New here, building a 27T and i am in the process of trying to figure out ride height i would like to go as low as practical, but am worried about snagging the oil pan on speed bumps, driveways etc... i was thinking around 6" - 6 1/2" to the bottom of the pan ? what are you guy's thoughts on that ?
That's alot. Mine will have about 2" at the lowest point. That will be frame. I will never have a car with the oil pan as the lowest point.
I usually go for a min. of 3in. The NSRA (I am not a member) Has a good guide in their safety inspection manual. Normal Norman
Mine is @ 3 3/4" to the lowest point and I clear most speed bumps. The biggest problem are driveways. The lowest part of my car is @ center between the front and rear axle. My wheel base is @ 109" and I would say that if I had another 1" - 1 1/2" I would never scrape. A good rule of thumb is nothing should be lower then the scrub line (bottom of the rims). That way if you have a flat, you will not drag anything. . .
4" on mine, a bit low with 130" wheelbase but i can live with it! Survived the hot rod dustup without hitting anything critical, Best fun you can have with you pants on!
Good call here, fit a rim without a tyre on one side of the axle and a fitted tyre on the ther side, drop it down and see whats going to hit. The front of mine is marginal and may touch but with the curved up frame rails should skid nicely to a stop
In this state and especially in Yakima County if anything is below the scrub line it is instant pull over by the WSP. I've been pulled over enough to be considered an expert on getting pulled over for having stuff below the scrub line. Also you have to be somewhat practical, Gudgyz's slick little underslung most likely couldn't make it in or out of my driveway without getting hung up. And outside of how hard the local gendarmes look at the scrub line issue being able to navigate the roads you normally drive is probably the biggest issue concerning how low your car sets. I smashed the pan on my 108 inch wheelbase T once when I hit a speed bump at just the right speed so that the pan hit the speed bump on the rebound from the tires hitting it. I had been over that same speed bump at a crawl several times but the one time I forgot it was pull the pan and weld it back up.
Your best alternative - if it is possible with your style of car - is to plan the layout so that the nothing hangs below the frame rails. This allows the frame rails to function as a skid plate to protect all the tender parts. This may require that you mount the engine/transmission a little higher than you'd prefer, but it is better than damaging the driveline or steering gear on a speed bump, high manhole or other immovable object in the roadway. The scrubline plan is a good one, but as Mr48chev pointed out, this assumes that the car is at full ride height. Most of the times I've hammered the frame on my '48 Plymouth (3" clearance at the lowest point of the frame) was when the springs were compressed by a speed bump, uneven pavement seam or undulation in the roadway. You just never know what's ahead when you travel a lot. Ray Lund, who built the chassis, planned ahead by adding extra 1/4" plate to the areas just behind the front wheels where the frame hits most often. I've hammered it hard on a number of occasions with absolutely no damage except a little scraped paint. Thanks, Ray!
cool, thanks guys, i was thinking of just running the pan level with the bottom of the frame, but still wasnt sure on what was practical for ride height (i have it mocked up with the pan 1.5" below the frame) mabye i will just shoot for the scrub line on my rims, (about 5") and keep the frame the lowest point
scrub line is the determining factor if you care about safety..EOS If you have5" of side wall..shoot for something above that ..like 6" give yourself some wiggle room..your heart and ass will thank you for not building a "killer sled"
an inch above scrub line sounds good to me reason im concerned about scrub is i will need to get it passed several inspections to register it here unless i can find the vin number somewhere on the 27 frame and hope that its still useable
I think asking what they would conciter safe would be prudent. especially if you have inspections to pass, it would suck to spend that time and money to create a no go trailer queen 1" is tight, but also conciter ,chances are you only blow one tire. Unless you really have rotten luck
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