[njsteve]

Took Gramma's car out for a test drive this morning. Very smooth. No floating or tire rubbing during suspension movement when going over bumps. Actually no real wallowing or jouncing at all, like it did with the old parts. It rides very nicely now. Not even a hint of a rub at full lock in either direction any more.

Prior to the suspension rebuild, the passenger side front tire was a good 3/8" further out of the wheel well (when viewed from above) than the driver's side - due to the worn control arm bushings. Now it is in the exact location as the driver's side tire. YAY!

Once I pull the rear end out, rebuild the rear springs and replace the bushings and shocks, she should level out a bit.

The ride height is as follows:

Left Front: 28-11/16" to fender edge..................Right Front: 28-8/16" to fender edge
Left Rear: 28-13/16" to fender edge...................Right Rear 28-6/16" to fender edge

I thought it a little odd that the driver's side is taller than the passenger side. I then went and measured the 19,000 mile SD455 fender heights and found that it had the exact same stagger gap between left to right.

Here is a photo of the car with the factory 80,000 mile suspension components:




And today with the new front springs (prior to the test drive)

[Bentwheelbob]

Looks good Steve. How about an underhood shot to show off the inner fenders?

[njsteve]

Here you go! Now I guess it's time to start detailing the rest of the engine bay...

Anyone have an extra set of the T/A fender-to-radiator support bars that would fit on this car?

[njsteve]

I was thinking (always a dangerous endeavor)...it's probably all the A/C gear that causes these things to sit lower on the passenger side. You have that heavy A-6 compressor, the evaporator and fiberglass box, and all the hoses and extraneous other shrapnel that go along with the system. Not to mention the heavy radial spare tire and rim on the right side as well. All that would tend to make the car unevenly weighted to the right side.

[eaglesan13]

What about non-a/c cars. The battery, alternator, power steering, and starter are all on the drivers side. I have the engine and trans out of the 71 right now, and it sits noticeably higher on the drivers side.

Originally Posted by njsteve

I was thinking (always a dangerous endeavor)...it's probably all the A/C gear that causes these things to sit lower on the passenger side. You have that heavy A-6 compressor, the evaporator and fiberglass box, and all the hoses and extraneous other shrapnel that go along with the system. Not to mention the heavy radial spare tire and rim on the right side as well. All that would tend to make the car unevenly weighted to the right side.

[Scarebird]

Originally Posted by eaglesan13

What about non-a/c cars. The battery, alternator, power steering, and starter are all on the drivers side...

One thing I always thought Chevy did better, putting all that heavy stuff on the passenger side.

[njsteve]

Maybe the bodies get torque-twisted over the years? I know when I had Mopars, several of them (440 and Hemi powered Cudas and Chargers) had cracks in the rear, passenger side floor where the twist caused a split in the same place in each car.

Is your spare tire out of the trunk?

[vitamin c]

njsteve,
After recently doing the same rebuild to my 74 SD, I'm faced with the same problem of the left front being considerably higher, like 3/4 inch. After the front and rear springs were replaced I noticed the lean from behind the car and have traced it to the driver front spring. I used replacements #cs5402 from Classic and noticed right away they don't have the same tapered (flat) top coils as the originals. They look identical top to bottom, but they paint a white mark on one end and call that the "top" of the spring, and install "up". What I'm noticing is the driver spring is not sitting vertical in the frame spring pocket. The passenger side installed perfect and sits centered and vertical. Saturday I'm pulling the left front back apart to find the problem. My guess is that the sprint "top" is not siting in the correct groove in the frame. I used a bore scope to see up into the frame and see the spring doesn't look right. I'm assuming that the round replacement coils don't sit correct in the frame as original.

[Pepi]

Originally Posted by njsteve

Here you go! Now I guess it's time to start detailing the rest of the engine bay...

Anyone have an extra set of the T/A fender-to-radiator support bars that would fit on this car?

Steve, that is the other reason I haven't done my inners. Not only not having the room in my garage to tackle a winter project like that, but where do you stop once those look that good.

As far as the height difference between drivers side and passenger side. Do you think they are taking into account for a driver? Granted I know that will change again once you get more passengers in the vehicle. It would be interesting to get height dimensions of AC vs non AC cars.