5/8" Drill Bit - Shopping!

[Fast68back]

I have Shaun's adj strut rods and they were a pc of cake to install, there's nothing to it really!

+1

[Shaun]

I've had great success with the DeWalt brand of metal drills.  I regularly drill 1/2" and 9/16" holes in all kinds of metal from cast iron, aluminum to 4140.  I'm use a DeWalt 9/16 that steps to 1/2".  This is in my variable speed floor standing drill press so I can set the speed accordingly depending on what I'm drilling.  It would be a bit awkward to put your car on its table!  I lube the heck out of the bit while drilling.  I must have 100's of holes on that particular bit by now and I haven't needed to sharpen it.

It is going to be harder to drill metal with a hand-held drill that you can't slow.  Their slowest speed is likely to fast for metal.  If the bits starts squealing, it's dull and will need to be sharpened.

Just curious, do those CA strut rods have the LCA plate overlapping the tube in any way or are the butt welded to it?  I found this area to be a very high stress area so we slot the threaded connector into the plate.

[hivewax]

there's a hole that is welded ~1" from the end, so it's either threaded or slotted into the tube, then welded on all 4 sides.

[johnpro]

Is any one better than the other?  It seems the JSHarvey style would be easier with less dinking around with all the parts required to get the clevis installed.

In looking at the pics, I would think they are both plenty safe, but the direct bolt in kind, like Street or Track sells, would obviously be stronger, since the mounting point is over twice as thick.

I'll tell you what, though ... I would gladly pay an additional $100 for the Street or Track ones, not to have to doink around with them for hours to mount them with a bunch of measuring and drilling.  With the Street or Track ones, you just unbolt the old, bolt on the new, adjust and go for a drive.  Shouldn't take more than an hour start-to-finish to install them.

[Shrinkdude]

Dude, what's up with that floor?

My garage is tiled, previous owner did it.

[gotstang]

In looking at the pics, I would think they are both plenty safe, but the direct bolt in kind, like Street or Track sells, would obviously be stronger, since the mounting point is over twice as thick.

His (JSHarvey's) design calls to reinforce the new mounting point. I did a full workup on it with a rudimentary howto and detailed parts list, since I was planning on building them, but taking a second look at Daze' design, I might have to jump ship and do those instead. Bolt-in would look much cleaner and would be easier.

[AtlantaSteve]

I remain on the fence between DIY and just buy it.  The cost savings are actually pretty good for me, as someone has offered me the clevises, which takes almost 40 bucks off Daze's quoted costs (But then I don't have any metal shop tools, so I'd have to pay a machine shop probably about that much to turn and thread my existing rod) but there is definitely the PITA factor.   Not sure yet.

I *WAS* going to go with the CPP Mini-sub-frame kit, but finally decided against it due to the lack of good adjustability in the kit, and I don't want to cut off my existing strut-rod mounts.  I'm not generally against cutting stuff off these cars for a benefit, but I didn't see where there was much benefit to be had just to move to the tubular CPP kit.  It looks awesome, and the price is great, but I just don't think there's enough benefit there.   As Opentracker always says, "The spindle doesn't care what it's bolted to."


Steve

[hivewax]

CPP kit??

[AtlantaSteve]

http://www.classicperform.com/NewProducts/2006/NewFiles/NovaSubFrame.htm

it's a kit that was originally designed for Novas, but our cars have front suspension setups, so the company created a version designed for our cars as well.

Basically changes the front LCA to a lower A-Arm type setup.

The big draw to me was the price and appearance.  I love the tubular look...kinda like the TCP type setups.  And to get the entire front suspension done for 699...seemed like a great deal.

There are problems though.

First of all, you gotta cut your car up.  You've already cut your strutrod mount, so you probably don't mind that part :)

Second the only adjustability in the system is shims and eccentrics.  To change caster, you change the eccentric on the Lower A-Arm's.  This rotates the LCA forward and backward, but inherently will cause bind in the system...I know little about suspensions, but I know bind is bad.

The people who have installed it have marveled at how well it performs, but my guess is they are marveling at the fact that it no longer has a rubber-strut rod mount, removing a lot of the slop and tow changes our systems inherently have.   I am not convinced that it is any better than a stock setup with an adjustable strut-rod.

I have been on the fence for a while, CPP or Adjustable strut rod and eccentric camber-adjust for the LCA.  I was almost convinced I was going to get the CPP for a while, but the more I learn, the less I think it's a great solution, and I know we have guys on this board (like mark) riding around with a stock suspension, with Roller Idler, Roller Perches and Adjustable Strut Rods going out opentracking and having instructors SHOCKED that he's doing that on a 50 year old suspension design.

So, anyway, that's the short answer to your question ;)

[hivewax]

don't like shims... had them fall out. i've heard about that kit... mini-sub-frame kit threw me off.

[johnpro]

don't like shims... had them fall out. i've heard about that kit... mini-sub-frame kit threw me off.

If shims fall out, it's because the upper A-arm isn't torqued to specs.  That said, you can eliminate the shims with a vario-centric camber kit.  You can do this, regardless of what strut rods you're using.

OpenTracker sells them.  I'm using that kit on my '66, and no longer have shims on it.  It does require some welding to install, though.