Yeah, I understood the measuring for WMS to WMS. i was just wondering how much space you left between the tire sidewall and the outer fender? Did you leave more space between the inner fender and tire sidewall, or did you just center the tire and leave equal distance on each side? I'm hoping with the 325 I do have a little more room as I really hope i don't have any rubbing issues.

As long as your TA is and I assume it is 6 to 8 inches at the front at ride height, your wheel hop is probably coming from shock dampening and spring rate if I were to guess.

Where is your watts piviot in relationship to axle centerline?

I centered the tire and ended up with roughly a 1/4" of clearance on both sides of the tires......inside and outside.

I'll have to check it again but if memory serves me correct, it is just above axle center line. I have air springs.....I could move the mount points up or down but I'd sacrafice travel up or down. I could slow up my rebound and leave my compression where it is. That makes sense. That should counteract the hop. I'll try it.

Thanks again Payton.

With it above center line you have raised the roll center and loosened the rear. The lower you go the more bite you will have in the rear. Try an inch or 2 below axle centerline. Is your watts fixed or adjustable? I assume your rear trailing arms are level at ride height

Yes, trailing arms are adjustable at rear mount....but level at ride height at this time. I may be wrong on the front mounting point. I remember you gave me roughly what yours was set at, and I added 2"s of adjustment in 1" increments both ways and took in consideration the axle centerline. I bet it's below. That would make better sense. I'll check it when I can get to the shop.

And Watts Link has a lot of adjustment.

Thanks.

I was not speaking about the front mount. I would guess it is 6 to 8 inches from the ground at ride height. I am speaking of the watts pivot in relation to your axle centerline at ride height. The lower the pivot the more bite you will have up to a point. I would start it at or 1 inch below axle centerline and start messing with the shocks.

Increasing the rebound valving like you stated earlier would help as well.

Lol. I over complicate things often. Yes...the front mount is about 5.5" from ground. At this time the Watts link pivot point is centered with relation to axle center line. I'll try raising it an inch and see what I get with a little more dampening on rebound. Man these TQ shocks are cool. Reminds me of my days competing in the Hare Scrambles via woods MX. Same adjustments available.

Tell me it isn't so...are we going to lose Heartland to the city of Topeka for not paying their bills? I hope they keep it open. If not that puts my closest track with Elkhart. Frustrated.

You mentioned this picture was at the "suggested" ride height. Can you tell me what that is or where you got the info? Is it a specific measurement somewhere?

I got my wheels in and I'm trying to get camber set close to -0.5 to -1.0 as suggested so i can see what kind of work I might need to do to inner/outer fenders.

thanks (sorry couldn't figure out how to copy the picture you had attached for reference)

I can't remember what it was off hand right now. I got the info from Ridetech. You would think that info would be in the instructions as it is vital to set-up. The measurement is from top of coil over top mount point to bottom of coil over mount point, which is just over the half way point of total travel.

For the front, on my car with 1" drop spindles, it placed the front body line at roughly 24 1/4" to the ground. I built a 1" rake into the car so the back body line is at 25 1//4". But if I were you I would call them as they may have changed things up a little and using my body line measurements would not be very accurate.

David

Thanks David. In the instructions for the front they only indicate setting ride height at about 50%-60% of suspension travel. I'm trying to get my camber set close to -0.5 at ride height to see what mods I need to do to both inner/outer fenders. As we haven't finished the body work and paint on the fenders they are not currently on the car so I was hoping I'd at least be able to get an idea where to measure other than fender line. Maybe I'll set on ground at full height, measure and then do same at lowest height to get an approximate height to shoot for around 50%. I should then at least be able to see how much work to inner fender I need to do and whether I need to roll outer only, or possible do slight trimming.

You mentioned you went with -1.5 camber, +6 caster, and I think +1/8 toe and it was recommended by Rod. How is your tire wear with that setup? It seems that would be more for autocross rather than street. Any thoughts or changes you are considering?

thanks, Jake

Yes that should be a Track/AutoX start setup I imagine. I haven't driven mine that much yet. Maybe 500 miles. I will move mine back to a street setting this spring. What would I change? Nothing really. I do want to move my subframe forward more. I think mine was probably way back when the guy I bought it from welded in the subframe connectors. I'll also be pulling the subframe out, re welding the factory welds. Also plan on adding something like Global Wests forward bars, of my own design. I do wish I had the new cross shafts which come in the new kits that allow easy caster adjustments via offset slugs, but there's no way in Hates I'll buy something from them that should've came in my kit. The adjustable cross shafts were out prior to my order. Aggrevating! Lol. Which is why I'm coming up with something different from Ridetech's system on my air ride controls.

David

Jake,

Below is the email conversion about setting ride height per Josh at Ridetech. But again you better make sure they haven't changed their shocks. They may have added more stroke to the shock.

"Hey David,

Thanks alot, we appreciate it!

On the front, your shock, from eye to stud mount (the hole in the pocket) will be 12.75"~. On the rear, from center to center on the mounting bolts will be right around 14.5". That is where the shocks will have their best ride quality/performance.

I will have to check on the engine mounts, I know we used the Holley oil pan, but for some reason I'm thinking we used a GM style engine mount.

Thanks,

Josh"

thanks David. Yes I have the newer version with the caster slugs. They only send you one set, which is supposed to be in the centered position. Instructions have a contradiction as one place says it has +2 caster and another place it says it is +3 caster. If you want additional caster you can order new aluminum slugs.

I'll have to figure out how to measure the 12.75" as you can't really put a tape measure down from the hole mount due to the inflated airbag. I should be able to at least get in a reasonable distance to start fitting the inner fender and figuring out how I want to modify.

Hey David, you don't happen to have any pictures looking up to see the clearance you have between the rear tire sidewall and the outer fender and inner fender do you? We pulled my stock rear end and I'm trying to get my WMS to WMS measurement to get a shortened rear end. I have plenty of room inside, but I'm trying to figure out how far outward I can position the wheels without rubbing. I don't like it when they are set too far in, especially on a 69 as the fender flares outward and it makes it look like the tire is already set back inside the fender.

thanks, Jake

Jake,

I sure don't. I've never had it high enough to get pictures of the underside. You might check with Payton King or one of the other guys. I use to have some good pictures of Dead Cat but I've must have lost them or deleted them. I can say that 18X12s with a 6" bs and a rear with a 55.5" wms to wms worked for me. My rear is actually 54" wms to wms but I am using 3/4" spacers on both sides to keep the spindle under the center caps on the wheels. Me rear is a floater. The only alternative for me would've been to add that 3/4" to each wheel center thickness when they were made.

David

Hi David, I was just looking for something similar to this.
[IMG]http://i1309.photobucket.com/albums/...psr0h6v2qp.jpg[/IMG]

I'm just trying to figure out how close to the outside fender I can get without rubbing not only during driving but also when setting the AirRide completely down as I noticed the inner rear fender actually bulges in ward a little before going up and curving over.

Based on your 55.5" WMS to WMS (including spacers) and your 12" wheel widths and 6" BS, it should measure outside to outside of the tires very much the same as my rough measurements I got last night in my first attempt to measure my WMS to WMS. I came up with roughly 54.5" but my wheels are 11.5" wide and have a 5" BS. The spacing between the outside fender lip is the pic I attached above.

I'm measuring out to get a shortened rear end built and I'm also planning on going with a floater. I have more than enough room on the inside fender to inner wheel as its probably closer to 1 1/2" there. I'm just trying to set them as far out to the outside as possible so they don't look set in to the wheel well too far.

Looks like you did a better job rolling your lip in than the previous owner did on mine. I'll correct that later, no rubbing so far. I took a picture early this a.m. for you. With the rolled lip the distance is 1" to the face of tire

And this one.....

I apologize for not posting results in so long but my father passed from a tough bout with cancer in October and that along with another family crisis I just haven't felt like browsing forums.

At this time I can report that I've finished up my TA suspension (although I've decided I do need to put it on a diet), installed a new floor pan, a new fuel system end to end for the LS, installed the LS and T56 with the Holley system (mounts, long tube headers, cross member that I altered to accommodate the front mount of the TA, and HP EFI).

I'm now in the process of setting up the DSE dash insert with custom Speed Hut gauges, adding the Vintage air Gen IV, finally installing the Ridetech AirRide compressor system (placing a 3 gal tank in the pockets at rear of quarters on both sides, been using simple valves to add air up to this point). I'll add pictures of this process when I can collect them from my shop camera.

Made my first trip to mom's on Christmas and can say I really like the LS platform! Its been a joy to drive as long as I stay away from parking lots. I've lost a lot of turning radius with the Ridetech Tru Turn system. Slowly trying to sort through that issue. At this time, I imagine my only option is to move the Muscle Bar rearward on the frame to allow more turn radius and maybe notch the frame as needed at the rear. As others have noticed, my front wheels are well behind the center line of the wheel opening, which is causing the rear of the front tires to rub on the inner fender well during turning. I fear that Ridetech may have sent me the wrong control arms.

At this time my specs are as follows:

Ridetech Tru Turn system complete with TQ Airsprings and Muscle Bars
18X9.5 True Forged Competitions with 5.75" bs
275/35/18's
+5 Caster -1.5 Camber 1/16" toe in
Kore 3 C6 ZO6 hubs/rotors
Stock Height Frame bushings
Stock Subframe

A few more updates

What power steering hoses are those? They look great.

Don

When I saw the picture of the power steering lines, I scrolled down to ask the same question.

They are from "Gotta Show". Very nice product but in the end I was unable to resolve a poor seal at the steering box. I have instead gone with adapters to AN hose. I was unable to tighten their fitting enough to eliminate the leak without pulling threads on their fitting eventually. I was able to keep my new Delphi 670 and with adaptors and AN hose eliminate the leak all together.

If you guys are using an OEM box it should be a non issue for you. Tom Lee altered a new Delphi 670 to work with OEM hoses by using one of his adaptors, which raises the sealing surface in the port, not allowing enough thread engagement. Had I not altered the 670 and had Gotta Show make metric ends I would've been fine. No ones fault on either side, just wouldn't work out the way I was using it.

I should make mention for those who still wish to use the Ridetech Tru Turn system and stuff a 275/35/18 in their wheel house, this is basically what I have done to get the clearances inside the wheel house. It is very crude, and still incomplete to this day but it does function and I'll get around to finish welding, cleaning up, and sealing it proper eventually. lol

Everything I have done so far is for a driving mock up. I have plans of installing a new crate LS3 later and have decided to ditch the twin turbos and the Maggy for a Pro Charger. Man I love the power curve on the DS1's.

Most recent update. I've been driving the car a lot more and I'm really enjoying it. Probably just enjoy the car for a year or two, and tear it down for a proper restore.

At ride height.

Speedhuts/DSE complete. Much better gauge arrangement. I can actually see everything now.

Really wanted to countersink the gauges. Maybe later.