Air ride, Watts link and Sway bar install...

[wedged]

Thanks ! Any one else have mounting location comments ? I thought putting the pivot on the axle might look a little cleaner, but if the frame mount works better.... My application will be a little more toward pro-street with 18" wide tires on the back. You project caught my eye because the rar suspension will be similar, but I may end up with bags in the location of the stock coil overs.

[JRouche]

Originally Posted by novanutcase

You forgot Jose Cuervo......

John

EXACTLY!!! Sauza actually but yer close YUM!!!! JR

[michael6372]

Any updates???

[JRouche]

Originally Posted by michael6372

Any updates???

Nope, still Sauza.. O wait, you mean the car right?? Thanks for asking.

Actually there has been alot of progress. On the front end, the rear is done.

And I really thought the front was gonna be a breeze. I already had a mustang II suspension. I was thinking that adapting the air ride shock waves in place of the springs and shocks was gonna be a piece of cake compared to the rear end swap. Wrong answer.

I got the lower arms all trimmed of the spring pockets, welded up some additional plates to take place of the spring cup. Beefed up the bolt mounting area for coilover type stresses not just a shock anymore.

Then decided I didnt want the rubber bushings so looked high and low to see what I wanted. Delrin was in mind, but decided on some metal bushings. Made some on the lathe out of 4140PH steel. If they dont work I can still use part of them for a delrin bushing easy enough. I made them with grease fittings through the CAs so I can lube them. I dont know, they may be ok, I have my doubts. I have a bar of delrin sitting here just in case.

Then started looking at the upper arms. I had tubular arms already. But I wanted a lil more adjustability and I dont like the way the MII upper arms mount to the K-member. Its a sliding type mount for adjustment. Well that works great for the stock MII K-members. But most after market members there is a smooth top where the uppers mount. Where it needs to be kinda serrated and act as a friction surface to keep the upper's shaft from moving around.

So anyway, I bought some SPC upper control arms and welded in new mounts on the k-mem so its a vertical mount. I use shims and the adjustable arms to get the best curve of camber, camber gain and caster.

And beside a few issues with room to run the air lines for the springs and clearancing the surrounding metal to clear the air bag. Had to cut, weld and grind more than I expected. New beefier curved plates had to be put in place of what I had before. All that other work I did years ago was removed with the plasma. What a waste.

And thats not even a dis on the air bag system. I just eyeballed it at first and though she would clear. But no, a lil clearancing needed to take place. No big deal. Its all fun, its my hobby.

So after all the control arms were set up I made sure the new wilwood 13" brakes were gonna fit. That was after ALOT of talking with my supplier and running into some issues.

See, I needed a zero offset brake, my tire and wheel combo (8x17") were already set and very close, really close, no wiggle room at all. Well, they dont make one, wilwood. But my supplier does. But in actuality it seems they havent marketed it much because it wasnt correct. After some returns and some spacer issues I got it to work and it is perfect zero offset and the rotor runs true and square in the cal and right in the center of the cal. My custom set of spacers made it happen. More lathe work

So then after all the other stuff was done the hard part came. I had to stuff a roll bar in there somewhere. It had to clear the rack and pinion, and be able to clear all the parts, tie rods, control arms, frame and tires at full droop and bump, because of the air ride and the extended travel.

ERRR!!!! I was at a loss. I laid on my back for hours, working various configurations out. When I thought I saw a good mounting it would hit somewhere. Maybe not at ride height, but when the suspension was bottomed out. Or if I got it so it wouldnt hit bottomed out it would hit something while bottomed out and at full turn. It was always something. It got to the point where I wasnt gonna be able to put a bar in there. There just wasnt any room. Really, it was tight EVERYWHERE!!!! That wasnt gonna work. It needed to go in.

So I sat on my back some more. My wife thinks Im sleeping under there. I tell her Im visualizing but she still thinks Im sleeping. Hahaha Been that way for the whole car build, years. Sometimes I just have to lay down under there and give it some thought. And really, its kinda comfortable. I like looking at the underside just thinking.

So one day it clicked!!! I saw a path, and thought WTF!!! It was there the entire time.

So I made all my measurements and went to the speedway site where I was gonna get my bar from to begin with. My rear bar is from them. I got the spring rate I "think" is in the ball park. Its a guess at this point. There is no one that can give you roll bars rates for cars, these cars anyway. Or any, thay speak of bar diameters, but dont even talk about rates. What gives. Guess when you by a round bar they just talk about size not spring rate. What a shame, thay are spings, Ill toss out my spring rates on the build post I will have. But it wont help anyone cause bar dealers dont give the rates. The one piece bar dealers anyway. One bar fits all I guess is their idea. Speedway can get you any rate in any size you need. From 100lbs to 3400lbs. If you see a one piece bar published with spring rates lemme know. I havent found one. They all wanna talk about bar sizes. LOL Bar size?? Thats like when you go into a car dealer and are haggling the price of the car you want and they ask you what monthly payment do you want. WHAT!!! Its not about monthly payments, its about a hard number, cash in that case. Spring rates in a roll bars case, not bar diameter.

Anyway I strayed So I bought the bar, arms, pillow blocks, rod ends from another company and mocked it all up. I bent the arms under heat and a template, they came out perfect. Stuffed it all under there and wow, Im tight. The tires clear the arms at full turn by a 1/4". The arms clear the frame by a 1/4". The links (two rod ends, one female, one male) clear the tie rods by 3/16" at full turning and suspension travel. The arms clear the tie rods by a 1/4". The pillow blocks are as far forward as they can go, too much really, had to make some special plates. All the while the arms are level with the frame and the links are vertical at ride height.

So as of today I pulled it ALL out and setting it up to paint it in my ghetto cardboard box paint booth. Hope I remember how it all goes back together.

Soooooo, to answer your Q. Nope nuthing going on here. LOL How bout your ride????

I will wrap this up and post some pics like I did for the rear end for anyone curious.

Then its off to tie all the air lines together at the trunk and wire up the air ride system. Nuther drama session there Im sure.


Thanks for asking. Bet yer wishing you hadnt now huh LOL Pics to follow, some day.. JR