I'm pretty sure I've already seen someone lower at least that much...There is a thread on here about it. he had to do some fabrication work to the strut towers to make it that low

 

Not that I would ever do it to my car since its already hard to drive lowered 1.2" but I think that looks really badass!

 

Yeah, see post #141. That's my boy Kenny.

He lowered the front until the K-member touched the ground. Once you get that low the upper A-arm is almost touching the hood. Now the trick to getting the car even lower is to both raise the engine AND modify the spindles. This will let you lower the car another 2" or so.

 

What's hard about it?

 

I'm serious, what do you find difficult? Maybe I can help.

Anyway, here is a progress report.
Looking at 2D Photoshops is cool and all, but it pales in comparison to standing next to the car and doing a 3D walkaround. It looks pretty cool to me right now, but it still needs to go lower while continuing to ride nice. Here it is right now with 2" of compression in the front and rear. It's very drivable as it sits (except for a new alignment). The backs a little high with no subwoofer back there.



It looks like the floor needs to come up maybe 2", then lower the whole car another inch. I'll probably raise the front fender well a tad so the tire can turn. Maybe drop the back a hair more as well. Then it will be close to what I'm looking for.

I think I have a way to Z the frame, so to speak. I'll raise the K-member maybe 1"-2" by modding the frame rails. I still need to check if the wiper arms are going to be in the way of me raising the engine. Keeping the motor up front is going to be about getting 1/2" here an 1" there. It should all add up. I may raise the trans up some and then slice the bottom off the oil pan to raise it slightly. Then the bottom of the K-member can be redone to be thinner.

I also think I have the bugs worked out of the new shorter spindle design so I can cut off the shock towers soon. I can't wait to do that. I've always hated those big turds. Always in the way.

The exhaust is still bugging me. I might have to just wait until all the suspension work is done to figure it out. I'd like to keep it all in a nice neat package and dump it up front, similar to turbo drag cars. So far I've only seen one vehicle with this setup. It was a super low chevy blazer. Here are some pics.






I'd dump it out the bottom instead of the fender wheel, though. If I don't do it this way I'll have to find a way to route it to the back of the car which is not going to be fun.

I'm also still trying to figure out the best way to raise the trans tunnel 2". I could get a long 2" strip of 16ga., slice it off and then weld this in to fill the gap. Or I could go to a salvage yard and have them cut out a tunnel from a junk car. Then I set the new tunnel over the old one (2" higher) and then mark the cut line. This way cuts the welding in half, but will cost more.

 

Since I plan to cut the floor out and build a new one higher up, the boxed rails that are under the doors will be gone. So I'm trying to come up with a way to stregnthen the whole car short of a full rollcage.

2 thoughts come to mind.

Build a strong backbone structure down the center of the car, and

Cut the bottom of the doors off to make the sills higher and build a structure in there.

I don't have much room between the seats plus raising the sills will keep the doors from hitting curbs or scraping the ground. So I'm leaning toward the 2nd option. Since I plan to chop the top and cut the window glass shorter, that should allow me to shorten the doors.

Do you guys have any other thoughts on this or should I just consider building a full cage? That would look ugly with the top off, though.

 

Just an update. I did a few things this morning.




I plan to cut off the frame rails just in front of the sway bar as well as both of the shock towers. Good ridance. They won't be missed.

 

freakin bat mobile!!!!!

 

Oh jesus. I really hope you know what youre doing. I'm not saying you dont but that seems like a LOT of work.

 

hell yeah Jason tear that thing apart.

 

I have to admit, it is a lot of fun.

I was going to keep the stock spindle and upper arm and just make a new mount right on top, but it would just be temporary anyway. I can't decide if I should just go for broke and shorten the spindles now and install the new upper arms. It's a bigger jump, but saves a lot of work.

I'm going to totally lose the geometry with this big of a jump, but I suppose it can always be found again. I may have to trailer it over to Ekstensive Customs to have them mount the upper arm properly. Camber and toe are pretty straight forward, but getting the caster right is a bitch.

This is the thread on the spindles if your interested.
https://ls1tech.com/forums/suspension-brakes/982900-has-anyone-converted-short-front-spindle.html
Check out the end of the thread and offer some ideas.

Me and the Beast. Getting it lower everyday.

 

just brilliant, but why do you want to make it awd? Keep it rear wheel drive

 

Starting to look like an American Lambo

 

You are out of your mind. LOL

 

Your just now figuring that out?

Seriously though, I always thought the guys building the 1200hp street cars were the crazy ones. I'm just working a little metal.

 

 

holy **** dude. subscribed.

 

wow thats my friend eric saliba's blazer. pulled alota long hours on that thing. just amzing to see it on this website.

 

I want to see it on the ground where you cant even see your feet when your standing there. Make sure you take a lot of pictures with that new front suspension setup. I have a book here at the house that could probably help out with the design. I think I got it from Summit.

 

Normally it woudn't be here, but it's super low and he ran into some of the same problems I am. Engine and exhaust clearance.

Here's a full view showing how low it is.


The engine clearance: