[henry36]

Okay, now I understand the knuckles, hubs and rotors. Why the f-body calipers? Do they use the same bolt spacing as the Astro/Silverado?

The ls1 fbody calipers are basically c5 calipers. I have a set already. The bolt pattern on the knuckle is pretty wide so that will allow the brackets to be set further back for the deep hat. This is all theory. I'm hot rodding. Just reading and talking. Trying to figure out what will work for me.
It's cool when it works but frustrating when it don't. But you just get back to the drawing board.

 

[Caddylack]

The ls1 fbody calipers are basically c5 calipers. I have a set already. The bolt pattern on the knuckle is pretty wide so that will allow the brackets to be set further back for the deep hat. This is all theory. I'm hot rodding. Just reading and talking. Trying to figure out what will work for me.
It's cool when it works but frustrating when it don't. But you just get back to the drawing board.

Worth noting:

The base C5 calipers are smaller than the Astro calipers. The C5 calipers use dual 1.6 inch pistons, and the Astro/truck calipers use dual 2 inch pistons. Use the factory 2003-2005 Astro calipers that are meant for your knuckle.

 

[henry36]

It's not supposed to 'seem to run ok' after a tune.
It's supposed to be like, 'why was GM holding back on me? This is more like it!'.
You probably got Keith'd.

Might be the case. I say it runs ok cuz I knew there are a couple things wrong. I did the harness myself. My fans run constant and I believe I made the O2 sensor wires too long and the heating element is not working. That isn't the tune. That's my error. When I get these things worked out I will be taking it to get Dyno tuned. The pcmforless tune was to start it up.

 

[henry36]

This is rad. Always thought it'd be sick to build a boxy road course car. I've got a pretty set-up road course 95 9c1 LT1/T56 that I've been having a lot of fun with the last 10 years or so.

Where you located? Going to the Impala Nats this year? What tires did you go with? Don't quite recognize them.

If you need any track setup recommendations or anything like that, feel free to hit me up any time.

Couple of pics and a video from a trip to NYST about two weeks ago:
View attachment 194191 View attachment 194192 View attachment 194193

That's pretty cool man! I love the smell of the track. Gasoline and rubber.
I'm in Arizona. Some buddy's of mine got me started when we went to sema in Vegas. We went to exotics racing and I drove a c7 stingray on the track. Was a blast. I bought a bmw z3 for $700. Rebuilt and stroked it and took it to the track. They have wild horse pass in Phoenix. They have a few tracks there. And a cool one in Deming, new Mexico. It's small but you can rent it for your own private use.
I will be running cheapy federal rs-rr. Not the best tires but they get sticky. I'm on a budget. I got 4 cars I'm I'm taking turns working on so budget is the key word.
I'd like to pick your brain when I got more time.

 

[henry36]

Worth noting:

The base C5 calipers are smaller than the Astro calipers. The C5 calipers use dual 1.6 inch pistons, and the Astro/truck calipers use dual 2 inch pistons. Use the factory 2003-2005 Astro calipers that are meant for your knuckle.

Cool to know. I'm a junkyard dog. I grab whatever I find usefully there for cheap. Rebuild kits aren't expensive either.

 

[henry36]

I appreciate all your help, advice, & knowledge. Most of the things I've done have come from guys posts on this forum. The t56 swap manual was of great help. The Astro rotor thread also helped. Lots of good info. I wish there was a thread on this 8.8 IRS swap into a b-body or 64-77 a-body out there. Would be great help.

 

[Marky Dissod]

An independent rear suspension would be tre cool, but not strictly necessary. Same goes for rack & pinion steering.
Plenty of cleverly reinforced and modified Caprices handle more than well enough to grow eyeballs, drop jaws, and embarrass 'exotic' sports cars costing several hundred thousand dollars.

 

[henry36]

An independent rear suspension would be tre cool, but not strictly necessary. Same goes for rack & pinion steering.
Plenty of cleverly reinforced and modified Caprices handle more than well enough to grow eyeballs, drop jaws, and embarrass 'exotic' sports cars costing several hundred thousand dollars.

Very true. I'm just dumb when it comes to this stuff. I got this idea and I'm gonna do it. I'm not sure what I'm getting into but this whole project has been new territory for me. I thought about a panhard bar or Watts link. The adjustability of the rear suspension is what I'm after. Camber, and toe. As well as the balance of the car it will all bring. It isn't the easy route for sure.

 

[henry36]

This is rad. Always thought it'd be sick to build a boxy road course car. I've got a pretty set-up road course 95 9c1 LT1/T56 that I've been having a lot of fun with the last 10 years or so.

Where you located? Going to the Impala Nats this year? What tires did you go with? Don't quite recognize them.

If you need any track setup recommendations or anything like that, feel free to hit me up any time.

Couple of pics and a video from a trip to NYST about two weeks ago:
View attachment 194191 View attachment 194192 View attachment 194193

I was geeking out on your videos. That big girl moves! Stays nice and flat through the turns. That's a cool track. It's too hot out west for the track. I'll wait for fall. Chuckwalla in Blythe, CA is the nicest track I've been on so far. What's your suspension set up? Brakes? Tires? It looks like you have it pretty dialed in. Gear ratio? Still 350 or stroked? You have a roll bar?

 

[k20chevy]

The tachometer resolution was left at a LS1 setting resulting in the tach reading half of what it should. The IAC table was screwed up and wouldn't even let the car idle. I copied over an IAC table from a 01 chevy express van 350 and it worked. There's minimal changes from an LS tune over to the LT setup. I actually paid for a "custom tune" and they forgot to do anything with it. Buy HP Tuners, its the best investment yet. I use it for dianostics more than tuning but it's well worth being able to make your own changes. I have had several dyno tunes that I go back and find they set things "off" but didn't use the correct number to do so, I.E. 255 instead of a 0. So I end up having to correct things the shop did wrong...

 

[henry36]

Sounds pretty messed up for a shop to leave stuff like that. I've entertained to idea of self tuning but thought I'd leave that part to pros. So what does the total cost of all things necessary run? I don't even own a laptop.

 

[Chicagoareabmx]

I was geeking out on your videos. That big girl moves! Stays nice and flat through the turns. That's a cool track. It's too hot out west for the track. I'll wait for fall. Chuckwalla in Blythe, CA is the nicest track I've been on so far. What's your suspension set up? Brakes? Tires? It looks like you have it pretty dialed in. Gear ratio? Still 350 or stroked? You have a roll bar?

I'd love to get to Chuckwalla, Thunderhill, and Laguna Seca is still very much a bucket list track. West Coast Trackation 2023? Haha. I got into modding this car after living near and driving all the awesome roads around Malibu CA some years back. Mulholland Hwy, Decker, Latigo, too good!

Before I jump into my car mods, I'd say the IRS is an ambitious project that I'd be keen to see done. As far as I know it either hasn't been done or hasn't been well documented at least. While it may not be super necessary for most tracks, it'd definitely be very nice on real world roads, same with rack and pinion steering. Even the best stick axle is still a stick axle. Mustangs finally gave it up after all these years, despite having developed a very very competent stick axle in the prior generation. FWIW, there's some fairly rudimentary techniques to bring some mild camber and toe to a stick axle, but certainly nothing I'd call adjustable, unless you would consider swapping to something like this bad boy:

Cambered Full Floating CV Ball Drive Axle - CorteX Racing

Cambered Full Floating CV Ball Drive Axle - CorteX Racing

cortexracing.com

but at that price, IRS swap makes just as much sense to me.....

I'll have to shoot you a PM on all the mods at some point, but it's honestly not that far from stock with A LOT of the basic chassis stuff.
Suspension
-750in/lb front springs, cut Vogland rears
-Bilstein shocks AK1053 circle track front, reg Impala rear
-1 3/8"? big solid front sway bar, stock Impala rear bar after trying many others
-10 year old rubber bushings throughout, stock arms save for UMI boxed rear LCA's
-Dick Miller triangulation braces out back
-maxed neg camber(-2.0) front with lots of caster(+8), zero toe

Brakes
-Astro Van front conversion with ducts, stock Impala/9c1 rear disc with ducts - "Got away" with stock front size for a few years until I skilled up and got faster
-G-Loc R16 front pads, G-Loc R8 rear pads
-Stainless braided flex lines
-Motul RBF660 brake fluid

Wheels/Tires
-Stock Impala 17x8.5 wheels, cheap and strong, but heavy
-255/40/17 Falken 615k+ tires - "Square" setup is nicely balanced, easy to rotate around car and cheap! These tires last a loooong time too.

3.73 final drive from my auto trans days - tall, but effective with all the available torque and stock engine redline - nice 75mph hwy [email protected],800rpm

Engine is bone stock OE 198k mile iron head LT1, with intake, full exhaust and mild 93oct tune.

One of my bmx buddies is a drag car fabricator, and built me this nice 4 point roll bar to my specs, so the back seat area is not intruded upon and I can still put all my track junk back there, since I still drive the car to every event. The cargo space is nice!
Here's a link to my rollbar thread:

Custom 4 Point Roll Bar

Hey everybody, figured I'd post some pictures of the custom rollbar my buddy built for me this winter. I use the car primarily for open track road course events and some autocross, and was looking to add some rollover protection while retaining the rear seat area for cargo/spares/wheels/tools...

www.impalassforum.com

 

[k20chevy]

Sounds pretty messed up for a shop to leave stuff like that. I've entertained to idea of self tuning but thought I'd leave that part to pros. So what does the total cost of all things necessary run? I don't even own a laptop.

Everyone has their own way of doing things, and they are too proud to admit there's always something new to learn. Right now the newer interface with 2 credits is $400. Any basic laptop can run it, your focus is getting one and getting a new OEM quality battery for it. Without a wideband it's hard to self tune that aspect, but there's a lot of common sense settings that are easy to do yourself. I only take my stuff to get on the dyno to dial in WOT and I do the part throttle adjustments (for my auto's) myself. It's worth it to invest in paid reference books, theres a lot of wrong information online for sure.

 

[95wagon]

We have one of those Cortex diffs in one of our Mustangs.
Not for everyone but I will say they do nice work with their stuff

 

[Chicagoareabmx]

We have one of those Cortex diffs in one of our Mustangs.
Not for everyone but I will say they do nice work with their stuff View attachment 194207 View attachment 194208

VERY COOL

Just how adjustable are they?

 

[henry36]

I'd love to get to Chuckwalla, Thunderhill, and Laguna Seca is still very much a bucket list track. West Coast Trackation 2023? Haha. I got into modding this car after living near and driving all the awesome roads around Malibu CA some years back. Mulholland Hwy, Decker, Latigo, too good!

Before I jump into my car mods, I'd say the IRS is an ambitious project that I'd be keen to see done. As far as I know it either hasn't been done or hasn't been well documented at least. While it may not be super necessary for most tracks, it'd definitely be very nice on real world roads, same with rack and pinion steering. Even the best stick axle is still a stick axle. Mustangs finally gave it up after all these years, despite having developed a very very competent stick axle in the prior generation. FWIW, there's some fairly rudimentary techniques to bring some mild camber and toe to a stick axle, but certainly nothing I'd call adjustable, unless you would consider swapping to something like this bad boy:

Cambered Full Floating CV Ball Drive Axle - CorteX Racing

Cambered Full Floating CV Ball Drive Axle - CorteX Racing

cortexracing.com

but at that price, IRS swap makes just as much sense to me.....

I'll have to shoot you a PM on all the mods at some point, but it's honestly not that far from stock with A LOT of the basic chassis stuff.
Suspension
-750in/lb front springs, cut Vogland rears
-Bilstein shocks AK1053 circle track front, reg Impala rear
-1 3/8"? big solid front sway bar, stock Impala rear bar after trying many others
-10 year old rubber bushings throughout, stock arms save for UMI boxed rear LCA's
-Dick Miller triangulation braces out back
-maxed neg camber(-2.0) front with lots of caster(+8), zero toe

Brakes
-Astro Van front conversion with ducts, stock Impala/9c1 rear disc with ducts - "Got away" with stock front size for a few years until I skilled up and got faster
-G-Loc R16 front pads, G-Loc R8 rear pads
-Stainless braided flex lines
-Motul RBF660 brake fluid

Wheels/Tires
-Stock Impala 17x8.5 wheels, cheap and strong, but heavy
-255/40/17 Falken 615k+ tires - "Square" setup is nicely balanced, easy to rotate around car and cheap! These tires last a loooong time too.

3.73 final drive from my auto trans days - tall, but effective with all the available torque and stock engine redline - nice 75mph hwy [email protected],800rpm

Engine is bone stock OE 198k mile iron head LT1, with intake, full exhaust and mild 93oct tune.

One of my bmx buddies is a drag car fabricator, and built me this nice 4 point roll bar to my specs, so the back seat area is not intruded upon and I can still put all my track junk back there, since I still drive the car to every event. The cargo space is nice!
Here's a link to my rollbar thread:

Custom 4 Point Roll Bar

Hey everybody, figured I'd post some pictures of the custom rollbar my buddy built for me this winter. I use the car primarily for open track road course events and some autocross, and was looking to add some rollover protection while retaining the rear seat area for cargo/spares/wheels/tools...

www.impalassforum.com

That's a pretty conservative setup. After running that setup, what would be your next upgrade? It looks like crazy fun to drive. I can't wait to get my girl out there!

My buddy has a 97 t-bird that he tracks. It's pretty big too. We rebuilt the engine and added bigger heads cams intake, a fuel cell, coilovers, big brakes, radiator. That thing had crazy body roll. The fenders were cutting into the tires! We adjusted the coilovers and took her back out. We blew the trans and called it a day. Got it on the lift to see what the problem was. We forgot to bolt the front sway bar to the lower control arm! Haha! We ain't pros that's for sure!

Anyways, that's where I got the idea for the rear IRS swap.
That axle looks pretty awesome. I heard about the back yard way to heat the axle in the right spots to get camber and toe. Wears the ball joints though. I'd go with a heidts, roadstershop, or art Morrison irs for about the same price. This swap is pretty low buck.

Did you go with the f2b conversion or did you diy it?
I'll have to check the roll cage thread. I'd like to go that route but I enjoy the luxury of the 80's interior. I'd like to keep it sleeper/cruiser. I have an 84 Corvette that I'd like to put a cage in. I'm building a carbed 350 for it. I have a zf 6speed for it. That one is gonna be all track.

 

[95wagon]

They are adjustable as in choose your camber by what axle ends you buy.
We are running - 1.5 both sides currently

One of the big pluses is the wheel bearings
No play, no pad knockback.
This car has kind of been back burnered as more " exciting " stablemates showed up but the neg camber was a big improvement

 

[henry36]

I bought the IRS on the 11th and it's been stuck sitting in a shipping warehouse for the past 2 weeks. Damn Corona! I been itching to get going on this swap!

 

[95wagon]

What IRS rear set up are you putting in the car ?

 

[henry36]

What IRS rear set up are you putting in the car ?

97 Mark VIII irs. It's a popular classic truck swap.