As you can see they are a dearched 4pack leaf which ride pretty stiff and are heavy. I had just grown weary of the ride and wanted something softer that would allow me to dial in the ride better with shock settings. If you are looking for cornering/handling, the Hotchkis setup is great as long as you can tolerate the firm ride.

I do not plan to reinstall them so I have no reason to keep them. Once I get my front suspension done here in the near future I will have the front and rear springs and all four adjustable shocks for sale. I figure shipping is going to be stupid due to the size and weight of the leafs.

Nice, you should have come over and spoke.

 

Yeh i could see that getting old pretty quick. I really want to avoid changing the hangers on my set up to achieve the desired ride height and I'm a stickler for getting matched suspension parts when its available. I got a set of the 2" lowered front coils from Hotchkis for $75 brand new and shipped.... couldn't pass that up. BUT they have been sitting in my garage for 2 years waiting to make a decision on rear setup. I really wanted to go Hotchkis 2" lower leafs with helper bags and Caltracs bars. I will see some track time, but nothing on a competitive level. Let me know if you are interested in selling the leafs alone. I might take them off your hands.

I was going to introduce myself, assuming you were on this site, but you were in the staging lanes and were pulling up. Didn't wanna bug you. It's a beautiful truck though. Very impressive runs too. Check out my build when you get a moment.
https://www.performancetrucks.net/fo...0-rcsb-534355/

 

I got the new spring brackets finished this week and installed last night. Installing the longbars really stiffened the rearend back up. It does not squat in the back now though. I haven't rolled the fenders yet but doing some spirited driving today, the tires didn't scrub at all. Now for the progress pics...

Materials and plans...


Holes drilled... yep I realized I forgot one when I went to install them...


Relief cuts made to make bends...


Bend up ready for welding...


Bends welded, lining up traction bar mounts...


Welding done, ready for paint...


A couple coats of black...


Installed...


The threads on the heims are farther out than I would like them to be as the bars were made for the previous 4" drop so i will either build another set of brackets to move the mounts forward or just go with a set of Assassin type traction bars.

 

I called RideTech yesterday and ordered front coilovers, 4.1 HQ with swivel ball top, trunion lower and 900lb/in 10" HyperCo springs. I will be using these with McG 16" spindles and stock LCAs with new Moog ball joints and poly bushings. The UCAs are also getting new ball joints and poly bushings. Expecting about a 3.5" drop from stock, .5" lower than current setup with 12yr old Hotchkis 2" springs. I also picked up the smooth body 6.65" stroke (12.15-18.8) HQ shocks for the rear.

 

I think I may have found my inconsistant boost issue. The truck started hanging a high idle then eventually popped P0102, P0103 and P0106 codes. I noticed the intake gaskets were protruding out from the head/manifold junction so I pulled the compressor off to investigate. I was hoping it was just loose manifold bolts and a new set of gaskets and a re-torque would fix it. What I found was much worse...











All eight intake ports are cracked at the gasket groove. I presume I cut the radius too close when port matching to the TFS heads. So now I am looking for a new lower manifold as I think it will be pretty laborious to repair this one.

 

<p>How much clearance did you leave yourself? &nbsp;That is rough. &nbsp;Do you think it has to do with the extreme IAT's you see?</p>

 

No, I think the root cause is from my overzealous porting. I left ~1/16" at the flange face but wasn't thinking of the depth of the gasket groove when radiusing the port floor. It just got too thin at the corner of the groove and busted out. They likely all cracked when the manifold was torqued down on the heads and have just gotten worse over time with heat cycles and manifold pressure.

 

Most likely the damage occurred during installation & torquing down. Need to spray your heads down with clear silicone spray lubricant before dropping the manifold on. Otherwise the gaskets "stick" to the head just enough to mangle them as you get everything lined up & torqued down. I honestly don't believe it has anything to do with your port job.

 

The manifold was assembled while on the engine stand and dropped straight down on the heads. I sprayed the heads with silicone spray prior to installing manifold with very minimal movement for alignment. I don't believe sticky gaskets were an issue. The gaskets are mangled from the boost pressure leaking thru from the top side of the gasket thru the cracked manifold ports.

 

That lower manifold must be getting HOT