Thanks for all the compliments guys...things were looking bleak yesterday...we were trying to trouble shoot the non functioning rear cross slide on my turret lathe and weren't getting anywhere, and I have to start shipping parts on Monday around the country. But alas, at 11pm last night we found, or I should say, discovered why the new timer relay would not work, and gerry rigged a solution that will get me thru this production job...as of this morning, it is almost spitting out parts.

So thanks for your patience, I will be posting again soon as I start work on the rest of the suspension pieces and installation. I'll also post some more pictures of the works in progress.

Mopar drags are this Sunday, I am going to try to make it, but the money from this job is more important right now.

Later

Gearhead

_________________
64 GTO...10.80's@122 on street radials
Destroked 455, Qjet, stock ign, 2400 stall

64 Valiant
Old 225, 4spd, 2.92-8.75, 2bbl, headers
dual 2.25"

hey karl

howdy?

just wandering if you installed your setup on your val.

I got myself a nice bigger lathe (I had two small-small ones, for musical instruments repairing purposes, now I have a bigger one and the smaller 2 so I can pretty much can cover all my shop needs plus some automotive fabrication )

take care
talk to you soon
Juan

_________________
Juan Ignacio Caino

Please use e-mail button istead of PM'ing. I do log in sometimes but I'll be answering quicker thru e-mail.

Hi Juan and all:

No, I haven't installed it yet, I am still making parts for Frieghtliner Trucks. In fact, I now have one of my buddies making some parts as well. If I don't come thru on this two production lines shut down, and I will go from hero to loser in one shot.

My machine turned out to have issues that have probably been around forever, but were not noticed because I was cutting delrin and small brass. The piston seals on the hydraulics that push the turret forward and the tools into the part being machined, are leaking. You don't notice this at all until you try to push a 1/2" cobalt drill into steel 2 1/4 inches. It slows down trying to build pressure. Once the hydraulic fluid heats up, the drill moves slower and slower until it tries to overheat do to the thinner fluid leaking even more..

I can only make 50 at a time before having to let the machine cool down awhile. But now with the CNC lathe of my buddy and mine working as much as possible(new seals arrive tomorrow) we will make the deadline.

So now the cool automotive news...I bought a plastic injection molding machine over the weekend in one of my spare thirty seconds. The guy who owned it was actually molding delrin control arm bearings for Porsche 911's.

So now I can mold the bearings with the grease channels and holes in place, saving much machining time if I kit this...

I was even thinking about a boot made of rubber to cover the rod end of the strut rod from the weather and road grit.

Anyway...thats all the time I have for now...won't be working on the suspension for probably a week still...I am working almost around the clock to make these thingies.

Will post pictures later as time permits.

Juan:

Glad to hear your shops getting filled out...nothing like a good room full of toys, I mean tools, for people who like to build things!

Gearhead

_________________
64 GTO...10.80's@122 on street radials
Destroked 455, Qjet, stock ign, 2400 stall

64 Valiant
Old 225, 4spd, 2.92-8.75, 2bbl, headers
dual 2.25"

what can I say, you're an inspiration. I even reviewed succesfully a couple of things on my musical instruments works reading from your posts. No BS.

well, take care.

Juan

_________________
Juan Ignacio Caino

Please use e-mail button istead of PM'ing. I do log in sometimes but I'll be answering quicker thru e-mail.

let me know on pricing when you get around to it. i am very interested and already sold on it. i am also waiting patiently for your next post!

zedpapa

_________________
1970 dodge dart w/225 /6 bored .040" over, holley 390cfm w/vac. sec., compcams 252s, clifford shorty headers w/2.5" exhaust w/flowmaster, f-body 11" front discs, aluminum A-833OD, 8 1/4 w/3.21 SG
soon to have 5 gears!!!

Hey Guys:

My life is finally mellowing out a little and I can get back to suspension stuff.

I've had a rough couple weeks with all the stuff going on, and more than a couple 24hr work days. Went to ER last Friday cause a Moth flew into my ear and made itself at home, but promptly driving me out of my mind and $250 to the hospital to remove the little bugger. Then, on Saturday I threw a fit over some issues that have been building up in me...and tried to kick something across the room but missed and broke my big toe instead...yeah! Paid the price for having an uncontrolled violent spazz attack!!!

Rarely do I ever fly off the handle emotionally or physically...but this week was an exception.

Anyway, I am currently designing a mold so I can injection mold the bearings out of Delrin. I should have time by the end of the week to finish the "Dutra Disks" portion of the LCA pins.

I will post soon on progress, but I've still got a day or two of loose ends to tie up around here.

Also, I didn't have internet all week. Not sure why, but I turned off the computer and DSL modem for a couple days, and now it works again.

Gearhead

_________________
64 GTO...10.80's@122 on street radials
Destroked 455, Qjet, stock ign, 2400 stall

64 Valiant
Old 225, 4spd, 2.92-8.75, 2bbl, headers
dual 2.25"

Gearhead, you've done some excellent work and been good enough to share the process with us. This thread has certainly answered a lot of questions for me.

Sorry to hear you're going through a rough spot. Hope your contract work and business(es) pans out and you get what you've been working for.
I'll bet everybody on this board knows what it's like to be overwhelmed with work and projects! They magically clump up and become more involved, and squeeze out any personal time. Then a wild card or two will pop up...

Just want to tell you that your efforts are appreciated, and I'll look forward to your future posts, whenever you can get to them.

Hey again guys:

Thanks for all the kind words and encouragements about this thread. I should have something to post in a day or two moving the project forward.

Not only have I had all the stuff I've already written about to deal with...but I also have a serious family issue right now thats taking what little time I have.

That said, I am as excited as anyone to finish this, the Valiant just doesn't drive well anymore with the rear suspensiopn tight as can be, and the front loose as a goose. Not to mention, my front brakes have been very bad since before I started this, but I don't want to spend money or time on 9" drums when I have disks in the garage.

Not much more machining to do...mostly its getting time to stop and take apart the Valiant, clean everything, measure for the strut rods, figure out the new brake line configuration with the disks and line-lock, and install it all.

I have decided not to machine the grease channels into the bearings I made already. I will instead include the channels in the mold for the bearings. I will install mine just lubed up to test it all, then put in the molded ones when I get them done. No point in wasting time machining when I could be machining the mold instead. Much lower cost for the bearings as well.

Anyway...progress soon!!

Karl

_________________
64 GTO...10.80's@122 on street radials
Destroked 455, Qjet, stock ign, 2400 stall

64 Valiant
Old 225, 4spd, 2.92-8.75, 2bbl, headers
dual 2.25"

Thanks for the update Karl!

_________________
Official Cookie and Mater Tormentor.

Hey Guys:

I'm actually working on it again...yeah!!!

I tore the Valiant down today and pressure washed everything. This will force the issue. The brakes had got so bad I scared myself, so I figured now is the time. Wow...my LCA bushings were baaaadddddd. I'll take pics in the morning and post.

My driver side tierod was bent and I never noticed before...other than that and the LCA bushing it was all in pretty good shape. Torsion bars came out easily, and no bolts were stuck.

Also, I'm parting the 69 Valiant I got the disks from if anyone needs any parts.

Gearhead

_________________
64 GTO...10.80's@122 on street radials
Destroked 455, Qjet, stock ign, 2400 stall

64 Valiant
Old 225, 4spd, 2.92-8.75, 2bbl, headers
dual 2.25"

I thought I'd take this first effort at starting this thread again to show what I've been up to that drew me away from the project. Since some of you seem to show some interest in my business ventures I will waste this post discussing that just a little...for those bored by anything other than the suspension I will post about that in a few minutes and you can ignore this part.

Things didn't turn out well in my efforts to help my buddy out of his predicament. I was able to ship a couple thousand parts, but my machine just couldn't do what was needed. My turret lathe is called a super precision machine for a reason. Even though it can work on bar stock up to 1" diameter, it wasn't designed with the power of a true screw machine. So parts that take 23 seconds each on a screw machine, can take 1-2 minutes each on my machine, because I just can't push the big drills very fast, even if my hyd seals weren't leaking. No, the machine is designed to make precision small parts with tolerances in the tenths of thousanths. Usually at a pace of under 30 seconds each.

So I just couldn't make them even as fast as they use them...

The worst part, was that I took the job making the steel parts knowing I probably wouldn't make much, but the third part that needed making was brass and would be a recurring contract for so many per month, that would bring in some real cash.

Soon after getting the brass job of 12000 units, with 5000 every two months thereafter, they called to say that Frieghtliner had redesigned the assembly, and would only need 5000 and then they would never need them again...this after I took on the steel work.

The company that hired me is a family business, although a large one, it is still mostly family running the show day to day. In the middle of my trying to make parts, the father of the owner died and the family closed up shop and left town to deal with the funeral. In the mean time, F-liner was getting upset that they ran out of brass parts...which I didn't know as I was trying to make steel parts.

Long story short...I get a call saying "Karl...we need brass parts now!!!" So I stop and stay up 24 hrs to set up the brass parts...the next morning I just get 2000 pounds of brass delivered, 10 minutes later the first good part rolls off the machine, and then the phone rings...F-liner told them to go to hell only using worse language, and would not take delivery...so I got screwed.

They are covering my tooling costs and some material restocking fees, but I basically lost about 2 grand over a deal I should've made $5k on. Some of that 2k is tools I bought that can be used later or are nice to have anyway, but I wouldn't have spent the money if I'd known. Some is just lost forever as a business deal gone bad. I also have 60, 12ft lengths of steel in my garage at about $22 per stick I need to find a buyer for...

And of course, I lost mega hours of labor I could've spent actually making money instead of losing it. So I started in bad financial shape and now it's worse...not to mention the hospital just billed me another $191 on top of the $250 already paid for 5 minutes in the ER....Hence my outburst that led to me breaking my toe!!!

So that is why I haven't been working on the suspension, and for the last two weeks have been chasing every kind of work I can...been building decks, doing graphic design, working a booth at a railroad historical society gathering, tuning hot rods...etc. Even had to work on a Chevy...yuck...although it was a beauty...12 second 64 Chevelle that I set the pinion angle for him with his new adjustable rear links.

So here is a picture of the setup for some of the steel parts I made...



Here is a box with finished parts being loaded to the brim to ship...



This box with 300 parts weighed 60 pounds, exactly how much I lost last year riding my bicycle like a maniac everywhere. Sure was a good reminder to keep the weight off, I can't believe I used to lug that with me everywhere...

Last is a picture of the $450 worth of custom carbide form tools I had made so I could make the brass parts. Just a simple hose adaptor. The nice one is my work, the lower one is the crap produced by a large company whose only concern is they not be rejected and are profitable.



I couldn't bare to send ugly parts like that to anybody. it is a surprisingly complicated proccess to form those parts do to the large surface area that needs cutting in one shot. The tool on the left is the first to cut. I feed the material out just enough so the tool is right next to the face of the collet holding the stock...so that the stock won't bend instead of cut. This tool has the extra meet at the left side so that it also faces the stock so it can be drilled on center, else the face might not be in good shape from the parting tool that separates a finish part from the stock at the end of all operations. Does that make sense? In other words, you must clean up the surface at the front before you drill it.

Then I feed the stock the rest of the way out, so that the second form tool comes in from the back side also close to the collet. Then I drill the center hole all the way thru, then the parting slide comes down and the part separates onto the parts shoot and falls into a can...about 38 seconds each...K-ching...usually...

Its not all bad...I enjoy this work so it was sorta fun other than the financial crud...second, my machine is repaired now and working fine...ready for future profitable work. Three...we wouldn't have found the deal on the injection molding machine had we not been involved in this venture.

The Dutra disks portion of my assembly can be easily made on my machine, further reducing the cost of a kit should I decide to make said kit.

_________________
64 GTO...10.80's@122 on street radials
Destroked 455, Qjet, stock ign, 2400 stall

64 Valiant
Old 225, 4spd, 2.92-8.75, 2bbl, headers
dual 2.25"

So enough about my machining and business adventures...

The other night I finally just got fed up with the handling and braking of my little old Valiant. So I figured the solution was to jack it up and take it apart, that way I would have to fix it.



Of course, that means I have to drive my GTO every day...all 600hp

The other reason I tore into it is I parked in such a way the other day that I could tell my tires were wearing badly...and they are almost new!!!



On the inside edge you can almost read the bars already. I guess the excessive neg camber, bent tie rod, and worn out bushings really are bad for tires afterall...who'd a thunk it!!!!

I got out the pressure washer and spent two gas tanks cleaning everything I could, front to back.

The front wheel well area cleaned up pretty well aside from the undercoating.



No signs of stress or cracks anywhere. Oil pan has hit things a few times though.

The two main things I found of interest were the driver side tie rod and the lower control arm bushings and pins on both sides.

First the tie rod...



I'm completely embarrassed that I didn't notice this before and fix it with heavy duty units as some recent threads discuss. Here I've been driving mountain roads to and from SF how many times this year...I wonder how much fuel economy and drag times are affected by a front end plowing the way mine has been. I can't believe I have been so negligent.

Second was the horrible shape of the LCA bushings...now this I could just assume and had...and I was not surprised by what I found. Although it was worse than I've seen on any of the Mopars I've worked on.



I can't believe that people actually comment on how well my car handled...talk about negative caster...geeze. I didn't know the LCA had been secretly relocating itself rearward while I've been developing ways to move it forward.

So this is where I'm at this moment sitting at the computer. Its 2:30pm and I have to go build more deck at 6pm. So I will go outside right now and start completing the Dutra Disk portion of the LCA pins. Then I can fit the LCA's and measure for the length of the strut rods.

Thanks for your patience guys...

_________________
64 GTO...10.80's@122 on street radials
Destroked 455, Qjet, stock ign, 2400 stall

64 Valiant
Old 225, 4spd, 2.92-8.75, 2bbl, headers
dual 2.25"

Whoof! Talk about a rollercoaster ride. F-liner truck is unfortunately as notorious in the supplier community as Harley-D motorcycle is for capricious decisions and lack of flexibility or tolerance. Sounds like you got crunched in the middle.

That hose adaptor you made is super nice. From what you've shown us of the suspension pieces, the kit—if it materializes—will likewise be super nice.

_________________
一期一会
Too many people who were born on third base actually believe they've hit a triple.

Well, its happened again...I just get to work on the car and now I have to fly to North Carolina tonight for lucrative work. Oh well.

I started test fitting the drivers side, cut the strut rod to length and tapped it, have the steel in the lathe and made the first couple passes for the "Dutra Disks"...then the phone rang with one question. Want to get on a plane today...yes, I said.

So I won't be back till Wed. I'll try to take a pic of the test fit and post it before I leave.

Its really turning out nice and I am very happy with how its all going together.

Good news is there is a big Dirt Track race there tomorrow night and they will take me along with the team.

Gearhead

_________________
64 GTO...10.80's@122 on street radials
Destroked 455, Qjet, stock ign, 2400 stall

64 Valiant
Old 225, 4spd, 2.92-8.75, 2bbl, headers
dual 2.25"

Well guys, the bad news is it looks like my car will be sitting in the driveway as shown in picture above for at least eight weeks.

The good news is things have gone really well here in North Carolina...Even though I have never been near machines as big and powerful as these, within a few minutes of showing up I had already stuck my head inside, found what was wrong on one of the machines, ground a new tool, and put it back in production...and it wasn't even what I was brought here for...the machine operators don't know how to grind tools correctly and they wear out or break quickly, and the clutch mechanisms for the tapping operations are tricky to adjust.


By the second day, I had installed the new machine they bought (rolling it into the shop on round bar stock like the Egyption Pyramid builders), and repaired the one they were going to junk cause they thought it was history, so now instead of two 18000 pound 6 spindle screw machines, they have three. And just in time for a large increase in orders.

I am making mucho bucks, being treated awesome by everyone, had most everything paid for, given a rental car (a chebby HHR)...taken out almost every night...and now they want me to stay for a month or two and completely rework the machine shop for efficient production. They are even flying me to SF to visit my Mom then bringing me back, so I won't even be home till mid October or later.

After the shop is running smooth they want me to machine parts for the Funny Car. When I get back from SF they are putting me up in a house of my own just down the street from the factory and loaning me a car...geeze, how life can switch gears...they have even given me orders for plastic parts to mold on my new injection machine when I get home...

Perhaps I can build my slant as well with the newfound cash going into my account.

Its not all rosy though...its hard work, and messy, and humid as heck. And today the machines were acting up with all new problems so I had to chase fires to keep parts going to the welding shop...but I'm enjoying myself and the attention that being the hero brings. These machines are pretty scary to be near when they are pumping finished parts out the door. And I only brought clothes for a four day stay...

Anyway, I won't be able to finish this for awhile, so you'll just have to bare with me till I get home.

Any of you guys in the Charlotte NC area???

Gearhead...aka Karl

PS...the dirt track race was really fun with the coolest mini sprint cars running Yamaha 600 engines fast as can be...I want one!!!

_________________
64 GTO...10.80's@122 on street radials
Destroked 455, Qjet, stock ign, 2400 stall

64 Valiant
Old 225, 4spd, 2.92-8.75, 2bbl, headers
dual 2.25"