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Got a few on the road updates. I've put about 100 miles on the HHR so far. Had a few hiccups, but solid for the most part. Also discovered a pretty big design flaw on my part, and have come up with what i hope is a solution.
So the first hiccup happened about 2 miles from the house. Was driving back home, and decided to hop on the interstate for a mile and see what happened. I get about a half mile down the interstate at 60mph, and i could feel it running out of gas. Thought I should have had a few gallons in the tank, but who knows. Fuel gauge started going clear past full the day before without me adding gas, so i knew it wasnt right. Get my buddy to bring me 5 gallons of gas. Pour it in, and attempt to crank it over. Crank for 15 seconds, rest for 30. On the 3rd cycle, the battery is acting like its dying fast. So we decide to pull it home.
Charge the battery over night and its in tip top shape. I try cranking again. I get into the 3rd cycle again and its not firing over at all. Try a couple more times, still nothing. So i pull the fuel line off the carb, dry as a bone. Pull the inlet line off the fuel pump, its bone dry too. So i try to blow back through the fuel line, and something has it plugged solid. So i get the air gun, and put some air pressure to it and clear whatever was blocking the line. This is about the time i discovered i didnt have a fuel filter on the car. So i run down to Oreillys and get one of those clear jobs. Mount it on the firewall, easy to see and replace, and its before the fuel pump.
Now i wanted to check in the tank to see what kind of debris was in there. I wanted to replace the cheap fuel sending unit with the nice one i got with my Autometer gauges. So i pop the sending unit off, and look down in the tank. I can see 4 or 5 decent size peices of trash in there, big enough to clog the fuel pickup. So i get a pair of grabbers, and grab the peices i can see. Look around and dont see much else, little tiny peices of debris, but nothing that I could pick up. So i get the new sending unit adjusted, and installed. Decide im gonna take it down the interstate and see how it does. I go about 24 miles down the interstate, and sitting in traffic, it stalls. I push it to the side, and check the filter. Bone dry. I pop the fuel line off below the filter, and im able to blow in and clear the line. Good to go, get in to crank it, its acting like the battery is dead. Didnt even last 15 seconds. So i call another buddy, who comes to give me a jump. 10 minutes on the cables and its acting deader than it was. Turn on my headlights, and they are super bright. Ammeter is reading 12v. So either my switch or starter is burned up. Take the switch out, jump the wires. im getting a spark, but the starter isnt responding. So i yank the starter, and my buddy takes me a mile up the road to his shop and lets me borrow a van. I yanked the starter off, a brand new one from oreillys, and go exchange it. Put it in the car on the side of the interstate, hit a little starting fluid, and i cranks over immediately. So i take the van back, walk to the car, and drive 25 miles home with no fuel issue. So this morning i took the fuel inlet off, which gave me a 6" round opening in the top of the tank. Holy smokes. Theres crap everywhere. I turned the tank upside down when i got it, blew the hell out of it with air, and shook it to make sure nothing was in it. So i drained the tank with an electric fuel pump, and got in there with a few towels and was able to wipe everything out. Got quite a few big peices, and tons of dirt. Took the fuel line off behind the filter, and blew the line backwards, as well as the return line. Wiped it down one more time, and put it all back together. She's clean as a whistle now. Hopefully i wont have any more issues.
So now to the design flaw. When i was on the interstate, and would hit a bump, the car rocked side to side like a damn boat The way i mounted my coil springs so close to the center pumpkin, as well as my shocks, there is nothing on the outer corners of the body to keep the car from rocking side to side, and boy does it when the road is bumpy in the wrong way. Now when the interstate was smooth, it drove like a new car. Straight down the road, no vibrations or noises, it was really nice.
So i climbed under the car, and ive got about 18" from the outside of the coil to the drum brake on the passenger side, and about 20" on the driver side. Im going to buy two air bags and mount brackets. The brackets have the curve of the axle to weld on the bottom, and are flat on the top. Im going to use the location that the factory coil springs were mounted. Ive got plenty of room on the axle. Should be a fairly simple install. Im going to plumb a line out the back with a tire valve style fitting. When ive got 1K lbs of steel and tools in the car im going to need the extra capacity. Two bags and the brackets will run about $200 shipped to me. I considered heavier springs and mounting 2 more shocks on the outside, but im looking at $300-$400, and i wont have the adjustability of the air bags. Ill post some pictures later. Gonna go cruise for an hour or so and see if I've gotten my fuel issue solved.
Its been a big hit everywhere ive been. Everyone wants to talk about it, people video it going down the road. Lots of thumbs up and smiles. Everyones favorite thing is the bomb intake. I love cruising around in it, hard to beat the sound of a sbc
I'll post some updates once i get the airbags installed. My plan is to leave California on the 27, so ive got a little less than 2 weeks to get it ready for our first long trip.
I've got a big beefy panhard bar. Im not getting any side to side movement in the axle. The body itself rocks left to right because the mounting point of the springs and shocks are so close to the center. Also i've got an issue with clearance if I go any lower. Right now i've got all my travel, but with even a couple hundred lbs in the back im gonna be hitting things. The airbags will allow me to lift the rear up when hauling anything, and should keep the rear corners solid. Its kinda like those little setups they have at the park for kids. It's like a horse or a bumblebee mounted to a giant coil spring. And will just sway back and forth. Its not terrible as far as the body swaying, but at highway speeds the axle is able to swing up and down, which makes for an uneasy feeling. Im gonna refrain from driving on the interstate until i get that problem solved. A pair of shocks mounted towards the outside of the axle would take care of it, but wouldnt really address my weight capacity problem.
So for $170 shipped to my door I can get 2 air bags, weld on mounts, hardware, (2) 90* fittings to come out of the air bags, 12' of 1/2" air line, and 2 schrader valves i can mount in the wheel wells or in the rear hatch area. I think thats gonna be my most cost effective solution to my 2 remaining problems.
Yeah I'm sure the properly engineered sway bar would do the trick. I'm pretty tight on space to be able to fabricate and mount one. I don't think I have the proper engineering specs to understand all the different forces that would be applied. If I didn't plan on hauling any weight I would go towards that route. Thanks for the advice!!
I mounted some different back tires on my wheels today. They're about 2" taller than the tires that were on it, and should be more apt to carrying a load. They're Kumho Solus 235/75/15 and they fit real close. Here's a picture of the tires mounted, and a picture of where i want to mount the air bag. That flat plate up top is welded to the factory molded frame rail, and to my 2x3 frame rail. You can see the two small factory welds that held the top coil spring plate in place. Seems like this should be one of the stronger areas to mount the air bag. This side idea little tight, it's the shorter axle tube side of the 2" offset rear end.
By moving the springs inward, you have reduced the amount they will compress under a load. Having a longer axle length from the spring to outer axle edge will increase the movement.
(hard to explain exactly)
In other words. If you doubled the distance between the springs and outer axle than the original cars setup, you're going to need stiffer springs.
Yeah that's what I was thinking George. Heavier duty springs, and another set of shocks mounted out towards the edges of the axle would do the trick. But I'm getting crunched on time, and having a set of springs made would take a couple weeks at least. And I would still need shocks mounted outwards to alleviate the wheels from rocking up and down to much on bumpy roads.
With air bags, I take weight off the current coil springs, and give myself a lot of adjustability. I also eliminate the need for an outer shock because the body is now supported in its original location. For the price and benefits, I feel like air bags are my best option. Pretty straight forward installation, no need for an on board air system, and I increase my weight carrying capacity and ride height only when needed. With heavier springs my rear would be raised pretty high all the time.
04-14-2018, 09:29 PM
The way i mounted my coil springs so close to the center pumpkin, as well as my shocks, there is nothing on the outer corners of the body to keep the car from rocking side to side, and boy does it when the road is bumpy in the wrong way. Now when the interstate was smooth, it drove like a new car. Straight down the road, no vibrations or noises, it was really nice. 
