Things I am pondering today

[street72]

Very Nice Allen..I don't remember that hood, is it a stock hood? But I do like it either way..

[Monster]

Very clean car.

[cstmwgn]

... is that the one you where talking about last time i was around?

Hey Bruce - yes, it is the one we bought in Lake Mary back in February 17.

Here are a few pics:






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[cobra]

Chris - on my 66 Fairlane, the strut rods are adjustable. They don't use alignment shims on the upper control arm mount. With a 390 and stock cast iron exhaust manifolds, houdini couldn't loosen the nuts on the upper control arm bolts. I am replacing the stock serrated bolts with regular grade 8 bolts that I can tighten from the control arm side. I am going to put one 1/8" harden washer between the cross shaft and the shock tower in the front to get a bit more caster without having to pull the lower control arm too far forward. I am nervous about the spring deal but until I change out the little skinny tires I suspect I can get by.

since i haven't been around awhile, how about posting some picks of the fairlane. is that the one you where talking about last time i was around?

[stu yoakam]

I did mine already. I need to do the body mounts and posi. Bound to get ugly. Might need a torch.

[Monster]

This stuff is fun, but I'm terrified to put my Vette up and start replacing the suspension bushings.
Who knows where it will end ?

[cstmwgn]

Chris - on my 66 Fairlane, the strut rods are adjustable. They don't use alignment shims on the upper control arm mount. With a 390 and stock cast iron exhaust manifolds, houdini couldn't loosen the nuts on the upper control arm bolts. I am replacing the stock serrated bolts with regular grade 8 bolts that I can tighten from the control arm side. I am going to put one 1/8" harden washer between the cross shaft and the shock tower in the front to get a bit more caster without having to pull the lower control arm too far forward. I am nervous about the spring deal but until I change out the little skinny tires I suspect I can get by.

[74NovaMan]

Parts!

Chris - those specs on your front alignment look very good to me. I am going to shoot for just a touch more caster - 3.0 - 3.5 and would tolerate up to -1 camber. The very bottom of the picture are a stack of plates and two bolts. These are the camber kit from opentracker racing. They give up to 5* camber adjustment and won't slip/change once the desired set are installed.

Did you do any before/after measurements on ride height after dropping the control arm mount?

If I recall correctly, I was shooting for about what you are, but could only get as much as I did because so little was adjustable. The alignment guy did a great job with what he had to work with. I like your camber kit. Its great to lock stuff down like that. Are your strut rods adjustable too?

I don't have any before and after but I did use the original springs and needed to add a spacer to keep the wheels from rubbing. Granted the tires I used were wider than anything dad ever had on it. I ordered 1.5" spacers and got a little over an inch. After lowering the back last year (new springs) it sits about perfect. Front left still rubs the fender a tiny bit when turning just right.

[cstmwgn]

Check with Laura at Espo Springs & Things. They do a lot of custom springs. I wanted my car higher so I ordered stock plus 2”. I’m sure there are other places too.

Thanks Jim. I will make a note if I can't make what I have work. They do sell 1" isolators. I have a 3/8" issolator and the factory rubber ones (~1/8). I am trying to get this back together this weekend so IF I can't find the taller isolator locally, I will go with the 3/8" deal and try it out. I suspect if I do get to the point that i put real brakes and full size wheels and tires on it that I probably would be willing to address the spring height issues again then.

[moparjim71]

Check with Laura at Espo Springs & Things. They do a lot of custom springs. I wanted my car higher so I ordered stock plus 2”. I’m sure there are other places too.

[cstmwgn]

Parts!




Soooo, as with most of this stuff. It turns out Moog springs for a big block Fairlane are 3/4" shorter that the old sagged springs I had in the car! Most of the Fairlane vendors talked about their "go fast" springs being an 1" shorter - I now suspect they are just re-boxed Moogs. Now I have to decide if I can tolerate that much drop, Seems sort of silly to jump through hoops backwards to gain caster then give it back by dropping the front end too much.

Chris - those specs on your front alignment look very good to me. I am going to shoot for just a touch more caster - 3.0 - 3.5 and would tolerate up to -1 camber. The very bottom of the picture are a stack of plates and two bolts. These are the camber kit from opentracker racing. They give up to 5* camber adjustment and won't slip/change once the desired set are installed.

Did you do any before/after measurements on ride height after dropping the control arm mount?

[74NovaMan]

As to brakes - this is suppose to be my driver while I redo the truck - so a disk brake upgrade will have to include hydroboost, master cylinder, brake lines, wheels and tires on top of the actual disk brake kit. All this given my history would push that part of the upgrade to well over 3K if I go cheap on the wheels and tires. Nothing I am doing right now would be wasted - Wilwood has drum brake spindle kits.

I kind of figured you wanted to keep this one simple to focus on the truck, but it seemed wrong to not at least try to spend your money and blow up your scope even more.

We did the upper arm drop on our Mustang but lacked a baseline to compare to. Are you planning on stock alignment specs? We got the following out of ours:



That was with non-adjustable strut rods and no adjustment possible on the LCA pivot (stock setup). If we ever get that far back into it I'd change those to get better adjustability and consistency.

[cstmwgn]

How about a pick of the Fairlane and your truck -- share the love.

Phil - take a look in the project section for the update on the truck

[cstmwgn]

Allen, the holes ( Usually 1" below the originals ) are commonly done to lower the front end of the car. A factory modification on Shelby Mustangs.

Yes Lars, you are correct. 1" down and 1/8" back. I drilled the new holes - another failed attempt on my part at being a smartass!
Hope it helps the feel of the car.

[70chevyC-10]

How about a pick of the Fairlane and your truck -- share the love.