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Well Time to update with winter mod plans! The car has been driving excellent with the 6 speed swap, wish i would have started the build that way.
-99-02 Fbody Tank (turns out the V6 one is the same and WAY cheaper online, got it for 45 with the charcol canister etc). I also picked up a V6 sending unit since it doesnt have the regulator built in like the LS1, which is also cheaper! Should be starting that swap soon.
- MS3-Gold (still debating if I want PNP or DIY wiring, I like wiring and may want to relocate some things so I may go that route.
-Complete AJE front end, K-member, coil overs, a-arms etc. I find the AJE appears to be the nicest looking with the most options and the best price. Hopefully it will allow AC. Debating putting AC back in the car
-7875 turbo. So far thats the plans, that will be the last mod for the winter. Still debating what I want. I like the idea of the smaller package and smaller downpipe
-Drag radials, as fun as the old shitty goodyears are it is scary. With this cold weather a 60mph hit in 4th gear the car is all over the place.
Well still in debates here. I have been getting pushed to MS3-PRO. Spoke with them (DIY autotune) and they sold me on many reasons to choose them and tech support so far has been amazing.
Tough when black Friday deals come up. Gold plug and pay is $20 more then MS3-pro DIY wiring.
Made another solid purchase. Took advantage of AJEs black Friday sale.....
AJE member, a arms, LS swap mounts and 200lbs 12" coilover kit. Not too shabby $866 shipped! Hard to beat. The feature that sold me was that I can add a rack in whenever since they have provisions instead of stand offs.
Few new goodies came in! KMember is already in and fit awesome! Only issue I'm having is the new bolts and spacing on the reinforcement places for the coilovers done line up perfect with the stock camber plates. I will order some new caster camber plates. Not a huge deal. I can modify the stock ones if I want or even the new ones at work.
Been fighting with this damn coilover kit and it's coming out. First it's not for 82-92 it's for 82-86. I had to slot the hell out of my camber plates. Second the plates that hold the springs are supposed to locate to the camber plates. They didn't I had to weld up extensions so they would. And last if all this is the car at full low....
Needless to say I'm switching my coilover kit. I think the spohn camber plates will fix it. They are designed to hold a coilover spring.
Eh, I had the spohn coil over kit and wasn't a fan. You basically have zero adjustment over the front end caster/camber. I even had custom billet coil
Locators made for the top so I could run my hotpart caster camber plates and eveverything bolts up fine. However the strut hole opening in the tower doesn't leave enough room and the spring barely fits through it. I had 300lb springs recommended by spohn for my heavy BB but never took it on the street like that. I do still run the spohn coil over tower support braces still as put them on the top side and made it my mounting point for my strut tower brace.
Good luck with coil overs! I see u can't turn back as you don't have the lower control arm spring pockets or the perches on the kmember.
Sorry to hear of the issues Jay. Placement of the front wheels horizontally look a little skewed towards the front as well, but may just be the picture angle?
Would caution you on the Spohn coilover setup, as well. Spohn design provides excellent support to the strut towers, however with the springs extending through the bodies strut tower, you are very limited on adjustment. Any radical adjustments for track performance leads to spring coils rubbing against the body tower. As suspension goes up and down, coils will impact or slip by the body structure, making if sound like the front end is coming apart. Very unnerving!
Take a look at the BMR setup. It does not provide as much strut support as the Spohn design, however maintains the top of the spring below the bodies strut tower opening, allowing more adjustment and no possibility of coil spring impact with the bodies tower.
Eh, I had the spohn coil over kit and wasn't a fan. You basically have zero adjustment over the front end caster/camber. I even had custom billet coil
Locators made for the top so I could run my hotpart caster camber plates and eveverything bolts up fine. However the strut hole opening in the tower doesn't leave enough room and the spring barely fits through it. I had 300lb springs recommended by spohn for my heavy BB but never took it on the street like that. I do still run the spohn coil over tower support braces still as put them on the top side and made it my mounting point for my strut tower brace.
Good luck with coil overs! I see u can't turn back as you don't have the lower control arm spring pockets or the perches on the kmember.
Lol, we were writing at the same time.... however same results
Well leaving the suspension for now. Depending on if AJE replies or not will make my decision on what im going to do. After reviewing every coilover kit, I feel the AJE one is the best one for strut tower support and making adjustments.
I think im either going to buy some caster camber plates, possibly the Spohn ones to give me that option, or take apart the AJE kit and change everything to fit my needs and order 10" springs. Its pretty well sitting 2" too tall but hadnt been settled. I think a 10" 300lbs spring may help. Vs my 12" 200lbs. Or start looking into progressive springs.
Already gutted all the wiring for my MS3-pro install, goal is to relocate the coils and hide 90% of the wiring. Already looks a million times better without a harness.
Well leaving the suspension for now. Depending on if AJE replies or not will make my decision on what im going to do. After reviewing every coilover kit, I feel the AJE one is the best one for strut tower support and making adjustments.
I think im either going to buy some caster camber plates, possibly the Spohn ones to give me that option, or take apart the AJE kit and change everything to fit my needs and order 10" springs. Its pretty well sitting 2" too tall but hadnt been settled. I think a 10" 300lbs spring may help. Vs my 12" 200lbs. Or start looking into progressive springs.
Already gutted all the wiring for my MS3-pro install, goal is to relocate the coils and hide 90% of the wiring. Already looks a million times better without a harness.
Jay
Just a heads up, the 300# springs are stiff lol. Due to them being so far out they are technically stiffer than 800lb inner stock style springs. WHen I had them installed I couldnt force the front of the car down at all alot like my 800lb weight jacks... so expect the ride to be very stiff and esp since you dont have alot of extra weight up front.
Spohn camber plates for the coil overs i not amazing, the spring isnt allowed to pivot with the strut as the suspension travels up and down and as the wheel turns. The springs are LOCKED in a narrow tube on a flat surface. The spring will want to turn and pitch with the rest of the strut as it compresses and decompresses. This means the spring is going to either "bow" or want to kick the spring more to the edge. Ive heard the spohn camber plates you can get "popping" noises. Thats the main reason why aftermarket camber plates have sperical bearings as it allows angled movement while providing a solid movement free/flexing mount.
Jay have you looked at the racecraft coilover and caster camber plates? I have the caster camber plates installed with a Mustang strut swap and I just ordered the coil over kit with 12" 150lb springs.
Thanks for the advice fellas, Looking like Im going to somewhat re-engineer the AJE stuff with a 10" spring. AJE still hasnt reached out. I havnt had time to call them though. I do still have my weight jacks, worst case order spring perches and new a-arms.
Well another boring update, I haven't touched the suspension, we have had some mild days the last few weeks so i have been wiring away.
MS3-Pro is mostly wired up, at least the engine side of it. Actually connected to it last night with the laptop. Hoping to get the Wideband/Tach/VSS and Fuel pump done by the weekend. It has been quite time consuming since I used braided sleeve for the entire harness. Also tried to wire tuck anything possible, spun the injectors around so the harness is inside the rails etc
Progress!!!! Got the car fired on the first crank, Just dealing with a hanging idle but I think im going to reset the throttle stop and TPS. I did lots of messing with the stock PCM to get it to fire on cold starts so I may as well start fresh. The auto tune feature on MS3 is amazing. Fired my car up and was seeing 10.7ish AFR, hit autotune and within minutes 14.7 afr
Also ordered a new set of wheels. Went with XXR 526 in chromium. 18x10.5 and 18x9 front. More than likely ill be doing 295/245's. Im hoping to spin the car around next week and tear into the rear end and gas tank. I need to narrow the rear end back to 3rd gen width for the new wheels. I wont see them for a few weeks since they are on back order though.
Ya it was like that when I got it. It's not crushed just had like a twist to it. I plan on changing the turbo anyways so when that happens a new intake will be made.
Hoping for some video footage soon. Wheels came in yesterday and look fantastic! It will be a while before they go on because I need to order axles and narrow it. Anyone happen to know the difference from a 4th? Some say 1.5 some 1.625 and some say 2" per side. I measured with my new wheels and 2" should still fit with no mods.
Just for ***** I bolted them onto my rear end. I wanna flare my car like signfactoryadams on Instagram with clinched flares but I don't have the ***** to cut my car up.
i also stopped bye shaft masters for my new driveshaft. Went with a steel 0.90 wall with a sonnex forged yoke. Wasnt a fan of the engagement with the aluminum I had.
I also installed my 4th gen plastic tank last night. What a giant pita. So tight to the body. Hard to run lines. Had to drive all over the place to find hose to make a filler neck and I found out the hard way it fills real slow. Around midnight I grabbed my 25 liter gas can and went to dump it in and it went all over the place.
Well the car is back on the ground ready to text! Waiting on clear roads, we had another snow storm last week and the salt trucks killed the streets!
Sidenote Tires are in! I was debating cheaper tires to get by but said screw it, discount tire had a sale on ebay, spend 450+ get 100 off so i bought the fronts and rears seperate. Total was $760 shipped!
Nitto Invo 295/35/r18 and 275/35/r18 Cant wait to have these mounted. Lat piece of the puzzle will be the axles then shorten the rear end. That may not happen for a month or so. ill do all my tuning with y ZR1 setup for now.
Wheels should hopefully get bolted on this weekend. I dropped the rear end off today to get narrowed and new dual bolt pattern axles made. Ordered some more suspension parts. Going with the Spohn caster camber plates and throwing all of the AJE stuff in the garbage. May work for a stock ride height car but not for my car. Basically im at the point were I can go as low as the kit will allow and have maybe 1" of strut travel left.
So i ordered the AJE spring perches as my last resort and also ordered the spohn caster plates and lower coilover support plates to see if I can get enough camber out of the kit as is. If not I will be going back to my weight jacks. At least the spohn camber plates wont be a waste. I needed the 1" raised regardless.
I should add, other than getting the suspension dialed in the car has been running beautiful on the MS3-pro. Still need to work on cold start but drive ability I would say is better than my stock PCM tune
Yes I ditched all the AJE coil over stuff since I was literally bottoming the struts out. Called up Spohn and ordered their camber plates which holds coilover springs and their coilover stiffening plate that mounts under the strut tower. Now I currently have it around 35mm raised from bottom with a 12" spring. I may end up raising the front a tad. We will see if it runs. I also installed a Spohn bumpsteer kit.
The back is as low as it will possibly go. I eventually want coil over rear so I can stop dealing with the springs popping out when I jack it up. I have already trimmed like 3/4" off the rear end spring perch to get it lower with the weight jacks.
I also sold my Spohn rear coil over kit. I wasn't happy with the shock angle as you lower it. I think you dont need it honestly... coil over kits dont exactly increase performance or ride quality over the stock system. Your best bet and cheaper would be to get some progressive springs.
I had an issue with my cut circle track springs with weight jacks, falling out when jacked up. I now since have gone with vogtland lowering springs and I actually had to compress them to get them in. They use collapsed springs to keep them in the pockets and the dead coils increase the spring rate sorta like a progressive spring. My rear looks about as low as you and I had to put the stock isolator back in bc it was even lower my like 1/2-1".
Here's how it looks with the vogtlands and rear spring isolator. They have like a 170-230lb spring rate. Just get a progressive spring and slap it in, you could prob go shorter if you want some more adjustability.
Finally wired up the 2step. Testing at 4000rpm pulling 8 degrees timing. Woulda stayed on it longer but the neighbors probably already hate my car lol.
Took the car for a nice 30min drive yesterday, running great, raised the front another 1/4" as i had slight rub and i have the struts at full firm
Not much to add but I must say I am so happy I went with the ms3pro being 6 speed. The car is such a blast to drive now. With the 2 step at 4000 rpm the car is such an animal from a roll. Rolling launch control is pretty amazing.
I switched out my innovate scg-1 for an arm wideband last night since I don't need all the features anymore. Should be testing no lift shift soon!
Not much to add but I must say I am so happy I went with the ms3pro being 6 speed. The car is such a blast to drive now. With the 2 step at 4000 rpm the car is such an animal from a roll. Rolling launch control is pretty amazing.
I switched out my innovate scg-1 for an arm wideband last night since I don't need all the features anymore. Should be testing no lift shift soon!
Jay
You ditched the SCG1 for a regular wideband? Lol. Why not just use it and just not activate the wastegate control? I'll take it off your hands if u want to give it away
the innovare stuff is so much nicer than anything autometer ive ever had.
I was able to recouped a bunch of cash by switching. Plus I eventually will be working with boost by gear or speed. I really did like the scg-1 as it matched my gauge setup but just a waste now for my setup. All my tuning is done on my phone now or my 7" tab I bought just for tuning.
Well as an update this is the cars current status. long story short 2500 Ram is much taller than my car. Took out the fender and front fascia. Car is going solid Arctic White.
I was ready to buy a billet 78mm and hooker cast turbo manifold setup and hooker AC brackets. After getting quotes there was no way i was going to colour match the stock yellowed Clear. So full respray.
I wanted to send the car out for paint eventually anyways. At least this way most of its covered. Just sucks on timing. Lost 3 weeks with the car. My summers are already short lived here!
Should have it back together next week. Just in time to go on vacation lol
We'll she is finally home. Don't mind the disaster in my garage. Camaro parts, father in law's moving and our new trailer is coming lol
Once she is back together it's going back in for a cut and polish! Started thrashing last night since we leave for vacation tomorrow night. Sadly it probably won't be back together for a couple weeks
If you want to close your doors with one finger, get Steele rubber products seals. Makes you feel like you're driving a nice car not having to slam your doors.
11-11-2016, 08:56 AM
