84 900 F Prepared Notchback

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SwedeSport
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Re: 84 900 F Prepared Notchback

Postby SwedeSport » Fri Dec 12, 2014 12:10 pm

Not much to report in terms of progress, outside of the collection of parts that I am gathering.

Plan is to focus on this project in Feb, and March, and April. I really want to run it on the hills this season.


Ordered and received all of the Powerflex bushings for the rear suspension. Preparing to pick up some adjustable trailing links, and panhard rod from Luke. Working out plans for adjustable rear control arms as well.

Collected most of the bits to adapt to the 5" front springs. I ended up ordering "Tru-Coil" 650 lb springs for the front. I have the stuff to complete the lower perch, and most of the stuff to complete the upper perch. Should be easy work once I get the upper mount plate made.
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Re: 84 900 F Prepared Notchback

Postby SwedeSport » Sun Dec 21, 2014 9:32 pm

Still gathering parts...
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Re: 84 900 F Prepared Notchback

Postby SwedeSport » Mon Jan 05, 2015 3:18 pm

Started working on the lower front perches for the 5" Tru-Coil springs.

The black metal component is an 11.00 part from Speedway Motors. I couldn't build them for that price. I cut the bottom section off of the "top hat" and ground the plate smooth of all the prior welds. I also plan to cut down the overall height of the hat. The chassis tabs came from S&W Race Cars. Those will get shortened too. I will weld the chassis tabs to the bottom of the hat, creating a new lower pivoting perch for the smaller springs. The rubber shims from the stock rear suspension are close enough to fit over the hats to act as an isolator to keep the spring from rattling.

The uppers are the weight jacker style perches, allowing for some ride height adjustment.
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Re: 84 900 F Prepared Notchback

Postby Crazyswede » Mon Jan 05, 2015 6:40 pm

I am curious why you chose the 5" springs? When I looked at that size it didnt seem like there was a very good selection of spring rates available in a 5". I do like your idea of the hat modification though. I have the pieces from the spring slider you are welcome to have as they were designed for a 5" spring.
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Re: 84 900 F Prepared Notchback

Postby Jordan » Mon Jan 05, 2015 6:56 pm

There is a good variety for 5". But I use them for the fronts

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Re: 84 900 F Prepared Notchback

Postby SwedeSport » Mon Jan 05, 2015 7:28 pm

They also physically fit in the rear spring pockets pretty well..

But they will require having the "hat" welded into the rear lower control arm. And the same jacker assemble mounted into the top perch.

I used factory rear rubber isolators, and currently have them in the rear suspension. The stock protruding perches are too small so the springs move around. But with the proper perches it should be fine.
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Re: 84 900 F Prepared Notchback

Postby SwedeSport » Mon Jan 05, 2015 9:45 pm

Tru coil 5 x 9.5 springs range from 475-1450

The 5 x 10.5 springs range from 125 - 575.
The 5 x 13, and 5 x 16 are only up to 300.

They are only 40 bucks each.

Having a couple sets on the trailer would give you some tuning options at an event.
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Re: 84 900 F Prepared Notchback

Postby Crazyswede » Tue Jan 06, 2015 12:54 am

Guess I was looking in the wrong places when I saw them. I found the 3" ID springs fit the rear very nicely with no modification....might have been 3.5" ID...have to check my order.
Last edited by Crazyswede on Tue Jan 06, 2015 1:57 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: 84 900 F Prepared Notchback

Postby SwedeSport » Tue Jan 06, 2015 11:00 am

The Tru-Coil, and Afco 5 1/2 spring will actually squeeze fit over the factory upper perch and bump stop assembly. But the lower perch will still need to be modified, as it seems the additional coil thickness is added to the inside diameter.

I found the same to be true about some 80's GM G Body front springs. I inherited a set of front springs out of an 86 Monte Carlo SS . They are a bit long, and a bit stiff. They could be cut down to length, but I am clueless as to what the rate is or would be after cutting. I was going to cut them, and modify the lower perches by cutting a sliver out of the middle of the stock lower pivot perch, and welding and fish plating. But they would end up being proprietary to those springs.


I really think that the stock car stuff is hefty enough, simple enough, and cheap enough, that it should work well.

It solves the problem of spring rate choice, and the weight jackers, while technically not being used in the same way as on a circle track car, allows for a little adjustment in ride height. Either to compensate for tires, or spring length, or track conditions.

I am kind of winging it as I go along, but not without a lot of shopping around and thinking. At this point there are a few details to work out with regard to the rear spring mounts. I need to figure out how to cut the upper perch out and subsequently mount the upper jacker. In the short term I am going to beef up a set of stock arms, and modify the pocket for the Tru-Coil spring. But long term I would like to replace it with a purpose built control arm, with a threaded length adjustment. This would allow for re-centering of the axle in the wheelwell, and also allow for some alignment changes. I have a few sketches done, but nothing solid yet.
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Re: 84 900 F Prepared Notchback

Postby Geoff » Tue Jan 06, 2015 12:42 pm

Here's a picture of the spot welds you'd need to cut from below if you want to remove the rear upper spring perch (note there's no inner fender in this shot)
Image

And these are the spot welds you'd have to cut out of the inner fender (again, inner fender already removed)
Image

Here's a shot of those same spot welds prior to removing the inner fender
Image

And what it looks like from the underside once removed
Image

I think I'd probably leave the perch in and find a way to fit your rear spring mounts to the existing spring perch. That might help distribute the spring loads better than removing it and coming up with something else in it's place. Perhaps by cutting off the protrusion for the spring/bump stop locator?
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Re: 84 900 F Prepared Notchback

Postby SwedeSport » Tue Jan 06, 2015 1:46 pm

Geoff, I was planning to leave most of that mount plate in the car, but cut a 6 inch hole into the trunk area for these to slip up inside, and house the jacker perch.

I would tie the rear stays of the cage into the "bucket", and add a cross bar between them as well.


I am looking into torsion bar style adjustable sway bars for the rear, since when I shorten the LCA I won't be able to use the stock unit any longer. Something like the one pictured, but without the high falootin billet Porsche parts price.

http://www.1speedway.com/index.htm
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Re: 84 900 F Prepared Notchback

Postby SwedeSport » Sun Jan 25, 2015 2:12 pm

Cut down the chassis tabs as well as removed the axle mount plate from the hat. Marked the bottom of the hat for the positioning of the tabs. I set the tab offset to be 1/8" off center. This will replicate the way the factory perch causes the spring to bow toward the chassis, instead of the tire. I plan to cut the overall height of the perch by almost half.

I bolted the tabs to an upper control arm, to use as a holding fixture for the chassis tabs.
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