Mali2ude final build for Power Tour 08

[camcojb]

thanks guys. Yes the car is doing the entire Tour, but I did run into a snag. The front of the car has to come up; not because of crossmember or exhaust clearance which is the normal deal to encounter, have plenty of that. It's the friggin trans pan.

At the current ride height it's only 3.5" max off the ground. By far the lowest thing on the car by inches, it ;looks like it's going to be a real problem. Thing is I'm not sure how it got this way...............

I had a deep aluminum pan that was nearly 5" deep, but I removed that for a shallow pan. This one is 3.3" deep and the stock steel pan is just over 3" deep, so 1/4" deeper at most. The rear crossmember did have to be moved forward in the car slightly but it stayed at exactly the same ride height. I swappwed the lower control arms to Hotchkis ones from stock when they came out, but with the shims in place they are exactly the same ride height as stock lowers according to the guy at Hotchkis I spoke with this morning. The new 18" tires might be 1/4" shorter or so, but this pan is way close to the ground. I don't think lifting the front a full inch would get me over the speed bumps we have in this state, and I don't remember this car having any ground clearance issues at all when Charley had it, but I need to call him.

I do remember the trans pan looked like it had been drug all over a concrete floor, so maybe that wasn't what happened, it was actually bottoming out on speed bumps, etc.

Jody

[camcojb]

well, just spoke with Mark Stielow and he reminded me that the AFX spindles lower the car an inch or more, so there's where the ride height deal came from. I'm going to order some new springs and get the front end up a bit, and see where we stand.

Jody

[Blown353]

Yep, going from B-spindles to AFX spindles lowered my car 5/8" in the front with no other changes, I would expect yours changed the same amount as we made the exact same swap.

Is there any provision for spring spacers in the Hotchkis lower arms? For my GW arms a few years ago I machined aluminum spacers to fit between the spring nest and the urethane spring isolator. A 1/2" spacer will bring the front ride height up 1"... if you can do it it would be cheaper & easier than getting new springs and having them powdercoated.

[camcojb]

Originally Posted by Blown353

Yep, going from B-spindles to AFX spindles lowered my car 5/8" in the front with no other changes, I would expect yours changed the same amount as we made the exact same swap.

Is there any provision for spring spacers in the Hotchkis lower arms? For my GW arms a few years ago I machined aluminum spacers to fit between the spring nest and the urethane spring isolator. A 1/2" spacer will bring the front ride height up 1"... if you can do it it would be cheaper & easier than getting new springs and having them powdercoated.

they have their shims in there, which gets it back to a stock lca height. I ordered some bb springs as they're only a bit stiffer (580#/in vs 500#/in) and are taller so I can get them where they need to be. That's tomorrows project along with a complete re-alignment.

Jody

[camcojb]

well, finished up everything except the springs, so I moved the car out of the shop under it's own power for the first time. Took a few pics, not good lighting, but figured I'd share anyway. I promise to get better ones in the next few days.

[GHOSTDANCER]

American Badazz

[camcojb]

[camcojb]

[syborg tt]

Jody, The car looks great you really did an incredible job.

[camcojb]

Originally Posted by syborg tt

Jody, The car looks great you really did an incredible job.

thanks Marty.

Jody