techrunner

ok, i have my mounts from spohn, and the ls1 style mounts on the block. now i am wondering, would it be sufficient to take the holes in the k member and thread them and bolt the spohn pedestals directly to the threaded holes and not have to try to get a nut up into the k member on the back of the bolts? seems like it would be alright, unless the k member is way thinner than i think it is. any have any opinions?

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

It's too thin to thread.

3.1EyeCandy

iTrader: (3)

Putting nuts back on the bolts isn't that hard. Here's a trick:
* Take an open ended wrench that fits the nut and place the nut in the wrench
* With electrical tape - wrap the nut + wrench so that when you angle the wrench the nut doesn't fall out
* Take a kinfe and cut out a hole in the tape for the bolt to thread through.
* Put nut on.

This has worked great for me. I didn't come up with it - I found electrical tape on the nuts I took off when doing my swap Made me think for a bit...

andrew69_04

iTrader: (1)

those bolts arent very hard to get to. I have my suspension all tore apart and its a piece of cake to get inside of the frame. i think im going to tack weld my nuts in place in the frame, that way i can remove them down the road if necessary.

V8Rumble

iTrader: (2)

I agree - if your suspension is apart, it's not real bad. But if you don't have your suspension apart, then trying to hold a couple of those nuts in place is a real PITA. (FWIW, I used a variant of the tape trick that 3.1EyeCandy described.)

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

If the suspension is apart, drill the holes and weld nuts inside the K-member.

jackaharmon

ok don't mean to offened any one but a way easier way to put the nuts in the k-member is use a magnetic teloscoptic pen..seriously I put both my mounts in, in about twenty minutes..

jackaharmon

p.s. thats with the suspension in..good luck..

techrunner

well, this is a bit of a pain in the ***. last night i got after the old mounts (finally), but i didn't get anywhere getting them out with a wrench. i haven't taken the suspension apart simply because if i go that far i doubt i'll get i tback on the road for this summer, and i need my car back. i ended up grinding the old bolts off and punching them out. guess i'll try the electrical tape and magnetic pen tricks for the new mounts. otherwise i might just line everything up and weld em in. i got a little tired of screwing around lafst night. i guess hopefully i'll get a trial fit done tonight. anybody running the spohn mounts and retaining the truck oil pan? i'm hoping it will be livable to leave it on. if not i'll have to try getting the pan modified and see if that'll work. and i suppose i'll have to get the ls1 intake ordered up too from somewhere. if i get it in i can drive without a hood while i wait for that though.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Dude...you are doing an LS1 swap. You can EASILY take apart your whole front end suspension and put it back together in a day. I ripped the whole front end of my car apart, and removed the k-member, and had it back together easily in two days worth of work. And that was with welding on the k-member. Its REALLY easy. This is how I do it.

Support a-arm with jack. Make sure front of car is up pretty high. Remove caliper and hang out of the way. Remove sway bar endlink. Remove tie-rod end from knuckle and swing out of the way. Remove strut mount nut. Get a strap or chain and tie the bottom of the spring to the back of the a-arm. So it cant fly out. Slowly lower the jack, and let off spring pressure, until the a-arm is hanging freely. Keep pushing the a-arm down, and the spring should fall out. Then just remove the two a-arm bolts. Cake.

You wind up with this before taking off the a-arm bolts.


Im just sayin...Thats not going to prevent you from having the car done this summer.

As for the truck oil pan. Is that the one with the deeper sump? If so...Im gonna say dont do it. Things are already pretty low on these cars, and if your pan sump is hanging down below the k-member, you ARE going to hit it on something. Rock in the road, speedbump, road kill, etc. Thats part of the job of the k-member. To protect the pan sump, which is behind and higher than the k-member's lowest point.

I might be wrong about the pan. I never really looked into them past the f-body one. And you might also have good luck with the magnet tape trick for getting the bolts in. I wasnt saying you HAVE to remove the suspension. Just dont want you to be afraid of it...because its really simple.

Good luck man.

J.

techrunner

well, i tried to get in there without taking the suspension out, but there was no way i was going to get the nuts on the bolts, i oculdn't even find the bolts at all. so out with the springs. you were right ghetto, it wasn't all that bad, but it did take a little time, just cause i was trying to be overly cautious. i broke the endlinks off, which i figured would happen. but i can't really convince myself to rebuild the front end because of time and money. i think i'll do that next winter. the issue i ran into was that the spring came out in two pieces. seemed a little alarming to me, i really dont know what would break a spring though. just about 1/4 to 1/3 of a coil off the bottom, and it kinda looks like a brittle fracture, diagonal across the steel. surely this is not normal, is it? do i really need new springs now?

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Yeah its ok to go alittle slow...after you do it once or twice, you can blast it apart and throw it back together with your eyes closed.

Ive seen coil springs break before. Could have been a metal defect....could have just been stress. Chances are, its been broken for a long time and you never even knew.

You COULD get a new set of stock v6 springs for probably fairly cheap. I think guys are running those with the LS1 to compensate for weight loss. But, you could also cut the other spring to match. If its only alittle bit of the coil, you wont see TOO much height drop off. Just check the rest of the spring over to make sure there arent any cracks. If you can swing another set of springs though, it might not be a bad idea.

Where are you located??? I might have a few different sets of stock springs still laying around.

As for rebuilding your front end...save up your money and try to do it all at once. New bushings and steering links etc etc. That way you dont put new parts on with old parts...and then have the old parts put more strain on your new parts. For now, a set of energy suspension end links wont break the bank, and they seem to resist rust pretty good. Just use some antiseize on the nut to help it come off next time. Ive pulled mine about 10 times now and they're still good to go.

J.

techrunner

i'm thinking a defect in the metal, it really doesn't look like a fatigue issue with the metal, i don't know if those springs were heat treated from the factory, of if maybe there was just a concentration of carbon in the steel there to embrittle it. i wonder if the v6 springs would be good for handling though. i am still running an iron block, so i dont think the weight difference between the iron 6.0 with aluminum heads and the old 305 would be all that much would it? i might even just stick that one back in i guess, just because there wasnt much broken off. i'd probably replace them when i do the rest of the front end. just want my car back now, this one car family crap is killing me.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Ah... I either forgot you were running an iron block or didnt read it haha. Then you should be fine with v8 springs. Like I said, you might very well be ok with what you have. It was in there for god knows how long anyway.

People pretty much throw away stock springs from time to time. So finding a good set of stockers wouldnt be much trouble for ya. You'll be ok either way though I think.

J.

five7kid

iTrader: (14)

Springs are basically a large wire. They are cold drawn which hardens the material.

A diagonal fracture is a brittle torsion failure mode, typical for a coil spring. It typically starts at a defect like a rust pit or sharp surface ding.

I happen to have a set of stock V8 springs I don't need. They're yours for the cost of shipping (at least I don't think I've given them away yet).

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Thats why I was asking him where he was located... plenty of us have extra springs laying around and the closer to him the better. Heck I think I have a full set of TA springs and a full set of WS6 springs still. Hard to say for sure anymore lol. My garage and surrounding yard is a sea of parts right now.

J.

techrunner

i'm in wyoming guys. my center caps say ws6 performance suspension, so should i be looking for a ws6 specific spring to retain that, or were all the v8 springs the same? jsut wondering if it'll matter. i got both out of the way now, but i couldn't get the k member bolts to budge with the cheater, and i really do not want to hit it with the impact, for fear of the body mounting points breaking apart because they're rusty. guess i'll have to leave the k member in after all. but at least i should get the motor into place this weekend and then i can fabricate a trans crossmember. you used 1"x3" steel tube for yours, right ghetto? think i read that in one of your threads anyway. i plan to build it kinda like that, as tight as i can to the floor, in case i can afford longtubes later on. kinda thinking i'll need to figure out some subframe connectors too, so i dont go break it right away.

ghettocruiser

iTrader: (4)

Hmmm...I dont think WS6 springs vs. regular springs offer any difference in ride height. Just stiffness and coil diameter... Ide try to get some WS6s...

As for the k-member bolts, spray em good with PB Blaster. But like you said, you can, at this point, put the mounts in.

And yes...I used 1"x3" tubing. i think it was 1/8" wall...but I cant recall now. I think I probably said it somewhere in one of my threads about building it. You will probably have to order it online as its sort of an odd size for tubing.

A piece of advice. Make sure you take a measurement for the bottom of the trans mount so you know how high to make the crossmember. You dont want the trans butted up against the floor. There is a rubber nub on top the trans...Ide say give that like 1/4" or so atleast. Just gives things to move around a bit. Otherwise building the crossmember isnt that hard. Just takes some time and patience. I installed the two angled pieces first, made the part that sits under the mount second, then built the pieces to attach it all together. Worked well.

J.

techrunner

well alright, five7, i suppose it would be best to actually replace it anyway, so if you still have them, just pm what you want for shipping, and i'll send it to ya. thanks alot.