Yeah, coil springs suck to install no matter what. It's a job that just scares the hell out of me since they are so damn dangerous. I feel like I'm working with dynamite when I mess with them .

 

x2 You can't be too careful working with coil springs. I've seen someone split their skull and get knocked out cold from one. We thought he was dead for a minute. Those Moroso drag springs seem to be alot easier to work with than stockers because the spring rates are so much lighter. I think the ones I ended up with on my 61 are only 213 lb/in.

 

Yep, the Moroso's are easier to compress since they are so much lighter. I think mine are 212. The problem with them though, is that they are significantly longer than stock springs. So they need to be compressed a lot further to clear the lower a-arm.....at least that's the problem I had with them. I didn't think I would ever get them compressed far enough to clear. I wish I would have taken a picture of them sitting next to my stock springs. I would say they were at least 8 inches taller uncompressed.

 

tank you for al you tip , i'll try thi later in the week , yesterday il try to fit my engine ant it sit perfectely in place , even with the cadilac escalade oil pan ... , not the hummer h3 pan ?? wht ? all people with 2th gen f-body tell me those pan will not fit corectly ???

 

It's not that they don't fit the chassis; they actually fit very well. Most guys advise against using the truck pans because of how low they hang below the crossmember as shown in your first pic. The H3 pan does the same thing but to a lesser extent. I personally haven't had any ground clearance issues with my H3 pan but I'll still probably switch it someday to the F-body pan for the added protection.

 

Does anyone have a picture of the H3 pan while on a 2nd gen

 

Yep. See Post 39 of this thread for an idea of how low the H3 (LH8) pan hangs below the crossmember. https://ls1tech.com/forums/13521875-post39.html

Also you can check out Post 9 of this thread if you want to see a side-by-side comparison of the H3 and truck pans. https://ls1tech.com/forums/13490025-post9.html

 

"It's not that they don't fit the chassis; they actually fit very well. Most guys advise against using the truck pans because of how low they hang below the crossmember as shown in your first pic. The H3 pan does the same thing but to a lesser extent."

Exactly

In order of depth hanging down IIRC it goes standard GM LS truck pan (8.25"), H3 (7.5"), GTO (6.25" but has small front sump), Caddie or modified F-body (5.5"), & Corvette (4.75" but with wide wings)

 

try this tunning page to help tune the cal tracs better. This guy who put this together has helped tons of people to get their cars to 60 and E/T better with his tuning suggestions.

Also you should get a good pair or shocks for front and back. Ditch those crappy competition engineering ones.

Get this set of calvert 90/10 for the front and their 9 way adjustables out back if you can.


but here is the tuning page.

 

Thanks for posting that man. I've actually got a copy of that exact page already in the tool box of my trailer and another in my laptop case for tuning at the track. I ran across that guy's thread on yellowbullet and there's some good info in there.

I also agree that once I'm making more power I'll need some quality shocks. But for right now I'd have to say the car is 60'ing about as well as it can based on the overall power level and not as a limitation of the suspension. I say this because no matter how I adjust the suspension right now, the car 60's the same. I would think I could at least make it worse.......but I really can't. Of course there may be some efficiencies to be had by tightening up the extention on the front......but I guess that remains to be seen with some better shocks. I'd really like to eventually end up with some good double adjustables on the rear, but can't justify the cost yet until the car won't hook up anymore.

 

Springs for an f-body v-6 car seem to be the trick when wanting a lower ride height. Usually don't have to cut but, (broken record) every application is different, blah, blah, blah. Just an idea for for those doing this. They aren't much money either.

GC99TA, is that an AC delete air box on the fire wall? If so, where did you get it?

 

Yes, it's an AC delete box from here: http://www.acdelete.com/pages/70-81_F-Body.htm

It obviously allows you to retain all of your heater/defrost functions while eliminating the AC. As a note, it still uses the heater core specific to the AC cars due to the positioning/tube outlets through the firewall.

 

Thanks for the info. I'm a little punk when it comes to cold weather so I got to have my heater.

 

I was just reviewing your thread and I really like your build. I noticed you got a 1.65 60' full weight on slicks (very nice!)and you are still running the stock 8.5 ten bolt axles.
Last night, I managed a 1.75 and I was worried about breaking. What are your thoughts on this? Save the money on upgrading the axles and put towards a nine inch? Do you know anyone who has gone faster with stock axles? Where do you think the breaking point is?

 

Thanks man! Yeah, it's been 1.65 once and seems to average 1.67-1.68 in decent (for here) air. And yep......still the stock 28 spline axles. So I take it your car has an 8.5 from a Nova or something under it, or are you running a stock 8.2? The 8.5 is a pretty strong rear for the most part, but the small c-clip axles are enough to make me nervous about what I'm currently doing with it. I don't mind breaking parts now and then.....but parting ways with an entire wheel and axle assembly makes me nervous. That means wrecking the car and possibly someone else's too.

I'm not really sure what the actual limits of them are, but I'm sure a lot of it depends on a combo both vehicle weight and torque. Obviously a lighter car will get away with more. I knew some guys back home that had a big block 4-speed Nova that would run high 10's and they ran stock 28 spline axles. They had a bunch of spare stock axles squirrelled away so they would just slide a new stock axle back in it when they would break one (usually they'd go through at least two axels per season). It was truely a budget operation and they always seemed to be lucky enough to snap them on the starting line and wouldn't roll out far enough to lose a wheel......probably from the shock of dropping the clutch. But even still....a 10-bolt big block car with a four speed only broke a few axles per season and I never saw them hurt the rear otherwise.

The 8.5 can be built to be pretty tough. The ring gear is only .375 smaller than the 12 bolt's 8.875, and they share the same diameter pinion. But I've done the math enough times that I just can't justify building mine. So I'm personally gonna go with a 9 inch later this year (hopefully). Once you build the 8.5 the "right way" (costs = 30 spline posi, 30 spline axles, c-clip eliminators, pay to have the tubes welded to the housing, pay to have gears set up, aluminum stud girdle, 1350 pinion yoke) you'd have a pretty strong rear probably good to go high 9's in a 3000-3300lb car. But, you'd only be around $400 under the cost of a brand new built Strange 9 inch.

Besides the obvious strength (design) advantages of the built 9 inch, it also gives you the option to keep a spare center section lying around with a set of highway gears. You can easily swap a center section (and gears) in a nine inch in an hour. These are all the reasons I'm going with the nine inch. It's not for everyone, but it's the way I'm going. Hope this helps.

 

It's been a while since I've posted any progress on this thing, so I may as well show you guys my latest little project. I've been going nuts trying to come up with a small project to do on the car that wouldn't cost too much but would get me at least one step closer to making this car faster. For now a nitrous system is out of the question until I get a stronger rear (as discussed above) and the stronger rear is out of the question until I buy a house back east this summer. So......I figured I could at least break up the cost of installing a nitrous kit by at least getting the fuel system ready right now.

When I originally designed the fuel system for this car, I knew I wanted enough pump and main feed line to feed both the carb and a fuel solenoid off of one pump and one main feed instead of running two of everything. So I originally set it up with just one bypass regulator and fed my carb directly off that regulator. But for nitrous use, I want to be able to adjust the fuel pressure to the fuel solenoid independant from the pressure going to the carb. The way to do this is to have the bypass regulator feed two dead head regulators, which will separately control the carb and fuel solenoid feeds.

So this is what I ended up with. It wasn't a huge project, but I had to fab a few mouting brackets for the new regulators, and obviously had to assemble a few new lines. Now I can set the bypass regulator at a higher pressure (say 10psi) and control it with the dead head regs. For now the regulator for feeding the nitrous solenoid is plugged on both sides, but its ready and waiting.........

 

Another fine job!!! Go ahead and add the nitrous just keep it mild or use a progessive timer. You should be fine on the roll. Futureuser just sprayed his with a 90 shot and picked up quite a bit on ET.

 

Thanks Tony! But I lack the disipline to not give 'er hell in low gear....LOL. I saw a used NOS Super Power Shot kit on craigslist this morning for $250 with the bottle still full.......and I was tempted. But, I'm getting ready to go out of town for five weeks and I'd never get it installed to my satisfaction in time to play with it much before leaving. I may start shopping for a deal on a progressive controller next, and end up with a kit before a new rear......but I already know its a bad idea for me.......

 

Thanks for your prospective. Yes I'm using a Nova 8.5 rear end with 3.42 posi from a transam. It works great but last night it started slipping as I was warming up the slicks. So I'm considering rebuilding the posi ($200 for the kit), moser axles and a few other odds and ends. With the spray, a 3.42 works well, but only with a 26" or less tire. A rear end from http://www.quickperformance.com/ isn't much more than the upgrades and when the sale of the old diff. is factored in. They are a less than Moser, upgradable and have good reviews from folks on this site.

Have fun with the Nitrous. The LY6 just begs for it. I am considering a stand alone secondary fuel system with C116 for future bigger shots.

 

Cool.....I'll have to check those guys out when I go to buy my 9 inch. Looks like some good prices from what I saw at a quick glance. Just another 8.5 option for you if you decide to go that way.....instead of rebuilding your factory posi for $200, you might think about putting another $250-300 to that $200 and just buy a brand new Eaton posi. That way you could get a 30 spline unit instead of the stock 28, since you're buying new axles anyway. Just a thought.

Oh man......I can't wait! I'm sure this thing is gonna respond very well to the spray and your results just prove it further! You got a real nice out of a 90 shot!