Just ordered XV level II suspension

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Offline gkring

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Re: Just ordered XV level II suspension
« Reply #135 on: November 27, 2008 - 07:16:03 PM »
sorry for the confusion. It has always been the large ford torino bearing, the question was whether to use a Ford 9 inch Bolt pattern on the housing end or use a standard Mopar bolt pattern. I still think it may be better to use Ford bolt pattern if you are having a rear built from scratch or narrowed, or chevy 12 bolt style as well since rear brake kits are going to be more popular for them. We originally kept it Mopar because Cass assumed I was going with the XV brakes as well as the suspension and they are setup for Mopar bolt pattern and standard bearings. He would have had to modify them a little for the bigger bearing diameter, but that was no big deal. He is having to do the same with the Mopar Wilwood kit. My original plan was to use C6 Z06 corvette brakes. 14 inch front 6 piston PBR calipers and 13 inch 4 piston rears. Complete setups readily available under $1500. Problem is the rear parking brakes would have to be custom made. Couple companies make adapters to use these rear brakes on fords and chevies, but they have no plans to do it for a Mopar. Since I wanted front and rear to match by the time I had adapters made and bought little better rotors i would have spent as much as the Wilwoods. the corvette calipers are a little heavier and bulkier than the wilwoods. The corvette rotors are also cast and very heavy as well. On top of that they are all cast as left sides, so the right side rotors have the vanes facing backwards.
Greg
1970 Challenger convertible-in process
1970 Barracuda driver




Offline MoparCar

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Re: Just ordered XV level II suspension
« Reply #136 on: November 28, 2008 - 09:59:48 AM »
Thanks, now I understand.
Wes

Offline gkring

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Re: Just ordered XV level II suspension
« Reply #137 on: November 30, 2008 - 12:55:13 AM »
Made alot more progress on the front end the last few days.
Here's a pic of the preassembled and welded upper control arm bracket and shock mount.
« Last Edit: November 30, 2008 - 12:59:29 AM by gkring »
Greg
1970 Challenger convertible-in process
1970 Barracuda driver

Offline gkring

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Re: Just ordered XV level II suspension
« Reply #138 on: November 30, 2008 - 01:13:11 AM »
I had already cut out the old mount. Of course all this had to be cleaned up and reprimed, then the spots that were going to get welded got sanded back clean. I had to make a shim out of flat 3/32 bar to take up a gap on the backside between the mount and the inner fender. Part of the welding will be from these holes to the backside of the mount so it needs to be pretty close. Don't want any of this coming loose later!!
Greg
1970 Challenger convertible-in process
1970 Barracuda driver

Offline gkring

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Re: Just ordered XV level II suspension
« Reply #139 on: November 30, 2008 - 01:22:43 AM »
Here is the mount prefitted and after welding. Getting pretty interesting trying to weld up all the holes. I had to make some 1.25 inch circles out of the 3/16 plate to fill in the holes on the engine side and weld them up as well as the original control arm mounts. Notice the circles from the weld penetration on the engine side holes in the second picture.
« Last Edit: November 30, 2008 - 01:27:04 AM by gkring »
Greg
1970 Challenger convertible-in process
1970 Barracuda driver

Offline gkring

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Re: Just ordered XV level II suspension
« Reply #140 on: November 30, 2008 - 01:33:13 AM »
After the first round of grinding there were a few voids left to fill in with small tack welds.
Greg
1970 Challenger convertible-in process
1970 Barracuda driver

Offline gkring

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Re: Just ordered XV level II suspension
« Reply #141 on: November 30, 2008 - 01:40:03 AM »
Everything all cleaned up and primed for now. Will sand back down later when we start the body work and put a little bondo on it and smooth things out nicer on the engine side. I think I will put some kind of cap or plug in the original shock hole. Welding it up and filling it in just doesn't look right to me for some reason. I have plenty of time to do it later if I want. probably be a month at least before I get the Dana back and the brakes. Then the car can go back on the ground and wait to get into the bodyshop. Need the time to save up some money. all the metal is bought, just going to be expensive putting it all on. Trunk pan, full floor pan, inner fenders, both quarters, and various areas of rust repair on the trunk gutters, windshiedl frame, and firewall. Sounds bad, but at least it waill all be new when done and probably better than original. Not a whole lot of choices out there when it comes to convertible mopars. You can pay top dollar for a done car, but then I would have just had to redo it to this pro-touring style and you still take your chances.
« Last Edit: November 30, 2008 - 01:49:28 AM by gkring »
Greg
1970 Challenger convertible-in process
1970 Barracuda driver

Offline thedodgeboys

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Re: Just ordered XV level II suspension
« Reply #142 on: November 30, 2008 - 08:54:59 AM »
looks like the front is a better fit than the rear was  :dunno: what do you think your the one doing the work?

It looks sweet  :drool: you are doing a lot of great how to posting, THANKS.  :bigshades:
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Offline gkring

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Re: Just ordered XV level II suspension
« Reply #143 on: December 01, 2008 - 09:59:29 PM »
looks like the front is a better fit than the rear was  :dunno: what do you think your the one doing the work?

It looks sweet  :drool: you are doing a lot of great how to posting, THANKS.  :bigshades:

Much easier so far. The front crossmember is just using the stock boltholes for now. I am not going to weld in the extra mounting tubes until I get the car on a frame rack and make sure everything is square and where it is supposed to be. I was able to mount this crossmemember with the lower arms on it all by myself without a jack or supports. So far it has been just slight grinding for clearance, retapping threads deeper and cleaner, and a little tweaking to make things fit. The rear had to have a few parts modified are completely remade to work correctly. SO far it looks like there is enough travel in the front to drop the car a little lower than what XV has setup. I am not going to drop it in the weeds since I won't have the air ride to adjust it up and down on the fly.
« Last Edit: December 01, 2008 - 10:05:04 PM by gkring »
Greg
1970 Challenger convertible-in process
1970 Barracuda driver

Offline MoparCar

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Re: Just ordered XV level II suspension
« Reply #144 on: December 02, 2008 - 01:07:31 AM »
Those pictures draw me to XV..... I keep telling myself AlterKation, but........very nice.

Offline jvike

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Re: Just ordered XV level II suspension
« Reply #145 on: December 02, 2008 - 02:14:35 PM »
Good work there Greg, what chassis stiffening are you doing?
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Offline gkring

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Re: Just ordered XV level II suspension
« Reply #146 on: December 02, 2008 - 02:32:07 PM »
complete XV kit minus the engine compartment brace. Xv would not tell me what the additional mod is they do to the convertibles and I can't figure it out from their magazine article pictures. They say they only install it on the complete cars they build in house. Can't be too critical or they would offer it seperately. I am guessing it has to do with bracing the area above the third link against the body better since there is no roof or package tray to stiffen up the back half of the car. I will probably try to add somthing there once we redo the wheel wells. I may also stich weld some of the body seams in various places in addition to fake spot/MIG welding the replacement panels.
Greg
1970 Challenger convertible-in process
1970 Barracuda driver

Offline thedodgeboys

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Re: Just ordered XV level II suspension
« Reply #147 on: December 02, 2008 - 06:13:32 PM »
I added a brace under my car from where the old torsion bar mounted to the front of the frame before it turns up into the engine bay for extra rigidness and to minimize twisting so far it has made a big difference when I jack it up but I have not driven it yet.

(Not my frame but what gave me the idea I used square stock and went about 6 inches longer)
« Last Edit: December 02, 2008 - 06:20:38 PM by thedodgeboys »
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Offline gkring

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Re: Just ordered XV level II suspension
« Reply #148 on: December 02, 2008 - 06:17:06 PM »
Wow, pretty much a back halved chassis car without the cage! I didn't realize you had that much going on under there.
Greg
1970 Challenger convertible-in process
1970 Barracuda driver

Offline gkring

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Re: Just ordered XV level II suspension
« Reply #149 on: December 17, 2008 - 01:14:28 AM »
Cleaning out the camera today and found a couple more pics of the rear where I put the sway bar in loosely for now to show how it will all end up. I will still be tweaking the third link mount at the body and probably will have to raise up the sway bar bushings a little. I am suprised how much stuff has to change just from an inch or two difference in ride height.
Greg
1970 Challenger convertible-in process
1970 Barracuda driver