[skipp65]

Nice!!!

[torqhead]

Nice job Larry, looks like you'll have that buttoned up in a couple of weeks....

[Skip Fix]

Sounds nice!

[Formulajones]

Took the car out this morning. Another excellent build from Paul Carter. Runs perfectly, idles nice, behaves like a stocker, and pulls like a train. I think his dyno is a little on the conservative side because I didn't expect the car to feel this strong considering I'm up at 5,000 feet. The converter from Cliff and the guys at TSP is perfect. Drives normal and when you get after it, the converter does what it's supposed to. Very nice piece.

https://youtu.be/Iesvy0R3isA

[Steve C.]

Very nice !

I've seen a few pictures of the ongoing restoration work.... outstanding ! His customer will be proud. And pleased with the performance.


.

[OCMDGTO]

Looks and sounds great! Some nice long straight roads there. You going to take it to the track?

[Formulajones]

Yes the owner wants some track time with it. So that will be coming in the future.

[ponjohn]

Did you turn on to a drag strip..LOL.

Sounds great.

[Formulajones]

Ha, There are a lot of straight open roads being up here in the desert, but there are also twisty roads in those mountains you see in the distance if you like turning left and right, and some do complete 180's. That's one of the more popular drives with the car clubs around here, going up and over that mountain that reaches a tad over 7,000 feet.

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by Steve C.

Very nice !

I've seen a few pictures of the ongoing restoration work.... outstanding ! His customer will be proud. And pleased with the performance.


.

Thanks for the kind words Steve. I aim to please.

[Formulajones]

So just an update. Wrapping up a few small things on the car but the major stuff is done. The last piece being the rear springs. The car came to me with a new pair of Eaton Detroit leaf springs in the rear, and it had the stink bug look, not to mention it rode considerably rough in the back. Not knowing if they were the 126 or 175 lbs springs, I talked to Eaton and took various measurements for them. It was recommended a new set of 126 pounders from Eaton would put the car where it should be. Well....it ended up exactly where we started, same height, and same poor ride quality. Eaton assured me they were built to OEM blueprints. Frustrated, I took the leafs down to Dunbar Spring in Phoenix who've been in business since 1919. Right away they showed me how the lower leafs needed to be flipped 180 degrees to soften the spring rate and they also de-arched the springs 2 inches.

The result is what you see in the pictures. Perfect ride height, just 1/2" lower in the rear like factory. Dunbar nailed it. The ride quality is absolutely fantastic. It's ready for some track time!!

[TedRamAirII]

You wonder if Eaton really knows what they are doing?

[Formulajones]

Originally Posted by TedRamAirII

You wonder if Eaton really knows what they are doing?

I'm not sure. They claim they have all the OEM blueprints and make the springs exactly as they were. I found that to not really be the case in this particular situation, as Dunbar explained it to me. I even compared them to the original springs on my Formula, and they have the lower spring flipped 180 just as Dunbar explained.

But that's pretty much been the story of my life with leaf springs, lol. Very hard to buy new springs that are "spot on" and they need to be "tweaked" for proper ride height.

It's the biggest reason why I've simply just rebuilt the original leaf springs on all my leaf spring cars. Unfortunately we didn't have that to start with on this Formula. But now very happy with the results, just unfortunate the process it took.

[72LuxuryLeMansLa.]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

So just an update. Wrapping up a few small things on the car but the major stuff is done. The last piece being the rear springs. The car came to me with a new pair of Eaton Detroit leaf springs in the rear, and it had the stink bug look, not to mention it rode considerably rough in the back. Not knowing if they were the 126 or 175 lbs springs, I talked to Eaton and took various measurements for them. It was recommended a new set of 126 pounders from Eaton would put the car where it should be. Well....it ended up exactly where we started, same height, and same poor ride quality. Eaton assured me they were built to OEM blueprints. Frustrated, I took the leafs down to Dunbar Spring in Phoenix who've been in business since 1919. Right away they showed me how the lower leafs needed to be flipped 180 degrees to soften the spring rate and they also de-arched the springs 2 inches.

The result is what you see in the pictures. Perfect ride height, just 1/2" lower in the rear like factory. Dunbar nailed it. The ride quality is absolutely fantastic. It's ready for some track time!!

I absolutely love the stance Pontiac used on these cars! They look like they're launching when parked....

[Formulajones]

Maybe this will help Ted???

Here is a quick shot I took right after I installed the factory replacement Eaton springs with 126 lbs rating, straight from OEM blueprints according to Eaton.

That's a 28" tall tire on there and it's still more than 4 inches away from the top of the wheel well LOL

[Skip Fix]

I have seen several guys on a Camaro board have similar issues with Eaton/Detroit. I measured thickness of my 78's standard suspension rear springs and the slightly thicker WS6 on the 81 . They said GM never made ones like my 78 has according to their blueprints-I'm original owner so yes. WS6 were the 126 specs,78 had slightly thinner 4 leaf. Weird deal the plain Jane Camaro I have had 5 leaf springs that were even softer!.

So just another weird spring deal for you both my 78 and 81 had one side about 1" less arch. Took them to a spring shop here to re-arch the ONE spring. Both the same now and arch looks about the same, but when I reinstalled the ones on the 81 looks like your picture -like I have air shocks on it. No bushings in a bind. They were off the car unloaded for 1 year or so while I rebuilt the suspension front and rear.

I did have Eaton build a custom set for me with a 1" drop and the second leaf all the way under the front spring eye and they are 2" less arch than the 78's stock springs. 78 still has the Tri City Launcher Mopar SS styles on it-that picked it up 4" and are real rough.

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by TedRamAirII

You wonder if Eaton really knows what they are doing?

I do.... every time I use their springs.

[PAUL K]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

So just an update. Wrapping up a few small things on the car but the major stuff is done. The last piece being the rear springs. The car came to me with a new pair of Eaton Detroit leaf springs in the rear, and it had the stink bug look, not to mention it rode considerably rough in the back. Not knowing if they were the 126 or 175 lbs springs, I talked to Eaton and took various measurements for them. It was recommended a new set of 126 pounders from Eaton would put the car where it should be. Well....it ended up exactly where we started, same height, and same poor ride quality. Eaton assured me they were built to OEM blueprints. Frustrated, I took the leafs down to Dunbar Spring in Phoenix who've been in business since 1919. Right away they showed me how the lower leafs needed to be flipped 180 degrees to soften the spring rate and they also de-arched the springs 2 inches.

The result is what you see in the pictures. Perfect ride height, just 1/2" lower in the rear like factory. Dunbar nailed it. The ride quality is absolutely fantastic. It's ready for some track time!!

Looks great!

[torqhead]

Originally Posted by Formulajones

So just an update. Wrapping up a few small things on the car but the major stuff is done. The last piece being the rear springs. The car came to me with a new pair of Eaton Detroit leaf springs in the rear, and it had the stink bug look, not to mention it rode considerably rough in the back. Not knowing if they were the 126 or 175 lbs springs, I talked to Eaton and took various measurements for them. It was recommended a new set of 126 pounders from Eaton would put the car where it should be. Well....it ended up exactly where we started, same height, and same poor ride quality. Eaton assured me they were built to OEM blueprints. Frustrated, I took the leafs down to Dunbar Spring in Phoenix who've been in business since 1919. Right away they showed me how the lower leafs needed to be flipped 180 degrees to soften the spring rate and they also de-arched the springs 2 inches.

The result is what you see in the pictures. Perfect ride height, just 1/2" lower in the rear like factory. Dunbar nailed it. The ride quality is absolutely fantastic. It's ready for some track time!!

Looks good Larry, persistence pays off!

[Stan Weiss]

Originally Posted by Dragncar

You did not answer the question.

Medford OR is another local track. 1300+ feet, in a hot b!tch of a valley with berms down both sides. So they lose a tenth, tenth and a half, big deal.
So I go up there and run a 10.98.I am good with that.

Getting sick of the "mineshaft air" bull sh!t. So when I get the 461 High Port pump gas engine in are you going to talk junk about whatever it runs ? Then the 540 Gabby engine too ??

Since a link to this thread was just posted. I have taken another look at it. Since it has been more 2 1/2 plus years. Just what has either of these engine ran?

Stan