Inliners International Forums General Discussion Drive Train suspension upgrades on my Chevy II

Last week one of my friends told me to bring my car down to his shop (Mayeda Motorsports) to get it out of the way for my
upcoming move and so that he could take a look at some of the upgrades/maintenance I've been putting off. Initially we were thinking of doing the 292 install, but b/c of a few snags I've hit getting the engine ready, we decided to tackle the suspension stuff instead.

We got most of the front suspension stuff mocked up (pics). I initially bought the basic mini-subframe kit, but after pulling things apart, we decided to add the upper control arms and new spring perches. The installation probably would have been done in a day in I didn't need to purchase these extra parts. Someone had previously removed the rivets, which made things go much faster. You can also see my newly installed 5 lug wheels, and disc brakes. The 1" drop coils look new, but they were previously installed. I've slowly bought/collected lots of this stuff over the last 4 years. It's great to finally see some of it bolted up to the car. Please excuse the dirty oil pan - the engine should be coming out sometime in October or November.











I'd usually do some sort of write up on an upgrade like this, but since I wasn't there for most of the dirty work, I don't have much to say other than 'THANKS VINCE!'

This week we hope to get the power booster mounted and the 5 lug rear end installed. Progress will be a little slow though, since my wife and I just closed on our first house. Yesterday we realized we're going to have to do more painting and cleanup than we planned on.

Is the ride height still the same as stock, ande did you use the ball joints that came with the kit? It looks good and should be an improvement on the handling.

We used the ball joints that came with the kit. My friend looked at them and thought they'd be ok (we'd heard some bad things about some of the ball joints).

The coils are 1" drop coils from CPP. I will be using 1" blocks in the rear. The car sits a little lower in the front b/c of the tires also. The new tires are 195/60/14. I believe the old ones were 75s.

Nice looking stuff there Lyndon. I bet it feels good to get that collection of parts installed.

Was adding the Upper arms just a finished look or was there some other reason?

Also, did you go with stock spring perches replacements or something exotic? What other components did you use with this kit?
Is this all documented on your site?


James
Nor Cal Novas

Hi James,

I just saw this post - sorry for the late reply. I will be documenting it on my site when I have some time.

As far as the uppers go, I needed bushings and ball joints, which would have been about $150. The uppers, complete with ball joints and bushings, were $300, so I just went with them.

The spring perches are the stock units.

Here are some pics from tonight:












And the best pic of the night. Thad (her dad) and I taught her a new word. She can now say 'NO-VA.' Next time, we'll teach her 'Chevy II.'

I added a few details to my webpage: 63ChevyII.com