[BavarianButcher]

Hello!

I will lower my 67 SS a bit, and go the professional way not to cut the springs. You can´t cut the rear pigtail end, also i bought a set of global west lowering springs- 1 1/4" drop in the rear and 1" in the front.

I installed the rear springs today, but now the rear of the car was higher than before! I don´t think the new springs will settle down, so i removed them and had an idea:

I disassembled the spring mounting bracked at the rearend. It simply consists of a piece of pipe and some washers, hold together by a long screw and nut. I will cut this pipe 1" or 1 1/2", so the spring seat and so the car will come lower the same number of inches. And the spring will be in place at max spring deflection, too. I marked the piece of pipe in the pic.

Anybody did the same way? Any doubts?

Thank you!

 

[Mr Chevelle]

The pipe/washers/bolt you are modifying is not OEM on a Chevelle, somebody added it........Try completely removing this added spacer assembly.

:thumbsup:

 

[jpete]

Did someone add a jack bolt to that thing? Maybe the car(or rear) was setup for circle track racing at some point?

 

[BavarianButcher]

Hi guys, thank you for your fast answer!
This piece of pipe is near 3" high, if i remove it i think the spring will fall out because it is not preloaded!

Do you never saw such a spacer on chevelles? I bought this car with 40k miles on it from a old guy in cal- i don´t think it was a racing set-up...?

I found a pic in the i-net with the same spacer-assembly my rearend has. It looks professional, the upper shims are same shaped as the spring seat welded to the rearend. But when you say it is not oem, i think there will be no problem to shorten this pipe and set the height of the car this way?

thank you very much!

 

[Rich-L79]

The weight of the car will hold the spring in. You do need to retain the "top hat" shaped item at the top of the spacer and it needs to be attached to the axle housing by welding or bolting it down. The spacer should not be there at all. Many years ago those spacers were a popular modification to raise the rear of the car for a "hot rod" look and to help clear really wide rear tires.

 

[BavarianButcher]

Hi guys!

Thank you for your reply, today i removed the spacer and installed the springs at the rear. The rear of the car has the right height now, it came down about 1.5 inches- springs are global west 1 1/4" drop.
More problems i had with the front. The springs i got are global west 1" drop. I installed them, but the car was too low. It dropped about 2 1/2 inches! ...don´t thrust global west... ;-)
That was to much for me, so i cutted 3/4 coil of the original springs and installed them. Now the ride height is ok, it looks nice.

But one thing occured to me: The spring is no more exact in the middle of the upper pocket. It does not rub at the shock-absorber, but the clearance is not smooth.
The bottom end of the spring is between the two holes in the lower a-arm, as it should be.
At the upper spring-pocket in the frame is a small dent, were the upper end of spring should be in. I cutted only 3/4 coil, so the upper pigtail is no more in this dent, but a little bit above.
What do you think about this, is this ok or should i turn the coil a little so the upper pocket fits- but then the lower will not- what is more important? Or should i grind the upper pigtail a bit? I don´t want to cut more of the spring, because the car is low enough.

thank you and have a nice day!

 

[osdmike]

A friend just bought these for his -66!
Real nice adjusters.
http://www.budzter.com/adjusters.html

-

 

[ChevyMopar]

Post some pics of how it sits now, the car that is.

 

[rkd]

I had exactly that setup on my 66, a short section of tube that raised the spring seat. On mine, there is a plate on top that sandwiches the spring between it and the seat. And a long bolt that held it to the lower control arm.

I tried a home fabbed shorter set, then none, and finally got new stock springs. Ended up just right with no spacer at all.