[18degsbcregal]

Got the 4 equal length 4 link bars bars cut and matched @ 18.5”, and the short uppers for use with the conversion brackets cut and matched @ 10”. I’ll probably weld these up by the weekend and get the old ladder bar mounts cut out this Sunday. Might be able to work on some of the chassis side tubing/brackets too. Still waiting on the housing, hasn’t shipped yet. Should be getting our front AFCOs back from Yancy @ Viscous Performance in the next few weeks too. The shorter front shocks really hurt us last time out, we’ll be happy to get the travel and ride height back

 

[18degsbcregal]

4 link brackets, doubler plates, and the rest of our misalignment reducer spacers came today. Plan is to weld all of the doublers and all 6 control arms this weekend. Might be able to use a piece of 3” exhaust tubing as a dummy axle housing to keep on truckin until the axle housing comes 😎

 

[18degsbcregal]

Should work just fine- might actually do the housing last, it’s much lighter and easier to move around like this

 

[Pro Stock John]

When should I bring my '67 over Vinny... pizza and beer?

 

[18degsbcregal]

When should I bring my '67 over Vinny... pizza and beer?

This weekend- I’ll have all the tools out already 🤣

 

[18degsbcregal]

🤘

 

[18degsbcregal]

Spent some time measuring over the weekend, trying different ride heights and running #s through the instant center calculator. We ultimately decided on a 6.25” pinch weld height. It’s pretty low, but not slammed on the ground low. It should give good clearance around the tops of the 4 link brackets to the frame rails, leaving enough room for compression travel, along with not having the 4 link brackets hanging way down out of the car @ the recommended 4.5” from the ground installation height. There’s enough adjustment in the brackets to be able to pretty easily go up/down 1-1.5” from the 6.25” pinch weld height if we wanted too. For anybody else interested in doing something similar, the tops of the chassis side 4 link brackets will wind up being cut off at an angle to get them mated to the frame rails just above the top upper link adjustment hole. If you were to move the brackets inside the frame rails and mount them on tubing (would totally work), it’d allow you to go even lower, probably into the 4.5-5” rocket pinch weld height area. I like the idea of keeping them inline with the frame rails if possible though, it keeps the brackets/coilover mounts out further towards the housing ends.

Started welded the doublers and 4 link bars too, should be able to finish them up by Wednesday 😎

 

[18degsbcregal]

Haven’t had much time to spend on the car in the past few weeks, but amassed most of the parts to keep going 😎. Wheels, axle housing, housing ends, and diagonal link kits came in. I’m gonna do a diagonal link with tabs on it in the center to allow two short links to span the gaps from the middle of the diagonal link to the opposite corners. It’ll have 4 corner support, and the ability to put a teeny bit of preload against each other for super solid axle location. Should have less movement than the tolerances of the rod ends. We’ll do the same double beadlock conversion w/ Bruce @ Exstreme fab for the new wheels. They’re a 15x12 with 5” backspace (old ones were 1.5” backspace). Should be a lot easier on the axle shafts and bearings. They’ll wind up being 15x13s like the other wheels were after the beadlock conversions. We’ll probably eventually do black outer barrels and gold centers to match the front. Just waiting on coilover brackets and the ARB kit. I got one from Rhodes Race Cars- their pro series ARB kit with 8” long arms to work well with the 7” of rear travel. Lots more welding to do 😮‍💨

 

[18degsbcregal]

Got all the lower side bracing made up for the axle- gotta make up some bracing for the front sides of the tubes out towards the pinion area. Close to being able to slide this thing under the car and trial fit it soon 😎

 

[18degsbcregal]

Haven’t had time to update, but long story short- it’s back together with ladder bars for now. Got the axle done, rear wheels converted to double beadlocks, brakes plumbed, diagonal link made up (for now), revalved front shocks back on, ride height set, corner weights set, ARB fabbed and installed, and swapped back to our old nitrous controller for now. I ran out of time to get the chassis side 4 link brackets done and welded in- they’ll have to wait until the winter time.

Racing our local small tire shootout on Saturday, 100% untested. We’ll see how it goes. Expectations are pretty low for this weekend, but it’s not miles away from where it was late last year. Gonna take a swing and see what happens 😎.

7” front travel, 12”x170lb front springs, crank centerline is up there- around 17”, rear springs are 14”x90lbs, front ladder bar heims are 9.375” high, probably gonna start with no added weight. Has a 4.88:1 rear gear, so I’ll prob pull a little more timing early on to shoot for the same behavior as the 4.56s. Rear shock settings the same as last year, front shock settings are gonna be an educated guess 😬.

I learned over the past few weeks that the Edelbrock nitrous controller we put in the car late last year has been acting up due to interference. Plan is to put the old NX controller back in for now, and hopefully get the 2 stage plate on it in the next week or two. Then we can split the nitrous up into one smaller automated system, and another smaller stage on the steering wheel VS trying to ramp in 350-450hp in one stage.