Anyone have any experience or opinion on those Hot Rods to Hell truck arms? I have an idea that I want to put a set under my 71 Riv. I figure if they are good enough for NASCAR, they are good enough for me.
I've been known to tell a story or two...OH! You mean metal fabricator!? p I've been a machinist for 20 years and done a fair amount of sheet metal work. Floors and body panels and stuff. I'm not afraid of the work(maybe I should be?) I was just wondering how it works. The theory seems sound but I'd hate to fall for the hype and then be disappointed later.
Well you should have the skills. I have worked on race cars with this on it. Never seen anything more than the adds and one of the magazines doing a conversion on an El Camino. I thought about it at one time. Could not be sure of being able to use a full length exhaust system. On a street car I want the exhaust to exit at the back of the car. If I was going to build a car to race would have to look at it because I know it works. I think the best thing for your car would be an air ride system. I saw a boat tail Riv at Frankenmuth last year, black with black chromed bumpers and slammed with an air ride system. Just looked so baaad. Owner was really happy with how well the car drove. One of the few older cars I have seen that looked good with 20" wheels.
I helped a friend of mine do airbags in a 73 Olds 88 and it rode really nice but the constant cycling of the system drove me nuts. Maybe it was just a function of the system because it had the ride height sensors on it so every time you'd hit a bump or co around a corner, you'd hear the valves pop off and bleed pressure then the compressor would run to fill everything back up.
Not really familiar with what the Rivvy chassis compares too. With my Skylark we can just get Chevelle stuff for the chassis parts. Are there any other cars you can steal parts off of?
Real step child to do performance upgrades too. Work out a set of goals for the project first. For me it was safety first. All suspension components were in good condition. Then work on performance. ---------- Post added at 02:12 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:05 PM ---------- I wonder if Jeff Schwartz might have some ideas for your car. He did this:http://schwartzperformance.com/about/
usualy cars that dont have a good suspension aftermarket following, Ridetech is your best bet ps/ if I had the $$ i'd love to have a swartz frame..but they like 10k haha
NASCAR only uses truck arms because the rules require them. If you follow them at all, you know by recent news that they do not like any creativity with their rule book. Heck , they just this year allow fuel injection. There has not been a car sold new in the U S with a carb since the 80s. I believe no other sanctioning bodies require truck arms, and I also believe no other cars run truck arms. Even trucks no longer have truck arms from the factory. Exhaust routing would be tough. I vote for air bags as the others before me.
I will also vouch for the Ridetech Air Ride system as I have ridden in many cars equipped with the system and it flat out "Works"! Plus their system allows you to have several settings for each of your driving habits and even a "Parked" setting. I have seen many cars do very well on an autocross course, Drag strip and still ride fantastic, Ridetech's set up is the Ultimate in ride quality and adjustability.
