Here you can see that upside down on the shackle mount point the plate would have to be angled as such... but I believe the fore u-bolt would be hard to reach... I will need to heat and bend my axle shackle hangers... Whisky is back!
Anyways... Unpacked the spring assy grease zerk 11mm clamped up zerk removed other nut is 5/8 removed with air Whisky is back!
used a punch here... almost out spring clips hack sawed and pried off the rivets broke with the force other side Whisky is back!
Onto the trans crossmember... this needs to be opened up... marked off clamped cut onto the other line gotta love the PC! both sides cut cleaned up... and looking nice Whisky is back!
Onto the other side... this was easier... marked for frame fitment need various cuts clamped and cut... test fit needs some work but getting there! through the newly cut hole that's all for now! Thanks!! Whisky is back!
Starting at the beginning, the engine should sit level, meaning if you take the carburetor off, the top of the intake should be level. Next you put the angle finder on the back end of the transmission and find that angle. It doesnt matter what that angle is, just set the angle of the rear end to match. You can put the angle finder against the rear yoke for this
I wouldn't weld the spring mount at that extreme angle to your rear crossmember. It should be close to the same plane as the frame rails. You can bend the rear axle hangers to match the needed angle. No need to buy and weld on other hangers to the rear axle. Heat the middle of the hanger arm to dull red and use a long pry bar in the shackle hole to slowly bend it. You will probably need to remove the shell of the shackle pin from the hangers and the spring before you go any farther. Use a hacksaw blade to carefully saw through that shell. DO NOT put any heat to the spring as it will remove the temper and it will sag at a later date. No more springy-springy. I can understand why these guys are wondering if you have your pinion angle set up correctly. Some pics make it look like it's way off. Do us a favor and put the engine and trans back in there, step back a few steps, and take a clear shot from directly beside the frame. If the transmission yoke is 3.5 degrees up, the pinion should be 3.5 degrees down. Simple as that.
Ok that's what is next... Setting up the engine/driveline again and adding up all the angles... Measuring from the top of the rear end is dead on at 3.5 deg, but I do agree that the rear end yoke appears to be more like 10 deg... Shouldn't the yoke and rear end angle be equal? Or is the yoke offset from the housing? I assume the yoke is the most important angle? And not the rear end housing angle... If so I can dial down the 6.5deg by ladder bar clevis adjustment, by shortening the lower clevis distance... (I believe that's the right one, or lengthening the top clevis)... 1) will re-measure yoke angle 2) start fabbing motor and trans mounts 3) line everything up 4) take pics for your input 5) thank my lucky stars for Alchemy/Daddio/Manyolcars/Pensive Scribe 6--->infinity see 5 above!! Whisky is back!
Also ordered from P&J: 1) rear shackles 2) front and rear panhard assy's 3) tie rods... Busy busy busy! Whisky is back!
I have to say something here. From looking at the pics, the pinion shaft is pointing way up in the air at way more than 3.5*. Are you saying that you are putting your angle finder on the top of the rearend housing? If so, that won't work. That close up picture of your angle finder showing 3.5* while sitting on the rounded surface of the housing means nothing. You should be making the trans shaft and the pinion shaft parallel. The housing has nothing to do with it. You need to put the angle finder on the yoke of the pinion shaft. Have you welded the ladder bar brackets up yet or just tacked? These are normally left just tacked until all the weight is on the car, sitting on the ground at finished ride height. Then finish welding. Not meaning to criticize, but you are doing such a nice job, I hate to see you mess this part up. It is very critical. Take a minute, step back and think about it a little. It looks like rotating the rear end down would also help your shackle angle problem. I realize that looking at the pictures may not give a true idea of what's going on. If I'm wrong, sorry. Just trying to help you avoid later problems. Other than that everything looks good. Keep up the good work. Good luck.
Thank you! All constructive input welcome! And not offended at all! Yes the housing is 3.5deg not the yoke (damn books are mis-leading) I need to get that yoke at 3.5 deg... I am only tacked right now so no biggy to break that... But.... What about clevis adjustment?? And adjusting/rotating the center member, I could avoid having to line everything all up again as that took forever and a day... (Shock mounts/rear hangers/clevis mounts etc) I believe I can get to 3.5 deg like that without having to break my tacks... But on second thought may have to bend them to prevent any binding...Whatcha think? Whisky is back!
Break the tacks and do it right. You may find you need a little adjustment room in the clevises after the car is all down and settled in for a few miles. If you use all the clevis adjustment up in fixing this initial mistake, you might have none left for fine tuning. And, those shock mounts have NO adjustment in them, so they will need to be repositioned anyways.
Still waiting on my parts... Freezing here today thinking about my car... All I can think about is workin on my rod.... Got a bad disease man! Whisky is back!
On to some work... pinion yoke angle was 14deg Broke off welds... re-measured yoke angle ... Right at 3.5deg left side re-welded... spring mocked up... need to re-weld bungs and the right side... Will get to it tomorrow! Whisky is back!
The angle finder should be placed on the face of the yoke, where the U bolts go through to hold the U joint.
DON'T WELD ANYTHING YET. You still are not measuring on a good surface. That cast surface of the yoke you are on may or may not be parallel to the pinion shaft, probably not. As said above your angle finder needs to be on the end of the pinion shaft, i.e. the pinion yoke which is 90* to the pinion shaft . Get that yoke indexed so that you can get your angle finder on it vertically right where the ujoint would attach. Boy it sure is a lot harder to explain in words. If I was there I could show you in 30 seconds how to do it!
Going back through the pic's I don't see motor mounts. How have you determined that your engine and trans is at 3.5*? I also notice you have not mounted the rear of the front bones to the frame. You probably already know this, but your frame needs to be at your estimated finished ride height front and rear while setting the pinion angle and the mounting point for the front bones. I like to leave all these things until the car is completely together before I make these welds permanent. Sometimes your estimate of ride height is off a little and you need to adjust for stance or something. Been there, done that.
Thanks for the feedback... Nothing is fully welded at all, just all tacked... I am working on the motor mounts next... But wanted a rough idea with the back hooked up... The engine/driveline was mocked up and came out to 3.5deg... It's just a matter of making the engine mounts.. Further, on the bones I cannot line them up correctly now as one of my houdaille shocks is frozen and throwing the front caster angle off as it is frozen 60deg versus the other side... I am fairly confident there is enough room in my set up for dialing in final angles when all is said and done... Whisky is back!
Got some more parts assembled... put the tie rods on measured each side castle nut set at neutral toe zipped up Not happy with my tie Rod length... It seems that there is a lot of play at neutral toe... Is this normal as I measured 46.5" from eye to eye? Whisky is back!
well the steering is hooked up... Kinda tight in there... might need a bump stop? over view Whisky is back!
other side tie Rod goes over... When I moved the bones to correct height, to get the caster at 7deg or so the clearance issues dissipated... So I might be ok! Whisky is back!
On to panhard goodness! like a damn Lego set with no instructions! I think that goes there! Lol total assy frame tab total assy in situ... axle end frame tab left side... Whisky is back!
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