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    Results 1 to 14 of 14
    1. #1
      Join Date
      Oct 2014
      Posts
      45
      Country Flag: United States

      70 Nova Suspension Selection Help

      Hello all,

      It's that time of year again when car parts are discounted due to the Black Friday deals... Time to empty the wallet. Last November I bought a "restored" '70 Nova SS and knew I'd drive it for a season and then begin the modifications to make it closer to where I want it to be. She's in storage right now but I'm hoping to "collect" parts in preparation for the spring; which can't come soon enough.

      Current configuration:
      All. Stock. Suspension.
      Stock steering box
      383ci 405hp/440tq Blueprint Engine
      TH400
      Front stock discs / rear drums
      Stock driveshaft
      12 bolt posi w/ 3.73s
      14"x6" fronts, 14"x7" rear ET mags
      Global West solid body mounts
      Hotchkis SC

      I'm interested in upgrading the suspension.

      Here is what I'm thinking...

      ridetech front upper and lower strong arms
      ridetech Tru-Turn (to fit as large as wheels as possible) with 2" drop spindles
      Ridetech coilovers
      DSE front swaybar (already purchased)
      Hotchkis rear swaybar
      17"x8" Vintage Wheelworks V48 front w/ 245/40 tire
      17"x9" Vintage Wheelworks V48 rear w/ 275/40 tire

      Here are my questions:

      Will stock front discs work with the Ridetech spindles until finances support upgraded brakes?

      What rear leaf drop would really complement the front suspension/drop? Recommended brand? (I'm not interested in tubbing at this point)

      Will the TruTurn enable as large a front wheel as possible (advertised), or is the Nova wheel well/lip too limiting and it's not worth the additional expense?

      My Nova:
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      Nate Shaw's Nova, the stance I'm after, minus tubs/rear steamrollers... (not interested in custom fab, at this point, and would prefer off the shelf to get close!)
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      I understand that was a lot of info and questions that could be separated into numerous forums, but appreciate all the honest feedback.

      Thanks and Happy Thanksgiving!

    2. #2
      Join Date
      Oct 2004
      Location
      Indiana
      Posts
      1,371
      My first question is always: What are you going to do with the car 80% of the time?

      BTW...your oem disc brake will fit on the spindles. but those 15" wheels will not. Our spindle has a raised pin [which drops the car]. this moves the wheel up relative to the ball joints by approx. 1.75". Typically you will need a 17" dia or larger to fit.
      Bret Voelkel
      Director of Innovation Fox Powered Vehicles Group
      Founder/ Former Owner
      RideTech/Air Ride Technologies, Inc.

      How do you spell Impossible?

    3. #3
      Join Date
      Jul 2013
      Location
      St. George, UT
      Posts
      1,144
      Country Flag: United States
      Looks like you've got a sweet project going on! Welcome to the world of Pro Touring, once you make the jump the car will be so much more fun to drive. You've got a good shopping list together for a cool cruiser.

      The first question we need to answer is what are the intended uses for the car? Cruiser? Cruiser and occasional track event car? Cruiser and regular track event car? ... After that's answered consider your budget, and how it correlates to your intended use.

      The leafs are limited somewhat in the handling dept, and as such many folks swap them out for something better as they get bit by the Pro Touring bug. If you can see yourself doing that would it be more cost conscious to look at upgrading now?

      As a Nova owner myself, I've always been told that a rear sway bar doesn't play all that well on leaf spring cars. They may contribute to less range of articulation and is said to cause some oversteer- where the back end wants to come around in cornering. If you stick with the leafs you may consider setting the car up and driving it before you buy the sway bar. If you find you're experiencing understeer and the car pushes through corners, then maybe the rear bar would make sense to add at that point.

      Tire size will be limited by 3 factors- frame, suspension, and wheel offset. 245 up front is pretty common for a factory subframe. I run 275s on the rear of my Nova without any body mods except rolling the wheel opening lip. It's a little tight but fits.

      The rear leaf drop should correlate with the front. Do you want a level car or are you interested in a bit of a rake? Leaf drop is relative to what may have been ride height from the factory or what happened to be what height the R&D car was at when the company developed the lowered springs. Factory springs can sag over time, so depending on where your car is now, an advertised two inch drop spring may not yield that much on any given car. One advantage to a rear suspension swap with coilovers is it puts you in total control of ride height and spring rate.

      While you're shopping for the best suspension for your needs and wants, please take a moment to click on the link and look at Speedtech Nova parts too. We've built, cruised, and successfully raced several Novas with varying levels of suspension configurations that you can find on our photo gallery pages.

      Also take a moment to check out Bentley's Nova and what Steven Rupp and Mari Pozzi said about it after driving it at the Super Chevey Suspension Challenge. We built this local customer's car just to be an awesome cruiser. With the right combo of suspension parts it also fared very well at the event. I put a bunch of miles on this car myself driving it from our shop to Las Vegas for the LS Fest event and took it on the event cruise to Hoover dam as well. For a GM subframed car like yours I would more than agree with Mary and Steve, the car is incredibly responsive, sticks to the road, and is super comfortable just cruising. Check it out Here.
      -Ben, Creative Director at Speedtech Performance
      We sell some really cool parts, build cool cars, and do cool concept renderings too!
      435-628-4300 www.speedtechperformance.com
      My Pumkinator build thread- https://www.pro-touring.com/showthre...ght=pumkinator

    4. #4
      Join Date
      Oct 2014
      Posts
      45
      Country Flag: United States
      Bret / Ben,

      Thanks very much. This was the type of response(s) I was hoping for; make me answer some questions I hadn't thought about.

      Good to know about the spindle height. The plan is to upgrade wheel size and tire combination at the same time, 17" or greater, but most likely 17". It seems to be a good size that fits the wheel wells, well.

      My intention is cruiser with occasional track event car. I had a '72 Buick Skylark in high school, and then had an '87 IrocZ with a T5. This Nova drives exactly like the OEM suspension on the Skylark... The IrocZ was just too much fun around corners, curvy on-ramps, etc. I want to mate the two. I love the concept of pro-touring and want a car that's a blast in so many different situations; not just a straight line.

      Thanks for the feedback on the swaybar. Fair points that I had not come across up to this point. That being said, I want a level ride, no rake. Similar to Bentley's Nova. Given the drop I'd see from the Strongarms/coil overs, which leaf spring set would get me in the ballpark? If front coilovers provide a 2" drop would a 2" drop leaf spring correlate or is it more complex? I'd obviously like to avoid trial and error, you know?

      I took my Nova in for some wheel lip bodywork this summer and asked them to roll the rear lip. They took a close look at it and based on how the quarter panel had been mated to the well, they were extremely nervous about doing the roll, and cracking the paint. They gave me a 50/50 chance of damaging the paint. At that point, I decided against rolling the lip, just didn't seem worth it. Based on this article, it seemed that a 275 tire would fit without the roll... http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/bra...ke-conversion/ Did you have to go with a custom offset wheel to fit the 275?

      I thought about upgrading to a rear coil over suspension as well, but at this time, I wanted to divert finances to other areas first. I do agree that that would really step up my game, but think that drop leafs and better shocks would suffice for now! Not out of the question for the future though, that's for sure.

      Does the Tru-turn work with any combination of control arms / springs?

      Again, thanks very much for the feedback, direction, and discussion. I'm really looking forward to

    5. #5
      Join Date
      Oct 2014
      Posts
      45
      Country Flag: United States
      Can anyone with Nova experience offer more direction? It'd be great to take advantage of the Cyber Monday deals!

      Here's what I'm looking at...

      ridetech TruTurn: http://www.ridetech.com/products/tru...-69-gm-f-body/
      Ridetech Front Coilovers: http://www.ridetech.com/products/coi...le-adjustable/
      Ridetech Strong Arms Upper and Lower CA's: http://www.ridetech.com/products/str..._14-239_15-329
      Hotchkis 3" Drop Leafs: http://www.hotchkis.net/product/1967...0&md=472&sm=20
      Hotchkis Adjustable Rear Shocks: http://www.hotchkis.net/product/hotc...0&md=472&sm=20

      Potential...
      Speedtech Rear Swaybar: http://www.speedtechperformance.com/...prod/prd85.htm


      TIA!

    6. #6
      Join Date
      Sep 2005
      Posts
      49,371
      Country Flag: United States
      Nice Project. I've got a few options for you and I love the Wheel Choice


    7. #7
      Join Date
      Apr 2001
      Location
      Central CA USA
      Posts
      6,108
      Country Flag: United States
      Quote Originally Posted by Steel409 View Post
      Can anyone with Nova experience offer more direction? It'd be great to take advantage of the Cyber Monday deals!

      Here's what I'm looking at...

      ridetech TruTurn: http://www.ridetech.com/products/tru...-69-gm-f-body/
      Ridetech Front Coilovers: http://www.ridetech.com/products/coi...le-adjustable/
      Ridetech Strong Arms Upper and Lower CA's: http://www.ridetech.com/products/str..._14-239_15-329
      Hotchkis 3" Drop Leafs: http://www.hotchkis.net/product/1967...0&md=472&sm=20
      Hotchkis Adjustable Rear Shocks: http://www.hotchkis.net/product/hotc...0&md=472&sm=20

      Potential...
      Speedtech Rear Swaybar: http://www.speedtechperformance.com/...prod/prd85.htm


      TIA!
      I'd use Ride Tech rear shocks with the Hotchkis leaf springs. Get Single adjust shocks minimum, that way you can adjust rebound to tune the ride. I believe in rear sway bars. Look for a whole package from one manufacturer to get the best handling & ride outcome. A street driven car can get by without a rear bar and it will just understeer a lot. Not bad for a novice driver, but not what I'd be happy with.
      67 Camaro RS that will be faster than anything Mary owns.

    8. #8
      Join Date
      Oct 2014
      Posts
      45
      Country Flag: United States
      Thanks for the input!

      David, are you recommending going with a Hotchkis TVS 1/2? Instead of the package I've laid out? PS - I enjoy reading about your and Mary's rides!

      Mr. Shaw's Nova above has mono-leaf's with a 3" drop... Would a multi-leaf 3" drop complement the 2" drop spindles from ridetech (Truturn)?

      Thanks, again!

    9. #9
      Join Date
      Oct 2014
      Posts
      45
      Country Flag: United States
      Bump if the Hotchkis 3" drop leafs will play nice with the ridetech goodies up front?

      Thanks!!

    10. #10
      Join Date
      Oct 2006
      Posts
      634
      Country Flag: United States
      I would look into the overall cost of swapping the whole sub frame to a modern unit with a rack.. I always wanted to do that to a 68-72 Nova..

      Nice car!!! Me personally, I would try to keep it as stock appearing and simple as possible..

    11. #11
      Join Date
      Oct 2004
      Location
      Indiana
      Posts
      1,371
      Take a look at the Streetgrip package. It will do everything you want it to do in one intgrated package. http://www.ridetech.com/products/streetgrip/
      Bret Voelkel
      Director of Innovation Fox Powered Vehicles Group
      Founder/ Former Owner
      RideTech/Air Ride Technologies, Inc.

      How do you spell Impossible?

    12. #12
      Join Date
      Apr 2001
      Location
      Central CA USA
      Posts
      6,108
      Country Flag: United States
      The streetgrip is a great package, tuned for the street but you could have fun at an autocross with it. With the tire sizes you are talking about using, the streetgrip looks good.

      The Hotchkis leaf springs should work with the RT parts list you mentioned above. BUT you didin't spec a front sway bar and while a front coil around 600lb would play well with the Hotchkis 3" drop leafs which are around 175 lb, you would need to select front and rear sway bars that would balance the handling. Hotchkis uses a 1 1/8" front and 7/8" rear, both are hollow. By mixing manufacturers you create the possibility the car will not be balanced, may have understeer or oversteer.
      Last edited by David Pozzi; 11-28-2017 at 03:25 PM.
      67 Camaro RS that will be faster than anything Mary owns.

    13. #13
      Join Date
      Aug 2005
      Location
      Hamilton, NJ
      Posts
      4,291
      Country Flag: United States
      We just put a street grip package in a 74 nova. My friend loves it. Primarily a street cruiser. Now he's thinking about autocrossing it.
      Scott from NJ.

      Vent Windows Forever! ...

      Feather-light suspension, Konis just couldn't hold
      I'm so glad I took a look inside your showroom doors

    14. #14
      Join Date
      Oct 2014
      Posts
      45
      Country Flag: United States
      I already have the DSE front swaybar. http://www.detroitspeed.com/1968-197...-roll-bar.html

      Got a good deal on it... and it seemed more reasonably priced than the MuscleBar.

      Will this one work with the package I rolled out? If so, what rear swaybar would be a good fit?

      Thanks again for the input.







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