Great boxers! My Pretzel is 50% boxer, then Heinz 57! Hey is a great dog with endless energy and enthusiasm.
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Great boxers! My Pretzel is 50% boxer, then Heinz 57! Hey is a great dog with endless energy and enthusiasm.
I have managed to get my MII cross member put together, welded, and smoothed the welds out. I also got everything installed for the lower tubular A-arms. Once I get the cross member welded in place, I'll add gussets from the rear A-arm tube, to the bottom of my frame. My phone is being a POS so no pics yet. :LOL:
Sounds like a bunch of nice progress. Yeah.. I was gonna take a cheap shot... but Mr. Spears says I need to cut you some slack...
sigh... it's difficult but... you've been working hard in to many directions. So, I'll keep my pie hole shut.:rolleyes::LOL::rolleyes::LOL::p:p:p
This time
I remember when I put my MII kit on, it really did go pretty good. I still can't believe I was 20 yrs younger then :HMMM: I hear ya on the phone too, my contract is up so mysteriously my phone started acting up, weird huh :mad:
I swear they program the phones to know when they are paid off. My last payment on this phone was this month. I find that very weird to say the least. I'm up in the air what to do right now. I've thought about cheaping out but having a smart phone is definitely handy. :LOL:
Ryan, If you are real cheap like myself, and have AT&T head to Walmart, buy the Samsung Smart Phone Go Phone for under 60 bucks, pull out your old sim card, slide it in the Go Phone and have at it, email, camera, video, text, internet etc all for the cheap. Even has a slot for a extra SD card to add extra storage. You also wont cry if you drop it in water so much. Matt
You're just pushin' that button... aren't ya! :LOL::LOL::LOL::LOL::LOL::LOL::LOL:
I didn't get much time to work in the garage this weekend. I did get quite a bit done on the exhaust for the blue ford though. On Saturday, I had to baby sit the boys while momma and my daughter were at a girl day. On Sunday we took them to the zoo and a park afterwards because it was the last day of their spring break. Here is a picture of my cross member. I'm going to get it put on this week.
I've been dreading this day for a while because I didn't want to screw it up. But, I have to say, it went really well. The welder's series instructions are thorough and explain what you need to do and why.
I measured everything 3-15 times, and finally cut the notches in the cross member, leveled it and tacked it in place. Rechecked, then welded it in place. It's already so much nicer than what was done before. I still have to weld on the boxing plates. I'm going to box in the lower area too since I have tubular a arms. Tomorrow I'm hoping to get the uppers done. Then I can put the control arms on and work out my air bag mounts. :D
"......I measured everything 3-15 times, and finally cut the notches in the cross member, leveled it and tacked it in place......"
Been there done that A LOT :LOL::LOL:
Suspensions or engine swaps where I have to build engine mounts are pretty much the same.....measure everything from every direction possible. If I have the luxury of time after I get everything where I think I want it (a couple of tack welds if necessary) I like to let it sit overnight and then do one last check first thing in the morning before I fire up the welder.
Looking good by the way.
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Nice! looks like you planned it out well. Nice welder, too. Wish I had a bigger one.
Looks great!
I smile as I see your attention to measuring as I'm remembering many years ago when my father explained to me why he had "yellow crayons" in the welding table....
Ditto Nice job and layout, out of my feable skill set!
Thanks guys. I was just trying to ensure a good set up this go around.
My first hang up on this though. I installed the upper towers this morning. Checked my angles, made sure my measurements were accurate. Yep, all look great. So I welded them on. Yep. Bad idea. I let everything cool and installed the control arms and spindles to find the spindles are 6* canted down at ride height. I checked all my math and called and spoke with Paul at welder series. I gave him my measurements and sent him pics and he isn't sure why it isn't right either. He did help me find the upper towers are too far apart currently. So that is the issue probably. These measurements aren't in the install instructions I have from 4 years ago. So it looks like in the morning I am cutting them and have to move them in 3/4" per side and then weld them back on. I wish I would have put the control arms and spindles on before I welded the towers. Oh well. I'll really know for the next one.....
Here are some pics of it now. I didn't take any pics with the spindles and upper control arms though. 4* anti dive, and the towers set at 9.8* from frame out. Paul said that is correct. Too bad about them being too far out......
Ryan, Just some food for thought on MII suspensions with tubular a arms, off the rear lower arm run a brace up to the frame that the bolt gos through, especially if you ever decide to put the hemi in, that puts the bolt in double shear and will never bend the tube spacer even though its welded and gusseted, A giant bump with a monsterly heavy motor puts a ton of pressure on that spacer and bolt at the rear hanging out there. I wish I could take claim to the idea but it came off another site by a guy who puts a ton of these on and has seen the bolt and spacer bend, really cheap now and hard to do later. Lookin great!! Matt
Thanks Matt. I am going to put a large gusset and a bracket going to the frame from the end of the spacer like you say so it is double shear. I just haven't gotten there yet. :LOL: And the Hemi is going in it. Once it has some suspension under it.
Sorry to hear about "the mixup"...
Whenever I find myself in those situations, I simply say the previous attempt was just practice... 8-)
That's right Mike! It should be doubly better this time ehh? :LOL:
This morning I cut off the towers, cleaned up the welds, and re prepped the frame. Re marked it, and began re positioning the towers. I still have to move the LH one in some to get the center of the slot in far enough over the frame. It's really close now. The spindle is at 0* now. It's like I was just doing this yesterday or something? :whacked:
Looks like nice work! You got me as nervous as a sinner on judgement day though. When I put my kit on I just welded it on where they told me. I didn't really check much besides triple measuring of course,I hope mine is alright. Is that some sort of camber gauge you have on your spindle ?
This cross member kit I got isn't notched at all and you have to make it fit your ride. I could have gotten a specific cross member for it. But I was afraid it wouldn't fit my frame due to the hackery done before. I'm just trying to make sure I don't screw it up. :LOL:
That is a digital angle finder I got and it is magnetic on 3 sides. I got it for doing drive shaft angles because I found the needle style could be hard to see what the angle was really. I really like this little tool so far.
I love all those angle meters and the lazers
Just something thjat I remembered-Heidt's haqs control arms that are 5/8 inch shorter than stock-----would that have solved your ??????
Moving the top bracket inward is going to effect the spring/shock angles
Jerry, I have the 5/8" narrowed arms already. Unfortunately, I just had the upper towers too far out. You're right, moving the towers in much more and spring fitment could be an issue. Hopefully tomorrow I can take some time and work on it some more. This morning I spent trying to get some stuff wrapped up on the blue ford because it is supposed to rain for the next few days. It's always something.
I did get my brothers to go help me get my rear end out of my storage box though. That's a plus. The axles feel like there may be a posi inside it. I sure hope so. Those sure have gone up in price lately. :LOL:
I didn't get much time at all to work on the car. But, this morning I did get the LH upper tower set in place and tacked. I have plenty of adjustment for camber, caster, and my anti dive is right on. Now to match the RH side to the LH side. :LOL:
I'm remembering all the fun I had doing these. Good work. Second time its easier, just cleaning everything up is a bit of a pain.
Yes sir, you're right. And not trying to screw it up again..... :LOL:
Looks like your gaining, all that stuff takes soo much time.
You didn't screw it up! Remember.. The first time was for practice! 8-)
I'm pretty excited about it. I kind of wish it was a hydro instead of a manual, but maybe the wife will not have issues with it. We'll see on that. It doesn't have any really cool features like aux hydraulics, or a 3 pt. I do have an old shaft drive snow blower I might be able to mount up on this thing. We'll have to see about that. Haha
I finally made some time to work on the 40. The Upper towers are tacked in place. Next thing is to get my air bag mounts made. Then I'll weld in all the boxing plates and add my lower control arm tabs and gussets for extra support. Baby steps here it seems. :LOL:
That looks nice. You've been doing your homework it appears.
Have you done an air ride before? Every once in awhile I consider re-doing my coupe with it...
then reality sets in when I think of all the work!! :LOL::LOL::p
Yep and then you could end up like me. The fuel pump burnt out and I purchased another, fitted that and then decided I should clean the tank out which in the end was cheaper getting a new stainless one made. While I had the tank out I decide I may as well shorten the rear frame down so that I could shorten the pickup bed to improve the lines. While I had the jigsaw in hand, I thought I should cut the moulded doors off and make opening doors each side so from one small job and than life's interruptions, the car still remains in pieces patiently waiting for me to put her all back together. Moral of story, if one has an extremely complete going car with no major issues, keep driving her otherwise one job leads to another.