TireSmoke.org

Two in the front, one for the rear axle. That's all of them. The old fluid was pretty dark.

-BP

Since I'll be taking the S10 to Indiana in a few weeks for the North - South dirt drag race, I've been thinking about how to get more traction. So I bought a set of Caltrac 90-10 front shocks for it. These work pretty good on the Vette, even with the limited travel, and they're priced pretty well. I put them on yesterday, and removed the big fat front sway bar which is at least 30 lbs, maybe more. Since the weather was cooling down this week, I also put the drag tires back on with hopes of getting an ET pretty close to my best this coming Wed.
During the test drive, I can notice quickly how much higher the front end rises under any real power and stays there. I can even power brake the nose up several inches which is encouraging because that would never happen before. I think this will help more in the dirt than on the asphalt, as I don't have any huge traction problems at the drags. It will look cooler I'm sure... A side bonus is that it rides better too. And with the upcoming 5+ hour trip each way, that will be nice. Obviously it won't handle as good, but it seems that under normal driving, the handling is still more than safe.

-BP

Pretty cool stuff there, BP!

I hear you have prior experience launching cars that have an easy-lifting nose.

So over the last few weeks I've been working on the front suspension of the S10. I ordered a full set of upper and lowers from UMI Performance, a good USA made brand out of PA. This would normally be a relatively simple job if it weren't for an LS swap with 1-7/8" primary headers taking up a ton of underhood space. I tacked the passenger's side first, assuming it would be the harder of the two based on what I could see visually. I was right. Removing the stock upper arm required that I cut the mounting bar in two. Then I was concerned about installing the new one, but by some miracle, I was able to puzzle it in there without having to move the headers or dismantle anything. In case anyone is wondering, removing the headers requires the engine to come out as well as the bell housing... I'm oversimplifying this because it was a few weeks ago, but I had a solid 12 hours from beginning to end on that side.
The driver's side was no picnic either, but the actual time to do that was more like six hours, and no cutting required. Just a lot of small space wrenching. What a greasy mess this job was that required a LOT of different tools to make happen.
I had the front sway bar off for dirt drags last fall, but after a test drive with the new control arms, I knew I wanted it back on there. The sway bar kit comes with adjustable end links and urethane mounting bushings for the end links, but I had to get urethane mounting bushings for the sway bar itself. After installing that yesterday, the truck feels amazing again, and I still have the drag shocks on there. It goes arrow straight down the road, and handles super tight without any suspension creek or drifting all over the road. What a difference!

OH, the reason I did this whole thing is because the old bushings, being so close to giant headers, were all dried out and cracked, and falling apart. The new control arms have Delrin bushings in them that are apparently way better than urethane even (and cost more) and will hopefully last forever, and they're greaseable which will help insure this as I'm a good greaser.

And lastly, DON'T buy grease fittings from Harbor Freight, they are complete junk. I needed a 90 or 45 degree fitting on the passenger's side to replace the straight that comes with the kit due to header placement so I bought the kit shown in the pics. The grease gun pours grease around the fitting (which it doesn't do on ANY other fitting I own, anywhere), the grease comes out of the fitting itself as the fitting is put together so poorly it's incredible, and the grease pours out around the threads too as those are made with such terrible quality too. So I promptly threw the kit in the garbage and left a very poor review on their website. I still have to get the right fittings but will likely just buy them from McMaster or someone that makes a decent part.

I do have to straighten the wheel slightly as it's pointed slightly to the left going straight down the road, but this wheel has been off the steering shaft probably ten times in it's life, and I'm sure that I can cure that problem relatively quickly myself. I'm not going to get it aligned right now as it seems too perfect to have it screwed up. If I see tire wear, then I'll worry about it.

-BP

Very Impressive, Mr. Kotter!!!

BP,

I had to straighten the wheel on my El Camino and it was a matter of
adjusting the tie rod sleeves the same amount on the left as you adjust
them on the right. It was really pretty simple and I got it in a few tries
as I recall. Look it up on YouTube.

GM

In this case I'm really pretty sure it's my doing from a long time ago, and now that all the bushings are in the correct place, it's more noticeable. If it's too far the other way once I "straighten" it, I'll go after the tie rods.

-BP