Front Suspension update 6

Another small update, since everything seems to be going well I decided to drop the front crossmember and properly install the upper control arm cross shaft brackets, I also trimmed the crossmember to give proper clearance for the coilover shock setup. Lastly I also got the remaining pieces cut and taped together for the intake charge piping to the throttle body.

Front Suspension update 5

I got a bit more done this weekend, finally have a semi complete lower control arm and coilover mounts, still a bit more work to be done with the final design and mounting but it is getting some progress. Also got the charge piping from the turbo to the intercooler cut and held together with some tape, won't weld it all until the other side of the charge piping is ready. Later this week the pieces to complete the upper control arm and the final pieces for the front and rear swaybars will be coming in, won't get any work done to the project this weekend though......look for some major progress next week, although I will get a few things done this week.

Its going to be a tight fit to get the suspension done by May 24, but with some late nights I should be able to get it all done.

Front Suspension update 4

Yesterday and today have been fairly busy fabricating and test fitting. First I designed and built the mounts for the cross shaft to the front cradle/spaceframe bolt locations, in this design I kept the factory stock 2 degrees of anti-dive, but shifted the upper control arm up 2" so I can lower the car 2" over stock while keeping the upper control arms geometry. Unfortunately with this modification the factory metal work was in the way significantly so I had to move the pivot point of the upper control arm outwards by aprox 1" to clear the bodywork. In doing so I changed the length of the lower control arm by 1" and raised the stock FE5 cobalt ball joint by 2" to match what I have done with the upper control arm. Fortunately I am going to be running custom wheels and custom bodywork so the extra 1" shouldn't cause many issues with the car in the future.

In the pictures you will see a couple things, first off, I am using the wrong side knuckle, in short sightedness I started working on the drivers side suspension, but I only had the passenger side knuckle completed, secondly there is a small issue with the mounting plate for the lower ball joint, I need to bend and re-enforce the plate so the ball joint bolts and steering knuckle do not bind at full extension (fortunately the shock/spring combo needs to bolt in the same location so the re-enforcing plate will also mount the shock), second I haven't completed the rear part of the lower control arm, this was just a test fit I should have it completed in a day or two, also I am missing the upper control arm radius rods, they are on order and will be coming in within a week or two. Lastly the shock/spring combo is touching the stock cradle near the cross shaft, fortunately this is part of the stock spring location and can be trimmed back to give better clearance

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Front Suspension update 3

I got some more work done tonight, mostly finished up the cross shaft links, but I did do a test fit of the Impala upper ball joint on my modified ION/Cobalt front knuckle and installed the lower ball joint. Not pictured is the bent tubes for the lower control arm that I also did do today and the bushing tubes for the polyurethane bushings on the lower control arm.

Front Suspension update 2

Some more updates for the front suspension, I continued work on the upper control arm by completing the first of the links to the cross arm, I have included a custom polyurethane bushing with the racing style cross arm. It would have been easier to use a standard metal bushing setup, but I wanted a poly bushing to aid in a slightly better on road ride quality, this setup has been a big pain in my ass since everything has been custom and locating somewhat difficult parts. I might have gone a little big with the clevis and rod ends for the upper control arms, I went with 3/4", but hindsight says I probably would have been fine with 5/8", too late to change just gotta make things work now. Still waiting on a few pieces, mainly the front and rear sway bars and the weld in rod bungs for the upper control arms, although I did get some lower ball joints and thanks to my friend Alex I have a set of hubs for the front suspension setup.

Good weekend progress.

Like the title says, this weekend was a good one, performance improvements had a midnight madness sale and I grabbed a few parts on sale, mostly alum tubing and silicon turbo couplers for the intake manifold. Also borrowed a set of rims from my friend Kevin and finally after 2 years the project car has tires on it. The car isn't sitting on them the tires completely, the dolly is still there and the rear tires/suspension still has 1.5" of upward space before the spring is sitting in the spring perch, never mind the weight of the car compressing the suspension.