BUILD THREAD “The Juggernaut”

[Rktpwrd]

I forgot to mention when I covered the front suspension, that the Ride Tech Shockwaves are single adjustable units. The adjustment is for the "rebound" on the singles, and "compression" and "rebound" on the double units. Double adjustables would've been nice for sure, but I just couldn't justify the additional cost.

REAR SUSPENSION

Housing: Chevrolet car 12 bolt, 8.875" ring gear diameter, Richmond 3.73:1 gear set, with rebuilt GM positraction. "Appropriated" from my dads scrapped '71 Chevelle Malibu project, minus the posi and gears. Lower trailing arm brackets removed, narrowed to G body width, new Ford 9" big bearing Torino ends welded on, and the factory 12 bolt lower trailing arm brackets re-welded back on.
The decision to go to Ford 9" housing ends was primarily to avoid the need for C clip eliminators. They are notorious for leaking, and the factory C clips aren't strong or reliable enough for extreme duty. Over a certain power level, most sanctioned tracks won't let you run without some form of positive axle retention over and above the factory C clips. The 9" ends provide that, and the bigger bearings help distribute the weight better.

Axles: Moser custom alloy, custom length, 28 spline count with bearing and retainer package, and 1/2" wheel studs

Girdle: T/A performance, aluminum with adjustable bolts for setting preload on the bearing caps.

Brakes: Wilwood disc. Rotors are 12.1" Slotted, crossdrilled, and vented. Calipers are red powdercoated, stainless 4 piston, with internal drum parking brake assembly hidden under the rotor hat.

Upper rear trailing arms: UMI performance, black powdercoated double adjustable specific for the 12 bolt swap into a G body. When I first came across these, UMI was just starting up, and virtually unknown. I'm pretty sure I was one of the first to order a set from them...

Lower rear trailing arms: UMI Performance black powdercoated double adjustable with offset heim joint spacers, and holes to incorporate sway bar mounting in the factory location

Sway Bar: Hotchkis 1" solid, black powdercoated

Misc: QA1 lift bars. These install in the upper trailing arm bushing holes on the diff, and relocate the upper arms' mounting points higher up. This changes the cars "instant center", allowing more leverage to be forced on the rear tires during launch, improving traction. Energy Suspension polyurethane pinion stop and axle housing bump stops, Lokar stainless steel parking brake cables

Rear air bags: Ride Tech "Cool Ride" kit for G bodies. Shortly after I purchased the rear kit, lighter duty versions of the ShockWaves became available for rear suspension applications for G bodies and others. However unlike the fronts, I felt the natural motion of the rear axle would benefit more from a separate bag and shock combination. After all, that's the way the General designed it.

Shocks: Ride Tech/Fox Racing single adjustable units. It took me forever to get these, but unfortunately now I can't remember any of the details for them...

 

[pencero]

this is mine. 10 years later. Close to stock so far. Definitely will be watching your thread to see what you come up with.

 

[theoldsone]

This is a real serious build. The amount of work is just insane. If i ever decide to air ride any car im asking you how to. Lol

So what stage are you exactly at now?

 

[crucial118]

I want to see some info on that purty silver frame and associated mods, please.

 

[Rktpwrd]

This is a real serious build. The amount of work is just insane. If i ever decide to air ride any car im asking you how to. Lol

So what stage are you exactly at now?

When building a custom car with this many drastic modifications, it almost needs to be built twice. Once for construction and mock-up, and again for final assembly after paint etc. That being said, I'm in the 1st phase making interior sheetmetal modifications and fabricating. Currently, the body is bolted to the frame for strength as I make the necessary modifications. I'll go more in depth on this as my updates get closer to the present stage. Thanks for following!
Donovan

 

[Rktpwrd]

I want to see some info on that purty silver frame and associated mods, please.

It's coming up next, I promise. I've got a lot of info and details to cover on this build. I've been working on the car consistently since '08, and only started the build thread last month, so I'm a bit behind the 8 ball. I'm doing the best I can to bring you guys up to speed.

 

[Rktpwrd]

So, tonight's update should be a bit simpler than the last few, there's not as much info to give, but lots of pics you guys like. To finish off the suspension details, there's the wheels and tires and air management system to cover.

WHEELS
Front: Foose Nitrous Thrust II, 18x8, 5 x 4 3/4" bolt circle

Rear: Foose Nitrous Thrust II, 18x10, 5 x 4 3/4" bolt circle

You may have noticed I didn't make mention of the backspacing measurements, and that was on purpose. No offence meant to anyone, but sometimes there's just some things a guy wants to keep to himself. If I made that info available public, then everyone could run out to their local wheel shop and have the identical thing as me. Then the individuality of my choice wouldn't be individual anymore would it? It's not exactly a secret either tho, with some careful measuring (as I had to do), it can be figured out.

TIRES
Front: Toyo Proxes T1R's, 225/45/ZR18

Rear: Toyo Proxes T1R's, 295/35/ZR18

I only ran these tires for one summer on the street before I parked the car for the overhaul, but was impressed with them. I had some concern if they would be able to hook the car with 500 ft lbs of torque from the big block, but they did alright. They still spun, but they're not drag radials either. Overall, they were quiet, grippy, and handled well. The aspect ratio was chosen carefully. I wanted a modern look to the car, without running rubber bands, or having a tall sidewall. In addition, the height of the fronts and rears to each other is almost identical. I love the aggressive tread pattern, and I'm quite happy with my choice.

AIR MANAGEMENT

AccuAir 4 way Electronic Levelling System. 5 gallon receiver ceramic coated with stainless steel fittings, dual Viair 400C compressors, dual water traps, VU4 valve block, ExoMount modular mounting system, 4 corner ride height sensors, and Nickle Electroless touch pad.
All flexible air line included in the kit was discarded in favour of custom bent 3/8" stainless steel tubing (by yours truly of course) and high pressure braided stainless flex lines to the front 'bags. This eliminates the potential for ruptured lines, will never rust, and will be polished up for a beautiful appearance.

As with any of my major purchases, I spent hours doing my research, and this was by far the hands down winner. As much as I like Ride Tech's suspension components, I was quite disappointed in their air management offerings. I won't go into detail about all the things I didn't like about their stuff, but things like quality, packaging, and appearance played big factors. AccuAir's system is the Cadillac of systems as far as I'm concerned. Yes, it's more expensive, but the better quality made it an easy decision for me.

This is an active air management system, using ride height sensors at all 4 corners to constantly monitor ride height, with an accuracy of within 1/16th of an inch at each corner. If you load the car with passengers, fuel or luggage, the computer monitors and corrects ride height accordingly. This is not to be confused with some of the pressure based systems out there, that could, in a cornering scenario, actually deflate the loaded bags and inflate the unloaded bags, resulting in an unstable and potentially dangerous situation. Ride height is monitored by the computer several times a second, but will not adjust until a certain period of time (I think it's like 20 seconds or so) in case you're in a long sweeping corner etc. Overall, an excellent unit, beautifully engineered and well worth the $$$.

 

[mymontess]

The caliber of workmanship is incredible!

 

[Rktpwrd]

The caliber of workmanship is incredible!

Thank you for your kind comment! It means a lot.
I do all my own work. The only thing I've farmed out so far was to have a shop weld the axle housing ends on simply because I didn't have the jig or a big enough welder.

 

[oldtinsmith]

Rktpwrd, in your post #24, is your picture showing air bags in place of the stock coil springs and adjustable shocks in the factory location. I find this very interesting because I was thinking about bagging the rear of my El Camino. I use my El Camino as a truck sometime and your rear suspension set-up was suggested to me (by RideTech). I'm just curious as to what you think of me doing this.

Doug