| 04-03-2012 |
I searched for a long while on the internet and finally found a picture of the installation of a Chassis Engineering kit on an early 50's Chevrolet. It's the same basic principal as what I have. I noticed that the top hats that the springs sit inside were much higher in one of their pictures. I knew this is where the optional ride height could be adjusted but had tried earlier to adjust this on mine and it didn't move. I assumed it was as far up as it would go. It turns out mine had apparently just hit a hard spot or had a bur in the threads and I was able to screw them up much higher. Here is a picture of the before and after.
After realizing this I addressed another problem. Someone in the forum noticed that I had the spring upside down and brought it to my attention. I didn't realize this at the time but after I was told that and looked at it it did seem to make much more sense. After turning the spring around and raising the top spring mount there was much more room to maneuver in. In fact, I didn't even have to use the horrible spring compressors.
After figuring these things out it didn't take very long to get the spindles and springs installed. I mounted the shocks on the bottom and had to wait until April was around to put the screw in the top of the shock. We had to both stand on the frame and bounce up and down while I started the screw.
Next came the rack and pinion steering setup.
This thing had some really pathetic instructions and didn't address how to install the bushings at all. I searched on the internet and found that quite a few others had the same issue but I couldn't get a clear answer as to how it mounted. I chose what I thought might make sense and before I mount it permanently I'll find out for sure.
The rack and pinion mounted up pretty easy. Once again, the directions were pathetic. When I ordered my Chassis Engineering kit from J.P.L. Streetrods they included a free front sway bar kit. It is designed to bolt right onto the core support I already had. I attempted to install it.
For some reason the sway bar lacks about 1 - 1.5 " to lining up with the mount that goes to the lower control arm. There are a series of bushings that stack on top of one another and this is supposed to line up with the sway bar. As you can see in the picture there's quite a bit of distance there. I'm not sure exactly what's wrong here so I'm going to call Chassis Engineering tomorrow and see what might be the problem. They've been very kind and helpful whenever I've had to ask any questions.
