[SSLance]

So, I've driven the car around the streets a few times and have made some adjustments from my initial settings.

First off, the way the rear suspension reacts to inputs now is COMPLETELY different than before and in a great way. I'm so excited about it's possibilities now. I have not been able to get the rear to step out in the somewhat aggressive street driving I have attempted so far, not once. Nor have I been able to get the rear to get the front tires to push...so far, it's pretty dang neutral.

I have had some interference issues I'm working through and a wheel hop issue.

I had the inner fender sheet metal on the passenger side rubbing the inside of the RR tire under hard left turns...the sheet metal was sticking out past the frame rail and a few selectively placed blows with a 5# sledge and some fresh black paint seem to have cured that.

First time out, it would wheel hop just about any time I got on the gas hard. I raised the upper link frame side mount to the top hole, went from 162# to 185# rear springs, put rear sway bar on full stiff (was in middle), added 7 clicks of rear rebound to shocks and raised PHB from 9" to 10" and drove again. Wheel hop is MUCH better, now it'll only hop if I try to make it hop...by being real aggressive on the throttle.

My other interference issue is the Pinion\U-joint contacting the body under full compression. Some of this happened during the wheel hop issues, but it'll also bottom out by just hitting a hard bump at cruising speed. I'm running a 3.5" diameter driveshaft (full inch larger than stock) and a 9" which is much larger than the OEM 10 bolt. It was better after putting the bit stiffer springs in, so I think I'll bump up to the 200# springs I have sitting here and maybe I'll shorten the upper link just a bit as well to try to gain a bit more room. Technically I haven't even measured the pinion angle yet, I initially set the upper link length by putting it exactly where the housing sat with the old links still in place. Moving the frame side upper link to top hole probably added a bit of static pinion rise, so this needs to be addressed. I think I'll leave the spring adjusters where they are when I put the 200# springs in as well which will raise the rear ride height another 1/4" or so I believe.

I think the wheel rate is pretty close to what I'll need, I LOVE the way the rear squats under hard acceleration and you can tell it throws the car forward vs blowing the tires off like it used to do. Lateral load feels decent as well...I haven't tried a hard braking turn yet to see what turn in is like. but from what I can tell corner exit is going to be MILES better than it has ever been before. I need to get the interference issues worked out regardless though before I can really start to throw it around. I'm pretty stoked about how it is going so far though...can't wait to race it this Sunday.

Also, I'm pretty sure the engine woke up a bit when I cut the tailpipes off. I'm getting pretty used to the tone and I'm pretty sure it will pass sound at the track...but I'll still try to rework the whole exhaust at some point to get it out from under the back seat. Latest thoughts are a Y pipe into a single 4" muffler\tailpipe on passenger side up and over the axle dumping behind the RR tire.