1971 Vega LS1 Project

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Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby grandam75 » Thu Nov 11, 2010 4:09 pm

Ishiftem wrote:Awesome! I hope to get to this point before spring on mine. Very nice. That rack is a tight squeeze. Looks good! :D


Thanks, its tight indeed! It placed it as far up and back as possible, still have to space the inner tie rods up about 50mm to get rid of bump steer. This rack is 18.25" wide. I know you have a nice chassis software, do you think it will still be useable when moving out the outer tie rod point 1.75" on each side? I need to do this to get better ackerman.
Martin from Sweden..
1971 Vega hatchback

1975 Pontiac Grand Am
1971 Pontiac Lemans Convt
1965 Buick Wildcat Convt
1972 Pontiac Firebird
1993 BMW 740i
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Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby 80 MONZTA » Thu Nov 11, 2010 4:43 pm

How much throw does that rack have? I think it is kind of important to know, but I never see it listed anywhere.
LeRoy
1980 Monza, 305/Th350 removed for LS1/T-56 swap, can't wait to :burn: My Project
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Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby grandam75 » Thu Nov 11, 2010 5:40 pm

80 MONZTA wrote:How much throw does that rack have? I think it is kind of important to know, but I never see it listed anywhere.


Total travel is about 6 inches.
Martin from Sweden..
1971 Vega hatchback

1975 Pontiac Grand Am
1971 Pontiac Lemans Convt
1965 Buick Wildcat Convt
1972 Pontiac Firebird
1993 BMW 740i
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Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby Ishiftem » Thu Nov 11, 2010 11:34 pm

You are fine moving them out. It didn't have any effect and I used two inches. The biggest effects are the heights. I am using a very similar rack to the one you have. 18.25 width with integral servo except mine is a Sweet with a dual piston slave cylinder.
Any one can restore a car but, it takes a real man to cut one up.
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Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby grandam75 » Thu Dec 09, 2010 5:56 pm

The ackerman correction adapers are finished. I am not allowed to weld on the spindles here in sweden so I made bolt on adapers that moves the outer tie rod mounting point to a better location.
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Martin from Sweden..
1971 Vega hatchback

1975 Pontiac Grand Am
1971 Pontiac Lemans Convt
1965 Buick Wildcat Convt
1972 Pontiac Firebird
1993 BMW 740i
grandam75
 
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Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby Ishiftem » Thu Dec 09, 2010 6:49 pm

I like the way you did that. Will you have rotor or wheel clearance issues? What diameter wheel and rotor are you using? how far did you move it out? I am still toying with this idea for my project but haven't come to a conclusion whether there is enough benefit. I don't want to run a 17 inch wheel and plan to use a 12.19 rotor. I think the way you did it is right on and bracing off the lower ball joint is a great idea as the steering arms on the s10 and g body spindles have a tendency to bend under hard use.
Any one can restore a car but, it takes a real man to cut one up.
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Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby grandam75 » Fri Dec 10, 2010 4:03 am

Ishiftem wrote:I like the way you did that. Will you have rotor or wheel clearance issues? What diameter wheel and rotor are you using? how far did you move it out? I am still toying with this idea for my project but haven't come to a conclusion whether there is enough benefit. I don't want to run a 17 inch wheel and plan to use a 12.19 rotor. I think the way you did it is right on and bracing off the lower ball joint is a great idea as the steering arms on the s10 and g body spindles have a tendency to bend under hard use.


I moved it out 45mm and 30mm towards the ball joint . The steering arm length measured from the LBJ is now 145mm (was 170mm).
The 15" wheels clear with the tie rod now inside the wheel. The wheel to tie rod clearence is one of the reasons i decided to go with stock S10 spindles instead of the dropped ones.
The rotors are wilwood 10.75". With the right calipers and wheels I think the 12.19" rotor would work with a 15" wheel, but there sure wont be much clearence. A 16" wheel would be easier and there is a better selection of tires.

There is a free excel based ackerman calculator that can be helpful in this thread:
http://fsae.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/125607348/m/50510335441?r=50510335441#50510335441
Martin from Sweden..
1971 Vega hatchback

1975 Pontiac Grand Am
1971 Pontiac Lemans Convt
1965 Buick Wildcat Convt
1972 Pontiac Firebird
1993 BMW 740i
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Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby NixVegaGT » Fri Dec 10, 2010 10:53 am

I was planning something very similar if my welding experiment didn't work. Nicely done!

Thanks for that Ackerman link. That doc is pretty cool! Here's another link directly to the .zip file in case someone wants to go directly to it:

http://mysite.verizon.net/triaged/files/ackermann.zip

Lot's of great cross referencing. The graphing is cool too. On that note, Dan, were you able to get your simulation running? What package were you using? AutoCAD or something, right? I've got a buddy that's modifying his MGB suspension geometry to fix a couple design flaws. I told him about your setup. I'll be passing this Xcel along to him too.


Thanks Martin!
- Nic '73 Vega GT "DogBoxx" Batwing LS1
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/2357894
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Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby grandam75 » Mon Jan 03, 2011 5:08 pm

Update!
Finished steering shaft and driver side header. Tight fit..

Pieced together the steering with mostly junkyard parts:
Changed the output shaft in the steering column and used the upper steering joint from a -88 chevy G20 van.
The 2 middle joints are volvo 340 3/4" double D in both ends.
The lower joint is from an -89 Astro van and the double D shaft is from the original vega steering column.
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Martin from Sweden..
1971 Vega hatchback

1975 Pontiac Grand Am
1971 Pontiac Lemans Convt
1965 Buick Wildcat Convt
1972 Pontiac Firebird
1993 BMW 740i
grandam75
 
Posts: 166
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Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby MachoPoncho » Sat Jan 29, 2011 3:10 am

do you have a bender or did you buy a weld up kit if you bought a kit which one did you buy.
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Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby MachoPoncho » Sat Jan 29, 2011 3:10 am

do you have a bender or did you buy a weld up kit if you bought a kit which one did you buy.
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Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby grandam75 » Tue Feb 01, 2011 5:49 pm

MachoPoncho wrote:do you have a bender or did you buy a weld up kit if you bought a kit which one did you buy.


The headers were made with about 15 U-bends cut and welded.
If you were refering to the cage it was custom made.
Martin from Sweden..
1971 Vega hatchback

1975 Pontiac Grand Am
1971 Pontiac Lemans Convt
1965 Buick Wildcat Convt
1972 Pontiac Firebird
1993 BMW 740i
grandam75
 
Posts: 166
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Location: Sweden

Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby MachoPoncho » Wed Feb 02, 2011 2:42 am

grandam75 wrote:
MachoPoncho wrote:do you have a bender or did you buy a weld up kit if you bought a kit which one did you buy.


The headers were made with about 15 U-bends cut and welded.
If you were refering to the cage it was custom made.


i was referring to the headers thank you.
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Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby grandam75 » Fri Mar 18, 2011 3:50 pm

Dash and gauges are finished. Actually I have a lot of progress in the wiring, fuel system, brake lines and some other small areas but nothing is really finished yet, waiting for parts to arrive..
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Martin from Sweden..
1971 Vega hatchback

1975 Pontiac Grand Am
1971 Pontiac Lemans Convt
1965 Buick Wildcat Convt
1972 Pontiac Firebird
1993 BMW 740i
grandam75
 
Posts: 166
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2008 6:01 pm
Location: Sweden

Re: 1971 Vega LS1 Project

Postby BadBowtie » Fri Mar 18, 2011 7:53 pm

I really dig the gauge cluster :th: I'm in the process of building one and you are giving me new ideas! This is bad! :lol:
James

1975 Vega GT sbc, Microsquirt w/Edelbrock MPFI, M21 4-speed and Ford 9"
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