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Finally completed my "solid" drag racing shocks and got them installed.
Pretty straight forward cutting them to length and welding them up. I made "windows" and tacked the end pieces to the "shock body" ad then had a muffler shop weld them up (I wouldn't do that again...). Once welded they were rust converted/primed and then painted.
I used 1/2" x 13 Grade 8 all thread rod as the shock strut, I reused the rubber bushings to allow a little "give" to the shock. I drilled the bushings out to accept a 5/8" od x 1/2" id steel tube so the threads would be protected where they went through the shock tower.
I ended up welding a flanged nut onto the end of the rod so I could use a drill motor/socket to tighten up all the other nuts.. Probably a mistake - just double nutting the end of the rod would have worked too. The most important of the flanged nuts (that have serrations the bodyon the bottom of the flange) is the one that fit on the all thread/shock body joint. Without the flanged nut the all thread/shock body joint would wobble around -- with the flanged nut everything was tight and had no movement.
By loosening the nuts you can use the drill motor to spin the all thread and move the nuts up and down to adjust the height of the rear axle (and the height of the back of the car).
Now that I know how it all works and the overall lengths needed, I could make a simpler, lighter yet stronger version that would give more clearance between the shock and the wheel rim. Once I actually test this version I can decided whether to make the Lightweight" version.
Pictures to follow!
Pretty straight forward cutting them to length and welding them up. I made "windows" and tacked the end pieces to the "shock body" ad then had a muffler shop weld them up (I wouldn't do that again...). Once welded they were rust converted/primed and then painted.
I used 1/2" x 13 Grade 8 all thread rod as the shock strut, I reused the rubber bushings to allow a little "give" to the shock. I drilled the bushings out to accept a 5/8" od x 1/2" id steel tube so the threads would be protected where they went through the shock tower.
I ended up welding a flanged nut onto the end of the rod so I could use a drill motor/socket to tighten up all the other nuts.. Probably a mistake - just double nutting the end of the rod would have worked too. The most important of the flanged nuts (that have serrations the bodyon the bottom of the flange) is the one that fit on the all thread/shock body joint. Without the flanged nut the all thread/shock body joint would wobble around -- with the flanged nut everything was tight and had no movement.
By loosening the nuts you can use the drill motor to spin the all thread and move the nuts up and down to adjust the height of the rear axle (and the height of the back of the car).
Now that I know how it all works and the overall lengths needed, I could make a simpler, lighter yet stronger version that would give more clearance between the shock and the wheel rim. Once I actually test this version I can decided whether to make the Lightweight" version.
Pictures to follow!
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