Not sure who is still watching this, but I got everything finished except dialing in the ride height, pinion angle, and anti-roll bar.

I rerouted the emergency brake cable so that it won't interfere with the tires and it worked out pretty good. I might add some extra reenforcement around where I drilled through at, but I think it will be ok for right now. I am a little worried about the spring rate being too soft though. Before I placed my order with Gerry, I called Wolfe Racecraft up and told them what I was wanting to do and asked their opinion on what spring I needed. I told the guy how much my car weighed and that it will be driven on the street regularly and he said to just go with the 375 lb spring, that's what they run in their car. I took his advice, but I'm not so sure now. I have almost completely used up the spring perch (as you can see in the first picture where I'm showing the emergency brake cable) and the car is still sitting too low. It might not look like it in the pictures, but I have less than a 1/4 tank of gas and I wasn't sitting in the car when I took the pictures either. I guess I'll just try to set everything up how it should be, and then if it still isn't good enough, get stiffer springs. :noidea:

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Looking great !!!

 

thats sweet!!
wanna do mine?

 

Thanks. If you want to bring it all the way over here, I'd be glad to.


Edit: I forgot to add that I figured out the problem with the ride height. Wolfe sent me 10" springs and I really need 12" springs. I'll be ordering them soon and then I'll be able to get it all dialed in.

 

that would be a bit of a drive

 

That's kinda what I was thinking, but I didn't want to discourage you too much. If you do something similar and need any more pictures or info, just let me know and I'll do what I can to help out.

 

That is an awesome build. I want to do the exact same with mine and even contacted somebody today about it. But I didn't want to take away the stock look of the trunk with sheetmetal and what not. How big of a tire can you fit in there??

 

Not sure exactly, but if I took the shock mounts out and mounted the shocks inside the frame rails, I would be able to go a lot bigger. It would probably come close to being able to get a 325 in there, depending on the wheel size. In a few days, when I get a chance, I'll take some measurements from the inside of the tub to the outside fenderwell so you can know how much room there is to work with.

 

My real ? is how wide of a wheel can you fit in there?? Do you think a 15x12 is possible or would you need to notch the frame rails?? If you could take some measurements that would be great.

 

I'll get the measurements on wed. I'm working tonight and tomorrow and won't be able to get to the car until then since it's at my dad's house. In all honesty, I think you may be able to notch the frame rails and move the tubs in some more AND keep the stock plastics. When I was using the heat gun to stretch the plastics out to fit around the tubs. I had no clearance issues at all with the back half of the tubs. All of the work I did was to the top/front corner.

 

Ok, I got a bunch of measurements for you. Hopefully it will help. Keep in mind, this is for 15 X 10" rims with 28 X 10.5" slicks. All these measurements were taken at ride height as well.

5/8" from the outside tire sidewall to the outside of the fender lip
1 5/8" from the ouside tire bead to the outside of the fender lip
1 1/4" from the inside tire sidewall to the wheel tub (at the top of the tire)
2" from the tire sidewall to the frame rail in the back
2" from the tire sidewall to the wheel tub in the front

I also checked the clearance on the interior panels and there isn't as much as I thought on the back. The back corner of the tub is actually touching the plastic, but again, I never heated that part to stretch it out. I think you could probably take the wheel tub even with the frame rail in the back and still be able to stretch the plastic, but I don't think you would be able to go more than that and still keep the plastics in there.


I also did some grinding on the back brakes so that the Bogarts would fit. I put some pictures below to show how far I had to grind it. With it the way it is now, there's ~1/16" clearance between where I ground it and the wheel.

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wayne,
just curious...why not go to braided lines in the rear with a banjo bolt for better clearance?

 

Honestly, it's just because I haven't bought them yet. I have braided lines on the fronts, but I haven't gotten them for the back yet.

 

good answer

project looks excellent

 

Thanks, I appriciate it. I can't wait to get it out and play with it to see if it hooks as good as it looks. I'm really looking forward to some 2 step launches.

 

So you'd have to move the shocks inboard to run a wider wheel but then couldn't run tail pipes?? A 15x12 would be pushing it but more than likely need to notch the frame rail right? Again very well done setup, thanks for all the info.

 

This is how Wolfe suggests doing the shocks. Since the tail pipes run right up next to the frame rail on the inside, I don't see a way of keeping them if you were going to run the shocks like this.

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With that in mind. There is a way you could do it that way and still run tail pipes. You would just have to run the tail pipes UNDER the rear end instead of having them go up and over the axle tubes. Novi357 is running his 3" exhaust that way and hasn't had any problems, so it can be done. I may end up doing that in the future, when the time comes for dual 3" pipes, but for right now, I'm just going to keep it like this.

It would definitely be a TIGHT squeeze if you tried to fit a 12" rim in there. If you were able to do it, you wouldn't be able to have much, if any, bulge in the sidewall of the tire and have it still fit. You might try getting a hold of Dave at Team Z or someone else that has delt with a lot of suspension stuff and see if it's possible to run a 12" rim without notching the frame rail. If you can do that, then I think you might be able to pull it off and still keep the interior. If you end up going for it, I'd love to see how it all comes together.

 

Yeah i've been waiting and waiting to do somethin to the car and I've been reading and checkin out pics for a while. Yours is by far the most stock appearing for sure, but if im going to do all that and run a 15x12 then im sure i'd have to mini-tub as I dont think the stock tubs with the 3" extension would work?? I wouldn't care about notching the frame rail and moving the shock inboard if I was still able to keep my interior stock appearing. yeah i've been checkin out those wolfe pics and what not for a good amount of time lately.

 

I know it sucks, but I think the only way to find out is going to be to try it. But like I said, try to find out if it's possible to put that size rim on the car without notching the frame first. If you can, then I think you'll be able to pull it off. I got the metal to make the extensions from Ace Hardware for something like $8, so if you don't mind possibly wasting $8 and some of your time, you could always try it and then if it doesn't work, then cut some more and put a full minitub in it. You'll just have to get your rims, tires, and the rear end first and then go from there. After you cut the wheels tubs out and add the extensions, you can just stick them back in there with the wheels and tires mounted and find out if it's going to clear. :noidea:

 

Great work and very well documented - thanks for the motivation.