BUILD THREAD “The Juggernaut”

Rktpwrd

Builder of Cool Shjt
Supporting Member
Feb 2, 2015
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Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Alright, I broke down and said screw it. Decided to create a YouTube account and upload the video anyways.
Lol
It's just a short hack video and my first, so don't judge too harshly.

The compressors seem pretty loud in the video, they're actually not that bad in person. Keep in mind, the car is pretty much gutted still at this point, no sound deadening, carpet or interior to speak of, and no rear window in it either. These things combined with the fact that it's in an enclosed garage all make it seem louder than it actually is.

Also, you'll be able to hear the front suspension creaking. This is partly due to the poly urethane bushings installed dry (everything is still in the mockup stage), but also what you're hearing is the front tires rubbing on the insides of the fenders as it goes through its travel. I REALLY gotta get onto modifying the front fenders and adding those Malibu flares now...

Anyways, here it is.

 
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Opie Knievel

Rum Fueled Midnight Mechanic and Moderator
Sep 6, 2010
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If you were to do video updates I know I'd watch.

Unfortunately, I doubt that I'll get into doing video updates, but perhaps that's a thought I should entertain...

I'm gonna take credit for planting the video idea in your head! Lol. It's really cool to watch that suspension in action.

It's just a short hack video and my first

I'm hoping that means you're gonna do more videos. As much as we like pics around here, we LOVE videos!

The car is looking good, you're making progress. Keep the video updates coming.


Everybody that wants to see more videos from Donovan, Agree with my post.
 
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Rktpwrd

Builder of Cool Shjt
Supporting Member
Feb 2, 2015
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Calgary, Alberta, Canada
I'm gonna take credit for planting the video idea in your head! Lol. It's really cool to watch that suspension in action.



I'm hoping that means you're gonna do more videos. As much as we like pics around here, we LOVE videos!

The car is looking good, you're making progress. Keep the video updates coming.


Everybody that wants to see more videos from Donovan, Agree with my post.

Hahaha
This should be interesting...
;)

Ya Opie, you can/should probably take credit for it. It IS pretty cool to watch it in action, but like everything else, it's waaay cooler in person! The vid doesn't do it much justice I'm afraid...

Sorry for the kinda crappy video. Unfortunately I was limited by the length of the wiring of the controller and couldn't get any further back to provide a better angle. I'll see if the next time someone's over if they can give me a hand possibly shooting footage while I operate the controller.

And yes, there is the possibility that you might see more videos from me in the future; after all, I do have the YouTube thingy now...

Thanks for the encouragement, I'm pretty motivated now to get as much done as I can before the weather here starts getting warmer for spring.

Looking forward to the responses (or lack thereof!) to your request!

D.
 
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oldsofb

Royal Smart Person
Supporting Member
Dec 7, 2007
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Where was the video when you matched the hood to the fender to the door??? I'd watch that like car p*rn! You NEED to do some videography of the build! :popcorn:

Hutch
 
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chevymalibu283

Apprentice
Apr 4, 2013
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37
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Donovan, Not much more i can add to what the other fellas have said except your photos and videos of your work are truly inspiring. I have to say i got a case of being " giddy as a schoolboy" seeing the airbags in operation. THIS REALLY GIVES ME THE ITCH TO INSTALL AIR RIDE ON MY CHEVY!! I can only imagine how you felt seeing all your hard work come together and everything working as it is supposed to.
Keep the photos and videos coming you have a bunch of us waiting to see the next stages of this build as it heads to a finished ride.

kevin
 
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liquidh8

Comic Book Super Hero
Gotta love videos, I made a few, and keep forgetting to upload the.

Looking good my friend.
 
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Rktpwrd

Builder of Cool Shjt
Supporting Member
Feb 2, 2015
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Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Thanks once again for all the great comments and support guys. REALLY appreciated!

I'll consider and work on the video thing, but likely only when I think whatever I'm working on warrants it.

Update coming this weekend...
:D

Stay tuned!
 
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Rktpwrd

Builder of Cool Shjt
Supporting Member
Feb 2, 2015
4,150
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Calgary, Alberta, Canada
Well, it's cold, windy, snowing and generally all around miserable here today, so I'm thinking it's the perfect day to post the latest update I promised this weekend.

With the successful testing and trial run of finally supporting the car with its own air source the week before, it's now time to focus on the second stage of completing the air management install.
Namely the ride height sensors.

As I mentioned before, these are basically potentiometers with an arm that connects to a heim jointed link that you attach to a suspension component at each corner.
As the suspension cycles through its travel, the potentiometer "reads" where exactly the suspension is on that corner in its range of movement, and relays that information back to the air management ECM. The ECM then tells the valves to either add or subtract air from the air spring on that corner to effectively level the car. Pretty simple stuff.

The first step to begin the install was to put the car up on stands and remove the wheels and tires.

IMG_2251.JPG


With that done, I suspected I may have had some interference issues on the rear suspension that I wasn't able to see with the car on the ground, so I removed the passenger's side rear caliper, caliper bracket, and rotor.

IMG_2252.JPG


After some sleuthing and careful measuring, I was correct and found the issue. Somehow and somewhere in the process of measuring, marking, cutting and welding the housing ends back on when the 12 bolt rear end was narrowed, the passenger's side axel tube has ended up a 1/4" shorter than the driver's side.
Now normally a 1/4" isn't necessarily a big deal in the grand scheme of things, but in my particular case, it places the Wilwood rear disc brake assembly (and the wheel and tire) very close to the framerail.

The bracket for the emergency brake cable attachment is the component on the brake assembly that sits closest to the framerail:

IMG_2253.JPG


While the bracket cleared the framerail at ride height and above, when the car was aired down, the E-brake bracket rubs the frame as evidenced by this witness mark:

IMG_2254.JPG


Now, if I was Chip Foose, or Troy Trepanier, or simply made of money and time, I wouldn't hesitate to yank the rearend out and take it in somewheres to have the 1/4" discrepancy issue corrected.

However.
(Lol)

I am none of those things, and at this point in time I'm not prepared to reinvent the wheel (pardon the pun), so I will find a way to buy some clearance for the bracket to the frame, and will likely run a 1/4" spacer between the rotor and wheel to properly position the wheel in the wheelwell. That will be the most cost effective way to work around the issue. At least for now.

Not totally prepared to deal with this new found problem at this point, I simply unbolted and removed the E-brake bracket for now, and got on with things.

The next thing I wanted to check now that I had nothing else binding or rubbing, was max upwards travel of the rearend with no wheels on it. Here's where it sits before it started to raise the back of the car off the stands:

IMG_2256.JPG


IMG_2257.JPG


There's about a 1/2" of clearance between the top of the axel tube and the bottom of the framerails in these pics, but I know for a fact that the frame will actually contact and sit on the axel tube with the weight of the car on the wheels. I saw this firsthand when the car was aired down and still on its wheels. No biggie, but I was glad I was aware of this before I started installing the ride height sensors, as it all matters.

Continuing to work on the passenger's side of the car, I found the optimal location to mount the sensor was on the front side of the rear crossmember. This positioned the linkage to line up almost dead center on the lower control arm, which is ideal to get the most accurate reading for the ECM.
Problem was, I had already initially allocated that particular area of real estate for bulkhead connectors for my fuel supply and return lines to pass through.

The holes were already drilled, and the bulkhead connectors were also already installed, but thankfully the stainless hardlines were not yet done or in place. I removed the innermost bulkhead connector, and am confident I can just relocate it above the outermost one. I'll end up with an "up and down" arrangement to them instead of "side by side". That should still work just fine.

Taking my time, and carefully measuring, test fitting, and trying to consider all possibilities, I eventually ended up with the sensor, arm, and linkage mounted to the frame and lower control arm as such:

IMG_2258.JPG


You can clearly see the hole from where I had to remove the one bulkhead connector. Also visible in that pic are the two holes where I had initially tried to mount the sensor; that position wouldn't work as it required the linkage to mount in the wrong hole on the arm for the amount of travel it has. (Yeah, that matters too!)

Mounting the linkage to the lower control arm was a simple process, the location on the control arm was determined with a plumb bob positioned at the proper hole on the arm, then a through hole was drilled through the control arm and the supplied stand-off was mounted. Once that was done, measurements were taken to determine the linkage length. The linkage was cut, reassembled, and then attached.

With these couple interference issues, and trial and error experiments of component locations, you can now see why I've held off so long on removing and powder coating the frame. Having to move things around and weld up holes etc after everythings been powder coated would REALLY suck.

Anyways, with the sensor now mounted, the suspension was cycled through its travel, I took pics of it all the way up, mid-way, and all the way down.
The above pic is with the arm "all the way up" (aired down), here is "mid-way"...

IMG_2259.JPG


...and all the way down (aired up):

IMG_2261.JPG


Continued... >>>
 
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mr evil

Moderator
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Aug 4, 2009
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Bout time Donovan, it's freakin 5 on the east coast ya know.....guys been waitin and all that! Now it's dinner and the wife is callin.
Just a little extra effort ok, all I'm asking for here.....
 
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