard!

1badchevelle 05-15-2009 11:02 PM

I LOVE YOUR CAR:thumbsup:

Now I need to work on my. Sorry I copied your pics and added to my list of screen savers.

Bakaruda 05-16-2009 06:22 AM

Sweet car. Love the color as well.

gmorris 05-16-2009 07:26 AM

I guess it is time for an update. I actually can't believe how well the R888's hold on. I kept hearing horror stories about 540's on the chevelle forum and how if you're not careful she'll turn sideways at 60mph...maybe with stock 14" tires I guess. With these things it just grabs and goes. Basically it is fast as hell considering it probably weighs almost 4000lbs. It's loud, attracts a lot of attention and gets terrible gas mileage....pretty much exactly what I wanted. It was entertaining a couple weekends ago when I blasted by a smart car on the highway in it. I kinda wanted to stop and thank him for offsetting my carbon footprint for me:lol:

I've gotten 600 miles on it so far between snowstorms and "tweaking". It turned out that the stock bilsteins were terrible with the 800lb front 200lb rear springs. Nowhere near enough damping made for floaty and unpredictable handling. The original setup was the result of multiple direction changes during the build and not wanting to re-buy things before even driving it. I worked with Mark at SC&C to put together a proper package:

I already had SPC upper and lower control arms with tall balljoints.

I added SPC 535/135 springs - huge drop from where I was obviously. These allowed me to get rid of the hidden threaded spring adjusters in the front.

Spohn PT adjustable rear sway bar - bit of an install since the link mounts have to be welded to the annoyingly irregular rear crossmember but not that bad.

Spohn 1 5/16 front swaybar - the proper frame mounted rear bar allows a much heavier front bar to be used without upsetting the handling

Varishock double adjustable front/single adjustable rear dampers.

My first drive was yesterday and I have some dialing in to do but it is already drastically better. The ride is softer and yet it rolls less in the corners and turns in way better. Feels much more planted and is much easier/fun to push harder through the corners. The real test will be this wednesday when I get it out on the race city road course.

tones2SS 05-26-2009 04:18 PM

Thanks for the update.
That is a nice car you have there.
Love the color and the stance.:thumbsup: :cheers:


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