68 Chevelle QA1 Front Suspension

[Zombie666]

Finally at a stage where I get to start installing all the goodies.

1. In the first photo the upper Control arm has two grooves with one side deeper than the other side. Does the side with a deeper groove affect the alignment and which side should I have it on. On my AC Cobra I have adjustable uppers for alignment to set toe, castor and camber. The QA1's are fixed. In the instructions they made mention of reusing shims between the upper mounting bar and the mounting plate on the frame. I bought the frame separate from the car and it didn't have any Suspension. Any idea where I can find info on what type of shims I need?

2. And the second photo, everything looking ok? I have to compress the spring some to get the castle nuts to tighten enough to get the cotter pins in place an drew ultimately set ride height but I a ways away from that.

thanks for any help!!
Perry

[79T/Aman]

I would first research how alignment is accomplished on these cars, they use alignment shims and turn adjuster sleeves on the tie rods for adjusting toe, the control arms are just made of tube instead of a stamping from GM all they do is connect the inner pivot point to the outer pivot point.
I assume what you call "the grooves" is just scallop machining in the cross shaft, the cross shaft also has an offset machined into it, this helps give a wider range of caster/camber adjustment and/or reduce the number of shims needed for a specific alignment setting, there is no right or wrong way to install them.

Castle nut? on the ball joint? it needs to be tightened and torqued to the required value set by the manufacturer.
yes you may need to compress the suspension to do that since there is no weight on it.



I would not worry about ride height at all until the car is fully assembled.