Gm A body muscle car stance

[pontiacpower]

Well..... year old hotchkiss 2”” lowering coils. They changed the ride height about an inch

[anotheridiot]

You might like the the ride with the short spring and stiff shock. I know watching my son drive in front of me with the 67 camaro its really weird thinking you are going to see the body bounce up and down when you just watch the body stay still and the axle go up and down when he hits bumps, so the air shocks are not that unbelievable stiff where the hole rear end and rear tires are bouncing off the ground, and we run 50-60 pounds to keep the car off the tire.

I googled coil spring for chevelle and the 81134 came up but is not linked to the a body on advance site. They are 6201 on the jegs site for 62, but you do a part number search on rock auto and they come up for the a body at 47. Sometimes you need to back door the rock auto site.

[Deaf Bob]

Radiator, 2 pucks (4, top/bottom)
Firewall crush area, depends on model 2 or 4 pucks (4 or 8)
Under front seats. 2 more
Start of humps, likely 2 more
Very few have them on top of humps.
Then bottom of hump or might be there but no pucks
End of frame be 2 more..

[SuperBuickGuy]

Changing wheels isn’t in the cards at the moment. I feel like bushings are somewhat cheap so that’s going to happen. I love that baseball bat idea. Might do some of that along with replacing bushings. I haven’t seen the bushings but I’m almost certain no one else has either. So I’ll replace those and see if my problem is remedied.

On mine, I boxed the lower control arms, replaced those joints with poly. For the upper arms, I built some adjustable ones - on the front, I had B body spindles and hotchkiss springs as well, rear were just wagon springs.... that said, I had the narrower 12 bolt as well - but 295s were on it with the stock Buick rear axle as well, and it was the rubbing that caused the bushing upgrade.... I also rolled the lip on the rear, however, I had replaced the quarters so I may have removed flash from the new fenders rather then something GM installed.

[silver_bullet]

or nascar pit row style. baseball bat, car on jack stands, jack under axle. slowly move tire/wheel running bat along the lip. and like a pipe cutter, jack up the axle after every pass, to move the lip a little more, doing this until you get it where you need/want it.
no special tools needed. other than time.

Understood... I just suggested the Eastwood tool due to the control it allows for, a lot easier than the bat method from back in the day when it was cheaper to repair bodywork....

[SuperBuickGuy]

Understood... I just suggested the Eastwood tool due to the control it allows for, a lot easier than the bat method from back in the day when it was cheaper to repair bodywork....

I have that eastwood fender roller.... bought it for the Buick.... it couldn't move the metal.....

[silver_bullet]

the sedanette?

[SuperBuickGuy]

the sedanette?

no, the skylark pictured above

[pontiacpower]

As of right now I’m going to look into a 64-66 12 bolt rear end and maybe doing some air shocks because I need a 12 bolt for my power output and a posi unit. The air shocks are a “double tap” I guess. Make sure my tires have clearance

[SuperBuickGuy]

forgot one - I also used the stock, GM SS sway bar, it ties the lower control arms together and really helps keep the rear end centered

[Loren]

Warning, that rr axle may be very hard to find these days. Be creative and diligent in your search. Alternatives are narrowing a wider 12-bolt rear, also hard to find but not as much (sometimes old axles need replacing anyhow and can be gotten in any width, making cutting/welding the housing the real additional expense), modifying a 8.8 Ford that has Mustang-style "top ears" which is something I have no experience in but have come across info for, and finally going to a Ford 9" which are easily cut to width and can have the top ears added on due to the housing being formed sheet metal in that area. A number of shops sell 'em, a popular choice. Probably any direction you go is going to be $1500 or so unless you can find that magical early 12-bolt that someone left in a back yard somewere and the landlady just wants it out of there, etc.

[anotheridiot]

the air shocks are gonna work on whichever one you find, so little victories will make you sure you are on the right track. You might end up with a rear end that is 2" wider or narrower and end up with alot more work. Having some experience with the air shocks would let you get by with a wider one if it turns up.

[Gateclyve Photographic]

At least he's not looking for a "traditional" Olds Hotchkiss-style axle . . .

. . . . unless you can find that magical early 12-bolt that someone left in a back yard somewere and the landlady just wants it out of there, etc.

As for the "backyard" axle . . . Back in the early '80s, an unscrupulous shop tried to cheat me out of the factory Safe-T-Track ten-bolt third member from my '69 Grand Prix SJ. (It was my only DD and I was way too busy to fix it myself . . . and student housing took a dim view of that sort of thing anyhow . . . .) They were very angry when I paid the "core charge" to get my old axle back. It's been "stored" in my mom's backyard for 35+ years . . . . probably rusted up solid by now . . . .

I doubt that anything other than used is much cheaper than an aftermarket 9" these days. But I can understand the impulse to keep it all GM.

[RockJustRock]

Why not just stick some bags in the springs for some adjustability and load adjustments? They're only like $80. Back in the day a lot of A body owners did that even if big tires or rake were not in the plans. Air shocks are a less elegant solution because the shock mounts aren't designed for that load. Of course I just think it is kinda cool Air Lift is still around.

For all the disadvantages of the rugged rubber baby buggy bumper contraption that is the A body rear suspension don't overlook the one advantage.

[anotheridiot]

Why not just stick some bags in the springs for some adjustability and load adjustments? They're only like $80. Back in the day a lot of A body owners did that even if big tires or rake were not in the plans. Air shocks are a less elegant solution because the shock mounts aren't designed for that load. Of course I just think it is kinda cool Air Lift is still around.

For all the disadvantages of the rugged rubber baby buggy bumper contraption that is the A body rear suspension don't overlook the one advantage.

When you have a full frame under the car, the frame crossmember is where the shocks bolt to, its not like putting them thru the floor of the camaro. Even so, when we did the air shock on the camaro, we made a new mount off the frame rail, we were able to adjust the height of the bracket to get an extra two inches before having the shock take the full up position, it hovers in the center.