12:05 Garage- ’70 Duster build
In an effort to lower the rear of the car, I modified the MP front offset hangers. I had some plates laser cut from sendcutsend with 3 mounting holes. The MP ones had only 2. Neither of these were in line with the install height of the Hotchkis hanger. I made the middle hole match the Hotchkis hanger. In the end, I think the car is approximately 5/8-3/4" lower. It looks much better and I can actually feel the difference sitting in the car.
This modification obviously affects the pinion angle. So, after battling every combination of pinion angle adjustment, I finally figured out my trans needed to be raised. @gmachinedart1 enforced my thoughts by saying none of the TKO500 swap kits put the trans in the right place.
I had previously put 3/8" of spacers on the mount and it helped but I still had a vibration starting around 73 mph. I couldn't raise the trans anymore due to it coming in contact with the floor. I finally decided it was time to remove the carpet and cut the hump. I ended up raising the tail shaft another 3/8" and I seem to have something to work with now. Go figure, the headers don't appear to hang as low, the tie rods have more clearance by the headers, etc. I sure hope the companies making these swap kits did a better job than Keisler did when they designed mine. However, I guess if I had the *** end of the car up in the air, it wouldn't have been a problem. I still get a slight vibration above 80MPH, but I think that may just be a pinion angle tweak. I didn't mess with that, only raised the trans.
I also ordered a Hotchkis rear sway bar and installed that while I was laying on my back all day. My initial thoughts are, the car actually rides better (seems to have smoothed out some harshness), which I didn't expect. I took some exit ramps at a rather high rate of speed and the car seemed very stable. I guess I'll know how much of a difference the bar makes at the next autocross. Hotchkiss had to have made all these parts to work together, so I would hope there would be an improvement.
In an effort to lower the rear of the car, I modified the MP front offset hangers. I had some plates laser cut from sendcutsend with 3 mounting holes. The MP ones had only 2. Neither of these were in line with the install height of the Hotchkis hanger. I made the middle hole match the Hotchkis hanger. In the end, I think the car is approximately 5/8-3/4" lower. It looks much better and I can actually feel the difference sitting in the car.
This modification obviously affects the pinion angle. So, after battling every combination of pinion angle adjustment, I finally figured out my trans needed to be raised. @gmachinedart1 enforced my thoughts by saying none of the TKO500 swap kits put the trans in the right place.
I had previously put 3/8" of spacers on the mount and it helped but I still had a vibration starting around 73 mph. I couldn't raise the trans anymore due to it coming in contact with the floor. I finally decided it was time to remove the carpet and cut the hump. I ended up raising the tail shaft another 3/8" and I seem to have something to work with now. Go figure, the headers don't appear to hang as low, the tie rods have more clearance by the headers, etc. I sure hope the companies making these swap kits did a better job than Keisler did when they designed mine. However, I guess if I had the *** end of the car up in the air, it wouldn't have been a problem. I still get a slight vibration above 80MPH, but I think that may just be a pinion angle tweak. I didn't mess with that, only raised the trans.
I also ordered a Hotchkis rear sway bar and installed that while I was laying on my back all day. My initial thoughts are, the car actually rides better (seems to have smoothed out some harshness), which I didn't expect. I took some exit ramps at a rather high rate of speed and the car seemed very stable. I guess I'll know how much of a difference the bar makes at the next autocross. Hotchkiss had to have made all these parts to work together, so I would hope there would be an improvement.