![]() ![]() Imagine if the lower control arm failed at 70 miles-per-hour – it would have been ugly! Check your car now and if the control arm is cracked – replace it with a new one and don’t drive the car until you do. His lower arm broke in a parking lot just as he was about to drive on the freeway. This is very common – I’ve discovered major cracks in two of my Chevelles and also on a close friend’s El Camino. Check your car now – especially the trailing side of the passenger side lower arm. The next point is that early Chevelles are famous for cracks forming in the lower control arm near the lower ball joint. These do not hurt ride quality, they will last forever, and they don’t deflect like rubber. Of course, if bushings need replaced and you plan to keep the car, I always recommend using Global West’s Del-A-Lum bushings. Before you think about performance changes, the stock suspension must be in good shape – that’s a given. In the case of early Chevelles, the drag link is also critical as it contains a wear point and probably needs to be replaced. It’s likely the ball joints, upper and lower control arm bushings, and tie rod endshave never been changed and are worn out. You’re working with a car that has been on the road for 50 years – yikes. Certainly better tires – with more grip – will also improve this situation.īefore we get into all the cool modifications, let’s hit the safety thing first. This tends to make the car respond better at slightly higher cornering speeds. Stiffening any or all of these components will tend to produce less body roll, which reduces the amount of positive camber gain. This understeer is produced by a combination of weak front springs, soft shocks, and a very small anti-roll bar. ![]() ![]() Oversteer is more controllable for a competent driver, but all the OE’s chose to build their cars to produce understeer. GM designed the suspension to do this because understeer tends to be more easily recoverable than oversteer, which is when the tail of the car comes around. As a result, the car will experience understeer – commonly called “push” or plow. This means that the top of the tire will tilt outward which tends to accentuate pushing the tire out from under the car under hard cornering. In other words, if the static camber setting was zero (looking at the car from the front, the tire would be straight up and down), under several degrees of roll, the right front will move roughly 2 or 3 degrees of positive camber. Because of the spindle height and control arm placement, the suspension under compression will always produce a positive camber gain. The spindle height is very short, which means that when the car enters a left-hand corner for example, the body will roll, compressing the right side, placing much of the load on the right front corner. The front suspension on the Chevelle is very similar to the early Camaro in its weak points. Then we can begin to look at basic changes that will improve the handling without destroying the ride quality. Jeff Smith: Let’s start by talking about the stock Chevelle suspension and its weak points. I’ve seen rear sway bars on many Chevelles and wonder if that’s where I should start to make my car handle better? It has a 350-cubic-inch small block and a Turbo 350 that I’m happy with, so I’m thinking of improving the handling but only if I can do that without making it ride like a dump truck. I just purchased a ’64 Chevelle that is very close to stock. ![]()
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