ideas for front suspension

[Guest wingnut]

working on design and planing for my baby. 72 510 2d. 98 vortec v6 w/t5. cant do roll cage until i finish suspension. the car will be drivin alot and not on good roads, so rims will be steel and cheap. no show all go. mainly ive got 50% dirt to play with so i cant run low all the time. iv got 83 2802+2turbo suspension i like the rear end but the front, well im not completely sold. its a long time progect with no end in site. any ideas?

[TravRMK]

Are you saying you want to turn it into a rally car?

[bjhines]

Hmm... Rust and cracks aside!!!!!!

 

Springs and struts:

The sport packages can sit a little low. You might want to try the "Euro springs" that Motosport Auto sells. Those springs combined with Tokico blues(non adjustable struts).

 

Repairs:

Steering mounts, steering coupler, engine mounts, tranny mount, differential mount, mustache bar bushings, suspension bushings, ball joints, tie rods, wheel bearings, etc... should ALL be replaced with stock or urethane, whatever, just replace all the worn out parts. Do it all at once and then address any alignment issues.

 

Alignment:

Alignment issues can be fixed by adding a few washers, ovalizing the holes in the front crossmember or the tower tops, or relatively inexpensive aftermarket parts.

 

Parts not suited to rough use:

1. I would stay away from offset aluminum/delrin "camber bushings".

2. do not install the aluminum/nylon Ball and socket Tension-compression-rod cups.

3. Make sure you use the urethane TC bushings in front of the TC buckets with factory rubber bushings behind the TC buckets. You can crack your TC rods if you bind it up too tight and expect full suspension travel on a regular basis.

 

Weight:

You should be good to go with a snappy ride that can handle the rough conditions like a rally car. Make sure you keep it LIGHT WEIGHT. Dump the spare tire, get a lighter battery, loose the bumpers and mounts, get a new aluminum radiator that holds less water with better cooling. You can also find a huge number of other parts that can take away a few pounds at a time to add up to a really lightweight car that still ahs all of it's functionality and interior.

 

Wheels:

Use lightweight 14"x6" wheels with generous sidewall 205/60/14 tires. Steel wheels bend easily unless they were intended for heavy duty use. You don't want to put heavy duty wheels on your Z-car. The unsprung weight of these cars is important and it usually grows considerably as people add bigger brakes, longer lugs, and wheel spacers. I would also stay away from the universal/dual lug pattern wheels. The extra, unfilled holes considerably weaken the wheel hub.

[Guest wingnut]

so about the bomber... yes to a little rally, but more on crappy washington backroads. the car was originaly an island car. meaning its lived on the rock since 75'. we found it with blackberry bushes growin through the driver window out the floor where a tranny should have been. so a couple hours, beers and pints of blood we got it out. found a 4speed from a 76z and got it runnig by monday. drove the piss out of it for 2 years until 2 motors, a front end, springs, blah blah blah ifound i wanted, no needed more poo than 2liter can produce and keep playin. so i started lookin and find all sortes of fancy transplants, the vortec seems like a good idea but with a lot of weight im talkin myself out of it. so we keep lookin through old guy garages and keep comin up with stuff. so hows about ford 2300 pinto. its aliitle heavy but its been tweaked. we are tearin into it this weekend to see whats up. back to suspention, im liken the idea of keepin the z front end but hows lower a arms off the frame, keepin the stuts and steering stockish but produce more stength. the stock arms just dont seem stong enough.

[260DET]

The 510 was rallied extensively so there is/was a lot of info around on how to beef the suspension up, etc. Unless you know a fair bit about suspension geometry etc I'd keep the original suspension rather than put something else in, there should be books around specifically on the 510.

[Guest wingnut]

gee i thought jeepin was hard on 4wdrives, but this is rediculous . the old 510 suspension didnt hold up so well. right arm,strut, and linkage is toast. vaulting that last burm might have been a little to much. so thats where all the fuss is comin from. at least i didnt flip it no major body squish, and no broken glass. just 2 toasted rims, the front end, crossmember radiator. yes well have the pictures soon.