First I'd like to thank sthose who respond to those of us who have more questions than answers. Thansk guys!!
I disassembled the front suspension to powdercoat and paint and have reassembled it using a PST kit with standard bushings and torqued everything to spec.. The chassis is bare now so there is no weight on it but it is really tight and stiff. I installed Moroso trick springs because one of the stock springs was colapsed. I was planning on reusing the Lakewood shocks that came w/ the car but now after reading the shock post earlier this week I'm thinking of upgrading the shocks to QA1 Stocker Star units. Anyway, my real question is if I'm O.K. with the new bushings etc. being so stiff or should I try to loosen them up and if so how do you loosen them up? :confused: Reducing the torque on the upper control arm mounts doesn't seem to do much. I'd like to address this now befor the car is back together.
any and all suggestions will be appreciated.

There are a few things you can do to loosen up the front of your car. For starters, if you haven't already done so remove the front sway bar. If you street drive the car a lot you may want to only remove it at the track. If you're pulling the sway bar on and off a lot be careful not to strip the rather delicate threads in the frame. If you do they can be retapped using larger hardware smile.gif Now to the control arms. An old super stock trick for the lower control arms is to "double-nut" them. Sounds kinky,b ut not really. Jack the front of the car up in the air and loosen the lower control arm nut. Apply a good chassis grease/lube to the control arm bushings. Something in a spray can with a straw works well to make sure that you get good coverage on the bushins. Then retighten the nuts just enough to contact the control arm but still loose enough that the control arm will fall towards the ground when lifted by hand and released (this assumes that the coil spring has been removed, etc.). At this point add a second nut to the bolt and tighten it securely to the first bolt. The second nut will keep the assembly from coming completely loose and allow you to run the lower control arms really loose. If you opt for this mod be sure to check the bolts periodically. You wouldn't want your control arm coming off under acceleration, or at any speed for that matter. On the upper control arm you can do something similar. If you rebuilt your front end using the PST kit then you installed factory replacement washers and bolts. The washers on the upper control arms are convex, meaning they are cupped with the recess towards the control arm. It's useful to reverse these washers so that there is no drag on the bushing. Lastly, liberally grease all the suspension parts with a quality chassis lube before reassembling the bolts. I like lithium grease as it tend to adhere better.

If you want advice on springs I'll try and help there too.

HTH.

Originally posted by kjett:

If you want advice on springs I'll try and help there too.

HTH. Ken,
I'll take some spring advice....front and back. I was planning on a 2" drop:

'70 Chevelle
454
4 spd M-21
stock control arms/bushings

Mostly for bracket racing ;) Thanks

Thanks Ken , good advice. I'll take it apart and apply your suggestions. It is a drag only car so the front sway bar has been removed. I'm assuming I don't need to press the bussings out of the control arms but only need to lube the bushings to the shafts. Getting the bushings into the control arms was a bugger the first time. Finally had to have them pressed in @ a shop.
So I assume I want the front loose and free to swing up and down and control the movement w/ the shocks and springs. Correct?? I have Moroso trick springs 241 #/in for 1700 to 1750 #'s. I'm not sure what reaction I'm looking for. I assume I want a quick rise and slow drop or is it visa versa?? Alittle more help will be appreciated as to what the goal is and any more suggestions on how to get there. Thanks

Originally posted by Texas70:
</font><blockquote>quote:</font><hr />Originally posted by kjett:

If you want advice on springs I'll try and help there too.

HTH. Ken,
I'll take some spring advice....front and back. I was planning on a 2" drop:

'70 Chevelle
454
4 spd M-21
stock control arms/bushings

Mostly for bracket racing ;) Thanks </font>[/QUOTE]John,

My advice is to avoid those drop springs like a dose of the clap. If they're anything like the Hotchkis 1" lowering springs I had on my car they're designed for handling and not weight transfer. Depending on the front weight of your car, a stock replacement small block or 6 cylinder spring would work well, and if the front of your car is really light (say 1,700lbs) the Moroso trick springs would work really well. You really need to know the weight of the front in order to pick the proper spring. You want a spring with relatively low rate (say 250 lbs/in), but a tall free height. You also want the spring to be compressed as much as possible at launch so that the stored energy of the spring will help transfer weigh when you launch. As for the rear, I don't think anything special is required. I myself am running a factory replacement Moog spring with a spring rate of ~150lbs. One thing that you do want to accomplish in the rear is to have the rear height such that the lower control arm is as close to parallel to the ground as possible while on a level surface.

For everyone trying to get their car to transfer weight, make sure the front end has atleast 5"-6" of travel and is not binding. This can be verified by measuring the front bumper when the car is at normal ride height. Next, jack the front end up off the ground to the point just before the tires lift off the ground. Then take a second measurement and compare with the first. You want as much travel as possible. If your not getting enough travel it's possible that the spring is too stiff, the jounce bumbers are being contacted, or similar.

HTH.

Originally posted by TWC:
Thanks Ken , good advice. I'll take it apart and apply your suggestions. It is a drag only car so the front sway bar has been removed. I'm assuming I don't need to press the bussings out of the control arms but only need to lube the bushings to the shafts. Getting the bushings into the control arms was a bugger the first time. Finally had to have them pressed in @ a shop.
So I assume I want the front loose and free to swing up and down and control the movement w/ the shocks and springs. Correct?? I have Moroso trick springs 241 #/in for 1700 to 1750 #'s. I'm not sure what reaction I'm looking for. I assume I want a quick rise and slow drop or is it visa versa?? Alittle more help will be appreciated as to what the goal is and any more suggestions on how to get there. Thanks TWC. I think that given the weight of your car (very light) those Moroso trick springs will work fine. I can tell you from experience that they didn't last 2 months on my car (front weight of 2,070lbs). You're correct. You want the front end to rise quickly (although not too quickly), and to stay up once it's risen. All this is controlled with spring rate and shock valving. It's for this reason that I like a quiality adjustable shock. I run my front shocks (QA1) on 3 and the rear on 2. You want the front loose enough that it rises but doesn't top out travel before the car gets moving good. If you're using an no hop bar/SSM bar in the back then you'll want a fairly loose shock setting there as well. You need it loose enough that the rear tire will separate from the body. And you only need enough separation so that tire spin is minimized. Again, all tuneable with a quality shock.

I myself am running a factory replacement Moog spring with a spring rate of ~150lbs. One thing that you do want to accomplish in the rear is to have the rear height such that the lower control arm is as close to parallel to the ground as possible while on a level surface. wow, to make the lower rear arms close to parallel with the ground must make the rear of the car very low I would think. All good stuff here, especially the front suspension tuning tips. graemlins/thumbsup.gif

to give ya an idea what i did to my car even though its not a chevelle. (81 camaro) i like this post because of all the big block chevy postings campared to other sites..........

on my front end i install some moroso trick springs(85 bucks or so) that was ment for a small block car........it was taller and had more coils...........(since im running a bbc)....then installed some 90/10 race shocks from a local high speed parts house they had used......i removed all bump stops for more travel and loosened up the bushings to allow the front end to moved more freely.......then installed solid sub frame mounts in the four corners and left the factory bushings near the radiator support. added homemade weld in sub frame connectors. and solid alum. bushings in the front rear leaf springs and left the back with factory bushings but added 1" to the shackles.......then i jacked up the car in the rear and let the suspension free hang without shocks and set the car back down and figured the amount of travel.......then bought the right shocks that would allow for all the travel that was measured........they ended up being a gas charged type shock........then i made my own traction bars using the factory mounting plate for the rearend as the build point for the bars........at the same time i moved the pass. side shock to the rear of the axle so both shocks was behind the axle.........and located the rubber snubber right under the front spring eye bushing.........before i welded the bars to the mounting plate i put them in a position to give me about 2" of room between the bar and spring with the car at rest. then welded them. this allowed me to cut the rubber snubbers in half (height) so there was about 1" of travel before contact was made to the leaf spring eye.

as a result to the efferts my car looks like a 4X4 when it leaves the line.....the rear and the front rise many inches up from the ground. when i sit at rest and then apply power up against the convertor the whole car raises straight up and when i leave the line it is dead level acroos the front and rear.........

now this set up has allowed me to run full throttle runs with with regular everyday 275/60-15 tires out back. to a tune of 12.19 @ 110 mph in street trim and with 18 psi in my tires they wrinkle when i leave the line under load with 1.70 60 ft times..........ran the car with this set up for about 8 years now.

i am sad to report since my new 468 has been dropped in my car does nothing but flop around at the start line since there is way more power trying to get to the ground it loads and unloads..........with slicks on the car.......so this set up is not working for the new found power.........

edited - was going to tell you I had moroso's springs or sale but I see you have them already.