unusualfabrication
+1y
Edited: 10/9/2010 1:25:34 PM by UnusualFabrication
I got a call from my friends that own a preformance transmission shop in town about a 1973 Camaro Z28 that they were doing some tranny work on. They wanted me to come down and take a look at it because some things caught their eye. When I got there I could see something was wrong as soon as I walked up to the 4 post lift. Problem #1, the rear end was shifted over 2" off center and was also 1" forward in the wheel opening from left to right which caused the car to not be able to lay out. Problem #2, the front end hardly untucked an 18" tire. Problem #3, the front shockwaves rubbed. Problem #4 it leaked air.
A little background on the car, the owner of the car bought it new in 1973. A few years ago it was completely stripped down. No corners were cut as far as parts and materials were concerned. The motor is a crate GMPP ZZ383, Mastershift transmission, Moser rearend, Baer big brake kit with 6 piston fronts and 4 piston rears, 18" and 20" Foose wheels, completely brand new interior carpet and seats, and the suspension is a Airride Tech digital shockwave kit with strong arms and a bolt in 4-link. Basically the entire car is new, its just that the original installer of the suspension didn't have a clue. Well the bags rubbed because the spring pockets weren't trimmed out far enough and the front didn't get full lift because the lower shockwave bushings were trashed. I started by pulling the shockwaves to trim the spring pockets when I noticed the lower strongarms had 9/16" bolts with 5/8" nuts on them! After fixing the hardware problem I clearanced the spring pocket to the correct ammount. For the lower bushings I removed the trashed ones from the shockwaves and turned new ones out of solid round aluminum.
With the front taken care of I moved to the rear to address the "out of square" rearend. For some reason this once bolt on kit was now a partially weld on and bolt on kit. Some of the bolt holes were plug welded, as to why I don't know. Because the lower bars from the kit are non-adjustable and the top bars are only adjustable on one end I decided to remake all the bars with right and left hand 3/4" heim joints to make the bars adjustable on both ends and knurled them. This allowed me to get the rearend exactly were I wanted it.
After it was centered all I had to do was take care of the air leaks and the car was ready to hit the road.