Update on the budget Street Fighter

slow4dr · Oct 29, 2006

I haven't really officially introduced myself here yet. My name is Jason and I have a 1st gen II(that feels like the introduction to an addiction meeting). I originally planned on building a drag car but have since decided I want to go road racing.

I spent some time yesterday setting up the rear suspension. Nothing is welded in yet and I need to fab some brackets for the lower links to connect at the cross member. I am mainly waiting on my bushings to do this.

Here are the brackets for the axle housing. All I needed was the lower portion so I cut the tops off. I am going 3-link with a watts link.

Here is the CE front ladder bar style cross member.

Here is what the frame looked like before. (notice the new CE rear frame rails already in place). I moved these rails inboard of the stock rails to gain wheel clearance. I am hoping to run 12" wide wheels with a 335 tire.

Here the crossmember and CE subframe connectors are in place. I had to cut the floor slightly to fit the subframe connectors in this position. I switched the connectors from side to side so they would go inboard of the frame rails instead of to the bucket.

Here you can see where I had to drill a hole in the subframe connector to slide the cross member into. Also notice the brackets just hanging there. These will be changed in time I just needed something to hook the links to for moch up.

Last but not least the rearend in place and the lower links jurry rigged to the front brackets.

slow4dr · Oct 29, 2006

Just for giggles I mounted my dads drag wheels up front to see if they would clear the Corvette brakes. It looks like I might need to keep an extra set of wheels around for drag days.

novaBRO · Oct 29, 2006

did you make that front clip? if so nice work dude.

slow4dr · Oct 29, 2006

Yes, the cross member & suspension is from an 85 Vette and I just used 2X3 boxed frame to connect it. Here are some pics from a few months back. I will need to run a very big backspace wheel(similar to the new C6 vette rears) to clear the fenders.

62SportCoupe · Oct 29, 2006

Jason
Looks like things are coming together quite nicely! Keep us updated on your progress.

DANNO · Oct 29, 2006

Looking good! Welcome to the site!

novaBRO · Oct 29, 2006

looks good dude!

Lil'Deuce II · Oct 31, 2006

nice job! Did youhave to narrow the Vette crossmember?

slow4dr · Oct 31, 2006

Thanks for all the kind words. :beer:

No, I didn't narrow it. It is 59" wide and will require a very deep back space wheel to make it work. I am planning on running these wheels in either a 19X10(79+mm offset) or a 18X9.5(65mm offset).

novanutcase · Oct 31, 2006

Nice Wheels!

MY67 · Oct 31, 2006

That looks very sharp!!!!

Lil'Deuce II · Oct 31, 2006

Keeps the pics coming! How will the rad support fit? Also, what about the wheels scrubbing the fender. I like what your doing and I'm really curious to see how it comes along.

slow4dr · Oct 31, 2006

The car isn't superlow so they actually clear fairly well. The 16" saw blade vette wheels you see in the pics above were an 1" to wide. The skinnies in the later pics gained about 2" per side but the ZO6 wheel will gain even more room. Worst case scenario is I will have to make a bit of a wide body set-up. I am going to a 1 piece front end so I don't mind "massaging" it if needed.

gg64ss · Nov 1, 2006

I would say it is nice for all of us to have you aboard. I wish I could do that kind of work. Everything looks really good. I don't know that I have seen a road racing 1st gen duece.

NIGHTSHADE · Nov 1, 2006

Don't get me wrong, but this picture has been buggin me. Maybe it is just the pic, but it looks "twisted" and not in a good sense of the word.

Follow the lines of the roof, lower control arm mounts, lower points of the crossmember and the sub frame ends. It just looks "off", but like I said, it could be just the picture. Or maybe just how the rearend is blocked up???

Will it be safe to drive, especially in a road race?

slow4dr · Nov 1, 2006

NIGHTSHADE said:
Don't get me wrong, but this picture has been buggin me. Maybe it is just the pic, but it looks "twisted" and not in a good sense of the word.

Follow the lines of the roof, lower control arm mounts, lower points of the crossmember and the sub frame ends. It just looks "off", but like I said, it could be just the picture. Or maybe just how the rearend is blocked up???

Will it be safe to drive, especially in a road race?

:beer: I hate that about this pic also. The more I stare at it the more it bugs me. I think it is mainly because the back end wasn't leveled when I took the pic.

littledeuce2 said:
How will the rad support fit?

I forgot about this question. I don't plan on using the factory radiator support if that's what you meant. I haven't decided on an engine yet so the radiator is the furthest thing from my mind right now. I may end up with a 2.4 turbo ecotec from a Solstice so the radiator may be very small and moved to one side to make room for an intercooler.

slow4dr · Dec 3, 2006

I finally got a chance to start welding all this stuff together today. I shot some pics with the whole section out of the car so you could see the modified competition engineering subframe connectors, and C/E ladder bar cross member all together. Pardon the sheet metal mess inside the car, I kind of half hazardly cut and peeled back the area to clear the upper link.

I received the 10 point cage yesterday and I should be installing it next weekend.

Next on the must order list is a watts link.

1965proSTREET · Dec 3, 2006

on your front clip- are you planning on using support tubes to tie into the top of the firewall like the Chassisworks, TCI, or Heidts clips use? arent those critical for rigidity for the front clip?

slow4dr · Dec 3, 2006

Yes, I will. I am going to tie them into the cage as well.

JR · Dec 3, 2006

Looks like you have been real busy. That is a lot of work, Lookin Good

JR

ssdeuce · Dec 19, 2006

Great looking work please keep us posted.

slow4dr · Dec 19, 2006

JR said:
Looks like you have been real busy. That is a lot of work, Lookin Good
JR

Thanks guys!

I have been a little tied up with Christmas stuff lately so I am behind schedule.

I picked up the one piece fiberglass front end about a week ago and began test fitting things. I set the "wheelrite" to 18X9.5 w/a 50mm offset with a 26" tall tire and I have clearance problems at the lower front portion of the wheel well opening. I set the "wheelrite" to 19X10 79mm offset with a 26" tall tire and it cleared the fender but rubbed on the frame on the rear side of the tire ever so slightly. I will wait until I have the watts link and the rearend in it's proper place so I can verify what size wheel will fit out back. If 12's will fit outback then I will run the 10's up front. If I can only get an 11" out back then I'll run the 9.5's up front. I'll just have to try and find something with a deeper offset. The C5 Z06 wheels should be able to accomplish this should I have to go that route.

If I get a chance I will get some of the much needed watts link components ordered up from Jim @ Fays2. http://fays2.net/ All I am going to use is his bell crank, heims, rods and adjuster. I will make my own cross member & axle brackets to mount it.

Poopy · Dec 20, 2006

Very cool man, i saw it over on pro-touring. I love those wheels too. I have a c4 vette front end sitting in my shop, but ive already rebuilt my front clip 2x.......thanks alot!

Does the 3 link use bushings at the frame end or are they johnny joints or some type of flex joint?

What wall thickness are the links too.

slow4dr · Dec 20, 2006

The frame ends use a bushing. I modified them to have a right hand thread bolt so adjustments will be easy along with the left hand thread heims.

The wall thickness on the bars is .180.

I'd love to have another C4 front end to do my cousins car. If you ever want to sell it let me know.

rladieu3 · Dec 20, 2006

it looks good....but one??? why a 3-link and not a 4-link??

the one thing with a 3-link i don't like is that the panhard bar moves the axl from side to side as it go's up and down.

slow4dr · Dec 20, 2006

I am using a "Watts Link" instead of a "Panhard Bar" for that exact reason.

slow4dr · Dec 20, 2006

Here is a brief tutorial from the lateral-dynamics website about watts links vs a panhard bar.

"Why a Watt's over PHB? Panhard Bars are very efficient at controlling sideways axle motion, and are very simple. We chose the slightly more complicated frame mounted Watt's for a couple of reasons. One, the PHB will allow a slight amount of sideways motion by design, as the suspension runs through bump and droop, though properly executed this sideways motion can be very small. More importantly for us, the roll center height changes slightly as a function of suspension travel in a PHB, whereas the control of the roll center height is more controllable with a Watt's: it is located at the exact center of the bellcrank pivot. By fixing the bellcrank pivot to the sprung mass of the vehicle, we maintain a perfectly defined roll "moment," which is a very important parameter that predicts how much a car will roll in a turn. By keeping a constant roll moment, the roll influence in suspension bump and droop remains fixed, which contributes to greater dynamic stability."

Bill 63SS · Dec 20, 2006

Awesome build! I bet it will handle like dream..

nova65ss · Dec 20, 2006

Is that the Lat Dynamics 3-link? Any more info or a website on it? Thanks,

Jimmy

slow4dr · Dec 20, 2006

No, but they do plan on making one for the early Nova's.

The watts link pictured above is from these guys. http://fays2.net/ Jim Fay is a class act all the way. He doesn't have anything for a Nova but he worked with getting me what I needed.

slow4dr · Dec 21, 2006

Thanks SS, that is the ultimate compliment. It really is being built on a very tight budget. I'll have to add up all the current receipts but I am pretty sure I haven't breached $5K including purchase price yet.

THE_330 · Dec 21, 2006

god I hate talented people...lol looks great Jason keep us posted::beer:

slow4dr · Dec 27, 2006

I received the main parts of the watts link today so it looks like I have something to keep me busy this weekend.

I picked up some square tubing for the main bracket to tie into the cross member. All I need now is some bolts and weld bungs to mount the bars to the axle housing.

Lil'Deuce II · Dec 28, 2006

Progress is good! Looking good buddy! Like the Watts Link:beer:

slow4dr · Dec 28, 2006

Curiousity got the better of me tonight so I started making the bracket supports.

Here is what I received yesterday.

crossmember moched into position prior to making the supports

Here is the beginning of the bracket support. These two square bars will run parallel to the angled area of the trunk base.

Update on the budget Street Fighter

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