69' nova

[Oregon]

Yeah...I'm a bit confused as to why the front seems to be sitting so high.

[rchaskin]

It sure is high......
I looked at the part# on the spring, and it is correct.
I wonder if those were stock height and mis-labeled??

I had to take the cup off the end of my jack to get the jack out from under my car when I first let it down???

I ended up putting two 3/8" spring spacers in mine to keep the headers off the road.

Here is a good static pic of mine. It has 17s on it.
http://photosportsusa.com/Photos.aspx?moid=159402

[Oregon]

The only thing I can think of is maybe I didn't set the spring in the lower arm pocket correctly. It looks like there is a spring locator in the cup...I may have the spring resting atop this. Time to pull it back apart and check...

[rchaskin]

There is a locator in the frame as well.

Did you have to compress the springs to get them in?

[Oregon]

Hah. Good to know.

I set the spring in the lower cup and used a jack under the lower arm to push the arm up and the spring up into the frame cup. Probably a terrible way to do it, but it seemed to work.

[novaboy009]

I just put my coil springs in with the method you used. The upper should be more or less flat and should slide right into the upper pocket. On the factory arms there are 2 holes in the lower to drain water out of the LCA. The end of the spring should pop in with the end right at the drain holes.

[Oregon]

Well, I checked my springs and they were both about 180 degrees off from where they should have been. I dropped the lower arms and sorted it all out. The car still looks high but I haven't had a chance to drive it yet due to snow. Hopefully I'll get a chance to drive it next weekend and see if things are sorted out.

[johnny68]

time to get the cut off wheel out
john

[Oregon]

I finally got around to putting on the front sway bar .... only to find out it wouldn't fit between the frame and the crank pulley.

After looking closer, it seems the front sub is bent up in the middle. It is bent enough that the previous owner actually chopped a section out of the frame so the crank pulley would clear it.

I'm guessing I know the answer but ... what should I do here? Replace the sub frame?

[Auto Rod Technologies]

Ouch.. may be time to replace that one..

[rchaskin]

Man that thing is tweaked......

Jumping railroad tracks???

[cornfedbill]

Yeah, looks like that one needs to be recycled and replaced with a straight one. Ouch!

It may be tweaked somewhere else too and affect handling.

[novaboy009]

WOW That is a bad hit in an odd place. I think you're gonna need a new subframe. Might be worth a call to a frame shop and see if they can get creative, but I've never seen a frame bent like that before!

[Oregon]

Well, after much deliberation, I will be receiving a DSE subframe in early April. This was a longterm item on my list, but with the damage to the frame prodding me to look for a replacement frame, I decided to just do it now and be done with it.

[Razorhead]

Well I noticed with mine '70 Nova almost the same 'bend' in the frame, but not so much as here. Don't know what I'm going to do with it. Let me know how it is with the DSE subframe !

[Oregon]

There were a few delays but the subframe finally showed up today! Many thanks to MCB for taking care of me.

The motor and transmission are about ready to come out so hopefully I'll make some progress in the next couple of weeks...baby steps.

[Oregon]

Slow? Check!
Boring? Check!

Yup, it's my build thread. I finally got the new subframe on the car. Next on the list is to clean up the firewall and pull everything off the rear to install the dse minitubs that just showed up.

I also ended up ordering a set of Formula 43 RAD-10 wheels. Those should show up in a couple of weeks.

[harleygolf1]

Did you order the subframe by itself or did it come complete? Will you be looking to part with any of the previously purchased parts?

[Oregon]

I ordered it fully assembled.

I will be selling off the dse stuff that was previously installed. I'm giving a buddy of mine first whack at the stuff. Anything and everything he doesn't take will end up for sale here. I will also be selling the vintage wheel works wheels.

[Oregon]

Wheels showed up today! These look flawless in person.