Thunderbird IRS in an AD Truck

[Bigdav160]

Looks like the hubs might be discontinued. Some other reading I did suggested there might not be enough room on the original hub to redrill.

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by Bigdav160

Looks like the hubs might be discontinued. Some other reading I did suggested there might not be enough room on the original hub to redrill.

If you reference post #43 there is a machine shop linked that will do the work.

Or

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/fms-m-1109-a

[Coach529]

Made some great progress today. The step notch and top caps are installed. I was able to use a brake to bend the caps which I think look a lot better.





I actually bent both angles on the cap in one piece but screwed up the measurement so I was 1/2" long.





How I ended the day. I would say about 60% welded in. Hope to finish up the top side and get the bottom cut out on Friday!!

[Advanced Design]

Nice work Coach. Looks good.

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Nice work Coach. Looks good.

Thanks!

[47 Fasttoys]

Hey Coach, I noticed holes in the side of your new plates. Are you also using bolts or are you going to plug weld the holes? Looks like good planing.
Rob

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by 47 Fasttoys

Hey Coach, I noticed holes in the side of your new plates. Are you also using bolts or are you going to plug weld the holes? Looks like good planing.
Rob

I decided to plug weld all the plates. Not sure if it was necessary but I thought it could never hurt.

[Coach529]

Productive night in the garage.

I got the notches final welded (except for the bottom) and got the old portion of the frame cutout.





https://kustomcreations.smugmug.com/..._DSC5177-M.jpg

After that I did a test fit of the rear end. After some adjustments it slid right in.





Tomorrow I need to pick up some 2 x 2 x 3/16 tubing and I can final weld the rear end in.

[Coach529]

Had another great afternoon in the garage. I picked up some 2" x 2" x 3/16 square tubing to span the frame rails on the front side of the cross member.

Installing that was the first order of business. After than it was final weld time, at least on the top side.

Took awhile, jumping around so as not to heat any area up to much, and paying attention to the duty cycle on the welder.

All said and done, this is what I got!!

















Goal tomorrow is to get my bag cup dimensions figured out for the back. Also want to flip the frame and final weld the bottom.

[JTRACEY]

Man you stay busy posting your whole build here and Facebook! Like I said over there, keep up the good work.

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by JTRACEY

Man you stay busy posting your whole build here and Facebook! Like I said over there, keep up the good work.

Thanks!!

[Advanced Design]

Looking really good and man you run some nice weld beads!

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

Looking really good and man you run some nice weld beads!

Thanks, I am finally getting this welder figured out. I loaded it with .035 wire and now it welds like a dream.

[Rickysnickers]

Wow, awesome job!!

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by Rickysnickers

Wow, awesome job!!

Thanks!!

[Coach529]

I spent an hour in the garage tonight thinking about building air bag cups and mounts. Below is a picture of the suspension in full squish and at ride height.





The 7" bag really fills up the space. Looks like I will need to open up the notch a bit just to give me some room around the bag. Should have about 3/4" of clearance all around the bag after opening it up.





I am going to build some 3.5" cups, and hopefully give it a try in the next couple days.

[Advanced Design]

That is a nice clean edge on the plate. What did you use to cut it?

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by Advanced Design

That is a nice clean edge on the plate. What did you use to cut it?

I cheated. I made a template and had a local fab shop cut them. He cut all my stuff on a plasma table.

[Coach529]

Built some bag cups last night. Hope to spend some time tonight installing them with the bags......and possibly the first air up!!



The caps are not welded on yet. I may have to offset the cap to get the bags where I want them for clearance!!

[dwcsr]

This looks really good, I think you just wrote the manual on this swap.

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by dwcsr

This looks really good, I think you just wrote the manual on this swap.

That is kind of why I started a separate thread for this install. I could not find a completed thread on any forum for an install on a Chevy.

At some point hopefully someone finds it usefull.

[47 Fasttoys]

Looks good Coach, you may want a little more clearance on the corner near the bag. I had mine close and rubbed a hole in one.
Rob

[Coach529]

Originally Posted by 47 Fasttoys

Looks good Coach, you may want a little more clearance on the corner near the bag. I had mine close and rubbed a hole in one.
Rob

Yea I definitely do. I opened up the notch and now have over 3/4" on all sides of the bag....

[Coach529]

I worked on air bags the last couple evenings. Straight cups, angles cups, moving the top plate, moving the upper mounting bracket.

It was an endless fight and I never seem completely satisfied with the outcome. Seems like I could get it to look good at air out, or at ride height, but definitely not both.

I was really unsure since I had never done this before. I reached out to a couple guys who had done it before and combined there advise with what I had learned already and came to a solution tonight.

The biggest problem I had was the bag was rolling down at air out. I was worried it would wear a hole over time.



With this set up the bag looked GREAT at ride height and at max air.





After pulling my hair out for a bit I decided if I increased the diameter of the top of the cup it would be able to support the bag and protect it from damage.

For a quick test I drilled a hole in the center of my other top bag bracket and installed it between the bag and bag cup.

I am going to call it a success.

[Coach529]

Not a whole lot of forward progress this weekend. The honey do list was long. :-)

I took my boys to a small local car show. Kind of neat. This '72 was super clean, LS on air.





After fighting with the bags with what seems like forever I was able to final weld the upper back bracket. Overbuilt to the max........but better than the alternative!!





Bent a couple pieces of flat strap and built by tank mount.





I spent a bunch of time going over the crappy factory welds on the Ford Cross Member. 90% of the factory welds look horrible.






Next step is to pull the rear end out of the cross member and flip the frame. Final weld the bottom side and then ready for paint.