Am I in trouble here?

I've been puttering with my car and trying to finalize the alignment. Now I've been looking at this "situation" for a while, but never put a ruler up against the front end. Holy s@#$, 3.875 ground clearance!!! The front Mll lower control arms are per TCI - that is about a 1/2" upslope from the frame to the ball joint, the tires are 205/60x15 so are not small in diameter. That splash shield will never last!! I can level the 'A' frames and gain some - or just remove the splash shield and either modify it or just leave it off. To modify, I need a bead roller with a small width wheel to put the detail back in the piece - and don't have one or even know any one who does. So it looks like some experimenting will be done...and these mods are not on my "punch list" of things left to finish .... yet.

i have a bead roller with with many rollers for different size beads. can you draw what the cross sec looks like of the bead i may have one thats close

do you have dropped spindles???? the stock M2 spindles are 2 inches higher>

When I do a build, I try to use thought, theory and engineering from the factory as much as I can. The OEM engineers make good money to figure things out and I try to learn from them.

Several years ago, I needed to know the minimum ground clearance I should use on a build, so I went up to the Chevy dealer with a tape measure. I figured that the engineers at Chevy would have put the Corvette at the minumum acceptable ground clearance for a street-driven vehicle. The closest clearance I could measure on any part of the car was 4.000", so that's the figure I've used for years. I see 3 15/16ths on your tape. I'd move on to another area of the build and call the splash pan good, as long as you don't nose into a concrete parking bumper.

I usually keep a 4" thick block of wood on hand just to throw down on the floor when I'm mounting components so I know where to put the component for clearance.

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Originally Posted by jerry clayton

do you have dropped spindles???? the stock M2 spindles are 2 inches higher>

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yep i re worked a 55 chevy pick up with a heidts front end. had to go back to stock spindles to get the bbc oil pan off the ground:eek:

Is that height with the fluids, etc. in the car? If so, I would agree with Tech....the Corvette is fine with the 4" clearance. Actually, it is the clearance plus where the clearance is relative to the axles....if the minimum clearance is half way between the axles, you could drag on a speed bump. If the minimum clearance is at the axle, you would go over the speed bump. I'd say test the thing on a driveway entry and learn the limitations....if in doubt, make it lower.

Also, learn not to straddle dead armadillos laying in the road.

mike in tucson

"dead armadillos"

Texas speed bumps. :LOL:

although it not visible in this pic, the splash apron on my 32 rpu is exactly the same measurement as yours and I have been driving it for several years.
I put some long distance miles on this car and have never encountered any real problems.

Mick

I think you are in trouble. I just went out and measured the splash apron on my model a and its 6 1/8" clearance.---Brian

Thanks guys -

OK - that is the cars low point with the "standard" TCI IFS offering. The spindles, again are "standard" for their chassis - not really dropped. The car is virtually complete, less the interior (and that another tale of woe!!) with all the fluids - water, oil, transmission, diff at operating levels and the gas tank is half full. As far as the body, the hood is off, but that only weighs about 10# for the top 2 pieces and hardware.

I think what I'm going to try is to put a couple more turns on the spring adjusters to see if I can get another .500 out of the height and drive carefully. If not, Pat, I'll be PMing you about some splash pan mods.

As a note - we don't have armadillos here, but we do have possums, skunks and 'chucks that count the same (and 15# turkeys - almost hit one about an hour ago, but my F350 wouldn't have noticed. Then there are the good ol white tail deer just waiting to crunch your vehicle - saw 4 about a mile past the big bird)

I think youll be ok! im no expert, but ive had plenty of lowriders including my daily driven honda which is probably lower than yours. the splash apron is real close to the wheels on yours so it should not hit too much except for the real tall speed bump or real steep drives, just hit them at an angle and youll be ok.

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Originally Posted by hotroddaddy

I think youll be ok! im no expert, but ive had plenty of lowriders including my daily driven honda which is probably lower than yours. the splash apron is real close to the wheels on yours so it should not hit too much except for the real tall speed bump or real steep drives, just hit them at an angle and youll be ok.

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You have no idea what kind of roads we have up here in the North Woods - especially after a nasty winter. You have to drive like a slalom racer to miss the foot deep pot holes:whacked::CRY::LOL::LOL:

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Originally Posted by IC2

You have no idea what kind of roads we have up here in the North Woods - especially after a nasty winter. You have to drive like a slalom racer to miss the foot deep pot holes:whacked::CRY::LOL::LOL:

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i do allways tell any new guys with low cars or deep oil pans to put one tire over the man hole covers and not center up on one :eek: the roads in town here are very bad. there nothing like the sound of hitting bottom:eek: i spent many hours re working inners on the chevy just took one time to F#ck them up was going down a road that they did not post that they milled off the top 4inch+ of top coat off and it was at night so i never see the drop off :mad:

:oYOU know ... deep down ... that the front end will SETTLE down some ...
after a few hundred miles ...

IF you ended up where you are, I think you would be OK
but as a starting point ... TROUBLE ... IHMO.

That's like a voice rumbling down from out of the clouds!!!!!!!:eek:

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Originally Posted by techinspector1

That's like a voice rumbling down from out of the clouds!!!!!!! :eek:

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If you look CLOSELY the 1932 3W sits a little higher than the 1932 roadster ...

They both have the same spring, same axle ... same tires ... everything is the exact same .... EXCEPT ... the 3W has almost no miles on it ... so it has not yet settled down any.

http://hotrodders.com/journal_photos...2316221550.jpg

The roadster settled down about 3/4 of a inch after 500 / 600 miles. It now has 52 thousand miles.

Good grief - bolts of lightning are coming out of the sky.:whacked:

1. I built the chassis per the TCI build sheet !
2. This isn't my first car ! I'm not a newbie - honest!! (tho it's the first from this many bits and pieces)
3. I feel like I'm in trouble with that piece of tin
4. I'm gonna try to raise it a bit. If I can't, then the splash shield will become history - one way or another !
5. I do have an oil pan souvenir from an earlier car that weeps oil from a speed bump scrape - so am all to well aware of ride height
6. I did take my fancy deep trans pan off BEFORE it became aluminum scrap - it was even lower.

You guys are mean !!!!:eek::LOL:

For what it's worth...I had a 40 Ford coupe before my current 39 coupe and i was running a superbell 4" axle with reverse eye spring. At completion, it measured 3.90 at the bottom of the grill pan. After about 500 miles it was at 3.78. I was always careful wherever i went and even had to come in on some parking lots at an angle. I was fine on the highway. I sacrificed a little height for a look i wanted to achieve. My 39 will be the same way. But I am thinking about shockwaves, to adjust height for practicality.

OK guys - made some major adjustments.
There are some advantages to coil over suspensions. I cranked the adjusting sleeve up about 3/8+/- inch and now am sitting at approximately 5.25" where it was about 3.875. I'm surprised that so little makes so much of a difference in ride height. The actual ride may have suffered (or maybe even gotten better) but time will tell. The hardest part - I went the wrong way first and ended up at 3":eek::LOL::LOL: Obviously I forgot to turn my brain on before I grabbed the spanner wrench.

Now - I have to center the rear wheels in the fender opening, but I was aware that would be needed. I never moved the adjusters when I blew it apart for paint, but for some reason the drive shaft output yoke was too far out - my guess is that I mixed the 2 sides (yes, you're right, they should be the same, but there were other dimensional mistakes by TCI)

Dave--I'm glad that you found a simple fix. I was going to pull your chain a little bit and tell you that if you had went with an "Old School" I-beam and transverse spring like I have, you could simply put a 1" spacer in between the top of the spring pack and the underside of the crossmember to gain an inch of ground clearance.---(And yes, I had to do that!!) I'm happy that your "fix" didn't involve having to change or refabricate anything.---Brian

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Originally Posted by brianrupnow

Dave--I'm glad that you found a simple fix. I was going to pull your chain a little bit and tell you that if you had went with an "Old School" I-beam and transverse spring like I have, you could simply put a 1" spacer in between the top of the spring pack and the underside of the crossmember to gain an inch of ground clearance.---(And yes, I had to do that!!) I'm happy that your "fix" didn't involve having to change or refabricate anything.---Brian

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Brian - if I had the I beam frt suspension, there would have been no reason for this thread - and no reason for you folks to "pick" on me. My last car needed an extra spacer or two (but of course, it also needed new u-bolts)

Well I thought I was being reasonable with a 5" drop I beam but with P185/70R14 tires on 14" wheels on the front I get 5 1/2" clearance for the Bebops 'glass pan between the frame horns BUT (!) I just tried to wedge a 2"x4" the wide way under the I-beam and could not do it! I would estimate the clearance of the axle is only 3 1/4" so it doesn't matter about the clearance on the pan since the axle will hit first. I am not too happy about this but at the moment I just want to finish the wiring and get the car running. The only good thing about this arrangement is that the axle is lower than the engine pan and the enlarged DeRalle pan on the transmission. I could get a little more clearance with 15" front wheels but probably only about 1/2" at best. The problem then becomes clearance under the fender with those aftermarket braces. In this case a spacer would raise the frame and body but the axle would still be the lowest point of the front end. If I did it again I would use a 4" dropped axle and maybe that is another answer. Compared to new 15" wheels and tires the price of an axle is about the same except the labor for the replacement is quite a bit of work. I am now looking at the road a lot more and the good news is that with care and keeping the front tires inflated, I think I can run what I have until I happen upon an unfortunate bump in the road.

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

Don, great to see you posting. I was wondering what happened to you. :D

Don - where have you been?? I was going to give you a call to see if you were ok - (yes, you are listed) - or send my wife to run you down while she is in Midlothian this weekend.

If it's that I beam axle, I wouldn't worry. You can use it to grade highways.

Mine - I'm now at 5.75+ after a couple more turns on the adjusters. That's still the lowest point, but not as critical any more. Another plus - the front tires look better in the fender now.

Tech1, I am still here, often reading more than posting. I got a big boost in confidence recently with the purchase of a "two-heat" soldering gun from Radio Shack. Now I can tin a multistrand wire, insert it into a fastener, crimp it real good and then sweat solder into the crimped joint with the second heat level on the trigger of the soldering gun. Even so I only sneak in a few hours soldering when the garage warms up in the afternoon with night temps still in the mid 30s F range. Amazingly if you hold in the trigger on the Radio Shack gun the tip gets RED hot! I wonder what that is doing to my electricity bill? Anyway, I think I can do the wiring now and just get it over with. After reading your list of all the ways a flat tappet cam can fail I think I will install my set of 1.5 roller tip rockers initially and use the opportunity to pour fresh lub in the lifter bores. I recall when I installed the lifters there was one that was pretty tight so it will be a good idea to set the valves again with the 1.5 roller rockers and take the opportunity to drip in some extra lube and put some Marvel's Magic oil in each plug hole since the engine has now been setting for about two years.

IC2, thanks for the comment about the strength of the I-beam. When I started out putting the car together I was operating on memories of Hot Rod articles from 1953! I always wanted a dropped axle and a chopped top but now I have to deal with the details. For instance I have not cut my wiper blade yet but boy is it going to be assymmetric! In addition I went with the "how low can you go" idea but backed off an inch to a 5" drop. I have actually measured the height of quite a few speed bumps in local mall driveways and I think I can get over all the local bumps with care but if I travel to a new region I will have to be careful. I will start looking into 15" wheels for the front eventually and thanks to this thread I realize that if there is a problem with tires rubbing on fender braces the simple fix is to insert a 1/4" steel plate with a bolt hole under the spring mount and that might raise the body 3/4" with the 15" wheels and the wheel centers 1/2", but first let's get the wiring done and fire up the engine!

Don Shillady
Retired Scientist/teen rodder

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Originally Posted by IC2

I've been puttering with my car and trying to finalize the alignment. Now I've been looking at this "situation" for a while, but never put a ruler up against the front end. Holy s@#$, 3.875 ground clearance!!! The front Mll lower control arms are per TCI - that is about a 1/2" upslope from the frame to the ball joint, the tires are 205/60x15 so are not small in diameter. That splash shield will never last!! I can level the 'A' frames and gain some - or just remove the splash shield and either modify it or just leave it off. To modify, I need a bead roller with a small width wheel to put the detail back in the piece - and don't have one or even know any one who does. So it looks like some experimenting will be done...and these mods are not on my "punch list" of things left to finish .... yet.

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Vintique makes a shortened 32 frontvsplash apron that solves the problem.
Tim

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Originally Posted by IBUILDM

Vintique makes a shortened 32 frontvsplash apron that solves the problem.
Tim

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Tim,
I'll take a look at that splash shield though with just over 5.75" ground clearance now after spending a couple of hours whacking my knuckles adjusting the coil overs, might not need it - thanks

Well, if ya can't figure it out. I got just the solution for you.. My '92 Ranger's frame could probably be fit under your roadster.. might look goofy sitting 3' off the ground, but you wouldn't have ground clearence issues.. :LOL:


hope you get it all figured and you don't scrape all the time. I know what the roads are like in the spring around here, can't be much better out your way... one pothole on the way to work last summer, damaged 1 of the trunions on the Rambler to the point it should have been replaced, as it pulled the rubber and collapsed the cap on it and the spring was supported by the inner fender. sold it needing a new trunion

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Originally Posted by Matt167

Well, if ya can't figure it out. I got just the solution for you.. My '92 Ranger's frame could probably be fit under your roadster.. might look goofy sitting 3' off the ground, but you wouldn't have ground clearence issues.. :LOL:

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Matt - if I need more height, I wonder what an F350 4x4 chassis like my daily driver would do for the car - besides shake it apart:LOL::LOL:

If you're up for some slalom driving excitement, take a trip to Albany and get off State St or Central Ave and on to ANY side street......:LOL::LOL:

I'd have to measure for sure, but I think my front valance on my 34 is about that low and I have had no problems other than my own stupidity (like rolling into a parking lot concrete tire bumper :eek:)

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Originally Posted by mopar34

I'd have to measure for sure, but I think my front valance on my 34 is about that low and I have had no problems other than my own stupidity (like rolling into a parking lot concrete tire bumper :eek:)

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Yeah,Bob, but I recall that you live in PA where the DOT is so good that road kill has center lines painted on it. Here in NY the roads are bad and since our "good" governor will be giving the pink slip to 9000 state workers, they wont get better.

:LOL:Comeon Dave, man up!! My ol' '39 Chev only had 1 5/8" at the bottom of the grille! Sure, had to avoid man hole covers and speed bumps, take drive ramps at an angle.........but hey, Praise the Lowered! Every worm for himself!!!:LOL::LOL:;)

Dave, NY can't be laying off 9000 DOT workers! Their the only essential employees that the state has.:LOL::LOL:

PA highways didn't get the reputation of being the worse in the nation by the Association of American Truckers for nothing, ya know!

You could always keep a FEW splash aprons painted up ... just in case.

http://hotrodders.com/journal_photos...2401786790.jpg

http://hotrodders.com/journal_photos...2401786801.jpg

http://hotrodders.com/journal_photos...2401788200.jpg

As low as my pair of Deuces sit ... I have to keep 3 or 4 splash aprons all painted up and ready to go. Thankfully ... I have gotten better at being careful and have not had to change one out in over a year. :D

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Originally Posted by Deuce

You could always keep a FEW splash aprons painted up ... just in case.


Thankfully ... I have gotten better at being careful and have not had to change one out in over a year. :D

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Deuce - why did I know that you would have 'THE ANSWER'!!!:LOL::LOL: and even tho I have raised the car a bit, I know that it will settle and wing the splash shield. When I do, I'll then buy two and paint to match,

After you knock the bottom off a time or two you will know how low you can go so you shouldn't need but two more

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Originally Posted by jerry clayton

After you knock the bottom off a time or two you will know how low you can go so you shouldn't need but two more

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Nah - I'm a slow learner.

But, you are probably right. If I have two, then with my normal mind set, then I'm probably covered forever and supply the second spare with the car when (or IF) I sell the car

Dave, I was out puddering around in my garage this weekend and remember this post. So I put the 34 in the driveway, got out my trust retractable metal tape, and measured the clearance between the macadam and the bottom edge of my front valance.

Three and one quarter inches (3 1/4") !:eek::( Gotcha' by one half inch!:eek: I have yet to hit anything that I wasn't aiming for. I suppose that if both tires when flat exactly at the same time I could have a problem.:eek::CRY: Especially if I was on the PA Turnpike.:LOL::LOL:

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Originally Posted by mopar34

Dave, I was out puddering around in my garage this weekend and remember this post. So I put the 34 in the driveway, got out my trust retractable metal tape, and measured the clearance between the macadam and the bottom edge of my front valance.

Three and one quarter inches (3 1/4") !:eek::( Gotcha' by one half inch!:eek: I have yet to hit anything that I wasn't aiming for. I suppose that if both tires when flat exactly at the same time I could have a problem.:eek::CRY: Especially if I was on the PA Turnpike.:LOL::LOL:

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Bob, between you and Deuce, it almost makes me want to wind my shocks back down -