'69 suspension upgrade

Dropped the old engine back in today so I can work on the steering linkage and the brake line clearances from the m/c to the junction block. As I feared, it appears that #1 header pipe will be competing for space with the steering shaft (currently mocked up with some all-thread rod). Outside of using an old Pinto flexible steering cable to snake around the pipe (just kidding!), it looks like I'm going to have to do some tweaks on the pipe. I hate to put a clearance ding in the tube, but I may do that as a short term fix, and then later down the road I'll cut out a 10 inch section from the flange down, and re-route the pipe. The headers are ceramic coated, so that will just slow me down more than I want right now having to clean off the stuff to get to some clean metal for welding. (ps: On a side note, I'm still looking for four of the short spacers that go between the A-arm and the bolt/washer. Let me know if you have any gathering dust you'd like to sell.)

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Got the narrowed halfshafts back from the shop.

Picked the shafts up the other day, and stuck them in this weekend. It's a nice change from having to keep looking at the widened steel ones I used for setting things up.

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Pretty much finished with the rear suspension other than putting on the brake flexlines, and making the two outboard spring hanger bolts. The narrowed C4 spring normally attaches about four inches higher on a C4 batwing compared to my C3 batwing, so I still need to come up with something that will do the trick and not look too odd.
 
If you narrow a fiberglass C4 spring, do you just need to cut it and redrill the bolt holes?
 
Garys 68 said:
If you narrow a fiberglass C4 spring, do you just need to cut it and redrill the bolt holes?
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Boy, I sure hope so, cuz that's what I did. :amused: Unless you look at it close, you really can't tell it was messed with. I have a stiff Z51 spring that was my original intention to use, but after shortening this somewhat soft "test spring", the rear feels pretty firm, so I'll just leave it on for now, and see how it rides and performs. I'd like to luck out, and keep using this spring, and then I can just sell the Z51 spring sometime.
 
Well let us know if it breaks or anything. When I was looking at doing this I actually planned to epoxy some glass reinforcement around the hole. Maybe that was overkill though.
 
Got the steering linkage installed today. Used Borgeson u-joints and splined shaft. Once I got everything hooked up (u-joints phased correctly, column shaft flat clocked with the u-joint set screw), I end up with the steering wheel about 120* away from the normal center position. Once I undo the wheel and rotate it a few holes I'm hoping I'll still be able to tweak it in to the normal position.
As I feared, the shaft interferes with the #1 header pipe.

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I cut the #1 pipe off, and I'm going to try to re-route it. It's not going to be easy, but if I just put a set of blockhugger headers on it (and they might not fit either after spending the money), I'd still have to weld some downpipes to the underfloor pipes, so I'm stuck doing some pipe work anyway.
 
Shame you don't live in OP here, as down the street is a exhaust magician.... I have seen that man run pipes like it was a space shuttle or something...

people say it can't be done....he just goes ahead and do it anyway....

:beer:
 
Starting to work on the header modification. As a previous post shows, the #1 pipe and the steering shaft are competing for the same real estate. I have the original tube cut out, and I made a new flange to start running a new tube. There's several restrictions on the placement of the tube (sparkplug and wire access, header bolt room, the nearby brake junction block, the upper A-arm shaft and its placement when negative camber is adjusted, and the physical size of the completed header so that it will still slide up/out between the engine and the frame), so I'm going at it slow. Here's the first tube placement. It will need to be shortened, and another elbow or two will be needed to try to get to the remaining original tube near the collector.

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I got the power steering pump plumbed to the rack today. I ordered some -6 hose and 90* ends the other day, and put them together this afternoon. (You can see the blue line near the A-arm cross shaft.)
Throughout the suspension build I've been curious how much additional room the C4 suspension would provide. Just for kicks I took one of the wheels I've run on my '84, and with the aid of a VB&P 1.75" adapter, I bolted on the wheel to see what it would look like. The tire is a 315/40-16, and it looks like it might fit halfway decently.

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Down the road I might look into some 1.50" adapters to tuck the tire in a touch more. It's a long term project, but it at least looks a bit encouraging for fitment.
 
That looks like a tight squeeze. If you route the header tube on top of the steering shaft are you going to be able to get at the #1 plug?

The rear suspension is a work of art. Very nicely designed and packaged.
 
BBShark said:
That looks like a tight squeeze. If you route the header tube on top of the steering shaft are you going to be able to get at the #1 plug?

The rear suspension is a work of art. Very nicely designed and packaged.
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Thanks for the kind words, Larry.
Yeah, it's another detour in the build here. Due to all the constraints I mentioned in the previous post, I'm just going to have to play with the routing to make sure I can not only get to the plug, but not end up cooking the brake lines or steering u-joints with the final positioning. I'm keeping the option of making the #1 tube being a separate tube that would be a slip fit onto the pre-collector area if the complete header is no longer narrow enough to slip up between the engine and the frame.
 
WOW! That is looking really good Mike! :thumbs:

I was over at Leslies 2 weeks ago for their club meeting and your name was brought up a couple times (all good of course) and we were wondering how far along you were and if it was going to be possible to make the event later this year. Looks like you should have no reason to show up this year. LOL

Just curious, what class will it run now? Will this put you in race prep?

P.S. I want a ride in that beast! I have not had a ride in the 69 since I was a kid chasing cones in Plant 1 parking lot. That should be a test to see if the Dr. did his job fixing my heart. :eek:
 
SCCA VETTE said:
WOW! That is looking really good Mike! :thumbs:

I was over at Leslies 2 weeks ago for their club meeting and your name was brought up a couple times (all good of course) and we were wondering how far along you were and if it was going to be possible to make the event later this year. Looks like you should have no reason to show up this year. LOL

My target is to make it up north for the Super September events. The August events almost always conflict with an antique tractor jamboree I attend back home. My dad had several antique John Deere tractors, and since his passing, I keep pulling them out of storage for the family and me to drive in the parades.

Just curious, what class will it run now? Will this put you in race prep?

I'll just run Exhibition. That's the class I ran years ago because the five speed transmission caused a few guys to get their panties in a bunch. The regular classes are too restrictive (it's my car, and I'll put whatever the hell I want on it). Besides, they all pay the same prize money, don't they. LOL
P.S. I want a ride in that beast! I have not had a ride in the 69 since I was a kid chasing cones in Plant 1 parking lot. That should be a test to see if the Dr. did his job fixing my heart. :eek:
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Glad you're doing okay. I'll confess I didn't hear about your medical issue. Please take good care of yourself. I'm interested in taking a close peek at your car. It looks like you did some nice work on it.
 
Been working on the left header modification to clear the steering linkage. After turning several 90 degree tubing elbows into 15 degree paperweights, I finaly got some tubes tacked in there that will clear the steering, and also looks like I can still get the plugs out if needed.

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However, I've run into a slight hiccup in the process. I still need to put in the final 30 degree bend that will connect the new tubing to the original remnant of the #1 tube near the collector, and I'm running out of elbow room under the car to work the welder. These headers have individual flanges for each cylinder, and the easy way would be for me to just bolt the headers up to a spare head on a bench (to preserve the correct spacing/alignment) and then do the final cutting and welding. Unfortunately, I gave away my spare set of bigblock heads a couple years ago when I cleaned out my garage prior to moving south. So, the header work has slowed down substantially. My plans are to hit up a couple junkyards in the Orlando area to see if they've got a junk head I can buy/borrow/rent cheap to fixture the headers while I'm doing the final welding.
 
Could you bolt it to an opposite side exhaust manifold? Those should be pretty cheap.
 
BBShark said:
Could you bolt it to an opposite side exhaust manifold? Those should be pretty cheap.
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Larry, I think I'm out of luck there. Bigblocks have that staggered bolt pattern on the exhaust flange, and exchanging manifolds side to side and upside down keeps giving me the wrong orientation to bolt to the header. I appreciate the suggestion, though.
 
Drove around town today, stopping at a couple junkyards looking for a scrap bigblock head to buy/rent to bolt my header to while I did some cutting and welding on it. I struck out at the junkyards, but a local machine shop helped me out. They took a chance on me, and with a security deposit, I was able to borrow a (core) head that was cleaned up and being prepared for a rebuild. I should be able to complete the modifications to the header within a couple days, and then get the rest of the exhaust system installed.

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I ended up cutting another four inches (not shown in the picture) off the original pipe, as the small elbow needed to connect the pipes would require welding in some areas that are not easily accessible due to the proximity of the other pipes.
The header is ceramic coated, but for now, I'm hoping to find some decent hi temp silver paint to cover the new stuff until later when I can get the header re-coated.
 
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