My 72 El Camino with a small block is hitting the so hard it has ruined another set of upper ball joints. I replaced the original springs with new ones for a small block with AC. Even though it brought the the front up about 2" the car still bottoms hard enough to damage the ball joints and tear the grease boots off.

This is a daily driver and the problem occurs driving on paved county roads at the posted speed limits. There are a few big dips but every other vehicle I drive on the same roads is not having problems.

Do I need to raise the suspension higher? If I install BB springs how much higher will the car sit and how stiff will it ride?

So your shocks are not helping? Do you have a good quality shock.
The previous owner of my car removed a 307 and installed a 454. It scraped and dented the driver side headers. He installed the BB springs which raised the car quite a bit. If your running a small block and you used those springs, not sure you would be happy with them,.

Do you have a sway bar and good gas shocks?

Dave

The sway bar is 1 1/4" and the shocks are KYB. If there is a better shock to use I will try them.
The height to the top of the wheel opening is 26" which seems a little low to me.