Projects Haulin' ass in fiberglass

You don't want coilovers straight up, on a car that needs to make corners.

You want them at about 15° off vertical, for body roll control.

 

With as little street as it will do I want the tuning consistency with them straight up. Really won't be a street car anymore.... 95% drag.

 

15 to 20 degrees is still the norm for coilovers. Still going to need to control body roll a bit on launch, right?

 

Yup.

As soon as the chassis loads, the right side coilover, if vertical, will go out of square, reducing its spring and damping rate.

 

Never seen a drag 4 link with laid over shocks and doesn't make any sense to me. Pre-load the upper right bar and high deflection heims are used.

 

If this were for the street, laying the shocks over makes sense. Since the articulation in a drag car is different all the builders I've found mount the shocks vertically. Art Morrison, S&W, etc below.

 

Got the old setup in the classifieds and the new on the way. The existing coilovers may work, but won't know for sure until I get the new suspension mocked up.

 

I installed a full drag race rear suspension kit, including the vertical coil-overs in my BBC powered '50 Stude pickup. I didn't use the diagonal link supplied with the kit opting instead for a "wishbone" upsized for street use. I use Seals-It washer/seals on any Heim ends. After a spring swap and shock adjustment (pickups are pretty light in the rear) it rode and drove just fine on the street. I built it to drag race but I drove it to work, plenty of cruise nights, and even drove it a few times to Bakersfield.
Of course it's not the optimal street suspension but it was ok. Your coupe's coming along nicely and this thread has a bunch of good ideas in it, thanks.

 

Stuff's here! Frame's not back yet, but I need to go scrounging for steel at the metal supply tomorrow. Going to be a unique suspension/crossmember arrangement, but you don't know 'till you try, right?

 

A little glimpse as I start fitting. The upper front brackets are notched into the x-member, but not flush on the top. The roll cage pad will be notched into the top of the member so it's flush and the top of the bracket can be welded to the bottom of the pad making it all strong as hell. Sounds complicated and welding needs to be done in a certain order, but when it's done it'll tie the roll cage in as a stressed member. Going for light and strong.....

 

Cut, grind, weld, repeat...... you guys know the drill. Pretty pleased with only 1 days work. Next up, trim the bars to length and tack 'em.

 

After getting the 4 link mocked up, I'm going to use 1/4" rod end spacers so there are no potential binding issues. Be here in a week or so, so I'll have to find something else to amuse myself in the meantime.

 

Been looking long and hard at exactly how to locate the rear. Panhard, watts, wishbone, diagonal link....... been giving me a headache with the available space I have. 99% decided on building a wishbone mounted on top with the center rod end on the upper 2x2 crossmember. Can tolerate a little street, less defection and I don't have to try to maneuver around the coilovers.
Next time I'll probably go full tube chassis rather than adapting a deuce frame......

 

Frame's back and it's time to build me racecar...... (top of the 2x2 xmember will be flush with the top of the frame rails)

 

Put blue painters tape down on the floor, leveled the frame and layed out the frame dimensions on the floor. Got the wishbone brackets tacked back in the correct places..... got 'em within a 1/16". Taking my time laying out the rear end and 4 link points so it all is perfectly aligned. Tomorrow I'll start fitting the front 4 link bracket x-member to see if I need to add a hoop for driveshaft clearance.

 

Tonight is the perfect example of why you tack things in place until everything's fitted. Started fitting the coilovers and found that my plan to have them as far outboard as possible had complications. Good news is there's a real benefit to making a relatively simple change.
I need to cut the inner brackets off (cutting 2 tack welds each) and put them back on making them the outside brackets. This moves the coilover and wheelie bar mounts inboard, but more importantly lets me move the bars 1/2" out making the lower front bracket cantilever shorter. Big words for something simple..... with the lower bars applying the power to the frame on acceleration, it will be stronger than before.
One step back but 2 steps forward

 

Just out of curiosity (sp?) are you going to support the full length of the front 4 bar bracket?(vertical) i'de hope that 2x2 is just mocking up, and getting some #'s. I'm guessing 2x4 both horizontal, and vertical to support the bars/brackets. Plans/thoughts?

 

No, the 2x2 is the upper crossmember. The front brackets will be boxed and a lower crossmember extends all the way across and out past the brackets and is cantilevered to diagonal braces to the bottom of the frame rails.

 

To clarify a little.... if you look at a lot of kits with 2x3 and 2x4 tube rails, they are made that way as back half kits and typically only have 2 contact points with an existing frame. It's done that way because they aren't engineered, they're a one size fits all solution because nothing else is known about support/reinforcement about the intended application. When it gets closer to completed you'll see that though I'm doing this differently, the boxing, bracing and crossmember layout helps save a lot of weight over the one size fits all kits. The tops of the brackets are also gusseted between the original rails, crossmember and brackets making it not only incredibly stronger on it's own, but providing an additional mount and support for the rollcage hoops.
It's more a "trust me, I got this" than a "here, hold my beer" deal.

 

That, sir, is the best description of why/how something is done the way it is done. Only wish I would have thought of it.
SPark

 

Got all the housing brackets tacked in and swapped the sides (moving the shock brackets inboard). Going to have to remove the rear tube and move it forward to position the upper coilover mounts. Fitting the wishbone locator when I'm comfy all the dimensions are right. Going to fit the engine and trans again tomorrow since straightening the frame changed mounting positions slightly. Finally making some progress.

 

You do very nice work, as long as this is turning into a race car are you going to get enough tire under it w/o narrowing rear end, pretty big HP/Torque, light car, nose heavy, short wheel base. I guess you've decided race, not cruising, It's hard to have both when you go this far IMO which is worth price paid LOL. ENJOY ! Sit Down, Shut UP, Hang On ! car

 

Won't be a problem putting tire on it since it won't have fenders. I've already fitted 15x12 wheels with 32.0/14.5-15 slicks. It won't be cruising far, just maybe a local putt, but it will have lights, t/signals, etc if we decide to. Exhaust may be an issue, but who the hell runs mufflers in Arizona anymore?

 

I'm diggin' the attention to details..... Like the rest of the build. Go Man,Go! You've helped me with my build, but you don't know it, we'll, er, now you do! LOL!
Keep progressing- Your doing a great job!

 

It's been a real productive weekend, though if you think about it all I've done is get back to where I was before finding the frame was jacked up. Much happier having an adjustable parallel 4 link than the diagonal 4 link that was in it. Getting kinda excited about it now, thinking this thing will be a really beast to drive. I'm used to driving short wheel base cars but nothing with the 800ish HP I'm expecting from the 545.

 

Agree with that statement, Mufflers/Arizona. We now winter in Az., love the weather, sunshine, etc. should have done it sooner. I did notice the muffler deal as with older cars/trucks when it falls off nobody seems to replace it and never saw/heard so many late model cars/trucks with modified exhaust to loud pipes. The traffic, Yikes ! The way people drive today ! Double Yikes ! but I have lived in a small northwoods town past 9 years and before that 30 years in the country that eventually became another suburb, So............ every time I get to big city traffic I think Yikes ! not for me anymore.

 

Front floor x-member is fitted and tacked in place. Put the driver's seat in place for the first time to see where the bracing and seat mounts need to go. Gonna make a really cool custom seat bracket for the rear inner mounting bolts. Should have that factory-ish look to it. Get to take the torch out too......

 

Tonight was fun and what I really enjoy about building. With as short as this wheelbase is, there are basically only 3 areas..... engine/trans, seat and rear suspension. With more wheelbase it would be way easier to lay out frame reinforcements and mounts. With this, I need to be a bit creative, combine function when possible and still be conscious of weight.
Here's what I came up with to mount the rear inner seat tracks and leave room for the harness tabs at the correct angle (not shown yet). There will be 2 gussets under the bracket and on each side of the wishbone rod end so the seat mounts don't rely on the span of the bracket for strength.
What hasn't been shown yet is the lower crossmember tying the front 4 link brackets together on the bottom, cantilevered to the bottom of the frame rails and verticals that will add rigidity as well as acting as a driveshaft hoop.
This really is the fun stuff......

 

One more piece of the puzzle. Made a stop in Beaumont on the way back from the river and picked up this set of Lunati (Morel) solid roller lifters for a song.

 

NICE!!!!