Make it handle

[Barney Rubble]

Originally Posted by robnolimit

welcome Barney. Thanks for the props. - what year truck are you working on? Also, we can build the IFS for rhd, we've done a few for aussieland and europe.

I left all that info out of my post coz I thought you might click the link!
She's a 59, and left hand drive!

[killerpickup]

M5, Most of my info was on the t-bird 89-97, and the lincoln mark VIII,93-98. Ive been trying to chase down info on the big fords but local wrecking yards seem to be clueless. Iam hoping with my set back and an independant rear Ill have a good chance of taking down some of the local talent. Its turning out to be and extensive build, but Iam really have fun, what with all the professional help its even easier.

[Scot_Douglas]

Originally Posted by M5-

Sledding season is almost over so its time for me to dig the 65 out of the snowbank and do some more work on it. I know I read this on here somewhere but what years of Crown Vic are we talking and if I remember they use the 8 3/4" rear end? Will that have a posi in it?

Thx M5

Originally Posted by killerpickup

M5, Most of my info was on the t-bird 89-97, and the lincoln mark VIII,93-98. Ive been trying to chase down info on the big fords but local wrecking yards seem to be clueless. Iam hoping with my set back and an independant rear Ill have a good chance of taking down some of the local talent. Its turning out to be and extensive build, but Iam really have fun, what with all the professional help its even easier.

The bird/mk VIII units are 8.8 diffs - lots and lots of limited slip / posi / locker choices.
As for finding a rear end - just keep your eye open for t-birds of that vintage in craigslist. You can find them cheap ($500 for a whole car) - if you have the means, you can take the rear end out of it and take the rest to the scrapyard. You can probably part out the engine and trans too - that, along with scrap prices, the IRS will be close to free.

[jayman68]

According to the local Ford shop the 98-03 Lincoln Town Car has IRS, on some models. I have not found one yet and the wrecking yards don't know the info.

[RANDOMIZM]

Rob,
I have a 68 suburban that I have Dominator 2600 bags for, and am looking to eventually lay out. However, I'd like to have fun with it whenever possible. Especially after getting to ride along with one of the cars at Del Mar this past weekend. I'm not looking to be able to set fast times, just want a set up that will be fun if I ever took it out to Adams Motorsports Park.
After reading this thread (and taking lots of notes) I have an idea of where I need to go, but also knowing the weight/distribution is different, I'm not entirely sure where exactly I need to go. What would you suggest I do front and rear (i'm on a college budget, but am not afraid to fab stuff up).

Thanks.
BTW- Love the work you guys do.

[robnolimit]

RACE REPORT Another win for the No Limit 55 Bullit. We had a great time Del-Mar, and there was some good competition. Our fast lap was a 34.144 sec. Mary Posi drove it and ran a 34,637, and said she thought it would run a mid 32 as is. That makes me happy. Rob McEwen and the Dueces-Wild shop ran a 35.153 for 2nd, and our J.T. ran 36.647 for 3rd. Rob Phillips ran a quick 34.557 lap in his Hotchkis 69 C-10, for 5th in the vendor class. A great showing for trucks, as even the JT was faster than half of the entries.

[TrueChevyTech]

been keeping up on this thread for awhile now, I'm interested in a cost effective air ride solution that handles, I have 1 mile of gravel to get over so static will really tear the truck up. front dropmember is very appealing so far. and another thing, if it's vendor bias PM me please! love makes trucks !!

[robnolimit]

Walker - Thanks, had a great time in Del Mar. I should get some video up today. A 'stock' truck has bumpsteer, and the inner pivit is too high (or the outer is too low) In fact, the Hotchkis TVS kit comes with a fabbed centerlink for the steering to lower, and widen, the inner pivits. When you tip the spindle back, the outer pivit rises, and helps to cut down the bumpsteer. So, it can be more help than hurt.
Truechevytech Although I understand the politicaly correct crowd, I'm quite willing to call it as I see it, and let our shop reputation ride it out. That being said, the one thing you need to keep in mind is quality. You can use mostly stock parts, and upgrade to bags, like using Ride-Tech 'cool ride' kits. Shocks will be important, and the longer the better. Try Porters upper mount for the front, and our new rear kit. When it comes to controls, this is where you need to spend some coin. While you can use two dual needle guages, and four switches, use a TOP QUALITY valve block, RideTech, or AccuAir. Yes, you can use their digital diplays/controls if you want too, but that will push up the $$. A large air reserve is more important than multiple pumps. One ViAir 400 or 440 compressor, and a 5 gal tank (or two 2 or 3 gal) will be all you need. 1/4" inch line is fine, but I like 3/8" for a bit more speed on the 'up' stroke. Stay away from anything bigger, as it is tough to tune in to ride height.

[Conundrum]

Originally Posted by robnolimit

Walker - Thanks, had a great time in Del Mar. I should get some video up today. A 'stock' truck has bumpsteer, and the inner pivit is too high (or the outer is too low) In fact, the Hotchkis TVS kit comes with a fabbed centerlink for the steering to lower, and widen, the inner pivits. When you tip the spindle back, the outer pivit rises, and helps to cut down the bumpsteer. So, it can be more help than hurt.

Hey Rob, how much will chopping the crossmember 1.5" affect this same issue?

[Walkersan]

Thanks for clarifying the bumpsteer question. I am definitely in for moving the lower A arm rod forward an inch to increase my caster.

Walker

[TrueChevyTech]

Originally Posted by robnolimit

Truechevytech Although I understand the politicaly correct crowd, I'm quite willing to call it as I see it, and let our shop reputation ride it out. That being said, the one thing you need to keep in mind is quality. You can use mostly stock parts, and upgrade to bags, like using Ride-Tech 'cool ride' kits. Shocks will be important, and the longer the better. Try Porters upper mount for the front, and our new rear kit. When it comes to controls, this is where you need to spend some coin. While you can use two dual needle guages, and four switches, use a TOP QUALITY valve block, RideTech, or AccuAir. Yes, you can use their digital diplays/controls if you want too, but that will push up the $$. A large air reserve is more important than multiple pumps. One ViAir 400 or 440 compressor, and a 5 gal tank (or two 2 or 3 gal) will be all you need. 1/4" inch line is fine, but I like 3/8" for a bit more speed on the 'up' stroke. Stay away from anything bigger, as it is tough to tune in to ride height.

Sorry craaazy busy at work cant keep up on the boards. we're talking all stock but shock mounts? With the addition of bags and a control system, I thought I read back a ways that the wheel wasn't centered in the wheel opening and the ball join angle isn't the best for ?camber?.. we're talking about a '67

[Crashjunkie]

This thread is full of useful info. Glad I found it!
I have two questions specific to my 69 Gmc build...
1. Am I wasting my time with leaf springs? I flipped my axle above the springs and am running a set of traction bars from Brothers Trucks that are supposed to act like I moved the IC forward. I haven't gotten the setup on the road yet, so I don't know if it works.
2. Should I spend the time/money on converting to a shortbox, solely from a handling perspective....?
Posted via Mobile Device

[robnolimit]

Conumdrum This is where the geometry gets a little tricky. to start with, I'll let you know that the inner pivit point on the stock centerlint is 5/8" too high. - (or the outer tie rod pivit point is 5/8" too low). If you notched and raised the crossmember 5/8" things would be perfect. But, not low enough, I'd guess. So, if you raise it 1 1/2", you have a 7/8" mis-match. You can swap the outer tie rod ends for hiems, and put them on the bottom of the steering arm, but that is a 1 1/4" flip, so you would havs a 5/8" mis-match the other way. How do you fix it? Well, you could move the steering box and idler arm mount holes up 7/8". You could heat and bend the pitman arm and idler arm up 7/8" - I hear you cringing, but it is possible - You could do the tie rod flip, and bend the pitman and idler down 5/8" - be warned that the tie rod flip forces you to run an 18" wheel or bigger with drop spindles - You could check into the Hotchkis center link, but I don't know how much of a drop it has at the pivit points, You could build your own centerlink with the inner pivits in the correct location, and Lastly, you could get one of our new rack and pinion kits (shameless promo) that mounts to the crossmember, so the geometry stays intact with anty placement of the crossmember. Our JT has a 1 1/2" raised crossmember and a rack. wheew, lots of choices.
CJ leafs can work very well, just ask Mary Posi, 11 time national auto-x champ. Shortening the bed = shortening the wheelbase. This is good for corners at spedds under 80 mph, but starts to make the trucks twitchy at higher speeds

[Conundrum]

So you guys have a rack kit that mounts to the stock crossmembers of the I think it's 63-87 chevy/gmc trucks? I would like to know more about that. Is it on your website?

How much would moving the lower ball joint 1.5"(?)(I think that was in an earlier post) forward change the outer pivot point? Would that correct the situation with using a sectioned crossmember, flipped outer tie rod end using a hiems and the stock steering components?

[hotroddr]

Originally Posted by robnolimit

Conumdrum This is where the geometry gets a little tricky. to start with, I'll let you know that the inner pivit point on the stock centerlint is 5/8" too high. - (or the outer tie rod pivit point is 5/8" too low). If you notched and raised the crossmember 5/8" things would be perfect. But, not low enough, I'd guess. So, if you raise it 1 1/2", you have a 7/8" mis-match. You can swap the outer tie rod ends for hiems, and put them on the bottom of the steering arm, but that is a 1 1/4" flip, so you would havs a 5/8" mis-match the other way. How do you fix it? Well, you could move the steering box and idler arm mount holes up 7/8". You could heat and bend the pitman arm and idler arm up 7/8" - I hear you cringing, but it is possible - You could do the tie rod flip, and bend the pitman and idler down 5/8" - be warned that the tie rod flip forces you to run an 18" wheel or bigger with drop spindles - You could check into the Hotchkis center link, but I don't know how much of a drop it has at the pivit points, You could build your own centerlink with the inner pivits in the correct location, and Lastly, you could get one of our new rack and pinion kits (shameless promo) that mounts to the crossmember, so the geometry stays intact with anty placement of the crossmember. Our JT has a 1 1/2" raised crossmember and a rack. wheew, lots of choices.
CJ leafs can work very well, just ask Mary Posi, 11 time national auto-x champ. Shortening the bed = shortening the wheelbase. This is good for corners at spedds under 80 mph, but starts to make the trucks twitchy at higher speeds

so If im reading this right, if one were to raise the crossmember into the frame 2 3/8" and flip the tie rod to the bottom side of the steering arm and switch to the heim joints, the bumpsteer would be dead on. What is the downside to this? I know the crossmember would have to be sectioned to clear the oil pan and there may be a few parts of the crossmember that would have to be clearanced for the steering linkages.

[Scot_Douglas]

Originally Posted by hotroddr

so If im reading this right, if one were to raise the crossmember into the frame 2 3/8" and flip the tie rod to the bottom side of the steering arm and switch to the heim joints, the bumpsteer would be dead on. What is the downside to this? I know the crossmember would have to be sectioned to clear the oil pan and there may be a few parts of the crossmember that would have to be clearanced for the steering linkages.

If you section the 2 3/8 out of the center of the x-member, your relationship to the oilpan stays the same.

[robnolimit]

The rack kits are not on our web site yet, we have been putting info up on a thread hear called "bolt in power rack". Moving the lower ball joint 1" raises the out tie rod end up about 1/8", not enough to solve all the ploblems, but every little bit helps

[Greywolf200]

Originally Posted by robnolimit

The rack kits are not on our web site yet, we have been putting info up on a thread hear called "bolt in power rack". Moving the lower ball joint 1" raises the out tie rod end up about 1/8", not enough to solve all the ploblems, but every little bit helps

Hi Rob, I googled "bolt in power rack" on the forum and didn't get your thread, can you supply a URL?

Thanks,

[Conundrum]

Thanks, i'm going to look into the rack kit.

[Conundrum]

Here you go, I found it today....

http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/s...d.php?t=441047

[robnolimit]

Thanks, I'm not to good at that stuff. Next week we're doing an install with StreetTrucks mag on a '65 sb that is a current driver. This will be our final test fit before production. If Travis (Streettrucks) and Jake (Truck owner) can do the install alone, and it works, then we're good to go. We always have our test parts installed by someone else to see if there is anything we overlooked, Its good to have a different set of eyes and hands involved.

[hotroddr]

I'd be happy to volunteer to test fit the rack setup.

[Greywolf200]

Greetings Rob, how is your control arm comparision project going? Was the JT control arm modification a reaction to not being able to get an arm with the proper geometry?

Question 2: Could a tubular front cross member (similiar to a drop member but to improve handling rather that laying frame) be built with modified suspension points to improve handling and possibly reduce weight over the front wheels? Or would this be a complete redesign of the original components? I'd rather spend money on this than something that renders my bed unusable and hides my tires up in the wheelwells.

Thanks,

[SCOTI]

Originally Posted by Greywolf200

Greetings Rob, how is your control arm comparision project going? Was the JT control arm modification a reaction to not being able to get an arm with the proper geometry?

Question 2: Could a tubular front cross member (similiar to a drop member but to improve handling rather that laying frame) be built with modified suspension points to improve handling and possibly reduce weight over the front wheels? Or would this be a complete redesign of the original components? I'd rather spend money on this than something that renders my bed unusable and hides my tires up in the wheelwells.Thanks,

Porterbuilt is currently finishing up the design of just such a crossmember.

[tech@scottshotrods]

Originally Posted by Greywolf200

Greetings Rob, how is your control arm comparision project going? Was the JT control arm modification a reaction to not being able to get an arm with the proper geometry?

Question 2: Could a tubular front cross member (similiar to a drop member but to improve handling rather that laying frame) be built with modified suspension points to improve handling and possibly reduce weight over the front wheels? Or would this be a complete redesign of the original components? I'd rather spend money on this than something that renders my bed unusable and hides my tires up in the wheelwells.

Thanks,

we offer a coil over cross member available now that we have been selling for the last year!