1949 Chevy 3600 into a daily driver

[youngrodder]

Originally Posted by Coach529

I think I asked you this before, but do you have ride height indication, or are you just going off the air pressure?

After not making the deadline of the car show, and 99% of the tough stuff done the stress level is dramatically lower.

I am a pretty high strung guy, and little issues bother me. They REALLY bother me if I cannot figure them out.

I get too focused on the problem solving and not about the complete journey as a whole. I need to remind myself that I am doing this for fun......because I enjoy it.

I only go by air pressure and gauge reading (no ride height sensors on this one). The funny thing I have noticed is if I air out and inflate to my set ride height air pressure the actual height is lower than if I'm over inflated and I let air out to get to my ride height.

Yes, I to get bothered when I can't figure things out right then. 9-10 times if you walk away or take a day or two you figure it out.

Marc

[99 to Life]

cool congrats. Yeah bugs takes months at time to get to. Life gets in the way. I'm in your boat, insanely high strung cause I have such a full plate all the time. (is a good thing cause it keep the fire lit to get a truck done, as we all know they can linger for years). Air pressure is the key, def doesn't effect the height all that much. Was something I was sooo unsure of when setting up my truck. I ran my rear sleeve bags at about 2x's the amount of pressure some guys ran. When my truck hit the sweat spot it was very enjoyable. You'll get there, enjoy it relax and kick back and say yup, I built that.

As for fuel pressure. If you have a gauge with fluid in it, there should be a bleeder on the back of it, try that and see if your gauge pops back up.

[joedoh]

I have had a lot of air systems on trucks. a LOT. usually when I have a stiff ride its because there is too much air in the bags. this can happen two ways, the first is me filling them too much for ground clearance. I will usually ride as low as I can to have the lowest spring rate, and make a mental note of big bumps and cracks in the roads that make me bottom out, which isnt as bad as it sounds, after 6 months you will see a dip or bump coming and wont even wince. it wont kill you to let some air out and see if maybe you were rolling around "locked up" which is the hydraulics guys term for full stroke that leaves you without any spring.

the second way is related to setup. I always set up the bag so that it squishes completely, I mean the last breath of pressure comes out just as the bag hits the internal bump stop. If you install bags where the mounts arent high enough, thats easy to figure out because the truck wont hit the ground. but if you set them too HIGH, there is all this volume in the bag that isnt related to lifting the truck and requires pressure to fill before any lifting even occurs. this is also pretty easy to identify, measure the squished height of the bag from plate to plate and make sure it is right at the min height of the bag. if you cant measure with the bag in, take it out, or my favorite shortcut is to put the tires on a 2x4 or 2x6 and let the air out. if the truck keeps going down past the tires, you have too much wasted drop, which will limit your lift too! this shortcut only works if you have extra stroke in your suspension, so dont try it if your tie rods just kiss the frame at full drop.

other than that, shocks are a big deal. I use as long a shock as I can. also alignment can make the truck ride rough.

good luck!

[Coach529]

Well the truck does for sure need a 4 wheel alignment. That could be a huge part of it.

The bags are set up to fully deflate at full squish. The truck will ALMOST roll when fully deflated.

I will have to do some playing around once it is road worthy. CPP could not guarantee me a prop valve this week so I just ordered one. It will be here on Thursday!!

One other thing I noticed about the air ride is how much different in ride height a certain psi can be.......and how much all 4 bags affect each other. Still trying to consistently get to my desired ride height without getting out and checking. :-)

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by Coach529

One other thing I noticed about the air ride is how much different in ride height a certain psi can be.......and how much all 4 bags affect each other. Still trying to consistently get to my desired ride height without getting out and checking. :-)

yeah its getting where I dont even put in pressure gauges haha. I learn how long to hold the switches up and do them two at a time. having a person on the drivers side means 8-12 more psi than the passenger side, some one gets in the passenger side bump the passenger switch up that 8-12.

in my first bagged truck though, it was a RELIGIOUS experience to watch the pressures.

how is your desired ride height anyway? a good rule of thumb is to measure full travel and ride height should be in between 1/3rd and 1/2 travel, otherwise the spring rate gets too high. you can always lift for driveways haha

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by joedoh

yeah its getting where I dont even put in pressure gauges haha. I learn how long to hold the switches up and do them two at a time. having a person on the drivers side means 8-12 more psi than the passenger side, some one gets in the passenger side bump the passenger switch up that 8-12.

in my first bagged truck though, it was a RELIGIOUS experience to watch the pressures.

how is your desired ride height anyway? a good rule of thumb is to measure full travel and ride height should be in between 1/3rd and 1/2 travel, otherwise the spring rate gets too high. you can always lift for driveways haha

I will have to measure full height. Ride height is with the running boards about 6" off the pavement......any lower than that I get some rubbing of my front tires on the fenders when I turn.

[joedoh]

Originally Posted by Coach529

I will have to measure full height. Ride height is with the running boards about 6" off the pavement......any lower than that I get some rubbing of my front tires on the fenders when I turn.

this may be your problem, ride height may not be turn height. I used to mess with minitrucks and usually the wheel to fender clearance was such that rolling height was lower than turning height. maybe dial in a bit of camber and roll a little lower, usually you can make everything but right angle turns with the truck lower, and pop up for turns. 6 inches sounds a bit over 1/2 travel in the front and is definitely over 1/2 in the back.

edit: also, I saw your post about the wheels being too far forward in the wheelarches. it looks like you dont have any caster or camber shims installed yet. your wheels may be castered forward and this will give a pretty stiff ride. on all the s10s I have owned there have always been more shims in the back of the arm than the front, which will pull the wheel back slightly. if you are set at zero camber at your ride height, dial in a little, it will help with turn clearance and may be better for the tires than a zero setting. camber doesnt ruin tires, toe and camber together do.

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by joedoh

this may be your problem, ride height may not be turn height. I used to mess with minitrucks and usually the wheel to fender clearance was such that rolling height was lower than turning height. maybe dial in a bit of camber and roll a little lower, usually you can make everything but right angle turns with the truck lower, and pop up for turns. 6 inches sounds a bit over 1/2 travel in the front and is definitely over 1/2 in the back.

edit: also, I saw your post about the wheels being too far forward in the wheelarches. it looks like you dont have any caster or camber shims installed yet. your wheels may be castered forward and this will give a pretty stiff ride. on all the s10s I have owned there have always been more shims in the back of the arm than the front, which will pull the wheel back slightly. if you are set at zero camber at your ride height, dial in a little, it will help with turn clearance and may be better for the tires than a zero setting. camber doesnt ruin tires, toe and camber together do.

Thanks for the info. Right now it does not have any shims installed. It needs a full alignment. I never thought about the Caster pulling the wheels back a bit. I am at zero camber at ride height with no shims.

[lower50's]

I put flow controls on my lines so the front and rear go up and down at the same speed. From sitting on the ground I hit my switches for about 1.5 sec then I look at the running board to the ground from my seat to judge height and go. Ride height is 3" 1000mi have not bottomed out on the road. I just slow down for train tracks and stuff.

[Coach529]

Aired out.



Ride height.

[Coach529]

This is a picture of the bag at a little over ride height. Pretty sure at ride height the LCA is parallel with the ground.

[99 to Life]

I rode about 4" off ground on my 49', rarely a problem and where I live, dirt roads and crappy east coast paved roads, its was fine. My buddy has a 54' belair that previous owner put a camaro clip on ): he can't hardly even bag it, but for now he is running a narrow set of front rims. So what you could do is choose different rims and even a 14" rim like I run, with my WWW they are 26" tall. I know that is prolly not in your to do list, but that is an option if turning becomes a headache.

Be careful to whom you take it to for alignment. Most shops don't know jack, esp with your IRS they will in awww. There was only one shop (an hour from me) that had a machine capable of aligning a lowered truck with those fenders.

[99 to Life]

question, do you have a pic of the total air up? just curious. my truck only had 6" up front and 5" in back max air. I didn't have time to really dial in the back bf it left. I personally feel like your ride height can be a tad lower and I'd be curious to know your pressures.

lastly, LCA at ride height is def the general rule of thumb, but look at a daily s10 for example, the LCA are not level. My 49' was the same way. So I wouldn't stress on that,
ride it where it feels most comfortable.

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

question, do you have a pic of the total air up? just curious. my truck only had 6" up front and 5" in back max air. I didn't have time to really dial in the back bf it left. I personally feel like your ride height can be a tad lower and I'd be curious to know your pressures.

lastly, LCA at ride height is def the general rule of thumb, but look at a daily s10 for example, the LCA are not level. My 49' was the same way. So I wouldn't stress on that,
ride it where it feels most comfortable.

I just looked and I do not have a picture of the truck totally aired up. I can take one tonight when I get home from work.

Pressures at the current right height is 80 for the front and 55 for the rear.

I know a bunch of local circle track guys. I am going to see if anybody has a magnetic castor/ camber gauge I can borrow. If not I may just buy one.

http://www.longacreracing.com/techni...r%20Simplified

[99 to Life]

I was able to ride my front at 50-60psi (airlift 2600's) but my back was at around 80ish. I had sleeved bags and really needed to just dial in the back. I did put 2" risers under the bags which made it worse cause the shock was maxed out and not doin anything. I drove it that way once (on way to meet new owner) I hated the ride but bf I added the blocks it rode great. The idea to add blocks is to get the bag pressure down, which I'm sure would be good if he gets longer shocks. Also by doing that you are theoretically able to get more lift with lower pressure. Even with more pressure in rear which is opposite of all bagged trucks I'v heard of, it still rode great.

[Coach529]

First step is get the alignment squared away. At the recommendation of a local circle track guy I bought a cheaper Caster/ Camber tool from Speedway. Gets good reviews and is cheap enough to try....

http://www.speedwaymotors.com/Econom...auge,2699.html

[Coach529]

Still messing around with little things.

I had a slight miss in the engine that was getting worse. Turned out to be a dead cylinder. One thing led to another and now here I am.



Found evidence of a vacuum leak on the dead cylinder. Hope to have it back together this week.

[99 to Life]

you thinking rings on piston or head gasket, heads, valves? that sux. I always do a compression test before I fire them up, then afterwards too. Sometimes with cast rings they need a bit to seat but doubt its your problem.

[youngrodder]

Keep at it. You will get it all handled...

Marc

[99 to Life]

I wonder if its a head or gasket problem since you felt like you had some moisture in oil. I'v had a couple engines fail compression test. Last one had a broken piston land.

[Coach529]

I have spoke with a bunch of people about the motor issue, gathering info and just trying to learn.

Troubleshooting is tough when a guy never finds a smoking gun.

The original water in oil issue was caused by me missing a couple bolts on the intake during the torqueing sequence. That was on the rear passenger side. This issue is #7 cyl, rear drivers side.

I am hoping fresh gaskets and a thorough torque sequence will solve the problem.

[IMG][/IMG]

[ptc]

a vacuum leak would not cause a dead cylinder. just really bad A/F mix.... water in the cylinder would! -

Check compression after you get it together, then check spark at each cylinder doing the old plug grounded to block test. You may just have a bad disty cap or wire.

[99 to Life]

Id def make sure the head isn't cracked bf I put it back on. Just make sure everything is clean and torqued right. Put sealant on your head bolts and wait a day bf you fire it back up. Its ok to retorque after a day too. I'd then do a compression test. just put the gauge in that cylinder and disconnect your distributor wire, crank it over and see what it has. If you have zero or very little compression, Id say your piston or rings would be the next problem. where they replaced?

[Coach529]

Bolted the motor back together over the past couple days.

Reinstalled the intake with new gaskets and using RTV on the ends. All seems good at this point but I have yet to put miles on it.

[lower50's]

Finders crossed for you.