Blooze Own: An F355 Six Speed N* Build Thread (Page 41/126) wftb APR 25, 11:11 PM are those the 8" or 10" springs ? the reason i ask is i started out with 8 " springs at 260 lbs (thinking this would be about stock rate ) and quickly found that an 8" spring at 260 lbs just was not going to cut it . too much bottoming out and not enough travel .a trip to the QA-1 website confirmed that to do the same job a shorter spring needs a higher rate .for the front end weight of a fiero with an 8" spring you need about 400 lb rate .with my drop spindles i had room for a 10" spring so i went with a 300 lb rate 10" spring and it has worked really well . i have the same small body carrera shocks as yours . Bloozberry APR 26, 12:11 PM Hmmm... interesting. My springs are the shorter 8" ones and are 325 lb/in. Have you got any pictures of what your car looks like from the side with the 10" long springs? How tall are your tires, what's your ground clearance from the bottom of the front crossmember, and what does the space between the top of the tire and the fender lip measure? wftb APR 26, 11:35 PM i just raised it up a tad to suit the new trolley jack i bought .since i just measured what you asked i need to adjust it some more .its a little high on the drivers side .average height above the tires is 1.75" .there is 6" clearance below the front cross member right now .i am running 205/55 /16 tires on the front .my car is an 86 gt with Held sport suspension kit (not the kit with the custom cross member) and i have street dreams by ross 2" drop spindles .i have ran it quite a bit lower and still had good travel on the springs .since you bought your suspension with drop spindles , you should easily be able to run a 10" spring and get the ride height you want . and you have a big advantage over me because you have the longer control arms you can run the QA-1 HAL shocks .these are much better than the small body shocks .they cant be used with stock length arms so i am stuck with the small bodies .lots of pics of my car on my thread "ecotec swap". i wish my stuff looked as good as yours , everything looks perfect . Ruffy MAY 07, 05:34 PM I have to say Blooz this thread is the WOW factor! The bad part of it is you get a nice motor that has good compression and open it up just to find some of the pistons were missing parts. Not only that but the build up would turn most of us away and toss the motor! With the level of detail you have put on the motor alone is astonishing to say the least. And then the suspension. In reality you could of bought a newer LS (not LS1 yuck) motor with low to no miles for the price you did the N* for. But then again its in all what you have the love for. Ive built 318 motors over some 360s at times for customers because they like the higher rev. Couple of questions for you. I spent the last two hours going over your build but didn't read all of it because I was tenting to much and the wife got disturbed lol. (1) When you had the camshaft redone, is it stock grind or did you have them bump it up a few? (2) Did you replace the motor cradle or fix the one with a ton of holes in it? (3) When building the N* were you going for stock 0 miles motor or is there going to be more HP? (4) Why the N*? There low revving and seem to have issues with head gaskets, not only that but aftermarket parts are hard to come by (not that you are having a hard time because you have them made) I do have to put this in here take it as good or bad, but that Ferrari kit isn't worthy of what you have done so far! Your work and detail is a loss of words! I personally think you should do a one off body kit of no other to justify the work that has already gone into this incredible machine. Im not saying your kit will be ugly by no means nor is Ferrari ugly (FXX is my top 5 best cars). Also I think we all would love to see what you would do as a one off body seeing how your taste of detail and products/items used is. I have a new found respect for you Blooz Robert S Liao cptsnoopy MAY 08, 03:38 AM quote Originally posted by Ruffy:(4) Why the N*? There low revving <snip> Robert S Liao 6500 seems like a reasonable rev but with a set of springs your good to 7500 which seems almost overboard for a street car. My opinion of course. I am also slightly biased so take that into consideration. Bloozberry MAY 08, 09:36 PM Thanks Robert for all the compliments. I'll see if I can answer your questions in the order you asked them: 1. Why a Northstar vs an LSx? I guess it's a matter of personal preference... I already have a SBC powered 308 kit, and for me, the LS series engines are just the spiritual successors to the small block. Fifteen years ago when I built my 308 kit, the TPI engine was very cool. Now it's almost boring. This time I wanted something different so that in 10 or 15 years it will still have the Wow Factor, that being the four cam, 32 valve set-up. It's pretty exotic when you stop and think about it. 2. Camshafts: When I had the exhaust cams re-profiled, I stayed with the OEM specs. I did this to limit the number of variables when I finally get around to tuning the PCM. Lots of people here on PFF with much more PCM tuning experience than I have (read: none), have had difficulties getting their Northstars to run flawlessly on custom tunes. I plan to keep my engine as stock as possible until I get it running properly, and then make upgrades one change at a time to limit the adverse effects of multiple simultaneous upgrades. 3. The cradle: I'm working on a new cradle. That's the stage I'm at right now. I've taken a few weeks off from the thread to get the spring cleaning, gardening, car tune ups, and some house renos done. My next posts will cover the new rear suspension in drawings and show why a redesigned cradle will be beneficial, apart from the fact that the old one was rotted through. 4. More HP: As I mentioned before, I plan on wringing out the bugs with the Northstar in stock config. I may create some headers for it, but the rest will be stock for now. Once it's working right, then new cams & valve springs would be my first step to improving HP and redline. 5. Low revving engine: Cptsnoopy answered this one. 6. One-off body: I don't want to sound condescending, but there is a huge difference between building a fiberglass kit car and designing one! I appreciate your confidence in me being able to pull it off, but the reality is that I have very little experience fabricating fiberglass parts. I'm in awe at guys like Whodeanie who can shape and mold parts with an excellent eye for proportion, and outstanding body work skills. If I were to even attempt a one-off body, it would take ten years before the thing ever saw the light of day! I do plan to make many original tweaks to the poor quality IFG fiberglass kit I bought. It'll be a trial-by-fire as I venture into the world of foam molds and bucks, but I think I'll be able to change your mind about the worthiness of the Ferrari kit. Stay tuned! Terrible Tom MAY 09, 01:39 AM To All Pennock's Members: Let's all volunteer to go up to Blooze's place and deal with this stuff: " I've taken a few weeks off from the thread to get the spring cleaning, gardening, car tune ups, and some house renos done" so he can get back to work on the car! Seriously, thanks for the great documentation of your super project, Blooze. It's not often one gets a chance to watch an artist at work. Tom katatak MAY 09, 07:09 PM quote Originally posted by Terrible Tom: To All Pennock's Members: Let's all volunteer to go up to Blooze's place and deal with this stuff: " I've taken a few weeks off from the thread to get the spring cleaning, gardening, car tune ups, and some house renos done" so he can get back to work on the car! Seriously, thanks for the great documentation of your super project, Blooze. It's not often one gets a chance to watch an artist at work. Tom I'm in - I hate it when I can't get a daily dose of the Blooz build! Bloozberry MAY 09, 09:22 PM You guys are great! I'm assuming you do know I have a hobby farm right? Because the chicken coop needs mucking out, the horse manure pile needs turning, and someone needs to replace the cedar shingles on the barn. I can't wait 'til you guys get here! BTW, Gene the Rooster (named after Gene Simmons) will decide if he likes you enough for you to stay. He's kinda picky about who he likes... bring him an extra hen if you want to tilt the odds in your favor. Blue By U MAY 10, 08:54 AM Blooze were are you located?? my wife and I have an RV located in Berwick, we are there every weekend, I would love to come and see the collection!