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MY TUBBED 1970 CHEVELLE WAGON !
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Has a 468 cubic inch big block 4 bolt main with
TH400.
This has a 16 gallon fuel cell, custom tubbed frame,
S&W rear
suspension
1-800-523-3353,
Brute Strength
rear differential with Richmond 411 gears,
Moser axils 219-725-6689,
rear disc rotors from
'80 firebird
rear,
'82 - '88 Camaro front calipers and pads,
and these caliper brackets made out of 3/8" steel.
My invented Pinion Mounted Parking Brake. This tubbed application
brought about the necessity to create this parking brake. the large
offset rear wheels did not allow the capability of using the factory
parking brake cables. This parking brake location solves that problem.
Looks pretty trick too!
buy
yours here
72 Pinto manual
rack and pinion.
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I am converting from stock 11 disc
brakes to the GM B-body 12 front disc brakes. Also known as the
tall spindle conversion. They are called tall because the
spindle is taller than the A-body spindles. Also, they inherently
lower the body to the road by about an inch. B-body refers to the
full-size GM vehicles such as Impala or Caprice. There is a lot of
information available on this conversion, but I will describe what I
did. It is slightly different then you may find elsewhere.
You can use 78-84 B-body as a donor or 85-90, whish are
stronger and lighter, or 91-96, but just ignore the ABS stuff. I
used a 90 Caprice Police car as my donor. Be sure the rotors
measure 12. Average Caprices and Impalas came with 11 rotors, but
the SS, Police cars and wagons had the 12 rotors. The 12 rotors
will not fit on the spindles made for 11 rotors. You have the
option to use the donors rotors, which will come with 5 on 5 lug
pattern or you can get the 88-92 Camaro 1LE rotors, which will fit
the 5 on 4-3/4 lug pattern as you had originally. I chose the
smaller lug pattern for this car because I already have the custom
wheels with that pattern on them. From the donor I used
the spindles and backing plates, turn the calipers in as
cores for a new set of 1970 Chevelle calipers. The Chevelle calipers
fit the spindles and give you the proper location for the brake
hoses.
With the spindles sand blasted and painted, it is time to
focus on the control arms. There are 2 types of factory front lower
control arms; those with round rear bushings and those with oval. GM
pretty much mixed and matched these at random. The round ones were
the first design then the oval ones came about to give a little more
shock absorption from pot holes and such. The round ones give you
stiffer suspension, which is fine if you leave the round rear
bushing rubber. But if you plan on driving on the street and want to
use urethane bushings, I strongly recommend using the control arms
with the oval bushings. The extra material in the oval bushings
offset the stiffer urethane, resulting in a stiffer response
suspension yet forgiving with shock from the road.
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Once I selected the lower control arms I wanted, I
welded in some reinforcements. These arms are known to crack
and brake because of 30 years of fatigue. I have put a kit
together for the mod. I plasma cut, out of 1/8 steel, the
plates to be welded in. After the plates are in the 1 x
1/8 steel strips are welded. Notice the clearance hole for
the sway bar mount. After the welding was finished, I had
the arms galvanized and painted. |
To mount the b-body spindles in the Chevelle lower
control arms, the b-body ball joints must be turned down to 2.012
diameter in order to be press fit in the arms. Before the lower arms
can me installed, the motor-frame mounts must be installed because
the arms will block access to the brackets hardware. Next I pressed
the new polygraphite bushings in. I prefer the graphite impregnated
polyurethane over the straight polyurethane because it reduces the
squeaking caused by no lubrication between the rubber and steel
parts. Dont forget to use the Formula 5 grease between the inner
collars and the urethane bushings. After using the armor coated
hardware kit I have also put together to mount the lower arms into
the frame, the spindles are ready to be put on. Dont tighten the
bolts until all the vehicles weight is sitting on the suspension.
The poly bushings need to rotate freely, without binding until the
actual ride height is achieved before locking them down.
I have purchased new front springs with a 2-inch drop for my
application. It is now time to look at the upper control arms. With
the B-body spindle conversion, the spindle is taller, which changes
the geometry of the upper control arms. Some people use offset
shafts and lots of shims to compensate, other companies make shorter
control arms specifically for this conversion. However, I found
polepositionrp.com (888) 303-8555.
I ordered 9200M5 (8.25 10) w/metric
steel cross shaft/ bolt in ball joint plate, requested: 5 & 6 sleeves w/
midsized plate and 6.5 cross shaft centers with OE pivots. These arms give
all the versatility in adjustment with out requiring any shims. No
shims give you the shortest distance between the arms pivot point
and the ball-joint center. This equates to maximum camber roll on
hard cornering, which makes the most use of the B-body spindles
handling potential. The adjustable arms make doing alignments so
much easier. Pole Position also offers home alignment kits. To mount
the spindle to the upper arms just use the stock B-body upper
ball-joint. The outmost ends of the brackets that are welded to the
frame to mount the upper control arm shafts need to be bent in
slightly to allow the upper arms to achieve maximum travel before
hitting the frame.
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This picture is to show where the brackets get bent in
to clear upper control arms. The 2 places are located by the
small pieces of white chalk. The area was freshly painted
again because the paint chipped after hammering on it. If
Id have known, Id have done this step prior to galvanizing
and painting. |
The 70 Chevelle calipers fit these
spindles without any modification. You can use 69 Camaro front disk
brake hoses with the Chevelle drum brake hose frame brackets, they
are a few inches longer. Be sure to use the correct Banjo bolt. Napa #82701 is
1.1 long. You can also use 78 Camaro hoses but you will need to
use Banjo bolt Auto Zone # 313935 which is .9 long. The 78
Camaro hoses are cheaper and do not have to be special ordered. I
found this out after already purchasing my 69 hoses, so thats what
I used. Or you could just use the stock Chevelle frame bracket and
hoses.
SOON TO LOOK LIKE THE COMPUTER GENERATED 2 DOOR BELOW IT.
I have cut the door frames, roof line and quarter window from a
Chevelle coupe. I will be grafting the Chevelle sides in to make it
a 2 door wagon with functional quarter windows and fill in the old
side rear windows solid like a panel wagon.
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