Hey guys, I did a 5 lug swap on my 1975 Chevrolet Monza using S10 parts when I bought it a year ago, but never drove it or attempted to have it aligned. After it was back together I noticed a lot of negative camber, which now I read is common on the S10 spindle swap on H-Bodies. I used drop spindles from DJM with stock springs (my Monza is a rare factory 5.7/350 car w/AC). It now is in the finishing phase of a LS 5.3 turbo conversion. I also have noticed that the car is sitting with the suspension completely topped out, as if the engine and transmission were still removed. The previous owner removed every last piece of the HVAC system. I am guessing since the HVAC stuff has been removed combined with an aluminum headed, plastic intake engine (vs the iron headed, iron intake SBC), the front end is just too light to preload the springs/suspension.


Fast forward to now. I pulled the drivers side suspension apart to replace the crumbling 40 year old control arm bushings with Energy Suspension polyurethane replacements and to cut at least one coil from the front springs. The ball joints are in great shape, but thats not surprising since the car only has 30,000 original miles. My neighbor (retired old school drag racing guy) suggested I tear apart the passenger side before reassembling the driver side and swap the upper control arms in order to gain much needed caster since I plan on drag racing.


My concern is will swapping the upper control arms hurt or help the negative camber issue? Also, will lowering the suspension via cutting the springs to gain travel help or hurt the negative camber issue?




Thanks in advance for any help.

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I would definitely swap the control arms for caster, (mine wound up at 7°, and very stable at 140 mph), I doubt it will make any difference as far as camber, but the negative camber issue isn't necessarily due to the S10 brake stuff either, could be that your frame is starting to twist a bit, it's fairly common with h-bodies. It can be corrected on a frame machine, or with some tweaking and bracing. When I built the front part of my roll cage, I added a couple of bars to fortify the upper control arm mounting points, and added a tubular crossmember underneath, to help keep the frame rails square. You can always manipulate the adjusting slots too, if you have to, to get it to line up where you want it. I would NOT cut the springs to lower it, especially if you're looking for weight transfer. You might want to try some Chevette springs. They were too light for my car, with twin turbos and cast iron heads, but I think I still have them if you want to try them.

 

Did you have any issues with the tire rubbing the rear of the inter fenderwell?

I am running 165/80/15's and haven't even driven it yet and they rub already.

What size tires you running?

 

I've got Firestone F-560 125R15s, Coker Tire: https://www.cokertire.com/125r15-firestone-f560-blackwall-tire.html

 

Those Cokers are 23". My 165/80/15 are 25.5".

Looks like I might be buying another set of tires....again. lol

 

I love the way they look, and work, on my car,
I've got a early-mid 70s Corolla in the shop right now with a NASTY 3TC I'm plumbing the fuel system on, and setting up up the NOS Fogger system for a mere 100 shot, he's got the same issue, and going for the same tires. Looks like I may be doing either a rear axle for it, or a custom rear brake setup, it's got a Vitara axle in it now, but no rear brakes...

 

BTW, I checked in the shop and I do still have those Chevette springs, they are yours for the cost of shipping if you want them....

 

Go ahead and check the shipping cost to Bakersfield, Ca. 93308.

Thx!!

 

Do you know if your control arms are deep pocket or shallow pocket? My old (73) Vega had shallow pocket arms, and the stock (4 cyl, A/C) springs worked well for 10 years with a 327 in it, then I added some rubber (A/C?) spacers and they worked fine even with an iron head 427 too. The ones on my 76 Vega are the deep pockets and it's been a pain getting the ride height and weight transfer where I want it.

 

Mine are deep. I guess only the earlier ones had shallow pockets. I did notice these thick rubber insulator looking things on the top of each coil on the front springs. I assumed it was to keep the noise down. Or maybe those only added to AC cars to offset the added weight?

 

Somebody probably did that somewhere down the line, I used the Mr. Gaskets ones. I've never seen those spacers factory installed.

 

I don't think so. They are molded around the top of the spring like a custom fit, instead of a parts store universal fit.

Besides, I did alittle internet search real quick and it seems they are a factory item to address noise.

http://forums.h-body.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=37209

 

I've seen thin pieces of rubber, like maybe 1/6", 3/32", but not thick ones. The ones I used were about 1"~ 1 1/2", with a channel molded into one side, like this one:



The insulators Clyde is talking about can be gotten from Moog and other sources, they have several different ones listed on Summit.







And those thin ones, when pressed up the spring pocket, wind up looking like they are molded. I was dinking around with this stuff 30 years ago, when these cars weren't that old. When I bought my first Vega, it was only about 3 or 4 years old, and I put a small block in by the time I'd had it just over a year,
It's possible they had thicker ones from the factory, but I've worked on quite a few Vegas and Monzas, and never seen one that had the thick ones like the first ones I posted from the factory.
BTW are you sure you got the springs back up in the pockets correctly? If they aren't in the right spot, they will make the front end sit pretty high...

 

The car is still in pieces. The front end was in the air and negative camber soon as the SBC was swapped out for the LS.

 

I have another '75 Monza (parts car) also a V8 car, no AC, 262/4.3 car. The suspension is complete, I might get curious enough and tear it apart to see if it has the isolators too.

 

When you get it back down on the ground, roll it a few feet, it will settle down some

 

I finally got around to messing with the car today. I keep the control arms in their stock locations, but I did end up cutting one coil with a cutoff wheel. After getting it all back together, it seems to be about perfect. Of course an alignment will be needed. I might have time to tear into the passenger side tomorrow.

I have adjustable shocks on all 4 corners. I have the fronts set to 70/30 and the rear to 50/50. I might have to play with the settings more, but it's a decent starting point. The M/T 235/60/15 drag radials should help too.

 

The negative camber was very likely due to the suspension being topped out. Most double wishbone front suspension are short/long arrangement and due to that have two different radial arcs in the same travel resulting in the too of the tire laying in at full extention. Sounds like you already have it figure out, but I thought I'd throw that out there.