LS4 / F40 swap - fieroguru (Page 45/216)
fieroguru FEB 11, 08:19 PM
Drilled one of the front wheel bearings for the 5 x 4 3/4" pattern:

Removed the old wheel studs:


Set it up on the mill, dial indicated off the wheel pilot, locked the flange from spinning, and the drilled the flange to the required dimensions:


Reinstalled the wheel studs:



Test fit with my old C4 rotors:
fieroguru FEB 11, 08:25 PM
Ordered one 18 x 10.5 wheel for the back and one 17 x 8.5 wheel for the front. I will use these wheels to confirm fitment before I buy the other 2.

This is the rear wheel. I went with the polished lip and black powder coated center. The black color should allow the 13" rotors and by colored calipers to really stand out:
fieroguru FEB 12, 06:35 PM
Sold my first set of lateral link relocation brackets:
F355spider FEB 18, 09:32 AM
bump

[This message has been edited by F355spider (edited 02-24-2012).]

fieroguru FEB 19, 05:02 PM
Started test fitting the wheels. The fronts will need some slight clearance work to the upper and lower a-arms to clear the 17x8.5 (ET 58). The rear will require about 1 5/8" shorter lateral links, a custom trailing link and most likely relocate the tops of the struts inboard 1 5/8" as well:
fieroguru FEB 23, 08:19 PM
Since I pulled the bottom of the wheel in about 1 5/8" and ran out of needed adjustment to get the wheel back to zero camber, I needed to move the top of the strut inboard as well. Finally settled on moving it inboard 1" and the method was to modify the OEM spring hat. I welded some 1/8" to the side with the 2 bolts, relocated those holes 1" and then relocated the single hole on the other side 1/2".


The plan is to remove the flange from the top of the strut tower (hole saw around the raised edge).


The inboard hole in the strut tower will need to be relocated 1/2" inboard as well and you can see in this picture where the top of the strut will need to pass through.


I do not want it to be obvious the strut top was relocated. By making the strut tower flat on top (removing the raised flange), I can make a flat triangular piece of aluminum with a single hole for the strut bushing (my bushing hat will be flipped) to clean up the look of the strut towers while hiding the modification.

Here is an underside view:


With moving everything in, the back side of the strut has about 1/2" clearance to the frame rail at ride height. With the suspension at full droop, the strut will rub against the frame rails. I might use some 3" pipe to do a slight notch to the frame rails.

As if I need anything else to do on this car... I started drawing up some tubular upper and lower a-arms for the front. Not sure if I will make them, but they are designed to clear my front wheels and work with my coil over setup. I need to weigh the stock components to see if I can save any weight with the new ones. Might also look at redoing the whole front crossmember to save some weight as well. And thinking about making some 1 1/2" dropped spindles that could work with the S10 wheel bearing... too many ideas, not enough free time...

[This message has been edited by fieroguru (edited 02-23-2012).]

fieroguru FEB 24, 07:13 PM
Once side of the strut relocation is nearly done (need to make the final beauty plate vs. the 16ga mockup template):

Fabbed up the beauty plate for the top side:



Flattened the top of the strut towers with a grinder. The strut tower is 2 layers of steel. After the top panel is flat, its hole matches that of the lower panel:



Still need to remove some more material:


The stock inboard bolt hole was quite larger and very close to where the new one needed to be, so I clamped some aluminum in place and welded up the original bolt hole:


Test fit:





On Saturday, I should be able to get the other side done and make both of the beauty panels for the top.
fieroguru MAR 04, 08:24 PM
Since I needed to remove the dogbone bracket for the passenger side strut relocation, I went ahead and worked on cleaning up the engine bay.

Before:




After:




Removed crap:


I still need to remove the decklid hinge boxes and move the transmission bulge back about 3/4"... then it will be time to clean/paint the engine bay.
fieroguru MAR 17, 03:43 PM
Finished cutting out the decklid hinge boxes and installing the new low profile hinges. Also moved the stock transmission bulge in the driver side frame rail 1/2" to the rear and smoothed out the welds... engine bay of this new car is getting ready for a test fit of the LS4/F40 (possible custom route for the shifter cables., then it will be time to paint this engine bay.


Syn MAR 25, 12:28 PM
any updates?