Gettin' Stoopid 66G

Have you thought about using some more fittings and putting the tank behind the wheel arch but in front of the filler tube and have the pump tucked in behnd the tank?

This would save a lot of room on the floor.

I know it kind of looks like it might fit that way , but there just isnt enough room for it that tight. Also had to work around a couple X members to get the mounting holes in ok. I was just looking to have room for a spare tire and a little extra and there is plenty. Got the threaded holes welded in.

Finished up the bed liner and got the studs locktited in.

Still have to clear coat the tank, that aluminum paint needs something to seal it down. Everytime ya touch it ya end up lookin like the tin man.

Some temporary wiring and air lines next I think.

Your work is beyond impressive! I can't wait to see the finished product. Truely awesome!!

Thanks lws67. Even a blind pig can find an acorn once in awhile. Lots of trial and error. The studs worked okay but gettin my fat fingers to get nuts started on them was abit of a challenge. I got the air plumbed up and temp wired. This is as low as it can go. Has the wieght of the engine and tranny on it here.The current tires are odd. 24" tall up front and 28.5" in the back. I want to end up at 28-29 in the rear with 26" up front

I'm running into some strangeness with the bags not wanting to Equalize and come up evenly. I'm hoping sway bars will remedy that. Worse case load levelers like a big truck maybe? Going to call some tech support next week , I'm probably overlooking something dumb.But it's a roller again for now. Maybe move onto something else on the list for awhile.

That is gonna be so wicked,Joe.

Digz wrote "I'm running into some strangeness with the bags not wanting to Equalize and come up evenly. I'm hoping sway bars will remedy that. Worse case load levelers like a big truck maybe?"

Joe, a few yrs back my buddy and I put bags on his '34 Ford with a Corvette IRS(I know..not a van but the principal the same) and had similar issues and handled like crap. After messing with it for a couple days we came to the conclusion as when the axle goes thru it's suspension travel the upper and lower bag mount would become uneven, too much for the conventional sleeve type bag to handle. Ended up replacing the bag with a ShockWave(shock within the bag) type system and cured the problem and rode great. Just food for thought as I know every application is different.

OG

Hey thanks for the info Grinder ! I did talk to the tech guys and they pretty much echo what ya said. The geometry and such makes them squirrley running together. for right now I just put them on seperate circuits again, but would like it to be more automatic when its all said and done. Shockwaves are Ka-ching$$$ so cross that bridge when I get that far ,,LOL Thanks again
Joe

Joe.. The /6 distributor for Mr. Clean will go out fedex to you tomorrow, thanks for the hubs.

Hell yeah!!!

Playing with the mock up of the brake booster today. Think I can make it work okay and still use the original pedal set up.

On the 66 I had a ton of room to play with , here with the air bag it gets tighter. I can still space it back 1/2" if needed. Same issue as before with the swaybar but I dont have a stock bracket on the axle to work with so I think that can be overcome also, will be using the stock rad support bolts to make some stand downs and move the Swaybar back 3-4". Thats the plan for now anyway.

Clean it up later after Im sure it might work out.
Wierd morning tho, I have been successfully avoiding the gullwing door with my head up til today. Must have smacked that thing 5 times this morning, found myself ducking when I wasn't anywhere near it !!

Joe,
All I can say is WOW what a Bad Ass ride you are gonna have! If you take it to the Nats when you get it finished it will for surely take 1st place!

I'll____happy____it________bounce
_____be_____if____doesnt________!!

Got some more on the MC done. Knocked out some 7/8 spacers on the lathe to get some distance from the original mount. Used 7/16 nuts for spacers between the the Vac and the adapter plate I made to clear the bolt heads for the spacers/ adapter.

The hiems I used was a 3/8x3/8 female SAE which I shortend about 1/2" and also cut 1/2" off the Booster rod. This left me with some adjustment yet for the pedal arm. It will be a while before I get to test this all out, but it looks good. LOL

I used an 1-1/2x3/8 bolt and cut it down so the unthreaded shank is what is mostly in the joint and pedal arm. Got started on the swaybar stands today, Hopefully test fit those tomorrow.

I'll have to run the suspension thru it's motions to be sure this can stay here or maybe even be moved further ahead.

Nice work diggs - what master & power assist did u use ? where from ? paty #'s?/

Plan A on the swaybar doesnt work. Plan B didnt work either...So on to Plan C, this plan will involve disecting a D50 Dodge truck that is laying around so more on this at a later date. In the meantime keeping with the code of doing something every chance ya get... Ripped out the old wiring harness or what was left of it.

I played with folding some sheetmetal scraps to figure out a way to seal the top of the gullwing.

Of course you have to imagine it with the gaps filled and the bodyline where it's supposed to be. Think it'll work with some tweaking and my buddys brake.

Oh and got the frozen hinge on the vent door freed up.

Okay Plan C or D. Lost track. Swaybar out of a mid 80's Plymouth Arrow. I'll get a shot of the overall shape later. It lays flat and the width is just 1 1/2" narrower at the ends. Kinda goofy going back to front but it shouldnt matter.

Have to do some mad fabbing to get it attached but it's doable.

It appears I can use the original G10 swaybar for the rear so maybe lucked out there to. Already ran it thru its motion range , seems ok. Being narrower tho , I have to keep it towards the rear a little as the drag link is designed to pass by on the inside of the original links.

Very slow progress here. Mounts made

Still have to make the end links. Will need to be a heims on each end to allow the motion.

My brother picked this up at the Mopar Natz, it was rivited to a Cuda deck lid. Think it's going to get Repurposed !!

That looks nice. Question for you... With the sway bar mounted to the bottom of the idividual motor mounts, will there be any up down push on them when cornering or does the sway bar just kinda bend a little to maintain limited body roll? I no it won't be cornering at 60 miles an hour...lol...but just wonder if you think the motor mounts will flex at all.

Believe me Big W, that has been wandering thru my thots some too, I hoping after I get the end links done and can run it thru the motions it will tell me what if anything I have to brace up. The mounts themselves are super stiff, the legs I have going down are also, but the leverage they might have is an unknown right now. There should be no fore and aft pressure, but possibly some up and down torque, Also the actual dynamics of this swaybar are a mystery. It is off a very light truck but still a 7/8" dia. similar to the original. The other thing is the fact that on either one only 5/16" bolts held them on. So maybe the force is more lateral torque? LOL We are in a position to find out !

This is what I came up with.

This is with the air out of the bags. You can see how much the springs bend here.

It passed the clearance test okay. Just !!

Going up and down there is no force on the mounts. The real test will be the side to side stuff , but still on stands in the back, so thats down the road a bit yet. Have to trim the hiems to make room for some jam nuts also. Possibly lowering the mounting holes on the lower brackets could allow those.

A sway bar losses effectiveness as it moves out of a horizontal plane.

You may find it doesn't have much effect on the handling.

If you could raise the body mount (which I can see you can't) it would make the bar work much better.

Have you looked at having the bar below the spring with the link rod going up to the axle mount? This would move the bar back closer to horizontal and make it work better.

I can see it's all tight in there but you're doing such a cool job on this that it would be a shame to not have it as close to perfect as you can get.

Thanks for the input Zuffen, seriously. This is the bar at approximate ride hieght.

I can see now that I probably do not need the double hiems, This would allow me to bring it down perhaps another 2 inches. Just to many moving parts to hang it underneath. Its hard to see from the angles, but the only clearance issue I may have is the swaybar to the inside of the leafs in the down position. I can do a quickie refab and test the single hiems next time at the shop.

Man this is some good stuff here!

Have you thought about swaping the link on the sway bar to point up rather than down.

This would bring the bar down a couple of inches (assuming it doens't hit the spring) and get it working better.

The other thing to think about is getting the heims to be verticle rather than at an angle as again this reduces the bars effectiveness.

It's easy sitting here on the other side of the world making suggestions and only you know how tight all the clearances are but it just may help.