This has been in the works for several months now. I purchased a complete front and rear '94 C4 suspension, after dismantling it I started grinding the casting marks on all these aluminum parts. Some of you may have seen this first picture already. I blasted one of the rear knuckles to see if the finish looked good enough to just clear coat. I like it and plan to clear it all. Next, I got in on the last "group buy" for a dropmember from Nate at Porterbuilt. I'm going with the C4 dropmember since I already fell in love with the C4 IRS. My dad was really the one that changed my mind about sticking with C4 all the way around. I was going to purchase the regular dropmember originally to save money because it doesn't require ART Shockwaves. The idea of having all Corvette suspension and all this beautiful aluminum won me over. It also helps that I got a great deal on the complete C4 suspension. I was trying to buy just the rear setup from a guy locally on Craigslist but he didn't really want to sell just half of what he had so he made me a deal I could not refuse. My wife was pissed for about a month, but she got over it.

So far, I have about 75% of the corvette parts ground down smooth and I purchased a set of Energy Suspension polyurethane bushings, 20 each Heim's & Bungs for the rear four-link and cantilever setup. I will probably mount the IRS and use my existing coil-over shocks and wait on creating the bag cantilevers for a few more week after that.

This weekend I removed all of the carpeted panels, the wheel tubs and notch cover from the bed of the truck. The tricky part was not damaging the subwoofer enclosure while cutting the wheel tub welds. I also removed the front fender wells.

Soon there will be no mo prostreet look.
Here's some more pics. The front and rear suspension pictured here is for sale in the "Parts For Sale" section of this forum.

Forgot to add the picture of the blasted corvette knuckle. And a couple other pics. ;)

Yep the full IRS and IFS is the way to go. I like how your cleaned up parts turned out I may have to try that on my 72 4 door Tahoe build. I did the rear first and then just installed the DM C4 last week end and started on the front Bag set up today. I did not want the Shock Waves for the front so I spent a few hours on a mock up for a set of RE-7's and so far I really like how it is turning out. I still have the shock and sway bar to fab mounts for but it should go well. Here are a few pics but keep in mind non of it is done just a lot of mocking things up that will be finished once the body comes off.

Here is the rest of the build if you want any more pics. http://67-72chevytrucks.com/vboard/showthread.php?t=306237
Kevin
LFD Inc.

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b20/rokcrln/roll4.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b20/rokcrln/bag1-1.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b20/rokcrln/DMC413.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b20/rokcrln/seat1-2.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b20/rokcrln/Bag8.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b20/rokcrln/Link44.jpg

http://i16.photobucket.com/albums/b20/rokcrln/Link24.jpg

Wow, your tahoe build is turning out great. I've been following it as I am "subscribed." I've been wanting to ask you about the bracket you made shown in the link24 pic, why was that necessary?

Great job on the front bag mount! I plan to avoid Shockwaves too.

I wanted to keep my floor as low as possible and the stock link mounts made things to high. Also the range of motion and link lengths did not work right for 10" of travel. So this is what I ended up with, it works for my needs.;)

Kevin
LFD Inc.

I wonder if I will run into the same issue with clearance since I have the huge subwoofer enclosure I can't cut out the front of the bed any more than the wheel tub. Kevin do you know what length you made your link bars?

This is an awesome project. Wish I could find someone around here that could mandrel bend exhaust pipe like that.

I dig the look of the blasted knuckle! Can't wait to see more progress.

Finally got going on the front susp. today. My dad came over this morning and we pulled the engine and then removed the front crossmember and all the stock susp. This is the first time I have ever pulled an engine, yay it went great. My brother loaned his engine hoist to a neighbor of his a couple years ago and just by chance when we called him he still had it and was very happy to let it go. The hoist worked perfect today and free is a good price. I bought an engine stand yesterday that was originally $50 but was 20% off and with the coupon I had in hand I got another 20% off so it was like $32, not bad. We found a lot of fairly loose nuts everywhere, a good lesson that you should check these things once and awhile. We made very good progress today, next I plan to weld up every hole in the firewall. Still need some advice on how to completely smooth the passenger side, getting rid of the horizontal seam/line.

Thursday my brother and I got the old rubber bushings out of the corvette control arms. And I spent a couple hours cleaning all the old grease off these parts in the solvent tank. They are nearly ready for bead blasting and clear. I just waiting on Nate to finish my lower bag mounts so all my Porterbuilt items can go to the powdercoater. Since my frame is light silver and I don't think we can perfectly match it with powder, I plan on going with a medium grey powdercoat. It's almost a metallic gun metal color. It should contrast nicely with the silver.

A couple more pics.
By the way my stock front susp is for sale. PM me if you are interested in it. Complete front susp; control arms upper and lower, cross member, spring pockets, springs, disc brakes, sway bar. My truck was converted to the camaro bolt pattern of 5x4.75 which seems normal for me now going to corvette stuff with the same bolt pattern. My Centerline Convo Pros and the rear susp are also for sale all has been listed in the for sale section. Just thought I would mention it again.

NICE WORK LOOKS GOOD :metal:(PM SENT)

subscribed:)

sweeet!

Subscribing!

looking good bro!

Well you know how this goes; while the engine is out I might as well get the firewall done. My brother came by and welded for me, my skills are not sheet metal worthy yet. We got the passenger side welded today. After he left I drilled out all the spot welds that hold the brake and column bracket. With that bracket removed I used the wire wheel to prep more area for welding. It's a start, we will weld up the rest soon. I have lots of grinding to do.

Nice work, lookin gooood

Thanks Dino, lookin forward to meeting you in-person soon and seeing your fleet.

Awesome! Going to look so much better...

Very nice! smooth firewalls look great

Thursday I went to pickup the rest of my C4 Dropmember parts from Nathan Porter. I want to thank him for encouraging and motivating me to work on my own project. That might sound weird but what I mean is I was relying heavily on my brother to do the welding, body work and paint on my firewall. I am new to welding and I have never welded sheet metal. My truck project is not about getting done on any timeline, it is more about the experiece and it is my only hobby. Nate reminded me that I need to be hands on with every step in my build. When I get done I want to say "I did this," with some help and I want to learn how to do it again. So with this motivation I spent 6 or so hours in the garage yesterday and made some more progress on the firewall by myself. I circled the points of interest in most of these pics.
Pic1: Before pic of windshield washer line recess.
Pic2: My first ever complex filler piece, rolled the front edge with hammer and dolly, 90 break on the back.
Pic3: After weld and grind.
Pic4: Curved filler piece tacked in.
Pic5: I did remove a fender, nice to have easy access.
Welded up lots of small and medium size holes. Now the passenger side is done and I can tackle the driver side. I've got a plan for cleaning up the steering column mount, hopefully I'll get going on it soon.

Sweet progress! It feels good getting your hands dirty and making something to be proud of.

My dad came over today and we worked on the firewall somemore. I welded up most of the holes on the driver's side with the exception of the large wiper motor hole. We cut out the large area around the brakes, steering and fuse panel and used some 16 ga sheet to make a new piece. We got lots of small holes welded up and we were just about to weld in that new large piece and we ran out of time. I think it was good not to rush it because I have plans to weld some bolts to the firewall for the throttle pedal mount and we have better access for that with the huge hole in the firewall. Once the pedal is mounted again I will finish welding the firewall and be ready for some filler and paint. Then I will start on the C4 dropmember. I did get my Delrin bushings and some hardware from Nate so I am a little further along. Since my C4 dropmember will have RE7 bags just like LFD's Tahoe I will also have to figure out shock and sway bar mounting.

looking good

Any progress is good. It is shaping up and looks good so far.;)

While I had the driver side opened up I had great access to weld in the throttle pedal bolts and I came up with a way to re-use the fuse block mount that used to be in the firewall. Now it is welded to the kick panel.

Finally got all the holes in my firewall welded up. I was able to create a sleeve for the steering column out of 2 1/8" tubing. On the inside of the firewall the steering column is clamped to the tubing too. To finish the firewall I still need to weld up the horizontal seam, but I'm getting close. My brother sort of borrowed my RE7 bags a month ago so now he is buying me another set. I should have everything I need to start mocking up the Dropmember soon. I'm planning to send out most of the DM parts for powder coating soon so the engine can go back in once the firewall is painted.

Duude sorry i mis the call saturday. Truck looks good maybe this saturday you can stop by

No problem Dino, let's talk Friday and see if Sat will work.

Nice work. I know from first hand experience that working on that part of the firewall is a real PITA.

I like the steering column pass-thru. I might have to use that. looks much better than a grommet.

Thanks guys for the comments. It is a lot of work especially since welding and metal work is new to me. I could not be happier with the column mount, it turned out just like I envisioned. I couldn't find a rubber grommet to buy anyways so I stuck with metal.

Here's a pic from the inside showing the column mount. Even though it was kind of a mistake making the hole in the firewall too big for the column it worked out really well to make this secondary ring so I could weld it all up. Having the larger hole and the ring allowed it all to slip together. You can see the hose clamp I used to clamp the column to the sleeve.

I cut the horizontal seam and welded it flush today. I started off with the idea to just cut 6 inches at a time and then tack it in. The middle of the firewall seam was the hardest and I cut too long of an area causing the upper and lower panels to lose some alignment, I drilled a hole and used a nut and bolt with washers to clamp it back flush. That and pushing real hard with a hammer handle got it all back perfect. It all worked out great in the end. Next I need to do a lot of grinding.

Looking goood...

My thread has been in the suspension section until now, but since pulling the engine for my Dropmember install caused me to finally work on the firewall and soon I'll be working on front and rear inner fenders, new bed interior, brakes, wheels, paint, etc. Here are a couple concept pics I made/choped. I'm definitely planning to have 22" wheels when I can afford it but I might go for some corvette wheels if the price is right and I find a set with decent rubber left on them. The first pic has IROC replicas. What do you think?

Good jod on the F-wall.. Looks bad a$$!

Your mods to the firewall are looking good.

For your concepts, I like the look of the wheels in the 3rd picture.

#3 also..they look like the new american racing wheels..

#3 is actually 2006 Corvette wheels. I think the rears can be found as big as 19x11. But I still long for 22's.

Ok I can see it now..Thats cool Yeah 22'' would look cool.

it sure looked good as a pro street truck, but the work on the firewall is very nice, it makes mine look like trash

Thanks for the compliments, I sure have enjoyed working on the firewall. I need someone to buy my prostreet rear setup so I can afford to buy new stuff.

awesome job man... i'll be starting my wall soon also!!

if i want to weld that seam smooth i have to cut along the edge? or can i just stitch it up and grind it smooth?

if i want to weld that seam smooth i have to cut along the edge? or can i just stitch it up and grind it smooth?

My brother originally thought we should just weld along the seam and it would smooth out enough but I was worried that it would leave a ridge. We are both very happy with how it turned out from cutting the seam. Just make sure you cut small sections and tack them back together flush. If you cut a long section of the seam the alignment of the seam can get away from you.

IMO square bodies look best with a simple 5 spoke wheel so #3 gets my vote. Great work BTW!

thanks for the help and advice Tagg33!!

My vote is for billet 5 spokes. Are you keeping the graphics?

No, I'm not keeping the graphics. I do have an appreciation for the Candy colors in a nostalgic way but the look is very dated. This paint is from 1991 if you couldn't tell by the design.:lol: But it hasn't faded at all because the truck has always been garaged. The main color is red, some have said it looks orange in the pictures but it is red. I'm definitely keeping the truck red and possible 2-tone.

...it is red. I'm definitely keeping the truck red and possible 2-tone.
That's what I would do. Save what you can and add a fresh look with a two -tone covering the graphics.

In my mind stock style wheels, replica wheels etc, look better on a stock styled truck. Since your truck is going to be a custom, add some custom wheels to set it off.

Its hard to beat a clean 5 spoke design....:metal:

I think that as wild as the chassis is going to be, keeping the rest of the truck as clean and as basic as possible is def. the way to go.

http://www.bonspeedwheels.com/images/HUNTINGTON%20DETAIL.jpg

I might paint the bottom of the truck black to cover the graphics but I can't make up my mind. Luckily I have a lot of time before that decision has to be made. I have been collecting pics of paint scemes that I like. The first pic seems like a very updated version of what I have, love this truck. I definitely want a red engine compartment. Middle pics show black on the bottom. Problem is, I like the black on the top a little better. Last pic is a dark metallic grey over red. What do you all think of mixing solid red with a metallic for a 2-tone?

I think that as wild as the chassis is going to be, keeping the rest of the truck as clean and as basic as possible is def. the way to go.

http://www.bonspeedwheels.com/images/HUNTINGTON%20DETAIL.jpg

I agree, a nice polished aluminum rim will compliment all the aluminum Corvette suspension parts. Due to laziness I was leaning toward chrome but I think polished is the way to go. And now with all the Power Ball polishing products it has to be easier than it used to be, right?

As a general rule in color schemes, it's *best* when doing a two tone involving black (or any other DARK color) to put the darker color on top. Reason being is that you are trying to emphasize the fact that the truck is on the ground (or very close) and when the darker color is on the bottom, it makes the truck "blend in" to the ground. The oppisite is true when you use a bright, lighter color on the bottom, it draws your eye to the relationship between your rockers and the ground. :cool:

That's soo true, I just scrolled up to look at the pics again and the bright color on the bottom really emphasizes how low they are.:metal:

While I had the driver side opened up I had great access to weld in the throttle pedal bolts and I came up with a way to re-use the fuse block mount that used to be in the firewall. Now it is welded to the kick panel.

So how are you going to run the wiring now thru the firewall. I hate that ugly bulkhead on these trucks. I want to get rid of mine too but I cant decide how to do it. I hate wires showing. I have to figure out how to hide the wires for my LS-1 engine too.

There's one hole left in the middle of the firewall at the bottom, just behind the distributor. This is were my EFI harness enters the cab and I might extend the wires from the fuse block and run them thru this same grommet. My other option is to drill a new hole in the trans tunnel and use one of the water tight grommets I have for my 0 gauge power cable.

(This StreetWires firewall bushing seal installs in the cut-out drilled through your vehicle's firewall for your 1/0-gauge power cable. The bushing provides a watertight seal, guards against corrosion, and protects your wiring from chafing against the cut-out. The bushing locks securely as it is tightened.)

Woohoo, I just sold the prostreet rear susp and 15" wheels that came with the truck. That's going to help me get moving again and give me something to do while waiting for my brother to come and get me started on the firewall body work and paint.

The update on my Corvette IRS is I've decided to cut my batwing down to just a diff cover. I will then create a narrower batwing style mount out of the same diameter round tube I plan to use on the four-link, etc. Here's a picture of the stock batwing and then one of the center section with the "wings" cut off. I'm attempting to keep my notch as is but it might need to be changed to work with this corvette stuff. I know the exhuast pipes will need to move.

Now you've gone and done it!! I would at least think your current notch is big enough, but I'm sure there is a lot of "unforseens" right now.

The rear toe bar is my concern. If you can see it in this pic it sits several inches back from the axle center line.

Couldn't you just put a dog leg in it or would that affect perfromance?

That might work or even a little notch like the dropmember comes with for the rack and pinion. I'll see what's needed soon.

That might work or even a little notch like the dropmember comes with for the rack and pinion. I'll see what's needed soon.

Do the 'bags mount to that or???

My air bags are going to be in front of the axle shafts, mounted above the 4 link setup. Nate showed me a really good setup that he can build for me. It was kind a modified version of this picture.

OIC. Why the dog bone?

The dog bone in the picture is not in the right place for my need. A dog bone about that size would be used as the upper link bar and would mount at ~45 degrees down to the bottom link bar. Giving me a ladder bar type setup. I'm not sure I described that very well but I hope to make the real thing soon and I'll show you pics.

I'm "still" just about to send my dropmember to the powdercoater but now I'm unsure about my color choice. As you have seen my frame is silver but I don't know the exact color. I was afraid the silver powdercoat options would be close but not exact so I was just going to get these parts done in a darker metalic gray like gunmetal-ish. What do think of the idea to have all these bolt on parts gunmetal with a silver frame and raw aluminum corvette parts. Does that sound like 1 too many colors? I could skip the powdercoating all together and paint these parts and touchup my frame with all with the same silver.

This example pic is all I could find that kind of shows three colors. What do you all think?

I think two colors is enough. Also remember all this stuff is suspension that nobody is going to notice the hue being different. I painted lots of stuff on my chassis "cast coat aluminum", even the aluminum parts I painted so they wouldn't get that nasty oxidation on them. Bare, freshly bead blasted aluminum looks nice at first, but after a while it starts to oxidize. Just some food for thought. :)

I was planning to clear coat the blasted aluminum parts but would you still opt to paint them?

I was planning to clear coat the blasted aluminum parts but would you still opt to paint them?

I've heard the clear coat will turn yellow but haven't seen any proof of that myself.

I have seen some clears turn yellow on aluminum parts. Use a "crystal clear" clear for those parts. The other option is to have the vette parts powder coated the same color as the drop member parts and keep the frame silver.

or

What about painting the frame a different color since you plan to repaint the outside too?

Anyway, your work/progress is looking good.

I just scored a set of Corvette Sawblade wheels with good tires for $300. I can't afford 22's yet so these will work while I'm getting the suspension setup and painted. I photo choped a pic, I guess it's going to look like this for awhile. I'm a sucker for this twisted/turbine/sawblade looking wheel. Every wheel catalog I look at my eye always goes to this style. Well it's not my dream wheel but it was a good buy.

You can also put a clear powdercoating on your suspension parts.

You can also put a clear powdercoating on your suspension parts.

And the powdercoater blasts all the parts for me too, that sure would make it easier. I went to a paint store today and got a price for a gallon of clear they recommend for raw metal applications. It was $135 total with hardner. Spraying clear would be cheaper than powder but more work for me. I'll have to think it over some more.