I Recently aquired a 69 Chevelle. Being an old auto tech and bracket guy I needed a quick retro street car. After inspection, I found that I need to redo my front suspension.

I don't know what to buy. Whats the hot tip? I am very concerned about polyurethane bushing noise. Do these things work or are they noisy?

I've shopped the heavy advertisers and need to make a decision on: Performance Suspension/Global West/PST/Kanton/GM/Ground up etc.

The car already has new KYB shocks F&R. Springs are OK. I figured I'd go through F&R control arm bushings, Tie rod ends, Idler arm, Ball Joints, sway bar links on front and add a rear bar also.

Will the "G" machine kit from performance Suspension in AZ work OK for the street and be quiet?

This is a street driven toy. 430HP small block, Manual 350 w/3800 stahl,3:73 Posi, PS & PB, Disks on front. T/A radials for now. I want a nice riding, reasonably tight setup. What should I buy?

If you'd rather reply by phone here's my cell.

Scott 608-347-0027

Scott,
If you are just looking for a kit do re-do some of the worn parts, I'm sure most of those companies can fill the bill. I like PST and have used their stuff several times now with good success. Parts of good quality Moog or TRW parts, instructions good and the people were easy/nice to deal with. My only complaint about the PST bushings is that they started making noise after about a year of driving with them. When I took the sway bar out, the bushings were bone dry and binding! Don't know what happened to all the monkey-snoot lube I put in there when I installed it, but it was all gone! The control arm bushings were starting to get noisy also, so I ended up drilling a small hole in the shells and installing some grease zerks so I can grease them up periodically. On my Chevelle, I used the Energy Suspension bushings with just some synthetic grease and have never had a single squeak! Also for the rear of the Chevelle, I bought the BMR full set of upper and lower control arms and they came with the Prothane bushings installed. I removed them and greased them up good with the synthetic grease and have never heard a squeak out of them either!

Hope that helps give some direction...

Bill C.

I have removed poly bushings that have compression set. The hole was no longer in the center of the bushing. The customer could not keep the front end alinged. When I took them out they were acting like a cam ecentric. By the way they also had squeeked from about a year after they were installed. This guy has since driven the Elcamino about 25k miles and no squeeks and the alingment has not been done since. We put Moog rubber bushings in. PST is one of Energy's biggest competitors & customers.

I have used PST in the rear on 2 cars with no squeaks, but neither car is likely to see 2000 miles a year. I just finished putting the complete front end kit in my 69 Chevelle convertible and don't expect any problems, although the last posting about the alignment problems is of great concern since this car will see 10k miles/year. A question about adding the grease fittings - do you just drill and tap the outer shell of the bushing? Is there any way to add grease to the inner sleeve that anyone has come up with?

Gentlemen,

Thanks for the respones and phone calls. I'll be trying the "G" Machine kit from Performance Suspension. I'll post my thoughts when its done in 2-3 weeks. What setting do you guys run your KYB adjustable shocks at for street use?

Scott