Wheel width?

[cudabuyer]

will,

is that your cuda with all the exceptionally beautiful front & rear suspension?  who did it & cost?

Joel

[willhaven]

Nope! Not mine. I'm just an admirer at the moment. I still don't have any other vehicle than my 2004 Acura TL.

Here's some info on the suspension parts he used.

He used this on the front end:
http://www.reillymotorsports.com/pricing.shtml
http://www.reillymotorsports.com/instructions/installation_manual.pdf
http://www.reillymotorsports.com/gallery/showgallery.php?cat=502

This is the rear end he used:
http://www.heidts.com/heiirs.htm

F'ing expensive, but very cool looking parts. I bet those cars stick to the road like glue now.

[falcon50flier]

they do stick......Matt's cars have raised the bar for all the other builders. That cuda was the inspiration for a lot of the tricks I did to my Chall convertible.

Bill Reilly builds the real deal. Modern suspension geometry (optimized caster, bump steer, lower roll center), huge weight savings (over 100 lb of steering gear, linkage, torsion bars, strut rods, stamped A frames), high quality race strength fabrications, and many brake and steering options (Mustang II compatible).

Note also that Matts car is a "complete system". The X brace and subframe connectors are as essential as the Heidts IRS and AlterKtion.

here's an AlterKtion going together. Wheel specs follow.

[falcon50flier]

Rear setup is similar to hemidog above. 3/4 relocation kit, American Muscle shackles, B body width hub to hub, with Wilwood 4 piston rears. I ended up having a custom length and arch 6 leaf spring setup made at a local spring shop, instead of using the A body part, but you can get there either way. I had DTS build my rear end assembly complete around a Strange S60 case, Eaton Posi-Lok, Richmond gears, and Strange S/T axles with green bearings, and I highly recommend going this hub-to-hub route with a shop that stands behind their work. The only thing I left loose was the perches so I could weld them up in position once I had the stance and pinion angle setup.

My latest wheels are 17 x 8 front with 4.25" backspace and 17 x 9.5 rear with 5.5 backspace (to inside of rim bead). I have 1/4" spacers in the rear to get a little more leaf spring clearance as this wheel measures to inside of rim bead. (Note - e-body rear frame rails tolerances are notoriously askew, placing your rear perches +/- 1/4" at the rear bushings if you're lucky.) Rubber is 245/45-17 front, and 275/40-17 rear. In back, I have room for a 1/2" more rim (outside), and 3/4" more tire.

As hemidog describes, e-brake setup on a rear disc conversion is McGyver territory. You have to be ready to do some fabrications, chase a lot of nitsh&$t parts, etc. The Wilwood setup with a small drum brake in the rotor hat for e-brake (really a PARKING brake) uses Ford Explorer cable e-brake parts, and several hot rod parts suppliers carry them.

[HemiDog]

Ummmm...  Tasty pictures! 

[ttmott]

Rear setup is similar to hemidog above. 3/4 relocation kit, American Muscle shackles, B body width hub to hub, with Wilwood 4 piston rears. I ended up having a custom length and arch 6 leaf spring setup made at a local spring shop, instead of using the A body part, but you can get there either way. I had DTS build my rear end assembly complete around a Strange S60 case, Eaton Posi-Lok, Richmond gears, and Strange S/T axles with green bearings, and I highly recommend going this hub-to-hub route with a shop that stands behind their work. The only thing I left loose was the perches so I could weld them up in position once I had the stance and pinion angle setup.

My latest wheels are 17 x 8 front with 4.5" backspace and 17 x 9.5 rear with 5.5 backspace (to inside of rim bead). I have 1/4" spacers in the rear to get a little more leaf spring clearance as this wheel measures to inside of rim bead. (Note - e-body rear frame rails tolerances are notoriously askew, placing your rear perches +/- 1/4" at the rear bushings if you're lucky.) Rubber is 245/45-17 front, and 275/40-17 rear. In back, I have room for a 1/2" more rim (outside), and 3/4" more tire.

As hemidog describes, e-brake setup on a rear disc conversion is McGyver territory. You have to be ready to do some fabrications, chase a lot of nitsh&$t parts, etc. The Wilwood setup with a small drum brake in the rotor hat for e-brake (really a PARKING brake) uses Ford Explorer cable e-brake parts, and several hot rod parts suppliers carry them.

Great Info here - THANKS
RMS is building an AlterKtion for my 70 Cuda' but is making the track wider for the ShockWave shocks; overall it's only .75" wider per side.  Bill at RMS tells me that the 4.5-inch backspacing with an 8 X 17 rim will not work; he says I will need 5.75" backspacing with the added hat thickness of the Wilwood brakes.  How did you get the 4.5" backspacing to work?

In the rear I'm installing a Chassisworks ProStreet 4 Link with a panhard using a B-Body Dana 60 which will allow me to tuck some 10 X 17 rims under.

[falcon50flier]

ttmott

sorry I fat fingered the front wheel size - they're 17 x 7. And the backspace is actually 4 1/4. I'll correct the posting. If Bill Reilly says it, its generally the straight story in my experience, so my bad on the wheel size..

how about some specs and color on the 4 link you're doing!

[ttmott]

I'm putting the CA Chassisworks Pro Street 4 link under it with the poly bushings rather than the heim joints.  The link bars are chrome plated and the rest will be black power coated.  I opted for the VariShock single adjustable coilovers with 150# springs.  Currently looking for a suitable anti-roll bar.
The biggest thing now is to get the geometery (height of front mount vs. axle height) and bar locations designed.  The front mount will cut into the pan under the rear seat about two inches and have clearance for the top bars channeled towards the back in the pan.

[falcon50flier]

Alston's setup should work great, nice looking parts. I gave serious thought to a similar Art Morrison setup, they're only 20 miles from me. I ended up staying leaf spring because the convertibles are getting too precious to cut. I even passed on a 3" relocation kit because of the notch in the frame rail.

Sounds like you're thinking pro touring as opposed to drag only setup. It will be very busy in the axle arch for the sway bar (if you're running the exhaust over), should be fun to sort out. FirmFeel can custom bend a bar for you once you know where you want to drop the links.

All the best.

[ttmott]

It's turning out to be quite the project.  It is also a hemi project but twin turbocharged with FAST engine management system.  Keisler is putting together their Tremec TKO 600 5 speed with a Mcleod Street Twin and hydraulic throw out bearing package together for me; should be getting that in the mail in a week or so.  RMS should be complete with the front in about a month.  I had RMS also get the Wilwood 12.19 drilled disc brakes for all four.  I am also putting a hydroboost system on it.  The engine is currently a 476 hemi that I'm destroking back to a 426 with 9.0:1 Wiseco's and K1 H-beam rods.  The crank is an NOS Kellog radius fillet that I've had in the attic for many years.  Heads are pretty much stock aluminum MP's but with the proper roller springs.  I've been working with Burns Stainless on the exhaust tubing (It's a mess up front) and oval stainless out to the back.  The jury is still out on wheels; I do like the Foose 500 series wheels except for the rivet look....  I have worked extensively with the Chassisworks people to get the correct geometry for the back suspension;  The optimum intersect point for the bars for my setup (rally / touring) is 191 inches in front of the rear axle.

The key here is the body will look completely original; no hints to any modifications other than the wheels and brakes.  I'm not doing anything to the car that can't be reversed.  I don't blame you for not doing anything to the conv.; hope you have the frames tied however.  That engine will buckle the rear quarters if you don't...

Tom

[falcon50flier]

Oh yeh Tom, you're right about a Hemi pretzel-ing an unreinforced e-body. Mines got over 650 ft/lb and a fairly tight converter, and man, what a torque shot to the chassis. BTW, Matt Delaney told me when he was building his latest "392" vert that when he put the unmodified car on the frame machine he could skew the chassis 3/4" out of square with only 50# of pull!

I run the Magnum force frame connectors plus I welded up torque boxes (factory installed on all verts) and other weak factory areas. It is on the road, almost 1,000 miles now, and very road worthy. Handles awesome too, with a ride quality that the torsion bars can't deliver. (I've switched back and forth between 450# and 550# front springs with QA1 adjustable shocks. I'm staying with the 450's now.) I don't have a rear bar on it, and will explore autocross handling late this summer after the show commitments slow down.

First outing it took 1st in the ProTouring class at the Seattle Roadster Show to kick off the season..

[ttmott]

Very clean - I was wondering what springs you had.  We settled to start with the 500# springs and the single adjustable QA1's for mine.  All of the turbo equipment in front of the engine will add probably 150#.

BTW did you know one of your shocks is upside down???

[falcon50flier]

Ha! Thats a Bill Reilly trick. You can install ALterK shocks either way, upside down you reduce the unsprung weight a tad. Good catch tho. Also note those are AFCO shocks, not the QA1s I run now. Bill has gone away from the AFCOs now I think.

Off the chassis subject, but who/where are you doing the engine development? Will you dyno it first to set up the FAST and get calibrations in the ballpark?

(I did a dyno breakin and carb setup for initial tune and it was well worth it. I'd think with the FAST that its essential.)

[ttmott]

This is my second turbo hemi project.  The first was a 472 with the Electromotive engine management.  The engine dyno time about ruined the financial end of the project and, you know, really didn't take the power to a new level as I had thought.  The fuel map was dead nuts on however.  On this one I can get the base cal done with the FAST XFI software and do the rest on the cheaper chassis dyno.  The FAST has an integral data acquisiton feature.  I want to see how the suspension loads on the chassis dyno anyway.  The real big difference and new territory is the distributorless ignition system I'm going to try.  There will be some interesting fab here to get the cam position data to the ECU etc.  Some other challenging nuggets is there will be virtually no room in front of the engine so only two belt driven components will be used, alternator and PS pump and they will be mounted about level with the crank.  The water pump is a CSR remote electric unit.  Lastly, of interest, Bill at RMS is not attaching the motor mounts to the AlterK and also leaving them long.  I will be centering the engine in the chassis so the header tubes can get to the front on the passenger side.  This means some work on the tunnel.