Im doing a frame up restore on a 72 malibu
the car had a 6cyl. with powerglide I am converting to sbc and 4 speed, i bought std springs for SB. installed all new controll arm bushings but cant get the springs to compress with the motor in the frame. body not on yet. I went and bought spring compressor but not enough room between a arms to use them.
ANY suggestions?
thought of using 1/2 " threaded rod through shock hole.


thanks
steve

I just went through the same thing,but I used the hotchkis 1" drop springs,with my 215lb butt sitting on the frame I was able to get the ball joint nut started. My backup plan was to lay a 2x12 across the frame start stacking on the weight ie. ,kids,wife,etc.....

ttt

Just make sure you position the jack on the very outer edge of the lower a-arm, a few inches closer to the frame and it won't work. I first tried using the jack where the shock goes, no chance.

Olli

The regular compressors that go on the outside won't work, it has to be a type that goes on the inside. If you're doing it without a compressor, you'll need a lot of weight on the frame. The weight of the engine and a couple of heavy friends should do it. Did it like that on my Camaro, and it was pretty easy. As Olli said, you need to put the jack as far out as possible to give you maximum leverage.

I just did this on my 68. I rented the spring compress tool from autozone. Both the upper and lower arms were on. I dropped the threaded rod through the top of the shock hole and compressed the spring, raised the lower arm up and attached my spindle. I used Hotchkis 1" drop springs. Took about 15 minutes. I do not know if it will work on stock springs though, they are probably too tall. The link below is one similiar to what I used except it had 1 set of hooks and a thick steel plate in stead of a second set of hooks.

http://www.autozone.com/servlet/UiBroker?ForwardPage=/az/in_our_stores/loan_a_tool/steering_suspension/spring_compressor.jsp

I have used the long threaded rod to install springs and it works fine. I think my rod was 5\8, just use the biggest that will fit into the shock hole. On the bottom, you will have to make a heavy plate for a washer as the shock hole on the bottom is quite large. remember the entire shock fits thru that hole.
I read somewhere that if you can't compress your spring with one of those spring compressors, then bolt the lower and upper A arms to the spindle at the ball joints, and remove the bolts holding the lower A arms to the frame. Apparently by jacking up on that end it is easier to compress the spring. But I never tried it, I just read it in a magazine. Might be worth a try if you don't use the threaded rod techinque.

Hey thanks every one!

threaded rod worked like a charm!!! lucky charms that is.

steve