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Racthet RIde

Like I've said numerous times, you have to get them outside and stand back and look at them to see if you're "profiling properly. If it doesn't sit right, it isn't right and you can't see that unless you're able to stand back away from it.

Jim
 
RatchetRob said:
Well I got my parts from Ron Saturday but I had to clean the garage out, put up new lights, wire for a 220 outlet and organize. So needles to say I didn't get anything done. I did however get a warm fuzzy feeling when I rolled it outside to do the task I mentioned. Had a couple neighbors stop by and take a look at it. Snowing and wind blowing 30mph today so not much happening in garage todayView attachment 10889 View attachment 10890 . :-(
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Looking real nice there.
 
The question is how much is enough. I want this car as low as I can get it. Is 3 1/2 enough? I think Exjunk has his oil pan down about 3 inches of clearance.
 
I have 3 1/2" from the bottom of my pan to the ground, and it does hit occasionally but I wouldn't change it. I've had to pull it off and weld up cracks in the front twice. For the typical SBC replacement would probably be easier, but 409 pans are not exactly a dime a dozen. There are guys who have Slam-Guard pans, which will probably not dent or crack, but the force of striking a bump is still transmitted somewhere.
 
I have to admit that our roads here in Florida are much better than in a lot of other parts of the country. I moved from what I think of as the pothole capital of the country, Northeast Ohio.

Jim
 
I ordered headers, radiator, steering column and steering wheel over the weekend. Still haven't gotten my welder but I did get the garage wired for the 220v outlet. Will be picking up welder this Saturday and in the meantime I am bringing home the one from work. Excited to see the headers on the car to see if I planned the motor right. I wanted the headers to stay parallel to the ground. If I get the radiator mounted then I can finally start working on the hood or scrap the idea. That one has me up at nights. lol
Before I started my build a lot of you guys said to have the body, tires and wheels, motor and transmission at a minimum when you start building. If I do this again I can assure you I will have everything before I start the frame. lol Thankfully I listened when it came to tack welding things. I have the batwing that has adjustable ride height holes. So raising it in the front isn't a problem. On the rear I will have to relocate the upper shock mounts to get my 12 3/8 installed height for the coil overs. No big deal. Just a bump in the road. I think I am going to shoot for 4 inches of clearance and roll it back outside and see what it looks like. When I put the spring on the front I actually went in the bottom hole of the batwings and dropped the ride height about one inch. So if I raise it up 1 1/2 inches it will only be a 1/2 higher than originally planned. The only thing that concerns me is how much the ride height will settle once it is finished. I have heard 1 inch is about the usual amount they settle. What have you guys noticed on this?
 
RatchetRob said:
I think I am going to shoot for 4 inches of clearance and roll it back outside and see what it looks like. When I put the spring on the front I actually went in the bottom hole of the batwings and dropped the ride height about one inch. So if I raise it up 1 1/2 inches it will only be a 1/2 higher than originally planned. The only thing that concerns me is how much the ride height will settle once it is finished. I have heard 1 inch is about the usual amount they settle. What have you guys noticed on this?
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In this thread https://tbucketeers.com/threads/front-axle-suspension-questions.14528/ Resinator explains how to simulate the loaded height on the front end without actually putting in the motor, on cars with multi-leaf springs. I wish I knew some way or estimate for mono-leaf set ups. Since I do not have anything for the mono-leaf, for now I'm going with the shock manufacturer specified ride height.

For minimum ground clearance I've not used a single figure. I'm going by an imaginary line between bottom center of the front and rear rims. Absolutely nothing below that line.
 
One good thing about RPM's adjustable batwing up front, it will give you 3" of adjustability. Luckily my numbers came out right and got the exact ground clearance I wanted, 4" in the front, and kept it in the center perch. Still could drop her down to 3" or up to 5", but I like it right where it is. My corvair box mounts 5" above the frame, so absolutely nothing on the car is below the frame. Ron sure helped me a ton getting it just right. I may have went a little bit overkill with it actually but as hard as I play, I love the idea of nothing being able to touch the ground but the frame.
 
UPS and FedEx both showed up at the same time. lol Got the headers, steering wheel and steering shaft. Radiator should be here tomorrow. Here is a couple pictures. Going to have to do something different with the steering box. I still could only muster 3"s of clearance after raising the spring to the top hole in the batwing. Frame is 9"s off the ground and yet that bracket is still way to low. Not sure what to do but will call Ron in the morning. He will help me figure it out. A close up shot shows the steering box clearly below the scrub line. The links I made to take the place of the rear shocks were short by one inch. I made overall length 12 3/8ths instead of center to center. Going to redo them tomorrow and make them adjustable as well. The back needs to come up one inch and that will put the headers right about parallel to the ground. Or if I can figure out a way to move up the steering box I will drop front down one hole on batwings.

2015-01-28 16.53.58.gif
2015-01-28 16.57.21.gif 2015-01-28 16.53.36.gif blowupview.gif
 
Zandoz said:
In this thread https://tbucketeers.com/threads/front-axle-suspension-questions.14528/ Resinator explains how to simulate the loaded height on the front end without actually putting in the motor, on cars with multi-leaf springs. I wish I knew some way or estimate for mono-leaf set ups. Since I do not have anything for the mono-leaf, for now I'm going with the shock manufacturer specified ride height.

For minimum ground clearance I've not used a single figure. I'm going by an imaginary line between bottom center of the front and rear rims. Absolutely nothing below that line.
Click to expand...
RatchetRob said:
UPS and FedEx both showed up at the same time. lol Got the headers, steering wheel and steering shaft. Radiator should be here tomorrow. Here is a couple pictures. Going to have to do something different with the steering box. I still could only muster 3"s of clearance after raising the spring to the top hole in the batwing. Frame is 9"s off the ground and yet that bracket is still way to low. Not sure what to do but will call Ron in the morning. He will help me figure it out. A close up shot shows the steering box clearly below the scrub line. The links I made to take the place of the rear shocks were short by one inch. I made overall length 12 3/8ths instead of center to center. Going to redo them tomorrow and make them adjustable as well. The back needs to come up one inch and that will put the headers right about parallel to the ground. Or if I can figure out a way to move up the steering box I will drop front down one hole on batwings.

View attachment 10909
View attachment 10910 View attachment 10911 View attachment 10912
Click to expand...
could you switch to a corvair box on top of the frame? I was going to go that route, but with a bbc, it's crowded.
 
Looking good!
 
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