Ok i've built up my car pretty stout, including engine, tranny, suspension, everything.. I've started doing some weight reduction to it in the process inluding aluminum heads, aluminum water pump, AC delete, chromoly kmember & a-arms, removed sway bar, fiberglass hood, etc. Problem is that now my front end sits probly a good 1.5 inchs higher than stock

My IROC is primarily setup for the drag strip (spohn TA, QA1 shocks, lakewood LCAs w/ relocatino brackets, airbags) so i dont want it slammed down, not to mention my LT's and true duals won't like it much either. Now what should i do, idealy i'd like my front end to be at MOST 1 inch lower than stock. Do i go buy springs (what brand), cut my stockers, heat the stockers, any other suggestions? i dont have a pic of the front wheel gap though, maybe tomorrow i'll post one..

 

i'd cut off half a coil and see what that gets you. if you look on my car domain site.....all those pics of my front end WAY up are with the motor IN the car as well. i gotta drop it all and cut some coils too, although i'm switching to drag springs so i'll have to cut them as well.

 

Looks high when you see the tie rod ends angled down away from the center link. Try swapping in a set of V6 springs first. IROC springs have a very stiff spring rate. Good for cornering but bad for drag racing.

Your back end looks a little high or it might just be that you have the LCA installed in the bottom holes of the relocation brackets. When I was still running LCA and a torque arm mine were low like that also. You should see the wrinkle in the tranny tunnel and floor under where the rear seat was from all the torque pushing up on the LCA.

For strip only, you can get rid of that upper brace above the panhard bar. It's not much weight but every little bit counts.

 

Id have to say i would try cutting the springs a little. I have to say, you're engine compartment is downright beautifull. I plan on getting those same valve covers for the 383 im building. Whats that engine got in it? im hoping you're forged with that fogger setup.

 

Thanks for the replies, I might try the v6 spring idea. Any idea about the ride height of a v6 spring, is it about the same as my iroc's only with a lesser spring rate? If i were to try cutting a 1/2 coil off, how much would you expect it to drop? Seems like a small amount, but i really dont know..

As for my motor, it is built to the hills. its a 383 w/ Lunati forged "Pro Mod" crank, rods and pistons. Solid roller cam, 11:1 comp., afr 210 w/ 100% cnc port & o-ringed for nitrous.. too much more to list.. it dyno'd 550hp naturally aspirated, and then i have the 250 hit on top of that, should scoot pretty good, hoping for 9's on the juice and then i wanna drive it home.

 

wow....that picture just made me all giddy.......sorry, i got a pa k member and a-arms on the way, i can't wait for all the room under there.

also, there is a ton of weight gone off the front of my car, i didn't have any height problems at all, ......we'll see after i get the k-frame in

 

Put the V6 springs in first and see how much the front drops before doing any cutting. My V6 springs are uncut and the ride height is just about right now. Even with the BBC, my front end is lighter than most third gens. Last year my front weight was around 1800 pounds. I'm expecting about 1600 now after the winter projects. I won't know for sure until I get across a scale.

Aluminum BBC heads and tubular k-member with a-arms helped. I also moved the engine back 1".

 

Any pics on how you did that? I was thinking about how much of an effect that would have on weight and was wondering if it'd be worth it.

 

with a stock type street car, the distributor would definitely hit the firewall i would think

 

Nothing a little work with a grinder and a welder wouldn't fix.

I used to be into Novas and the big problem was converting from points to HEI. Sometimes if the engine would torque, it would crack the dist. cap against the firewall. Well, a fix for that was either get out the BFH or cut out a section and weld in a plate that would move it back an inch or so.

Definately not something that can't be fixed, besides, if you have to pull the motor to do that, it gives you time to weld up all the other little holes in the firewall

 

I don't use motor mounts. The front of my engine is supported by motor plates. I just had to cut off the mounts I had welded on the front frame rails and weld some new ones on. My driver side head is now right up against the firewall.

There's a lot more than just moving engine mounts. Last fall I cut out most of the tranny tunnel in front of the shifter and fabricated a larger tunnel to allow better access to the bellhousing bolts. After the engine move, I still have no access. The tranny dipstick tube is also right up against the firewall.

Because the transmission also goes back, I fabricated a new tranny crossmember. Along with moving everything back I also dropped the engine down as low as it could go mainly because I needed header clearance.

I was lucky that my driveshaft was already a bit too short so moving everything back means my driveshaft is very close to the proper length now.

I use a small MSD distributor and all of the upper cowl part of the firewall has been removed so I still have good access to the distributor.

 

Thanks for the reply, Steve. Sounds a little too indepth for my level right now, but it's a good thing to know for the future.

 

what headers are on the car snksknrz28 by the way the car looks good man

 

my headers are Hooker 1 3/4 long tubes coated by HPC.

I am gonna give the v6 springs a whirl i think, all in all this is the stance that i want my car to have whether it means heating, cutting, whatever it takes :




If i had to buy the kmember over again i might switch to coil overs but its to late now so i gotta work with what i have.

 

Sorry for the double post, heres some pix of what i'm dealing with..

Front wheel gap


Front End


Front end height measured next to a gallon jug of Fast Orange


And the Rear with the same jug, Stock ride height on the rear


Rear stock ride height again


That is easily a 2 inch difference, i couldn't believe it when i measured it against the gallon jug, i could barely slide the jug under the front end. I must fix this, its killing me!

 

open the hood, and lean on the radiator support with all your weight.....see if it settles.....if it does at all you're probably good, because it will still settle to ride height even further after it rolls out some

 

Looks like mine did a while ago. When I finally got it off the jack stands it still sat high like that. I pushed down both corners and it dropped to where it was supposed to be.

The black car in the above pics looks like it sits lower than mine does. I can't drop mine any lower or the header collectors would drag. I just don't have any more room under the car. At the rear, I already cut the bottom hole off the front ladder bar mounts.

 

i think alot of what causes that is stiction in the suspension, with the a-arms and balljoints etc......plus the lateral grip the tires have on the ground, they need to move outward as the car goes down....that self corrects when it rolls forward or backward too

 

Not trying to change the subject but your air bag looks like its on the drivers side do you have two air bags or one? Do the v6 springs you will have better wt transfer.

 

Yes i have airbags on both sides, i bought the Airlift 1000 kit, came with both so i installed them. I probly wont even use the driver side but its there if i need it. With as much power as i got and using a 10.5 inch tire i'm gonna need every little tweak i can get to get the car to hook.

My car did just come off the jackstands, i didn't even think of that i'll open the garage door and roll it out, and see what that does for me. also i'll try leaning on the front corners abit. I think i'm still gonna try the v6 springs reguardless just for the better weight transfer aspect of it.