Well I got to my shop yesterday at 2pm, somehow worked straight thru til 9am this morning on my sedan. Not sure how I did it, but the good news is that my rear suspension is completely finished. I got my wishbone/track locator done and installed, fabbed up rear bag mounts, and got the rear shock mounts fabbed up and done. I'm so freaking tired I'm about to p*** out, but I'm happy. I was able to find Monroe rear shocks from a toyota truck that gave my the 8 inches of rear suspension travel I need since its bagged. And they are from the light duty truck, so they should work out well. And no, I WON"T be rocking the neon yellow paint for long. Heres some pics, I'm going to sleep
LOOKS GREAT!!!!! too bad the bags have such small lines and ports. but this this is AWESOME! GOOD JOB BRO!
Actually the bags have 3/8" ports. The 1/4" lines/fittings in the pics are for mock up only, and will all be replaced with 3/8" line at final ***embly. For air management I have 8 smc 3/8" valves, so it will be a good reliable set-up. Thanks!
No hopping from this one, bags are only there to give a great stance, and give my kidneys a break too!
Oh heres a link to an earlier post describing what thats all about, if you have any questions ask away though http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=74191&highlight=wishbone+locator
dodgerodder, Nice work... good looking welds too. Tool question: What are you using for a tube bender? Thanks
Must be some serious horsepower Bags are still for ***s to me but nice work. And way to stay up all night to get it done
he's hercules... he bends em over his knee an ****. Dood sweet work, you really are the FLA thrashmaster
Thanks man. It wasnt a bad night all-in-all, I only caught myself on fire once in 20 hours. I can't bend tubing on my knee any more Fiddy, I broke down and bought a Pro-Tools 105 manual tubing bender a little over a year ago. Its not a tool I use everyday, but when I need it its GREAT to have. Wasnt too expensive, about $300 for the bender. The dies are the expensive part. I only have dies for 1.25", 1.5", and 1.75" round tubing. They are 240 degree dies, which means they'll bend a "U". They dies are a couple hundred each, thats why I only have those. I need a 1" die of maybe 7/8", maybe I'll win the lottery soon and buy one. The one tough thing for me about the bender is that since I don't use use it much, its tough to make hoops come out to the exact measurements I need, and I don't like to experiment with $5.00 a foot dom tubing hehe. I am good enough to make it work now I guess
The bracket is overbuilt it will never flex or break on me. I always prefer to overbuild than under build, within reason. Motor is a 455 olds with tri-power. Not a 10 second car, but it will do alright. Yeah lots of guys don't like bags, but I like being able to set the rockers on the pavement, and still have a nice low good-riding drive height. The front bags are very well hidden, at ride height they are barely visible, you gotta look for em. I'm happy I bagged the car. It was lots of extra work, but its aired-out stance makes the car in my opinion, and it really should ride nice. I'll know in a month
then again, they dont have your kidneys when i get ready to do the suspension on the willys, its more than likely gonna be bagged, and for the EXACT reasons you mention. *****in stance at a standstill, and comfyness for my frigged up spine. lets face it most of us aint 17 no more even to we like to think so
wow those sleeves are definately different on a hot rod! Very cool. Are those from Air Ride Technologies?
Yeah, they are Firestone F9000's. I got these from Suicidedoors. They are a great bag for rear applications, as they get more lift then a double-convoluted bag, and ride WAY softer as well. Double convoluted bags tend to be real bouncy and overly stiff for moderate to light weight cars. These aren't available in big 1/2 port versions, and aren't for the ihop crowd, but they ride great. The biggest disadvantages is they require a little more careful planning to work right, as they have no internal bump-stop, and must be limited(usually by the right shocks)to their max lift so they don't over-extend. But with those things taken care of they do a real good job
No sh*t! I DEFINITELY realize I'm not 17 anymore cuz I hurt bad today from pulling the all-nighter. For the Willys it would be great, as theres no crazy trouble involved in trying to hide them as in a fenderless application. And it would ride nice too. That will be a fun project Fiddy
I'll bet with sticky tires it'll get damn close to 10's. You do nice work bro. Keep posting pics. You inspire me.
I had to double take on this pic http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=127974[img] It looked like your pumpkin was mounting off the frame crossbar. But I was wrong! That thing looks super good and super stout. You build offroad trucks in your spare time? You certainly will not have any problems with your rearend coming apart on you. As for the PT105. I have the same one. Mine has seen so much use that I really need to hydro it. That freaking thing wears you out. Then I was at my cousins and got spoiled using his hydro'd unit. bent tube makes the look differnce between hack and pro anyday of the week. LOOOOOOKIN GOOD
dodgerodder, you continue to kick *** on that sedan...beautiful job on the suspension now! What do you figure will be the final ride height with the bags at a good pressure?
niiiice. I always like the gratuitous use of race car stuff on street cars(wishbone, gussets,etc) looks super *****in'. a boy and his welder...now that is how it is supposed to be
It should be a blast to drive, as much as I'm enjoying the build, I'm now REALLY getting excited to drive it! I'm thinking of picking up a set of 16/8.00 cheaters for the back to take to the local drags for kicks. Granted its not a full on race prepped car but it would be a blast. Plus I'm NOT gonna miss the next Hamb Drags that are anywhere near me! Thanks for the nice words moondisc
Thanks Lead, I am so happy to have the front & rear suspension, steering and brakes behind me now. The rear bags have a full lift of 8", but a real comfortable ride height will be about 5" in the rear. It could definitely be driven lower though if I wanted, and I can cruise slowly stupid low. I have always loved to ride of my other bagged cars and trucks, this is my first fenderless bagged car, and I am real anxious to see how it rides
Thanks LUX! Yeah I realize that some of the things are definitely not 100% "traditional", but the look and feel of the car I tried very hard to keep traditionally inspired overall. I am SO glad I learned weldind back when I did. Without that it would be impossible to build a ch***is at all. I remember when I was younger having to take stuff to the local welder EVERYTIME it was needed. He did nice welding, but it was a pita. Welding is at least the one productive thing I've learned to do in my life
I'm pretty sure I'm going to be bagging the 37 chevy coupe I'll be starting on soon. I have a bunch more questions I'll PM you some time. Your sedan looks like it's going to be a blast. I've been driving the **** out of mine and having a ball. Mine drives 100x better than I thought it would. Keep th eupdates coming!
The Jalopy Journal
