My daily driver/beater : How I turned lemons in lemonade

[Jonboy]

[quote=Porterbuilt Street Rods;6790843]

Originally Posted by SCOTI

The 2-link is definitely one of those areas where LENGTH MATTERS. Longer the bar, the larger the arc of the suspension travel, and thus the lesser amount of pinion change through travel. There are always Pros and Cons to any suspension configuration.... no such thing as the "best of everything" when it comes to suspension systems. One just has to make a list of "must haves" and then pick the system that best meets the needs of the list.

2-links are quite popular for their simplicity and cost. They work well under certain parameters. For example if you like to drive at a certain height that the travel range is within a 3" variance... with a proper 2-link set up correctly for these conditions, one might not ever have any issues or concerns with the pinion angle change (a few degrees of pinion angle change = driveline harmonics). BUT if one plans to drive the truck at say 5" off the ground and also wants to drive it at 1" off the ground AND also wants to drive it at 10" off the ground (9" or so of range)..... there will be a ton of driveline issues that present themselves over time.

Would the pinion angle change be an issue with anything that would shift 9" in ride height? Just asking, because I am curious. When I converted my truck to 1/2 ton hangers and did the flip kit, the pinion angle became totally hosed. I haven't done anything to it just yet (still trying to get it running first), but curious to how the main air ride systems in use might affect the pinion angle. Sorry to hijack your thread Kevin.

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Jonboy

Would the pinion angle change be an issue with anything that would shift 9" in ride height? Just asking, because I am curious. When I converted my truck to 1/2 ton hangers and did the flip kit, the pinion angle became totally hosed. I haven't done anything to it just yet (still trying to get it running first), but curious to how the main air ride systems in use might affect the pinion angle. Sorry to hijack your thread Kevin.

Shouldn't be any different vs air ride set-ups. Just reset the pinion/driveline angles accordingly.

[Tx Firefighter]

Originally Posted by mcbassin

I thought this was a winter project?.... excellent jump start Kevin. Watch out you'll be done before winter

I accidentally got my days confused. It appears I did start a little bit before winter set in. There's no chance of getting it done too early though. My goal is to drive it to the Decatur Swap Meet in late February. Twice before in my life I've made that a goal on a truck build and both times I accomplished it. Let's hope I can make it a threepeat

Originally Posted by Chevy-Art

Is that a 210?

No sir. Business coupe. No rear seat from the factory and the rear quarter windows were fixed and not able to be rolled down.

Originally Posted by killthewabbit

Man, I love those Little Larrys valves. I found those when I was looking at bagging my old square.

Did I miss where you were putting the tank in the rear, behind the axle? Did you decide to put the compressors and tank there instead?

I was hesitant to relocate the tank. I can't give a solid reason why I guess. My stock tank and sending unit are both new and were bought by me when I shortened the wheelbase. Mainly, I'm not building it to lay on the ground, so the tank being flush with the bottom of the frame rails doesn't cause me too much heartburn.

Originally Posted by jhama78

Excuse my ignorance on the topic of aol suspension, but how is axle wrap with only two leaves in the rear spring pack?

Originally Posted by jott_06

If it makes you feel better about your AOL suspension, I bought my old Sonoma in 2008 with the airride already done. The only thing i ever touched on the truck was the body. The setup they had used only the main leaf and it was flipped upside down. It had Airlift 2600 bags directly over the axle. I had this truck untill 2011 and never had a spring break.

I'm comfortable with the axle wrap deal. I've lowered several of my trucks in years past by thinning out the leaf packs. One of them was my 83 stepside which I did in 1991. The guy I sold it to still drives it daily around here and it's still running thin leaf packs. The others were Nissan mini trucks which I won't discuss any further in an attempt to not tarnish my reputation. I am pretty much an 8:1 compression small block guy with 3:08 gears truck builder. I wouldn't know how to build a high horsepower hot rod if my life depended on it. I bet it's been over a year since I even chirped a tire, and that was in my Honda when I accidentally popped the clutch out.

Today I did a bunch of wiring and air plumbing. To power the compressors I ran two individual 8ga wires through two circuit breakers from the battery along the frame rail to the rear power buss bar. Then I plumbed all the air lines throughout the truck and up to the dash valves. Since I'm waiting on the dropmember, I just ran several feet of air line out to each front corner and tied it up out of the way until they're needed.



I'm still waiting on a couple of Viair lederhosen with check valves to arrive from a slow ass eBay seller. 9 days waiting so far and the seller is less than 60 miles from my house. They supplied a tracking number immediately but didn't actually drop the package into the system for 7 days.

Full up. It's about equivalent to 5 inch static rear drop or so.



Mostly full dump. Maybe an inch from fully compressed.



I'm confident that when I dropmember the front, combined with that back setup, it's going to sit down plenty low enough to make a statement.

And here's why I'll be pretty quiet for the foreseeable future. Nothing glamorous about what this entails.



I've used Summit paint products before with good success. If anyone is curious, it's just re-labeled Kirker brand urethane paint. Not top tier stuff, more of a budget line like Omni or whatever. On this paint job, the paint surely won't be the weak link. It will be the trigger operator I'm sure.