Need some help from the A body guys.

[dennis68]

I know there are at least a half-dozen of us here. RJ, Shane, heck Vince, do you have one lying around this week? I need to confirm some numbers before deciding on spindle measurements. I need the UCA and LCA pivot points for the front end. I know the heights will be different due to spring height differences but it will be close enough if I get the rest of the numbers accurate.

RJ, I'll get back to you after the holidays on that "project"- (I'm getting some outside help as well).

[zbugger]

What is it that you need? I have a '65 Buick Special in my driveway.

[dennis68]

Basic measurements, height from ground to LCA pivot points, height to UCA pivot points, CL to pivot points for all 4 points, and the same for the ball joints just to be sure. Thanks, it's not a 5 minute request. It took me over an hour and I'm not sure the numbers are accurate.

[derekf]

Would it be a correct statement that it doesn't matter what condition the tire is in since the heights are all relative to each other? I could probably get out and measure the '65 but all the tires are flat so the heights would all be low.

It snowed yesterday (gasp - snow in Texas) so I'm not going to spend an hour in the driveway measuring the Camino in the cold, sorry

[dennis68]

Yeah, sorry Derek for leaving off the list. It doesn't matter what state it's in. Ultimately I think this could benefit all of us.

[derekf]

Ok, here's what I've got:

Cold hands.

Oh, and some measurements. A few things I need to point out about these measurements though:

1. These are from my 65. It has, so far as I can tell, the original bushings and ball joints.
2. There's no front sheet metal on the car and no engine so these are as unloaded as they get.
3. The bushings are all frozen - even bouncing on the frame won't get it to move, so the ball joint pivot dimensions are my best guess and probably have a +- 1/8 margin of error if not more. I feel more confident in the UBJ measurements than the LBJs. I can take measurements from the bottom corner of the control arms if that would help - I'd think the pivots should be a constant distance from that.
4. The only precision measuring instrument I have is a dial caliper, so everything above an inch was measured with a tape measure.
5. I have no way of knowing what sort of alignment this car has.
6. My stepson is here today, and his role was to take note of the measurements I called off. He sucks at taking notes, apparently. I've remeasured everything it looked like he wrote down wrong, but I may have missed one. I'd be happy to remeasure any of these if needed.
7. Passenger side tire is permanently flat - off the bead. Driver's side is fully inflated.

LBJ height: 8 1/4 DR, 6 1/4 Pass
UBJ height: 16 3/8 DR, 14 1/4 Pass
Front LCA bushing: 11 5/8 DR, 10 13/16 Pass
Rear LCA Bushing: 12 1/8 DR, 11 Pass
Front UCA Bushing: 21 13/16 DR, 20 71/6 Pass
Rear UCA Bushing: 20 7/16 DR, 19 3/8 Pass

Instead of measuring from a CL that would probably get marked/measured wrong, I started with measuring the distance between the UCA mounts (the "frame sag" dimension). It's 30 15/16.

The shims on my UCA shafts are:
Driver's: .118 front, .422 rear
Pass: .422 front, .438 rear

UCA distance between centers:
Front 29 11/16
Rear 29 3/8

LCA distance between centers (since these don't move this should be 2x the CL-to-bushing distance):
Front 15 5/8
Rear 25 5/8

All of the 'control arm' measurements were taken from the center of the bolt head - from the front for the front LCAs and from the inside-rear (engine side) for the rears. I can take them from pretty much anywhere (up to and including destructive measuring) if you'll give instructions on how to measure.

It should warm up closer to the weekend and I'd be able to measure the Camino - stock suspension but at least the bushings are fairly new. Please let me know if this is at all useful.

[dennis68]

Exactly what I need. Any interest in spindles that will provide the gains of tall spindles without the drawbacks, ie. no change in turning radius or ratio, also no bumpsteer and even better camber gains?

[derekf]

You betcha, but keep in mind how cheap I am... so while I love drooling at high-dollar parts I'll likely never be willing to part with big coin.

[zbugger]

Derek, Dennis may be more worser than you. Heh.... bad grammar is funny....

[dennis68]

WTF, what grammar problem dkcihaed. BTW Allen, Merry Christmas to you and your family.

[airrj1]

Denny,

It should warm up to 20 tommorow. I'll get you some numbers then.

[dennis68]

LOL, sorry. Warm up to 20, I don't think it has ever been 20 here. Hell I have to drive 2 hours to see snow. Thanks for enduring the cold for me.

[socalfandabodys]

I have a 68 chevelle I can measure up for you. It has full poly bushings and all new ball joints etc though. I dont need to wait for it to warm up here though since its like 75 degrees

[dennis68]

Cool, the more measurements I get, the better the results will be.