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Stomis' 94 Street Truck - Snail Trail

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Got the harness resealed to the firewall.




And got some hood props made to hold the hood up using the factory hinge holes.




Summit order will be here tomorrow :D
 
So I threw the new coil springs in.

Heres the difference.



The truck springs are 870 lb/in variable rate springs. The gbody springs are 421 lb/in constant rate.







The front end just fell straight to the stops...

So Im kind of baffled. With all the weight Ive lost off the truck, including the LS swap Im sort of stumped as to why the gbody springs cant even hold the front end up. I know its not helping that the aftermarket control arms have like 3in of drop built into them but I still didnt expect it to just fall on its face. Im gonna go out on a limb and say the spring rate is probably correct or a little bit light but they need more height. Im not really sure what Im gonna do. I have some 1in drop springs made for the truck laying around but I definitely wanted to tone down the spring rate. I may look for a spring thats somewhere in the middle of the road and has a taller height. Unfortunately theres no proper way to determine what spring I should be running w/o corner scales. I also think the weight distribution of the truck and being leafs in the back throws things off vs just comparing it to a similar weight car with a similar weight engine.


sigh....
 
What about a set of weight jacks? Keep the spring rate you have now with the ability to adjust the height to where you want it.
 
No stock Im saying. The truck is easily 200lbs lighter on the front end than stock, probably more like 300. Getting the spring rate right should put me back down to where I should be drop wise. Trimming coils that are too heavy like my stock ones might get the drop right but the spring rate is still wrong.
 
yoo man why don't you go look for donk springs for g body rides ?

all them donk rides out there with lift kits . I am sure there is some lifted g body springs .

sorry for the funny first liner . :p:
 
sweetk30 said:
yoo man why don't you go look for donk springs for g body rides ?

all them donk rides out there with lift kits . I am sure there is some lifted g body springs .

sorry for the funny first liner . :p:
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Actually I thought about that! But at the same time just adding in spring height when the spring is too light wont function properly.

blazinzuk said:
Gotta be way too light of a spring rate. I bet your needing in the 600 lb range
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Yeah. Idk why I got a basis I needed in the range of 350-400lb spring. After some further internets searching I found a dude with an s10 on coilovers up front saying that it was a joke that QA1 recommended 350lbs springs for his truck and that it really needed more like a 550lb spring, and thats an s10...

Im gonna give the GMT800 springs a shot. Hopefully I can get them from our parts supplier at work so if they dont work I'll just return them.
 
It could also be that in addition to the truck being a little heavier than the g-body, the arm length could be different with the wider truck, putting more leverage on the spring. I don't knowthat for sure, just throwing it out there. Dropping to half the weight adds up quick when you multiply it by the travel, if each spring moves 5" before its fully compressed thats 5 x 870 or 5 x 421 which is 4350 or 2105 lbs just as an example. Eric is probably right that you need a spring in between there, as a spring that is lighter but long enough may be nearly impossible to put in even with a spring compressor.

And I agree, trimming coils won't get you where you need to go, as every time you cut a coil off you increase the spring rate while decreasing the length, which might be OK for a sport truck, but not OK for a drag truck where you might need more front end travel.
 
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folkenheath said:
It could also be that in addition to the truck being a little heavier than the g-body, the arm length could be different with the wider truck, putting more leverage on the spring. I don't knowthat for sure, just throwing it out there. Dropping to half the weight adds up quick when you multiply it by the travel, if each spring moves 5" before its fully compressed thats 5 x 870 or 5 x 421 which is 4350 or 2105 lbs just as an example. Eric is probably right that you need a spring in between there, as a spring that is lighter but long enough may be nearly impossible to put in even with a spring compressor.

And I agree, trimming coils won't get you where you need to go, as every time you cut a coil off you increase the spring rate while decreasing the length, which might be OK for a sport truck, but not OK for a drag truck where you might need more front end travel.
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Hmm I never even considered the the leverage factor.

sreidmx said:
Have you corner scaled it yet? just do the calcs, I use this one sometimes. http://www.hypercoils.com/spring-calculator that way your not guessing. it sounds too soft to me..
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No I need to to be honest but don't have any access to them.
 
Any area where there is a lot of semi-trucks is going to have a scale, including most truck stops. Many places have their own scales, especially heavy flatbed loads. I'd bet you could drive into a yard and get a guy to weigh you real fast for free... once it's running of course. :)
 
ashman said:
Any area where there is a lot of semi-trucks is going to have a scale, including most truck stops. Many places have their own scales, especially heavy flatbed loads. I'd bet you could drive into a yard and get a guy to weigh you real fast for free... once it's running of course. :)
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certified cat scales baby.


On another note. What's the spring rate of the factory V6 springs?
 
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