1975 Monte Carlo

If you were to take it to a shop with the four legged lift, then that's where they would put the front two legs & that's with a complete car. You're safe as long as you can give the car a shake without the car budging.

Make sure you tighten the lower control arm pivot bolts AFTER you put weight on the wheels. If you tighten them, for instance, before you put the springs in, it is possible to twist the bushing to the point that it will make the car sit higher than it would otherwise.

bigredlaguna wrote:Make sure you tighten the lower control arm pivot bolts AFTER you put weight on the wheels. If you tighten them, for instance, before you put the springs in, it is possible to twist the bushing to the point that it will make the car sit higher than it would otherwise.

Hah mini torsion bars!

bigredlaguna wrote:Make sure you tighten the lower control arm pivot bolts AFTER you put weight on the wheels. If you tighten them, for instance, before you put the springs in, it is possible to twist the bushing to the point that it will make the car sit higher than it would otherwise.

Thanks for the tip bigred. They weren't tightened down on the previous pictures. What I did this weekend was to put the springs in, then put a jack below the lower control arm and jack it up to simulate ride height. Then I tightened the bolts to the recommended torque (all from the manual).

And here are pictures from this weekend:


Tool for compressing spring from the inside





For some reason it started slipping when I started on the second spring. So after troubleshooting for an hour or so I had to use a wrench instead of the air-drill.


Here the shock is in as well. The Haynes-book says 100 ft/lb for the top bolt. Is that really the case? I actually twisted of the top part when I put the torque wrench on after tightening with a short ratchet first. Find it hard to believe there was 100 ft/lb in it already.


Another problem. The sway bar seems way to tilted to align up with the end link bushing. I tried to tighten them down to see if they would "morf" in to shape, but the rubber was about to deform. So I just loosened them and checked if it was straighter when the car was on the ground, but no, it still is very tilted. Any tips here?


Then I packed and put the wheel bearings in


I used a glove for this (very proud of myself)




Looks clean!


Rallys on all four for the first time. Height seems to be where I want it.

you look like a surgeon with that glove lol

it may be me but it looks like its upside down ???

I thought about that too, and tried it the other way. But that seemed even worse hehe.

Here's a picture from before I removed it. Looks identical:

Fishgrinder wrote:

Rallys on all four for the first time. Height seems to be where I want it.

did you use the Napa #'s i sent you? cause it now looks like mine.

Yeah, it does look like yours, and my dream came true

They are not the Napas, as they didn't accept foreign billing adresses. They are stock springs from Summit, for an A/C car. My car doesn't have A/C, so maybe that does the trick togheter with the fresh "stifness"?

Still old springs in the rear.

I saw some info on that subject a while back, and as per my memory, the relationship between the bar and the A-arm is supposed to be checked at ride height. The photos you are showing are with an unloaded suspension.

bigredlaguna wrote:I saw some info on that subject a while back, and as per my memory, the relationship between the bar and the A-arm is supposed to be checked at ride height. The photos you are showing are with an unloaded suspension.

My Haynes book says to jack up the car to remove and install the sway bar. But nothing about lowering it again to tighten the end links. Anyways I checked it when it was on the ground, and the geometry was basicaly unchanged. Are the new springs simpley to stiff?

Strange..

Fishgrinder wrote:

bigredlaguna wrote:I saw some info on that subject a while back, and as per my memory, the relationship between the bar and the A-arm is supposed to be checked at ride height. The photos you are showing are with an unloaded suspension.

My Haynes book says to jack up the car to remove and install the sway bar. But nothing about lowering it again to tighten the end links. Anyways I checked it when it was on the ground, and the geometry was basicaly unchanged. Are the new springs simpley to stiff?

Strange..

Nothing to do with installation, just the relationship between the parts once it is at ride height. I'll try to find where I saw that info at.

bigredlaguna wrote:

Fishgrinder wrote:

bigredlaguna wrote:I saw some info on that subject a while back, and as per my memory, the relationship between the bar and the A-arm is supposed to be checked at ride height. The photos you are showing are with an unloaded suspension.

My Haynes book says to jack up the car to remove and install the sway bar. But nothing about lowering it again to tighten the end links. Anyways I checked it when it was on the ground, and the geometry was basicaly unchanged. Are the new springs simpley to stiff?

Strange..

Nothing to do with installation, just the relationship between the parts once it is at ride height. I'll try to find where I saw that info at.

I'd appreciate that! Thanks Bigred.

From the Energy Suspension website about sway bar alignment.

"Vehicle must be on level ground or service lift (NOT jacked up, NOT wheels hanging and NOT having the suspension unloaded). Wheels should support the vehicle or lift jacks should support the suspension as if the wheels are supporting it. Make sure stabilizer bar end eyelet (B) is parallel with the control arm (C). Many times they are not. You may be required to use a slightly longer or shorter sleeve length than the original. Measure sleeve length (A) and compare to the chart to find the correct set."

So according to them, the sway bar should be parallel to the A-arm at ride height.

Since the end of the sway bar is curved, you would make an imaginary line from the sway bar centerline @ the bushing to the end where the link attaches. This line is what should match the line of the a-arm at ride height.

If you are reasonably close, you're good to go. If you want to get anal about it, you can use different length spacers on the end link to adjust the relationship between the two.

Thanks, that was a good explanation. I have to study this closer next time

Well since you guys are talkn suspension here. If you wanted a 2 inch drop in the front would it be better to go with lowering springs or drop spindles for an A body?

I think there was a pretty lengthly thread about this somewhere. Maybe Rago can find it.

If you go with lowering springs, you'll probably have to buy the offset shafts for the upper control arms. Otherwise, you won't have enough shim adjustment.

Personally, if you're going to do all that, I would slap some coil-over's in.

Some threads to keep you reading for a while. The first two really pertain to your question, but the others do have some more ideas. If you ever have suspension questions, then check the G3 Tech area of the forum. I think we pretty much have any chassis questions answered. The interchange area also has a few off the beaten path ideas.

https://www.g3gm.com/t3520-drop-spindles-or-springs
https://www.g3gm.com/t2333-dropping-ideas
https://www.g3gm.com/t3459-is-there-any-suspension-kits-for-our-cars
https://www.g3gm.com/t3533-ride-height-rakes-etc-split-from-impala-rescue
https://www.g3gm.com/t351-2-inch-drop
https://www.g3gm.com/t2578-suspension-design

Thank you. Sorry if it is off topic.

No problem. We all go OT on this site from time to time.

i was thinkin drop spindles might not be a great idea for a "driven car" because when you throw it through a turn i feel like the tires would get less traction because less surface area would be making contact. atleast thats what i believe just a theory

billy-ray wrote:i was thinkin drop spindles might not be a great idea for a "driven car" because when you throw it through a turn i feel like the tires would get less traction because less surface area would be making contact. atleast thats what i believe just a theory

Not necessarily, you would be using the factory settings for alignment and adjusting as if it were original.

With drop springs, the position of the A-arms is different so the alignment would have to be custom specs.

Either way works, I just think that lowering springs takes more planning to get optimal performance because the camber angle is different due to the new position of the arms.

the way i have the suspension on my car right now is great now the weal link is tires but those have to wait

To round up the sway bar issue, I tightened the frame bushings a little more, and the end link bushings seemed to align better in the bar. I'm pretty sure it will be close to parallel when I lower the car to the ground now, so I'll call it good.

Here's some of the stuff I did this week.


Painted the calipers


Digged up all the seat belt parts, washed and shined them. I hope the belts are
not fatigued, at least they seem ok.




Washed interior panels, and tried to apply some cockpit shine to see if I could
get the color back. That was no go.


So I decided to paint them. I was silly here and used a cheap ordinary spray paint. Although it looks good from a distance, there were lots of runs. I sanded them down again as much as possible and painted them with a vinyl paint.
The result is still questionable, so I'll have to redo some parts of the panels again.


Then I cleaned the whole coupe for sanding dust, to prepare for the new carpet. I actually put in all this insulation just after I bought the car. It's probably one inch thicker than the original, so the carpet fit gets distorted a little. But I hope it provides better sound deadening than from the factory.




New dash cover is also installed, not a perfect fit around the vents next to the glove compartment


Then I started on the brake hoses which probably haven't been replaced in 20 years. Thus they weren't too cooperative. The right side one would unscrew from the coupling after heating it with a burner. However, the hose almost blew up in my face due to expansion from the heat. Luckily it was drained, but that makes you think.


On the left side I cut the hose before heating the coupling. But his wouldn't unscrew even after several rounds with heating, and the coupling head was just getting more and more rounded from my attempts. In the end I cut it close to the line with an hack saw to try to get it trough the retainer bracket. However, after it came off, the parts would separate. Maybe all the vibrations from the sawing did it


And when I was going to put the new hoses on, they turned out to be wrong ones


Well, it's good to see the parts pile getting smaller and smaller for each time now.