71 Chevelle 408 LSX build thread

[Nick.V70]

He had to swap them because the 80's called and they want their wheels back...

Andrew

hahahaha.... thats pretty good. Really that was the look for a long time and crazy how much the car changed with the first set of wheels and tires and now these new ones.... man this is looking good....I am liking the re-vamp. I have a buddy that still has his high school '65 stang I am trying to get him to do this same flip. Really the car is short suspension and wheels/tires. Not too bad if you have had the car for along time.

[Chevelle598bb]

Well the rearend is narrowed and new rear wheels and tires fit like a glove. The tires are pretty old (5 years) but they are brand new with the stickers still on them. They were stored with no air in them and I was successful in airing one up today. The other tire has one spot where the bead is unseated and not sealing. I tried soap and water, weight and airing up the tire but to no avail. So off to the tire shop tommorrow to have them remount the tire. I am very glad I got such a good deal on the wheels tires and brakes because billet wheels were never in the budget. Now that I seem them on the car, I would have never been happy until I got a set. Thanks again ole blue!

[Chevelle598bb]

Well got the tires remounted and rebalanced. They checked out good with no flat spots, so thats some goood news. The wheels look and fit great on the car now since I had the rearend narrowed. I will get some pics soon of the car on the ground with the wheels on it. I also still need to drop the front end a few inches.

[Chevelle598bb]

Here are a few pics of the car with the new rear wheels and the front dropped 1.5 inches. I don't have the new front wheels yet so I'm still rockin the vette wheels for a bit during mock up.

[ponchopwr70]

Damn those rears look good!

[chuckd71]

Cool pics, glad you posted with different wheels. Billet looks much better than the black. Good stuff.

[willj313]

sweet ride love the wheels

[Chevelle598bb]

Thanks for the complements guys. I really could not be happier with the wheels. It worked out well having to narrow the rear because now I have a big deep dish wheel due to the 4.5 backspace. Hopefully I will get the front wheels and tires soon. I am going to run a 18x9 with a 265/40 or 275/40 tire. d

[T00LMAN]

Wheels make the car look so much better!

[olblue51]

Those wheels look perfect on your car. It's sad to see them go but they were too big for my car. Glad to see them stay in the family, though.

[Chevelle598bb]

Gotta keep it in the family bro. Now we just need to get a set for your camaro. You need to get off your butt and start a build thread to document that bad camaro. Hey everyone, blow up olblue51's inbox, telling him to get off his ass and start a build thread.

[Nemesis RR]

any mini tubbing to get the wheels to fit?

[Chevelle598bb]

Nope, still the factory wheel wells. I just had to narrow the rear end 1.5 inches on each side due to the wheels having a 4.5 inch backspace. Normally guys running 20x10 wheels on chevelles run a 5.5-6 inch backspace. I haven't trimmed the fender at all but I will trim about 1/4 just to give the tire some breathing room when the suspension is articulating. The tire size is 295/40/20

[Chevelle598bb]

Well its been a little bit since the last project update, but I just got back from vacation in Colorado. I picked up a set of Qa1 single adjustable coil overs for the rear of the car. I got a good deal on them and they were the right measurements for me. I mocked the coil overs up in the stock location of the shock in the rear. The bottom of the coil over bolts directly to stock shock mount on the rear end. I purchased a set of ABC upper coil over mount brackets from ChevelleNV (thanks) that bolt into the stock shock upper mount on the frame and supplies a double shear mount for the upper coil over mount. They are currently in transit right now so I haven't got to mock up the coil overs with the upper mounts yet. WIth just letting the upper mount of the coil over sit in the shock pocket of the frame in the rear they fit perfect, so this may be a new way just to bolt coil overs on. With the coil overs in and the coil springs out, the ride height is the same as with the coils. When I put the upper mounts in, the ride height should go up about .5 to .75 of an inch which will be perfect. So we will have to wait and see how the car handles with this set up. If it works well then I will do a write up on the install of the coil overs.

Now since I have coil overs in the rear, I am looking to do a coil over set up in the front also. I currently have my front suspension set up (Global West arms, 650 lbs afco springs, spring adjusters and disc spindles) for sale in the for sale section of the forum. I am looking at either the Chassisworks front Gstreet setup with the Varishock coil overs or the ridetech set up with the ridetech coil overs. Anyone got any suggestions?

[mild2wildpaintngraphics]

Lots of happy customers with the new ridetech coilovers.

[gasfumes]

Ride looks good love the wheels.

[Chevelle598bb]

Well I got the rear upper coil over mounts bolted in with the coil overs. Ride height went up about an inch with the coil overs set at proper height. I can drop it a bit if I fab up another lower mount for the coil over to drop it. I like where the ride height is and I am going leave it there. I raised the front suspension to level the car and now the front and rear of the car are level. The front crossmember is 5 inches from the ground. I don't want to go any lower due to header clearance and also the Baer anti bump steer tie rod ends are much larger than stock tie rod ends. Currently there is not alot of clearance and if the front was any lower than I would have tie rod to frame clearance issues with suspension travel. I was trying to sell my global west control arm set up and go with a chassisworks or ridetech front coil over set up. I decided I am going to keep my global west arms and put a coil over in the front with a double shear top mount. Similar to what the new GW coil over set up does but I will just make my own mount. I was also thinking of using the Chassisworks tall 2 inch drop spindle to replace my factory spindle. That would move my tie rod down for more clearance and maybe better suspension geometry. Anyone have a set up like this? I just need to figure that out before I make my coil over mounts because the length of the coil over would be longer with the drop spindle than the stock spindle. Here are a few picks of the coil over set up in the rear and final ride height pics. Keep in mind the rear coil overs are just in mock up mode hence improper harware and spacer for lower mount. Well the pics are going to have to wait. I took the pics with my good camera and the files are too big to post. So I have to figure out how to make them smaller. Pics will come soon.

[CruizinKev]

wow looks great! love the wheels!!!

[Chevelle598bb]

Here are pics of the rear coil overs

[Chevelle598bb]

Here are some pics of the final ride height and crossmember clearance. The crossmember is 5 inches from the ground.