Installed TRW 6204 front springs for BBK conversion in my 66 Malibu Sports coupe. Upper Ball joints are now at an acute angle outward where they connect to the spindle. It doesn't look like the control arms are in the correct position now to give the correct angle to the spindles. Ordered another pair from another store and installed with the same results. I'm ordering for 66 SS. Is there something I've missed here. The original small block springs I switched out appeared to line everything up correctly with the 454 installed.

I have installed springs in my '64 three times over 19 years and each time I had to cut the springs. Each time they say " that's the spring for your car, the book said these are it" WRONG! After market springs don't fit! The coils are stiffer the springs have less travel which is more noticable on the rear springs, as I could not cut them short enough to get stock ride hieght. Cut the rears too short and they will fall out on heavy braking. Take note of your of stock specs. installed spring hieght & uninstalled spring hieght. New springs will be close to the uninstalled hieght, but when the weight of the car is on them they don't drop enough. Not enough travel. As you cut down the springs to get your stock ride height spec. your loosing your uninstalled spring height spec. My car sits about 1" above stock ride hieght now, after cutting the springs. Before cutting it sat about 4" high and all the suspension was topped out. Don't drive your car topped out as you will damage many parts, drive shaft angle will be off etc. If your car sits ok with the old small block springs I would use them. Dave

Thanks for the reply Dave. This has been a troublesome problem since I'm trying to get the car on the road and I'm not moving forward with the front end. Per all Chevelle sources the 6204's are supposed to be correct, but it ain't so. Checked ride height per your suggestion, its about 3 1\2 inches off. How much did you cut off your springs?

If I recall it was 3/4 of a coil in the front & 1 coil in the rear. It's best to only cut 1/2 coil on the first cut and see how it sits, then only remove a 1/4 coil at a time. First 1/2 coil may not drop your car much maybe 1/2", But the second 1/2 coil(1 coil total) may drop it 2 or 3". If you cut them too short you can just throw them in the garbage. Also measure side to side height as your cutting. The last time I had to cut an extra 1" of coil on one of the front springs to keep things level. I measured from the bottom of the front fender lip to the bottom of the rim. and made sure both sides were the same. I measured from the bottom of the rockers front & rear to ground as per stock spec ride height. I know installing & removal & re-installing front springs is not fun, but if you cut too much off you will be taking them out anyway. I do the rear first as low as I safely can (about 1" above stock ride height on a '64), then I level the front of the car to the back Dave

When measuring stock ride height (if you use the rocker to ground measurment) you must calulate the difference between stock tire diamiter and what ever you have on the car now. Dave

I don't know what a stock ride height should be, but I DO KNOW that I have banged up 2 sets of brand new ceramic coated headers over the past few years because of the current ride height of my 70 conv with a SB400/Muncie. So, this weekend I installed a set of springs that are listed for heavy duty use for a 350 or a BB. Well the front end is up now! Enough so that I had to add a little air to the rear air shocks. I'm going to drive it for a while and see how it handles/rides. If it is OK, then I'll have it aligned and leave it that way. I like the higher stance anyway.

Front Springs 6204 Should be the right Moog pn ....I had no problem , I just took a brand new set out and replaced with QA1 coilovers but the 6204 that were in for a few months went in fine the car sat high but had no trouble getting back together and alingment.... my car is an original BB SS but i can't see that being an issue.... I can dig up the height and wire diameter specs if you like so can compare to your TRW 6204's ( assume they made by same mfg. as moog) did you check actual lenght etc with TRW catalog ?? FWIW

Did you make sure that the springs are seated at the top? Just thought that I would ask before you start cutting.

Redman ...... good point there is a notch in top of frame that you should be able to end of coil spring where it seats against the frame if installed correctly

There is also a pocket in the lower A-frame where the end of the coil seats. This is what determines the positioning of the coil. Of course, it must also be properly positioned in the pocket at the top.

Yep, I checked both the UCA and LCA to make sure both spring ends were seated in the notches before I jacked the LCA back up and connected the spindles. Guess I'll take these back out and measure and compare with old springs, then decide what to do. Thanks for the input.