The engine is sitting in the car. I have the tubular crossmember and A-arms installed. I have uncut V6 springs in the front. The center link has been flipped over to allow the engine to be dropped down lower.

The car is still sitting on jack stands and the front ones are under the a-arms. The springs are still not compressed enough for the tie rods to come up to level with the center link.

Is the front end now too light for the springs? From what I've seen with a flipped center link or cut coils, the tie rods need to be dropped down with a bump steer kit to make them level again. Mine are still too low. I'm considering cutting the coils but can't until the rest of the car is together and the wheels are on the ground to do a final height check.

 

That sucks! Why not get a set of custom springs made for it?

Kat

 

I'd wait till you at least set it on the ground and roll it around the block once... they will take a set lower then what you're seing now.

OTOH, if they're early 3rd gen v6 springs I would expect them to end up at about stock ride height for a later car or slightly higher (the early 3rd gens had like 4" fender lip to wheel clearance)

 

Hmmm. I don't know what year springs I grabbed but that sounds like what I might have. With the tiny 165R15 front tires it looks like I have a 4x4 with all the fender clearence.

The trick is going to be getting it down enough so that the oil pan is no less than 3" off the ground. It might be a bit higher or I'll never get the car onto the trailer without the headers catching on the end of the trailer. Time to sell the open trailer and buy an enclosed one

 

I've got an '85 that was a v6 and I put a small block in and I haven't touched the front suspension yet. It sits at about stock ride height, or a little under. It sat really high at first, but settled within a couple of days.

 

steve, when i put the drag springs in my car, i had the car sitting on jackstands just like your talking about, and i said the same thing.....and that was with a factory k and a arms.

once i put the wheels on and let it sit down on the ground it settled back to where it should be

 

Generally speaking, you can never have the front of the car too light. I don't know what the weight distribution is off-hand but you have to go a long way to get one to 50/50.

 

Is this on your drag car? Although not ideal for drag racing you can run the sportlines up front with the option of cutting a bit off of them. Lots of guys do that with this spring when they have weight reduction measures as drastic as yours.

 

I don't know what the current weight distribution is. Last year it was around 1700 on the front and 1300 on the rear.

This winter saw some major changes.
The tubular k-member and a-arms.
Aluminum heads
Added weight with a heavier tunnel ram and second carb
Aluminum con rods
Larger headers
Cut out much of the upper part of the firewall (all that stuff that normally covers the wiper stuff.)
I've also moved the engine back about an inch. The headers are now wedged between the frame rails and the driver side head is touching the firewall.

It could be just how the car is sitting on the jack stands but I'm sure the front end is much lighter than the spring rate of those springs. Once I get the nose of the car back on (about 20 pounds of plastic) and take the hood off the roof and put it back on, the front end will get a little more weight.

I'd like to get the race weight down to 2800 pounds or less sitting on the starting line. I'm expecting to make a 9 second pass this year if I get everything back together in time.

 

Update

I finally have the car sitting on all 4 wheels. The front end still looked high until I pushed down on the car. The drag struts must have been still extended because when I pushed down on both corners, the front end dropped down perfectly.

The tie rods are just about perfectly in line with the center link so I'm not going to need a bump steer kit. The opening between the top of the front tire and the fender isn't as bad as it normally looks with 165R15 tires.

The collecters for the new headers sit "real" low. I'm guessing about 3" of ground clearance. Might be a little interesting getting on and off the trailer.

 

my headers can't have more than 3" steve.....i wouldnt worry too much about it

 

I had the same issue when I swapped engines on my TA, it sat a few inches higher than before even after pushing on it, it didn't settle back to normal until i drop it off the drive way and around the block... still a little higher but that's due to the AC delete, Cruise Control delete, etc etc...

 

I would still do a bump steer check.
Yea watch those headers when you riding up the trailer.
I love weight reduction, do all that lightening stuff then your riding up high like a truck then put the lowering springs on and you back about to stock hight.

 

Considering the ends of the collectors are right at the tranny mount, it might cause problems getting on and off the trailer since they're back so far. It's going to be a while before I know. The back alley is still full of ice and snow and I don't even know if the engine runs yet. When I finally load the car up to take it to the alignment shop I'll have to check header clearances at the back of the trailer.