Suspension upgrades
The most important part of making Scar look the part of a post-apocalyptic vehicle was that she had to be able to survive crossing rough terrain and decrepit roads. To that effect her suspension had to be lifted.
The stock Nova suspension was badly sagging, and was not up to just being jacked up. So I ordered all new high-lift spring from J.C. Whitney.
This is what I started with. As you can see she sits very low, and the back is actually lower than the front.
First I did the rears. Not wanting anything to break later on, new U bolts were used on the rearend as well as new grade-8 hardware all around. I ended up having to use a set of aftermarket rear shackles that had been drilled out to accomodate the odd-sized rear bolt.
This was part of why the rear was so low. Three of the five leaf springs on the driver's side were borken, including the main leaf. Plus the bolt that held them all together was snapped. This leaf spring basicly fell apart as I removed it from the car.
As you can see, the new rear leaf springs are slightly taller, but much beefier, which will hold the car up higher.
The rear is now way up in the air. It was so much taller that the stock rear shocks no longer fit. After much reseach at NAPA I found the '91 Ford Explorer rear shocks would fit and give me the extra 4" of height I needed.
This is a comparison of the old front springs and the new ones. While not at all higher, the new ones ahve more coils and are much thicker, meaning the compress a hell of a lot less.
This is just to show how involved the work can be. This was taken midway through replacing the first spring on the front. While all the other shots make it seem like simple work, it was a long and difficult job, and made worse by the fact I had an appointment the next morning to get the frontend re-aligned and new rims & tires fitted so I could drive her to work on Monday. I couldn't just take my time, but had to get it all done in one big thrash fest. Not only that but at the same time I was putting in new lower ball joints, sway bar links and front shocks so the front suspension could take the abuse.
The new front spring, shock and sway bar link are clearly visible aganist a sea of rusty parts.
Now she sits level again, but much higher. And is due for those new rims & tires in the morning.
The wheels are 15x7" American Racing rims, running 235/60R15 B.F. Goodwrich tires. And I think up the bad-ass quotient significantly.
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www.blert.net/scar/
