Hello! Where to start. Been awhile since I have been on. I am getting back on the 68 for summer.
Here's what I have & want to do. I am open to all input. My SS is a 4 speed car that came w/ non power steering & drum brakes. I am planning on going 4 wheel disc w/ tall spindles, qwik ratio power box, 1 1/4 front sway bar, rear sway bar, & lowering car 3" w/ OPG springs. I have been collecting parts & have the following so far.

Tall spindles w/ dust shields & calipers
1 1/4 front sway bar from 75 TA & factory rear from A body
Rear factory boxed control arms
9C1 steering box from Caprice cop car
Shorter shocks
Rear disc assy from rear drive Caddy

I am looking @ going w/ Global upper & lower A arms but want input as to how low my car will sit. I was going to use OPG 3" lowering springs but, I have been told the tall spindle lowers car by 1". If that's true, in theory I would need 2" springs along w/ 3" rears to have car sit level. It is a BB w/ iron heads also. I am running 8" vette rallys & want car to sit level while running
widest/lowest profile tire that will fit. Any ideas on tire size? I wanna run BFG T/A's.
Also, although I have boxed upper & lower rear factory control arms I have considered going aftermarket. I want to do all of this ONE time as exhaust has to be run after suspension work has been done. That doesn't even cover if my HOOKER comp full length headers will fit after lowered??
I also have to obtain a master cylinder/brake booster assy. I am unsure of what to run w/ future 4 wheel disc swap. I am going to do front 1st as front end is LOOSE!! Then I will mock up rear disc assy on another rearend I have for future swap.

I just want to get all this figured out & drive for summer before disassembling for complete resto.

Thanx in advance for any input. I also have many 68 parts available. John :D

John,
Sounds like an ambitious plan to get done for the "full swing" of the cruising season.

I think your biggest concern will be what springs to run with the tall spindles. Chad Landry did the tall spindle swap and it looks to me (from the pics he posted) that the front was lowered more than an 1" from the swap.

Look up username "BC" for info on the caddy rear disc swap. He is the king of the swap and the man to give you details and the headaches that he's encountered on his '71 with the brakes (my website also shows some pics of the calipers, backing plates etc.). You might want to ask him about his HUGE iron caliper 12" 'Vette disc tall spindle swap as well (yes, they fit inside 15" wheels).

For the fast ratio Model 800 Saginaw steering swap you might also want to keep in mind that you can get the boxes from Jeep Grand Cherokees ('92-'98) and that you'll need a hybrid flex steering coupler from an '79-'84 Chevy pickup to mount in to our steering columns (there is other details of the swap...search for username JIML82 for details). Use your stock power steering pitman arm as well!

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

Joe

Also, on the steering Box, I think alot of JimL82's material is listed in a tech reference elsewhere on this site... Aside from the new ragjoint Joe mentioned, you will also need either hoses with the proper fittings or adapters, since the newer quick ratio boxes (like from the 9C1 Caprice) use metric o-ring fittings. If you need new P/S hoses anyway, you could try for ones with the metric o-ring...

As for tires, I run BFG 295-50/15s on my 66 with no mods to the bady lip... I think you have more room...

John,
That's a pretty ambitious plan... good luck with it!

As for advice, I think I'll hold off for now until you have abetter idea of where exactly you are heading for now and for later. Do some serious reading on the searches Joe and Tony recommended and let us know what you are still unclear on. Depending on what direction you go, there are possibly several alternatives.

Best of luck,
Bill C.

Hello guys, I am going to order GW upper & lower front arms, GW rear lowers & Currie reat uppers.
The probs I have now are as follows, which 1LE rotors are the best? Also, which master cylinder / booster to run? I am going to run 4 wheel disc in future but retain rear drums for now. I also have a "rag" joint from a chevy truck for the steering box so that should not be a issue. I am open to all other input as I am just gonna put motor in it for now as GW stuff is on back order. graemlins/angry.gif Thanx in advance! JOHN graemlins/beers.gif

I have a few suggestions for you:

I would suggest the Edelbrock rear uppers over the Curries. I'd also recommend while you're back there getting a set of the Edelbrock rear suspension braces.

As far as your sway bars: A 1 1/4" front and 7/8 rear bar works great with factory front A-arms, but not with the GW tall spindle conversion. Doug (owner of GW) strongly recommends running a 1 1/8" front bar and no rear bar with his front a-arms. Doug cautioned me that running a rear bar with his front suspension makes the car much more prone to corner exit snap oversteer. He's not making this up. Ask me how I know. ;)

You should probably get your springs from Doug as well as he has tweaked the spring rates to get the most out of the geometry his suspension provides. He has both front and rear springs. I'm running the Semi-Comp's on my car and love them. Not too hard, but firm and controlled without being tooth jarring. The problem with dropping the nose way down with any tall spindle conversion is that the wheels will start to gain a lot of negative camber the more you drop the car. If you drop it too much you may not be able to take all the camber out and align the car properly.

Troy

you said you had 8" corvette rallys you didn't say what the backspacing is ... if they're real corvette .. that makes em 4" offset & your going to have front fenderwell problems with an kind of tire over 225 60's with the drop & those rims ... sounds like your making a corner burner there & your going to want more backspacing for bigger tires ...