66 Nova SS Project

[Payton King]

Looking forward to the progress. I see you are using the C6 spindle, will you make our own steering arm or used the one cast in?

[byndbad914]

I will use the one cast in and then make the rack able to move back and forth to adjust Ackermann and have a slip joint in the steering rod from the steering column. Pretty slick too as, for the fronts, the arm is angled down to offset the caster, meaning that when the steering arm is perfectly level, the spindle appears to be at about 7 degrees caster, so that will make resetting caster at the track easy if I futz with camber and so forth.

I will drill them straight and get rid of the damn taper on those, use a thru bolt and a standard rod end, and then I can machine spacers to set bumpsteer based on where final rack placement is.

The rears point rearward, so I can set those at 14 deg if I want to be particular and keep everything lined up like the front - technically you don't need caster in the rear but some is good as it supposedly keeps everything loaded and not at a zero point where every little bit of clearance in ball joints is then wandering around.

[Flash68]

Very impressive Tim. Hurry up and finish it.

[byndbad914]

so this item is actually what I considered the largest hurdle of the whole project, so I am just glad to have it in hand and done. Everything else is busy work, but getting the drivetrain figured out was going to be the tough part.

I machined the adapter on the lathe at work - engineers don't usually get to use the tools but having a little machining background from my mechanic days bought me some favor Then I bored the center out to the dimensions Andrew at Mark Williams asked me to hit and took it to him for final splining. They had to rent a special shaper to cut this specific, odd-ball Hemi spline that Mendeola uses but it all worked out bitchin'. Heat treated it to boot - this should be the strongest piece in the whole drivetrain haha.

The batteries died right after I took these so as I feared, the images are a bit blurry (happens every time right before the batts die). Nonetheless, close enough for internet work. The assembly in the aluminum housing is the tail end of a C5 Automatic torque tube - we took it apart so I could machine the driveshaft side a bit and also replace the bearings, which I need to get on order. Basically I will be making a large adapter piece to bolt to the bell on the Mendy that then holds that C5 tail assy and the new adapter piece inline with the input shaft of the trans. This will be a tedious item to make but not difficult.

You will note I have a piece of sheared off input shaft for test fitting - they sent this to me for clutch alignment so it came in handy for making the part v. schlepping that trans over to Mark Williams for fitment.

[byndbad914]

spent some time on the lathe at work this evening and turned out four press-fit plugs to replace the stock UBJs in the C6 uprights with a tapered ream. Now I can use Howe race UBJs that are fully rebuildable and I can get different lengths on them to adjust roll center.

Now I just need to update dimensions in my CAD model and determine what upper A length I need now and where the mount holes need to be in the car for correct geometry...

[byndbad914]

Here is a shot of my dual A assy as of today - all the numbers are exactly what I want in terms of roll center, camber gain, and overall adjustability. I now have to fully adjustable pivot points (top and bottom) that I can mess with ride height and roll center pretty much at will.

For the front I am starting with a 13.5" lower arm length, 10.5" nominal upper length, and what both calculated in my computer and was verified with my angle finder in the attached image is a parallel lower arm nets me an 11 deg upper angle for a static RC of ~2.5" which is what I was shooting for. The lower pivot is not a ball joint but monoball from Coleman and they make a set of spacers that come with it. I can swap those around to vary the upper A angle and therefore static RC but comes with a 1:1 change in ride height (move the pin up 1/4" and the car drops 1/4") so if I need to make a big change I can then just buy a longer or shorter upper ball joint insert.

I then went on to verify I could easily get -3.5deg neg camber on the front for radials. A few may note I underestimated the arm lengths I would need upon my original parts purchase (might notice some of the heims adjusted nearly all the way out) so I will be getting longer pieces on their way next week. All the upper needs is some longer tubes, the lower I just need a new tube for the caster but will need a new custom lower made as they make those to order. Not a big deal, just a few bucks blown in the process of figuring out where I am going with the car

[no go nova]

How are you gonna mount your shock?