1980 Volare Cop Car

[Ash_Whole]

now this is not the rusted to nothing one i played with. started as a nice used bushing from Duke5A. thinking this one is nice it should be even easier than the last ones.......

 

[Ash_Whole]

i never knew the end part could even come off. thinking this was awesome i proceed to fight and swear at the rubber. the thin shell came right off, the other one was welded to the bushing, which in turn was welded to the center. i drilled, pryed, cut. in the end i sliced the rubber in two places with a cut off wheel. most people at work were not happy with the smell. i told them nicely that the bubblegum flavored antifreeze they inhale was worse for them than the smell of burnt rubber

 

[Ash_Whole]

but removing the end piece was a huge mistake.. that poly bushing is under so much tension, that it press too hard and there is no way i'd be able to line up both holes on the bar and get it to work. i had to weld it back on and struggle installing the bushing

 

[Oldiron440]

these car;s front suspensions are cool and totally terrible at the same time. the swaybars act as strut rods, yet they mount them on flexible mounts that deflect quite a bit. maybe making more of a solid mount would make it better?

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I don’t believe it’s function is a strut rod it’s removal was one of the first things I did to my Volare. Removal of the front sway bar allows the suspension to drop farther and quicker. Drag cars usually only use a sway bar on the rear suspension this helps the vehicle leave level. While this is good for the starting line if the car gets loose down track and the car goes from side to side you will see it lift a rear tire because the front will lean and the rear won’t.

 

[Ash_Whole]

you are 100% correct. i was tired and not thinking.

 

[Oldiron440]

you are 100% correct. i was tired and not thinking.

Been there done that!
I’m curious as to what your purpose of your modifications are. I mean are you building a track car just a better handling road car?

 

[Ash_Whole]

track car. gonna see how fast an old pile of crap that was largely ignored can go.

 

[Ash_Whole]

have i mentioned that i hate this front suspension? i mean, i understand the corporate logic that went into it, but it is bad. the older A, B, C, E design was so much better. anyways...
remember kids, when you order a swaybar end link kit, it is just for ONE side, not both. moving on, does anyone see the first mistake?

 

[Ash_Whole]

there was so much tension under these new bars, that a jack was needed just to jam it up into the member.

 

[Ash_Whole]

that was fun the first time, so now that i realize that the nuts for the bar adjusters need to go up with it again, i dropped it and did it a second time. but i think the 3*c weather is effecting my thought processes, the nuts have to go a certain way. lucky all that you need to do is remove the bolt, spin the nut and install

 

[Ash_Whole]

passenger side went OK, bu the driver's side was a pain. very hard to get the adjuster end up, just didnt want to go. the bolts on the arm were way off. had to jack, pry, wedge pull to get one bolt in. then whoever designed these braces did a poor job. not only does it cover the lower ball joint too much, but also covers the one nut for the bar end. gonna have to revisit this again with a grinder.

 

[Duke5A]

have i mentioned that i hate this front suspension? i mean, i understand the corporate logic that went into it, but it is bad. the older A, B, C, E design was so much better. anyways...
remember kids, when you order a swaybar end link kit, it is just for ONE side, not both. moving on, does anyone see the first mistake?

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Yeah, I'm there with you. Straight torsion bar setups are easier to work on and everyone makes bars for them.

 

[Ash_Whole]

rolling now. needs alignment and lotsa of tweeks

 

[LSM360]

Cool stance! I like the vehicle number E58!

 

[Ash_Whole]

it's been i while since i wasted money, so here goes.

never ends well with a box from Summit

 

[Ash_Whole]

finding a place for the parts is kinda hard. the way it is all laid out, everything needs to be on the left side of the car for the harness to fit, but the F body does not like that.

also the distributor is slightly too big to fit with an aftermarket manifold. needed a slight adjustment. i could have done cleaner, but it will never be seen, so ....

 

[Duke5A]

You're going to like that setup. Be sure to tweak the spark map on a computer to dial in your vacuum advance curve.

 

[Ash_Whole]

once it is running, im getting it dyno tuned. no point wasting all this money and not getting 100% put to use

 

[Ash_Whole]

well it was an eventful day. went to the shop to get it tuned. ~40km highway drive, with 3.90, so basically 3300rpm and 90km/h. then started running like shit the hotter it got. cooled off and ran OK. once it was strapped in, ran on 6.

found #5 and #7 plug melted on the header. even with the tape, socket, i guess the 3300rpm for 20 mins just nuked it. lucky the dyno was at Mopac, so buddy grabbed a couple of 45* wires, and we jammed them on.

amazing how much better it is to drive once it is tuned. i know the numbers are not gonna set the word on its ear, but just KB pistons, single plane, small cam and headers, im happy. other than springs rest is all stock cast iron. buddy figures it is 300-330 at the crank. stock 5.9 was 230.

next milestone will be the transmission and diff change, then maybe aluminum head and a big cam. but thats maybe next year. time to go beat it till it breaks on the track

 

[AMC Diplomat]

well it was an eventful day. went to the shop to get it tuned. ~40km highway drive, with 3.90, so basically 3300rpm and 90km/h. then started running like shit the hotter it got. cooled off and ran OK. once it was strapped in, ran on 6.

found #5 and #7 plug melted on the header. even with the tape, socket, i guess the 3300rpm for 20 mins just nuked it. lucky the dyno was at Mopac, so buddy grabbed a couple of 45* wires, and we jammed them on.

amazing how much better it is to drive once it is tuned. i know the numbers are not gonna set the word on its ear, but just KB pistons, single plane, small cam and headers, im happy. other than springs rest is all stock cast iron. buddy figures it is 300-330 at the crank. stock 5.9 was 230.

next milestone will be the transmission and diff change, then maybe aluminum head and a big cam. but thats maybe next year. time to go beat it till it breaks on the track

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My turd likes to run a little hot so I removed the little inner fender panels so there's more air flow. It helps