Bonneville Monza

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Bonneville Monza

Postby Gentry1 » Wed Oct 10, 2007 9:53 am

Hi Guys,
We're building a '79 Monza with turbocharged v6 power to run at Bonneville. Can anyone offer advice on the best way to lower the front and rear of the car? It cannot be too low or too stiff...

I suspect we can run S10 drop spindles and cut very stiff front springs. Is 2" the lowest sold? Who makes the best spindles?
I guess we cut the rear springs to lower the rear?
Where do we get very very stiff front and rear springs?

How low can the rear go without affecting the suspension geometry or the pinion angle?

I need to run 15" wheels with Goodyear funny car Front Runner tires on the front and rear. I assume the rear wheelwells will need to be cut? Will the front be OK?
Any suggestions will be very helpful.
Thanks,
Gentry
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Postby ColinOpseth » Wed Oct 10, 2007 4:48 pm

Hi Gentry,
The s10 brake conversion is a great way to go. The lowest drop spindle for an S-series truck is 2" and it is produced by Belltech.

As for stiff springs, check into the diameter of the truck springs. I have springs in my '72 Vega that are so stiff the car only drops down about 3/8" with my 275lb fat ass on the fender. My guess is they're truck (maybe S10).

Invest in a solid set of swaybars. I know they're out there. If you're lowering your car that much you'll double-check pinion angle again anyway. Your car has a torque arm so look at Spohn.net's adjustable torque arms so that may give you a few ideas. With an adjustable you can preload the rear-end for better traction. Third- and Fourth-Generation F-Bodies used the same torque-arm rear suspension.

I believe your biggest problem with be in 'width' of your tire. I know that with my 16" IROC-Z wheels I have plenty of room but the width is 'very' tight.

Best of luck and post pics of your progress!!
Colin Opseth
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'72 Vega with '93 Camaro LT1/M29 T56/12 bolt 3.31. 16" IROCs all around. Sanderson headers into duals with an H-pipe and Flowmasters. It's loud but at least it's faster than your grandma's Buick. pwned.
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1972 Chevrolet Vega GT

Postby Gentry1 » Wed Oct 10, 2007 4:54 pm

Thanks for the advice, Colin.
None of the tires are very wide, as a matter of fact they look kinda funny being as skinny as they are. But you don't think I'll have any height problems even after its been lowered to death?
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Postby ColinOpseth » Wed Oct 10, 2007 4:58 pm

Are you going to be installing a full-tube chassis? If so, you can gut those inner wheelwells and cover them with sheetmetal.

Maybe someone with an h-body in the weeds can chime in but from what I can tell the biggest problems seem to be width.
'72 Vega with '93 Camaro LT1/M29 T56/12 bolt 3.31. 16" IROCs all around. Sanderson headers into duals with an H-pipe and Flowmasters. It's loud but at least it's faster than your grandma's Buick. pwned.
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Postby 10secvega » Wed Oct 10, 2007 5:08 pm

How tall are these funny car tires?
Just a gold Vega with a little V-6

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Tires

Postby Gentry1 » Thu Oct 11, 2007 8:45 am

I'm not sure how tall the tires will be as I need to use them to figure my final drive ratio - and I'm not there yet. I'd guess, however, that they'll be about 27" tall, doubtfully taller. There's no need for wide rear or front tires as wide ones increase drag and offer no real traction at high speeds.
I'll obviously need to use the old "trial and error" method of determing whether there's enough room in the rear wheel wells but I thought I'd ask anyway.
No, the chassis will be completely stock and for now, so will the rear suspenion. There's a Monza at Bville running a SBC over 205 mph with stock rear and suspension.
A quick change will probably happen later for better ratio tuneability but its probably not necessary.

I doubt anyone on this forum has ever lowered a car as much as this one will be. If you guys have ever gone to Maxton or Bonneville and seen Keith Turk/Freiburger's Hot Rod Magazine Camaro - it's shockingly low - they even took the biscuits out between the front subframe and the body!
I think Turk told me the front crossmember was 1" above the salt.
I don't need to explain why the suspension needs to be stiff....
Turk had the Camaro in a wind tunnel in Mooresville and found that every 1" in frontal height increased drag by 10%.
Hard to believe.
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Postby 10secvega » Thu Oct 11, 2007 7:33 pm

If the tires are 27" tall,you may be just fine,as long as they stay a couple inches in from the wheel lip.But thats also on a almost stock heigth car.
Just a gold Vega with a little V-6

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Re: Tires

Postby Fasterthansome » Fri Oct 12, 2007 8:07 pm

Gentry1 wrote: There's a Monza at Bville running a SBC over 205 mph with stock rear and suspension.


Geez thats flying, guess I will have to change my sig to the quickest.
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Home of the world's quickest stock suspension H-body
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Postby avitet » Thu Dec 20, 2007 4:08 pm

have you looked in a b-body spindle it should lower a half inch more then the s10 spindle but it also winden the track about the same also i cant rember exactly but i think s10 springs are around 700 lbs
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Postby Stivan » Sat Dec 22, 2007 1:33 am

I've got some 28" Frontrunners, if you want something to use to mock up. . .Pay the freight, and you can have them. Oh Yeah, they're brand new. Only used one event at the strip. . . . I don't know too much about lowering combos, but I do a lot of drag racing, running 140+ in the quarter. I' ve got an '80 H/B, and had some problems of car moving around at the 1000' mark. I put on an Ed Quay wing, and solved the problem completely. You might consider one on your project. He makes them for both H/B and N/B Monzas. . . . . Also, I found a 2.28 ring gear/pinion in a Spyder 2+2 one time, so that might be the ticket for your project. Yeah it went with the car on another project several years back, that I built for the Silver State Classic. Incidently Camaro springs will interchange,and are "perfect" for BBC conversions.
Just Another Street Legal(All Motor) 9 sec. Monza.
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