LS1/T56 into a 68 Camaro
12-27-2017, 09:42 AM
#183
TECH Senior Member
iTrader: (7)
WOW...Those welds definitely look terrible. Looks like there was hardly any penetration. Sucks about the body damage.
Now you can get new perches and set your pinion angle without shims, which is better anyway.
Andrew
Now you can get new perches and set your pinion angle without shims, which is better anyway.
Andrew
12-27-2017, 10:45 PM
#184
Alan how do you like the AME headers, I have a AME knock off sub and I'm having a hard time fitting headers,
I remember when you started this build years ago, just really started working on my car again, cars in FL. but I live and work on the Eastern Shore,
I remember when you started this build years ago, just really started working on my car again, cars in FL. but I live and work on the Eastern Shore,
12-28-2017, 09:15 AM
#186
So I spent a lot of time measuring and remeasuring to get the side to side correct and the pinion angle correct before tacking the spring perches on. To simulate the car sitting on its tires. I used jackstands under the ends of the axle tubes and made sure the rear was sitting level side to side. For the front of the car I had the front tires on ramps and I made sure the front subframe was level side to side. I ended up cranking down the right front strut about 3/4 of a turn to do that. I had the front subframe about 1/8 of a bubble off of level front to back. For the side to side placement, I measured from the spring to the axle flange and got the rear centered to that. Then double checked that the body was centered with a plumb bob over the rear fenders to the axle flange. Luckily my body is centered to the springs so no adjustments were needed to center the rear under the body. For pinion angle I started with 5 degree down on the trans, but when i put the rear 5 degrees up the driveshaft was 1 degree down for a 4 degree U joint angle which is too much. I added 2, 1/8" shims under the trans mount which gave me 3 1/2 degrees down. I reset the rear to 3 1/2 degrees up and now the driveshaft angle was a touch over 1 degree down for a 2 1/2 degree operating angle. That was good enough for me, so i tacked in the spring perches.
12-28-2017, 09:20 AM
#187
Next I pulled the rear back out and put it on stands on my garage floor and got to welding. I preheated the weld area with a plumbing torch and did short 10 second bursts using a 140 amp flux core Lincoln welder. I jumped back and forth from side to side to keep the heat down and prevent axle tube warpage and I was real satisfied with the welds. I could tell I was getting good penetration into both the axle tube and the perches. The rear is currently bolted back in and all I have left is bleeding the brakes and putting the tires back on.
08-24-2018, 03:28 PM
#190
Well, I have been driving the car all season and found my next weak link.
While doing a pull from 1st gear and making the 1 to 2 shift, my RPM's suddenly flashed and the rearend felt like the Flinstone mobile. I stopped the car on the side of the road and couldn't figure out why my left rear tire was up in the wheel well. You guessed it, sheared all five lug studs.
Using the failure analysis training I received from Caterpillar years ago, i could see that the lugs studs had been failing for a while and would have eventually let loose. .
I attributed this to two things, cheap Dorman lug studs and low quality wheel spacers. The Dorman lug studs have cut threads that have no stress relief where they end and this is where they failed. The 3/16" wheel spacers that i have been running for a long time also don't help matters, but I needed them when I had the 275-50-17 rear tires. Now that I have 275-40-17 tires I am going to try to run without them.
I ended up buying Jegs' studs and cutting them to length. They look to be much better quality with there threads and they have stress relief area where the threads end.
Luckily there was no body damage and it was amazing that the wheel didn't come flying off but by staying in the wheel well and riding on the disc brake rotor it tore up the inside of the wheel and the mounting surface of the wheel. The wheel also tore up the bottom of the shock and mount. Add to this the damage to the right rear wheel a few years ago when the lugs loosened on that side and that wheel fell off and I decided to get two new rear wheels and rear shocks. I bought some nice adjustable Koni's from Ecklers for $320 a pair and the wheels are another $500. Add in about $50 for lug studs, lug nuts and $120 for the tow and this little incident cost me about a $1K. I have the repairs about complete so if the wheel come in soon I should be back on the road by Labor Day.
While doing a pull from 1st gear and making the 1 to 2 shift, my RPM's suddenly flashed and the rearend felt like the Flinstone mobile. I stopped the car on the side of the road and couldn't figure out why my left rear tire was up in the wheel well. You guessed it, sheared all five lug studs.
Using the failure analysis training I received from Caterpillar years ago, i could see that the lugs studs had been failing for a while and would have eventually let loose. .
I attributed this to two things, cheap Dorman lug studs and low quality wheel spacers. The Dorman lug studs have cut threads that have no stress relief where they end and this is where they failed. The 3/16" wheel spacers that i have been running for a long time also don't help matters, but I needed them when I had the 275-50-17 rear tires. Now that I have 275-40-17 tires I am going to try to run without them.
I ended up buying Jegs' studs and cutting them to length. They look to be much better quality with there threads and they have stress relief area where the threads end.
Luckily there was no body damage and it was amazing that the wheel didn't come flying off but by staying in the wheel well and riding on the disc brake rotor it tore up the inside of the wheel and the mounting surface of the wheel. The wheel also tore up the bottom of the shock and mount. Add to this the damage to the right rear wheel a few years ago when the lugs loosened on that side and that wheel fell off and I decided to get two new rear wheels and rear shocks. I bought some nice adjustable Koni's from Ecklers for $320 a pair and the wheels are another $500. Add in about $50 for lug studs, lug nuts and $120 for the tow and this little incident cost me about a $1K. I have the repairs about complete so if the wheel come in soon I should be back on the road by Labor Day.
10-13-2022, 07:27 PM
#191
Wow haven't posted on this in three years, crazy. Not much done to the car other then drive it and enjoy it. I am planning to change mufflers over the winter due to the horrible drone of the Flowmaster 40's. Yeah I know, everyone knows they drone. Anyway if anyone has any suggestions, you can post here or on the thread I started on the Gen 3 external forum.
The one thing I have done since the last post was upgrade to 1/2" screw in lug studs. It seems I was bending the studs i got from Jegs and I didn't want another wheel to fall off.
The one thing I have done since the last post was upgrade to 1/2" screw in lug studs. It seems I was bending the studs i got from Jegs and I didn't want another wheel to fall off.
The following users liked this post:
G Atsma (10-13-2022)
10-14-2022, 10:01 AM
#192
Teching In
Some may view this as heresy, but I rented a 2022 5.0 Mustang recently and totally loved the sound of the exhaust. I'm going to hit up a friend of mine that works for Shelby and see if I could get a deal on a takeoff set of stock Mustang mufflers. They sound BADASS!
The following users liked this post:
Jimbo1367 (10-15-2022)
10-15-2022, 06:52 AM
#193
I always loved the stock sound of the Mustang GTs. I’ve seriously thought about doing the same thing.
10-17-2022, 08:55 AM
#194
I won't report you guys for loving something that has to do with Ford. LOL!! My buddy just bought a Mach 1 this year and the exhaust sound was amazing and controllable from inside the car. I am actually leaning towards the Borla Pro XS based on feedback on the Gen 3 External forum.
