New Suspension Time!

[fxrsrider]

1975 C10 Shortbed Fleetside
385 sbc  th350

Since we all love some real life drama....here's a thread that I'll be updating regularly over the next few weeks with pictures and commentary.  A journal of sorts of my process of rebuilding the suspension on my truck.

I'm learning a lot about these trucks....through mine.  When I got it, I thought it was a great "used but upgraded" specimen. Turns out it was more of an "abused and poorly upgraded" truck.

The drama started about four weeks after having the truck.  No power...No oil pressure...loud valve clatter.  Turns out the BRAND NEW 383 stroker that was put in before I got the truck was built incorrectly.  The builder put the cam bearings in upside-down...which didn't allow oil to pass through to the heads.  A perfect storm.  So we rebuilt the motor from the ground up....Balanced the 400 crank, improved the stroke to a full 4", rebored to .0400 over, all the lifters, valves, heads, etc. were good quality.  Topped it off with a Performer RPM dual plane intake, and a 680cfm Quick Fuel Technologies 4bb carb with electric choke and vacuum secondary.  The engine, I'm happy to report, is breaking in quite nicely....and has tons of torque.

Which is where the next set of drama came into play.  The previous builder hacked the original frame to weld on his best attempt at a homemade triangulated 4 link rear suspension.  Unfortunately for me...he didn't know the difference between a proper weld and a cold weld.....nor did he understand the basic principles of auto suspension geometry.  So, I wasn't surprised the other day when I saw my rear shocks laying on the ground....the mounts had fallen off.  Oh...and to add insult to injury, the truck has the most poorly installed air bag system all the way around.  I'm not a fan of bags....especially when you have a hot rod engine under the hood.  So....you guessed it....time to redo the suspension.

Stay tuned....in the next couple of weeks I'll be removing the bed, removing the airbag system for resale, cleaning up the frame and axle, and installing a weld-on Ridetech 4link kit with coil overs (this will require rerouting the exhaust too, of course).

The front end is getting new tubular lower control arms from CPP, lowered springs, and a CPP sway bar.

Oh yeah....Wilwood disc brakes all the way around too.

ps.  If you take note of the horrendous wiring job under the hood (pic below)....., then you have a good eye.  I may be rewiring next week....then doing the suspension the following week 

[fxrsrider]

As promised....here's some update on the new suspension...

Pic #1:  The beginning of the project as of Tuesday 4/14.  Bed unbolted...waiting for the right moment when there's enough guys around to help lift the bed off....took six of us...it was still dang heavy!   In the foreground are all the new suspension parts from CPP and Ridetech.  So happy to get rid of the airbag suspension!  Personally....I never suggest that anyone waste their time and money putting airbags on their truck.....what a headache they've been.  Oh....I figured, since I'm putting new Wilwood disc brakes all the way around....which includes changing the MC to an OEM Corvette disc/disc MC (besides, mine was leaking all over the place and needed to be replaced), why not change the brake booster also.  However, once I saw the general price(s) for new ones...$300-$850...I shied away from the thought.  That is, until I met Charlie Pitts at Power Brake Exchange, Inc.  Charlie is a stand up guy who knows his power brakes and steering.  Charlie listened to me and suggested a Hydroboost system.  He sold me a perfect fit Hydrobooster for my truck and rebuilt my PS pump to better than new condition (including paint and finish on both parts!) along with the specific modifications (i.e.. fittings, etc.) for my truck for less than $300!!!!   

Pic #2:  WTH?! This hideous discovery of green paint on both the front and rear studs and brakes made me think, "dang....now I need to start taking wheels off of used cars that I'm looking to buy."  I am always amazed at the ridiculous things people do to vehicles.

Pic #3:  Bed off, rear end off, shotty homemade "triangulated" four link (see next post) off, started cutting all the old "suspension" bracketry off.  Note: the C-Notch was already there.  It was actually done relatively well....on the outer side of the frame.  The inner side lacked any welding at all.....which is going to change in the next few days.

Pic #4:  Another angle.  You can see that I had to cut near the (full) gas tank.  I cut that bracket with a Sawzall to omit the spark factor....but I ultimately dropped the tank to complete the grinding.

[fxrsrider]

Learning the hard way...

Pic #1: This is the "jimmy job" homemade "structural support" for the top of the "triangulated" 4-link that the previous owner installed.  OMG  I'm feeling so stupid for even registering this truck in my name.....I always learn the hard way, I suppose.  Truth be told...I didn't know anything about 4-link suspensions when I bought this truck.... 

Pic #2:  ...I did however know plenty about welding!  I didn't crawl under the truck with a flashlight when I bought it.  Had I done that, I would have seen the horrible cold welds that were holding the rear suspension.  I can't believe I drove this thing with a fresh and torquey 385ci smb for three months like this.  Those tabs came off with channel locks and a twist of my wrist!

[fxrsrider]

By the end of the day yesterday....Friday 4/17...four days and about 40 hours of disassembly, airbag system removal (parts, tanks, compressors, lines, bags, electrical, etc...), cutting, and grinding and grinding and grinding later....

Pic #1:  Here you can see the quality of the original C-notch....front and back....you can also see what kind of grinding I had to do.  After a very rough test fit of the new parallel Ridetech 4-link, we realized that that outer lip of the C-notch needed to be ground off as well, since the new links will be mounted to the outside of the frame.

Pic #2:  All grinding Finished!!!! both on the frame and the front and rear ends...

Pic #3:  Rear end placed in its new position....measured 100 times, plum to frame (which was already leveled), pinion angle set to -2°, 4" of travel to top of C-notch.....getting there.  Oh....and finally! a good discovery!!!!  The rear end has high quality Strange axles and Positraction    .....but I still see that hideous green paint 

Pic #4:  The front end wasn't nearly as atrocious as the rear end....but it did have air bags too.  The lower stock control arms were beat up from bottoming out so much and had 1/2" plate welded to them for the bags.  I decided to ditch them and go with new tubular lower control arms from CPP....those assembly pics will be coming soon...

...between now and then, I'm going to try and figure out how to remove that f@$&*#^n green paint without removing the original finish....which would require me to repaint.....I already have so much work ahead.

And to give credit where credit is due....I'm doing all of this at Schrader's Speed Shop in Azusa, CA.  This isn't a plug for the shop....but I do have to say, none of this would be happening if it wasn't for Mike and his crew.  Mike, owner/operator, and I have become good friends over the past five months.  I've been helping him with some graphic design for some of his custom builds.  In return he graciously agreed to letting me do the "grunt" work on the project.  Mike and his crew are showing me the way, helping me out, and teaching me all of this.  They're the pros....I'm the student...."ratchet on, grind off, Daniel-san"

[fxrsrider]

more progress...

Pic #1:  Pic of Hydroboost unit...replacing the original vacuum brake booster.  I'm including the image here because it is part of the four wheel disc brake set up that I mention at the beginning of this thread....but I plan to provide a comprehensive post about the brake system upgrade in a separate thread (consider this a sneak peak, maybe  )

Pic #2: New CPP lower control arm installed.  Stock height spring in foreground....to be cut to match rear suspension height....which is not entirely known at the moment.  Upper control arm is original.  Wildwood brake caliper to replace the OEM.  Spindle is a McGaughty 2.5" drop spindle...which was already installed when I bought the truck.

Pic#3:  Mocking up, measuring, and establishing clearances for the 4-Link.

[fxrsrider]

Pic #1:  The final mock up.  The frame had the C-Notch installed from the previous owner.  To ensure clearance of the 4-link bolts during travel while maintaining a square and level 4-link...I had to add a pice of 1/2" plate to the front bracket side of the frame rail.

Pic #2: Close up...the 1/2" plate also bought me some room to drop the front bracket just below the frame to achieve level 0° 4-link bars.

Pic #3: The "Universal" 4-link system by Ridetech, that I'm installing, has it's limitations....and, perhaps, is not as universal as they claim it to be.  In addition to the modifications mentioned above, I had to rotate the rear end housing bracket 10° to help achieve level 0° 4-link bars.  As a result, I had to rotate the upper shock mount by 10° to match......not the end of the world, but not a "perfect world" setup.

Pic #4:  Detail of upper shock mount.  Note: Ridetech sells an "Upper Shock Mount" kit that is intended to supplement the "Universal 4-Link" kit.  The "Upper Shock Mount" kit includes the upper shock mounts, as pictured (without the backing plate), a 1" steel bar cross member and brackets that are intended for use when mounting the shocks inside of the frame rails.  However, for myriad reasons, I'm mounting the 4-link on the outside of the frame rails, as close to the wheels as possible.  The coil overs are therefore being mounted to the outside as well, making the complete upper shock mount kit useless.  The upper shock brackets are available for sale by themselves......always learning the hard way.

[fxrsrider]

Pic #1:  4 Link suspension finally finished!  Truck's back on the ground.

Pic #2:  New Wilwood disc brakes on rear....kit comes with an inner drum brake that functions as the e-brake.  The kit was a pain in the a#@ to install, btw.

Pic #3:  Front suspension finished as well.  I already had a 2.5" drop spindle....springs are stock height minus 1 coil for a lower ride...the CPP tubular lower control arms are cupped and contribute to the lowering.  Getting dropped springs would have resulted in too low of a suspension and a lot of scraping. 

Pic #4:  A quick look at the engine bay...Hydroboost conversion is compete and plumbed.  The MC is a corvette style with shallow plunger (still need to bench bleed it).  I decided to run a power steering fluid cooler between the PS gear box and pump.

not pictured:  since my pulleys were so messed up from the previous owner's hack job....I found a nice bolt-on pulley system from CVF Racing that accommodated both A/C and power steering and my stock water pump.  They call it a "Serpentine" system, though it uses two eight rib belts.  The system bolted right on and looks good.  I haven't run it yet though....so we'll see

[fxrsrider]

Job is complete. 

Pic #1:  Truck w new suspension.  Looks exactly the same as when I started from this perspective......but it drives and handles like a dream.  Tight suspension and low....I can whip around corners like a race car.  The difference from the air bag system to now is night and day.

Pic #2:  Front end.....CPP Sway Bar and Tubular lower control arms.  Stock spring height minus one coil.  I personally aligned the front end for camber, caster, and toe.....then I brought it to the alignment shop for a "professional" alignment, seeing as how I've never done an alignment before.  The guy called me into the pit, shined a light on the front suspension, and said, "who ever did this knew what they were doing.....the work is beautiful.  As far as alignment....there's nothing for me to do....the truck is aligned perfectly."    That a made me feel pretty good.

Pic #3:  Rear end....you can barely see the Ridetech coil overs that are part of the four-link rear suspension.

Pic #4:  On to the next project (of course I'm still working on the truck....it never ends, as we all know).  This is a frame modification that I just did on a '53 Studebaker.  That's a Kugel Components custom crossmember with Kugel upper and lower control arms and Wilwood 6 piston disc brakes.  You can see the old crossmember and frame rails in the background......had to patch in the 2"x4" tubing to fit the Kugel components.   I'm starting to enjoy chassis building and modification...

Also....the Hydro-Boost works like a dream.  That with the rear wheel disc brakes make for a solid stop every time.  The conversion to Hydro-Boost was relatively simple....and I highly recommend it.

Thank you for your interest!  Best to all of you and your projects 

[fxrsrider]

This is the engine bay since the suspension and brake upgrade.  Also added a serpentine pulley system (that uses the stock water pump).  508 ac compressor.  Aluminum rad. K&N air filter...

...tbc......next is the AC system restore.....going to pull it apart, clean, repaint parts, reassemble and reseal.  Going to clean, repaint, and restore wiper motor.  And then finally, rewire the whole truck to rid the engine bay of the rat's nest of wires that you (can't help but) see.

[FlatBlack77]

great read man!

definitely a great setup you have now keep it up man

truck looks amazing

[fxrsrider]

great read man!

definitely a great setup you have now keep it up man

truck looks amazing

Thank you.....I'm doing my best.  The whole experience has taught me a lot.....still so much to be learned though.  I appreciate your response very much....no matter how much self satisfaction one gets from his own accomplishments and work, it always feels good to hear it from someone else. 

[FlatBlack77]

your quite welcome!

i like how you included plenty of pics and not just before and after