Free Candy Inside: 63 Long Panel Build

[Free Candy Inside]

Originally Posted by joedoh

those arms are set up for much larger tires and wheels, they have the geometry of dropped lower control arms. so you are probably right that you are not squashing the bag enough, there should be 3" between your upper mount and lower mount when laid out. To find out how off you are, put a 2x4 under the tire and lay the truck out, if it still lays out, put another 2x4 on top of it and try to lay out. this will help tell you how much more tire you will need. If you dont want bigger tires, you can put a cup on the lower arm to squish the bag more but it will never improve the arm to ground clearance. usually that is not a big issue, because the tire will roll over an obstacle and the arm goes up too.

you will want to fix it not only for lift but also because your bag pressures will be much higher if you dont have it squished down to 3", you want every single psi to contribute to lift, not have an empty volume that has to fill before it can start lifting.

good luck.

You are correct and that's exactly what I was thinking. I may try your 2x4 trick before I go bolting the factory spindles back on. I was able to run a die on the thread and get the nut to tighten down.

[Free Candy Inside]

I measured the bag and found out it wasn't compressed enough so I jacked up the truck and put 3" tubing I had laying around. It stills lays out and compressed the bag fully so I need to put the factory spindles on it. That will also increase my LCA clearance. I now have almost 6" of clearance and roughly 11" of lift.

[joedoh]

haha your air system will be happy not running 200 psi for 3 inches of lift. good idea using the stock spindles too!

[Free Candy Inside]

Threw the factory spindles back on and got the results I was looking for.

[Free Candy Inside]

So the truck gets good lift, has over 5"s of clearance at the lowest point on the LCA's. I fired it up, drove it outside, layed it out and then put it back in the garage. Lol. On to the next task. Here's a pic of it back in the garage laid out on factory spindles. Only bad news is that the hood hinges won't work now.

[amueller454]

lovin this thing man. wicked ride. the loooonnnggg panel makes it even cooler i think

[Free Candy Inside]

Originally Posted by amueller454

lovin this thing man. wicked ride. the loooonnnggg panel makes it even cooler i think

Thanks! It's def a boat. I almost gave up on it before I got going. Saw a shorter panel at a show and hated everything about it. Bout quit right then. But now I love this freak machine. The extra legthn makes it that much more crazy. Lol

[66PANEL]

Originally Posted by Free Candy Inside

Thanks! It's def a boat. I almost gave up on it before I got going. Saw a shorter panel at a show and hated everything about it. Bout quit right then. But now I love this freak machine. The extra legthn makes it that much more crazy. Lol

Hope it wasn't mine!

[Free Candy Inside]

Originally Posted by 66PANEL

Hope it wasn't mine!

No sir, not yours. This one was bagged and slammed in the ass end but didn't sit level, front end was higher than the back. Something about it drove me nuts. I think it was a combination of not sitting right and being a shorter panel that threw me off.

By the way, the goal is to make Beatersville. Lol. I told you I was trying to make it last year, but I guess I meant this year. Lol. I'm down to floors and a few minor things so it looks possible for this year!

[Mjminino]

Check this out here

[Free Candy Inside]

Originally Posted by Mjminino

Check this out here

That rocks. Thanks!

[joedoh]

I had a forward tilt hood setup and loved it, a friend on mine took it all apart to do it so much cleaner and then moved to wisconson. so I bought the PB hinges, they work great!

glad you got you lift figured out!

[Free Candy Inside]

Originally Posted by joedoh

I had a forward tilt hood setup and loved it, a friend on mine took it all apart to do it so much cleaner and then moved to wisconson. so I bought the PB hinges, they work great!

glad you got you lift figured out!

Any pics of the forward hood set up? Porterbuilt website is down but I've seen prices around $250 which is a lot to spend in my opinion but I may have to just pay up.

[Mjminino]

Honestly, I wouldnt do the reverse hood, but that is just me. So hard to work on anything. PB is some quality stuff and really good engineering, totally worth the money. I am contemplating on using inner fenders or not, so I too will have to fork over the cash to get some. you are not alone

[Free Candy Inside]

Originally Posted by Mjminino

Honestly, I wouldnt do the reverse hood, but that is just me. So hard to work on anything. PB is some quality stuff and really good engineering, totally worth the money. I am contemplating on using inner fenders or not, so I too will have to fork over the cash to get some. you are not alone

I've always thought thier stuff is top notch until recently when another local guy bought a front crossmember. The bag mounts weren't lined up so the bag rubbed and was at a horrible angle. The lower bag mount bolt was off and had to be re drilled. They send random hardware for the struts that didn't fit/wasn't correct, and nothing came with any instructions or parts labeled. So you literally had to figure out which bolts went where, how to install the rack, etc. The stuff looks super nice but for $3500 it should bolt in with no complications besides the rack. Luckily he didn't have everything powder coated which he originally was going to do.
I also experienced the same thing with my Michigan Metal Works control arms. I don't get it, a simple tech sheet would go a long way. I was pretty much told that they expect you know what you are doing and because it was a "budget series" no instructions were include. So why not put a quick link on the website that shows how to install or tell me important things like the cross shafts come torqued to specs??

I don't know, maybe I'm just being picky, but I've done lift kits that come with detailed instructions and pictures. Maybe they just think hicks are too stupid to figure things out but if they can sent instructions on a $150 leveling kit it seems they should be able to send instructions with $900 control arms and $3500 suspensions.

Rant over. Lol

[Mjminino]

It is always good to vent once and awhile, it keeps your system in balance

[joedoh]

its was a lesabre hinge and bmw rollers. It worked well but didnt make it through the rebuild.


if you take a lesabre apart you will see how the hinge works, and you could use the lesabre roller system just as easily. if you go slogging through junkyards to get the parts, make sure you take a 3/8 ratchet and a torx set.

[Mjminino]

^^^^^^ Nice Info

[joedoh]

oh you keep the stock hood latch with that system too. the way it works is you pop the latch like normal and the hood lifts up and forward about 6 inches then drops in front of the grille

[Free Candy Inside]

Nice. Thanks for the info!!! Might have to snag a set of hinges for this or possible future builds!

[Free Candy Inside]

Not much progress last week. Had school stuff and couldn't get out and work on the truck. I sent my wheels off for sandblasting and powder coating. I'm going with an antique white. I Also ordered some tires for it. I wanted wide whites but don't want to spend the $. So for now I got a tire with a thin whitewall. I'll probably have them cut to get a wider whitewall. Here's what I'm thinking.

[Free Candy Inside]

The girlfriend and I have been together for 2 years so she got me this new welding helmet as a gift

[Mjminino]

yeah just take a 40 grit on a angle grinder and widen them to whatever you want. put the car in reverse

[Free Candy Inside]

Originally Posted by Mjminino

yeah just take a 40 grit on a angle grinder and widen them to whatever you want. put the car in reverse

There's a shop on the west side that has a set up that cuts them nice and even for like $6 a tire. Well worth it to not deal with grinding them.

I'll PM you my Facebook. Otherwise I'm on Instagram @jaked937

[Free Candy Inside]

Started working on rebuilding the firewall. I'm using 1" box to frame it out and to add strength. The "sqaure" area im thinking about adding the firewall/floor to the backside of it to kind of notch the firewall for tire clearance. I currently don't have issues but I'm thinking down the road if I ever want to put big wheels on it, this would take care of it now.