Road racers?

[aaronfab]

I've looked through the suspension threads, searched for "road racer", "road carver", etc. All I can find is a bunch of drag racers, not that there is anything wrong with drag racing, but I'm building my truck toward a corner carving, G-pulling, road performance beast. Just curious if there are any others out there? Would like to see what others have done, what works and what doesn't. Suspension set up, brakes, steering, weight distribution, etc...

Aaron

[68GMCCustom]

mine's planned to be an all around street truck (straight, stopping, and twisties)...so I'm interested myself. I have planned on a completely new front crossmember, suspension, steering, and brakes and some rear mods or a 4 link.

[ed2552]

Try this one

He just used basic ECE stuff to make it handle really well, esp w/ a 620HP 572 over the front tires

[oldspowered67C10]

If you want to make it handle you need to address the lack of torsional rigidity in the stock frame. Im boxing mine now but even that wont be enough, a x-member would help alot but thats alot of work. I have adjustable coilovers in the front and even just that helped alot but still the stock frame just simply isnt well suited for performace applications.

[special-K]

You can lower it using springs and shocks that will help control body roll.Beefier sway bars and wide tires help handling.With enough horsepower you can break the wheels loose to controlled slides.I`ve seen a few trucks with Vette rears.But,not properly designed for as big and heavy of a vehicle.Weight distribution?I guess you could weight the bed down with some thing.Use your imagination.All said and done you could end up with a fairly good handling vehicle...for a 36 or more year old pickup truck.

[aaronfab]

Maybe I should start with what I have: 1970 SWB w/67 front clip, basically stock 307(intake,cam,headers), 400 turbo, stock rear bagged, 3/4T lower A-arms w/1990 spindles, rotors, calipers, cut 1/2T coils, power steering, 285/50/20 on the back and 245/45/20 on the front.

What the truck is getting: 2002 Yukon rear axle shorten 2" w/02 Yukon front disc brakes, 1976 Impala calipers, poly trailing arm bushings, front bags, stock front sway bar w/ poly bushings, and some sort of rear sway bar.

What I someday would like: supercharged 383, quick ratio rack and pinion, tubular A-arms, move the battery and gas tank to the rear, roll cage and better rims and tires.

Okay, now I'm open to suggestions and any and all advice.

Aaron

[Tom Vogel]

The roll cage will go a long way to torsinal rigidity of the frame. I would consider one of the LS engines (aluminum block) for lightness and weight distribution, over the 383. You will need to design a new front crossmember for a rack... that will cut some weight off the front too. Also, cosider bags for suspension (see Airide Technologies).

[68Stepbed]

AirRides suspension kit for 63-72 Chevy/GMC trucks is well engineered and designed a litle more towards road racing. They come with adjustable shocks also. They have a 67 C10 project truck that turns in some pretty impresive times for a truck.

[68GMCCustom]

agreed on the LS motor...I have a 383 stroker now and plan on upgrading to a 427ci LSX, or at the very least a 402-408ci LSx built from an iron 6.0 truck motor. Either way...500+ hp is the goal (with 600+hp being my wish).

If you really want it to handle I'd be planning on getting rid of the stock crossmember and suspension setup and going with a complete front end/suspension/steering setup from Porterbuilt, Fat Man, Jim Meyer Racing, etc....or even a complete chassis if your budget can handle it.

[chevy72blu]

This build will blow you away

Project "Dream Truck"

[neonlarry]

A dropped front X-member with R&P. And a C5 rear axle setup. Plus you won't like to hear this but dump the 20's, way too much unsprung weight for good handling.

[bryanw1968]

Originally Posted by aaronfab

I've looked through the suspension threads, searched for "road racer", "road carver", etc. All I can find is a bunch of drag racers, not that there is anything wrong with drag racing, but I'm building my truck toward a corner carving, G-pulling, road performance beast. Just curious if there are any others out there? Would like to see what others have done, what works and what doesn't. Suspension set up, brakes, steering, weight distribution, etc...

Aaron

Mine is geared more towards handling than anything else.
I've done the following:

aggressive shocks
front sway bar
rear sway bar
aggressive loweing coils front and rear
front discs
lower profile sidewall tires


For what it is it really handles pretty well. I dunno about "carving roads" though

[jkaylor68gmc]

My dad and I are doing the '68 in pro-toruing fashion. Used tubular control arms with hardedned cross shafts, polyurethane bushings, big sway bar and SSBC brakes. Out back disc brakes, drop springs and blocks, gonna get a sway bar and adjustable panhard and intstall a few tubular crossmembers to add strength. Probably sating black under the hood and under the chassis.

[aaronfab]

Any pictures of what you guys have done to your trucks to improve handling?

Aaron

[mahanian]

It really depends on your end goal. Are you going to autocross the truck? Track day/road course? Just want good street handling?

I've built many cars for autocross and road courses, including a 2003 Ford Lightning Pickup that would mop the course with most cars.

You need a good balance between rigidity and body roll. If you eliminate all body roll you will skid right off the track. You need the additional traction on the outer wheels to carve through an apex. Also, low profile tires are bad for the same reason, you need the deflection. Tubular a-arms help prevent deflection during hard cornering.

Large sway bars aren't any good without a balance. You have to match the sway bars to each other and to the truck supension to achieve the desired understeer/oversteer ratio. Typically, you want to tune the suspension/sway bars so you have very minor understeer versus oversteer until you get use to the truck. Your camber setting will also greatly influence this as you dive into a corner your camber will determine how you track out of the corner..

Independent rear suspension or at least a 4 bar configuration is the best way to go so you keep as much of the tire on the ground as possible. I could go on for hours on this topic but I think you get the general idea. If you have specific questions let me know.

[neonlarry]

A budget would help also.

[aaronfab]

It really depends on your end goal. Are you going to autocross the truck? Track day/road course? Just want good street handling?

Just looking for a "good street handling" ride. I have a 1978 Mazda RX7 Savanna that I use to autocross. I'm not wanting to go all exotic and high tech.

As for budget, well... cheap of course. I have a nack of trading, substituting, fabricating, or other wise coming up with parts for reasonable amounts of money. I have access to a boneyard full of late model cars and trucks. I'm pretty inventive, for example, my rear airbags are from a Kenworth semi, and with minor modification, bolted right in and work great.

I'm curious what others have done and with what results. I know this truck won't ever handle like a new Vette, but maybe like an old Camareo would be nice.

Aaron

[68GMCCustom]

I'm not looking to lay frame but I did plan on doing a static drop of 2.5/4 to 3/5 or so. That said...for the best combination of street manners/ride and the cornering ability of an 4th gen f-body or so...are adjustable coilovers or airbags w/shocks the best way to go?