Ok, now that I am through with my completely missing 8th exhaust lobe on my cam (motor runs way hot btw...) I'm ready to start looking into some suspension work.

I just picked up my car from the local shop thats been doing my work. After looking the suspension all over, they quoted me $1400 to just load all new bushings around the thing.

In the back, the bushings dont look all that bad, but whoever did it, forgot the spacers and it's rubbing metal to metal on lower control arms, same pretty much for the front..

Ok, so here's my question... If I am about to even consider tearing my suspension all apart, it seems to me that there has to be better, more modern technology to replace some of these parts with.

In the back, it was recommended that I swap out the control arms for lift bars and swap the upper control arm for a nice boxed control arm.

Now mind you, Im a bit of newbie, so some of this, I'm not even sure what I'm talking about.

I also know that folks like hotchkis and such make entire kits for the back.

Does anyone have any recommendations or sites they can point me to that discuss the rebuilding of this stuff? Lift Bars? New control arms? New sway bar?

As for the front, I have heard that its a good idea, if you can, to change the a-arms out for tubular arms and all that stuff, but I dunno what to look at.. again, any discussions or ideas about how to set this suspension up to last the next 10 years would be great. I want safety, realibility and the best I can get.

The car is a daily driver, but I also want the car to dig in awesome at the track. It also seems to bounce a lot...real bad.. I figured the shocks were worn out, but they look very new and are good shocks... dunno if there is any way to control the bounce or not, would be interested in any ideas at all.

Thanks,
Jay H.
70 SS 454

http://www.p-s-t.com sells front end "kits" for both stock rubber bushings and PolyGraphite bushings. These kits contain all the major front end replacement parts, tie rod ends, upper and lower ball joints, and all the front end bushings....

If you plan to make the car handle better, go with the Polygraphite kit.

as for tubular front control arms- They are really expensive- But nice if you are doing the tall spindle conversions. If you're are in good shape -why not re-use them. If they are cracked or trashed, that would be a good excuse for the new ones.

Rear end suspension:
Upper a-arms- just get new bushings- Rubber is the best way to go on the back of the car to prevent binding

Lower a-arms- If your are not the factory Boxed rear arma, now would be a good time to either buy the kit and weld in insterts to box yours, or buy a set from Hotchkis or Global west, or BMR. The boxed or tubular arms will make a big difference.

Go to Hotchkis's website (www.hotchkis.net) and global west's website(you'll have to run a google search, i don't know it off hand) and read as much as you can about it all. Global west has some great info on their site.

If you are taking the time to tear all that apart- it would also be a good time to get new springs & shocks front and back as well- and new Hi Performance sway bar, at least for the front...

It will get expensive fast-

Originally posted by AHSOM70:

as for tubular front control arms- They are really expensive- But nice if you are doing the tall spindle conversions. If you're are in good shape -why not re-use them. If they are cracked or trashed, that would be a good excuse for the new ones.

What exactly is a tall spindle conversion and why would you want to do one?

I can;t seem to come up with any reason to change the a-arms.. Why exactly WOULD one want to put tubular a-arms up front? I looked at the ones under there and they just look 34 years old. They prolly should be cleaned up a bit, but I dont think that they are trashed?

How bout the lift bars? Anyone hear of these things?

Also I will check out the address here in just a bit and see what that stuff is. I really need to keep the costs down but at the same time I wanna make sure that I set things up right the first time, even if that means waiting for more cash in hand. I dont wanna redo anything! graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Ok Im gettin it... Thanks for the advice so far, I'll let you know what I come up with...

Originally posted by plasma800:
What exactly is a tall spindle conversion and why would you want to do one?
Try using the search function for the 'tall spindle' question. It has been much discussed here and there is alot of good information in past posts. The subject doesn't seem to get as much action now adays as I think that some of the members have stopped posting so much on the subject for fear of simply repeating themseleves.

Here is a good link to start too globalwest info (http://www.globalwest.net/1964-72%20disc_brake_conversion_informatio.htm) Note that you do not have to use the upper tubular a-arms but may use offset shafts instead.

Member "Reinecke" used to have a good link too dead link (http://home.att.net/~thereineckes/) but now it seems to be either gone or locked, anyone know what happened or if he is still around??? It was a great link graemlins/thumbsup.gif should have printed it off when I had the chance.

Happy Reading

Ok well the PST stuff looks real good.
Does anyone else recommend that I check out any other suspension companies?

I tried global west, but thier site is such a mess that I gave up looking in the first 30 seconds. I just dont get it graemlins/angry.gif

anyhow, Im thinking all the bushings in the front, but the shop said that they tie rods and ball joints all looked good, but I wonder if I swhould go ahead and replace them. PST's kit for the best is like 349... thats not bad.

There are several good web sites to use for guidance located here: http://links.chevelles.net/links/WorkShop/Brakes_Suspension/ If you want to do the work yourself this is a good place to start.

I would check with any "kit" supplier to double check which brand of hard parts (tie rod ends, idler arm, etc etc) they use. I re-did my el camino about 10 years ago with a kit and within 50K miles it need to be redone. Second time around I used hard parts from MOOG, TRW and DANA are other quality brands.

The first question you need to answer is "What do you want the car to do/be?" Drag Racing, Easy leisure driving, Canyon carving G-Machine? The approach you take will vary depending on your goal.

Well, Im not too terribly interested in a full on g machine, although cornering is womewhat important. Straight line traction is prolly at the top of my list as I love to go fast straight. I feel that somewhere there is a great middle ground. But I for sure wanna be able to put the full power of that 454 to the ground and solid as I can!

Global West makes great products:

http://www.globalwest.net/A-body%20questions%20answered.htm

http://www.globalwest.net/handling_charts%20abody.htm

http://www.globalwest.net/global_wests_tubular_upper_contr.htm

Andrew

SSM lift bars are a great addition to the rear suspension. They replace the lower control arms and are of excellent quality. There seems to be some problems with getting them right now so a call to the company would be in order. They come with delrin bushings that work great. Stock uppers, with new bushings, are plenty good. The uppers work in tension, unlike the lowers which work in compression, so bending them is not really an issue.

A rear sway bar will help both in straight line launches and in cornering. Get one that is the next size small than the front bar.

I used the PST front end kit several years ago. The quality of the ball joints isn't the best. I'd go with Moog, although, since they have been bought by Federal Mogul, their quality may be suspect, too.

KYB is an excellent choice for an inexpensive shock. I'm happy with mine.

Ok that's all cool, I'll check into all that.

Let's setup an informative hypothectical forum here.

Let's say that you all (and me) wanted to set up a pretty monsterish corner handler and at the same time have plenty of launchy ability to hanlde a 454 with a great hefty build and money WAS an object, but not a huge one... what precisly would you outline to buy and install! from start to finish! Would be great info. Pretend cars yours, money's yours and you wanted the above! graemlins/thumbsup.gif

I'd do exactly what I've already done. New PST poly front end kit, new poly body bushings, new Hotchkis 1" lowering springs, Hotchkis adjustable upper control arms with rubber bushings, new rubber bushings in the factory boxed control arms, new 1.25" front sway bar, powdercoat all hard parts and add a set of Bilstein shocks all around.
Works pretty good graemlins/thumbsup.gif

Regards,

I gotta also keep in mind that I'm holding that big block up front. I need to make sure that I consider that extra noseweight as well huh?

Also, my fear in lowering the car is that I already scrape the headers sometimes over speedbumps. But maybe a tighter suspension all the around would eliminate the bounce over bumps.

Gents,

Still around, but the site is gone. I've got it saved, so if anyone needs it, I can post it.