I am in the process of restoring my 69 Camaro. The car was originally a 6 cylinder, then past owners swapped in various small blocks. I put in a nice built small block a while back and had my fun with it. Now since I decided to rip it apart and start from scratch, I decided to go with a big block 472.

Now here lies the question. I know that the front springs are for a small block. But when we put the big block in, there wasn't much of a drop in the front end at all even with the weight difference. And I have a stock spindles from a 70 Chevelle in front. I would like to put some nice 16" or 17" wheels in the front with the fender well covering up a part of the wheel to give it the dropped look.

What would be the best solution to get this look?
2" dropped spindles?
shortened springs?
2" dropped spindles and shortened springs?

And if you have a recommendation for the above, if you could recommend a place to purchase them from.

Here is a pic of it's current stance. And no, those wheels are not staying on the car.
http://i88.photobucket.com/albums/k183/nelnova/Picture378.jpg

Thanks in advance for your help.

And if you want to check out a 700+ pictoral diary of my Camaro
http://www.rodandpiston.com/pictures.asp?id=other_events/camarojoe

I still need to upload some recent pictures.

You need to do a search here and really do your homework b/c there are alotta variables that figure in here.

Some use stock BB A/C springs, others use aftermarket from MOOG and still others use Eaton Spring to make ones they want.

The critcal thing is what the weight is on the frontend??

Some guys scale each front wheel to know exactly.

AND some guys use, short roundy-round springs from AFCO and adjustable spring buckets so they can adjust their front height anytime they want to.

I used MOOG #5536 springs that were rated at 488 pounds, but I first clock cut them to match my original BB A/C springs and then cut exactly one coil off the open end b/c my frontend isn't stock anymore for my 496.. In hind sight, I wished I would have cut the top coil b/c it is closer together so therefore It wouldn't a dropped quite so much, no biggie tho to me..

AND looking back AGAIN at it, I wished I woulda went buckets and short springs..

One last point, fwiw, my original F-41, 350SS front springs are said by GM Canada Tech. to be rated at 337 pounds. Some say 327??

pdq67

Hotkins sells a set of BB springs for the front that allow a 2in drop and if needed you can trim a coil off to go about 3/4 of an in lower like I did. They also sell a set of rear leafs that work like a charm and the spring rates are matched. I added a 1 in lowering block in the rear to get my stance and I have not had a problem with the lowering blocks. I'm running a 540 4spd and with the set up it rides a little on the stiff side but that is due to soild frame bushings, which are great if your sporting over 400hp.

I will say that my buddy bought drop spindles at Carlisle and it ended up costing about $600 when all was said and done.(He had to get new wheels due to backspacing,new tires due to his were too wide and rubbed tierods,and a complete new brake set-up due to spindles)

I'd go with cutting the springs or buying drop springs.

I'm thinking I am going to buy some dropped springs. I haven't bought wheels and tires yet since I want to make sure it's at the right height when I get them.

Thanks for the advice guys.

There are NO stock type forged tall OR dropped spindles with a stock wheel spud and bolt-on steering arm location!

And this very much affect's tie-rod to inner wheel lip contact!!

I sure wish Heidlt's would step up and make them too! AND fwiw, I looked into creating my own and the about $35,000 forging die cost backed me way off several years ago!!

pdq67

Coilovers??

Anyone with experience with the Hotchkis 2" lowering springs?

http://www.hotchkis.net/cgi-bin/EDCstore.pl?user_action=detail&catalogno=1906F

Front Sport Coil Springs
Item#: 1906F
1967-1969 GM F-Body

Someone mentioned Eibach, but they only had a 1" drop.

You'll find pictures of a 69 with Eibach springs in my signature, the 1" drop is plenty adequate when running your typical 235/45R17 rims.

Anyone with experience with the Hotchkis 2" lowering springs?

http://www.hotchkis.net/cgi-bin/EDCstore.pl?user_action=detail&catalogno=1906F

Front Sport Coil Springs
Item#: 1906F
1967-1969 GM F-Body

Someone mentioned Eibach, but they only had a 1" drop.

I went with the QA1 coilovers because I read about so many people not getting the expected drop with the Hotchkiss springs. I dont have my engine in yet, (BB) so cant comment on height yet, but I ordered the 450lb BB springs and the thrust bearing kit so I can raise or lower the front end as needed. If that doesn't work, I can always swap out the springs. The install was easy and bolted right in. Its not that much of a difference in cost, assuming of course you need new shocks as well, and the QA1's are 12 way adjustable.

I have the 2" drop Hotchkis springs in the front and 1.5" drop rear leaf springs. Click on the link below to see the results.
Just remember that my car is a small block.

Okay first of all if you`re going for 17" wheels and a lowered stance you might as well make the car handle. The lower you get the more you (and your headers) will appreciate more springs rate too. Hotchkis (or GW or DSE or Eibach) front springs would be a good start. Note that even those who offer a "big block" and "small block" spring have rates that are practically the same. Once you get into 500lb/in + spring rates the extra 100lbs. of so of big block has very little effect on ride height. Think about it 100lbs. extra will only drop a car with 500lb/in springs 1/5th of an inch. Lowering the car with springs will yield a small improvement in geometry as well due to the fact that the camber curves are eliptical and exhibit less + camber gain at lower ride heights. It still won`t be good but it won`t be quite as bad. Trim the springs if you want to go lower. Do not lower it so much that the pivot axis of the lower ball joints is above the inner pivot axis of the lower control arms or the geometry will really go to hell. That`s pretty low though. Don`t forget a good set of shocks that are valved to handle the extra spring rate. Hotchkis revalved Bilsteins would be a good choice. Naturally the lowered ride height is gonna screw up the alignment too. You`ll have some + camber to get rid of and probably - caster. You should be able to get it back to stock specs with shims unless you already have a bunch on the rear cross shaft studs. If not offset shafts will help some. If you want good modern performance alignment specs you may want to consider a set of replacement upper arms with added + caster like GW,DSE or our adj. tubular arms.
As someone already pointed out 2" drop spindles open up a pandoras box of backspacing and tie rod end clearance issues. Fatman spindles are the worst culprits with a 2" drop and the steering arm holes lowered .514" to improve bumpsteer (which they do). You`re loosing 2.514" of tie rod end clearance! Heidts tall drop spindles still loose 2" but do nothing to improve the bumpsteer. Stock height drop spindles do nothing to help performance. The Heidts and Fatman ones help but require non stock upper arms to align the car properly and even then the 2" drop compromises the geometry improvemnents.
The best performance option by far in replacement drop spindles are the tall forged aluminum AFX units by ATS. They`re 7/8" drop with .500" relocated steering arm holes. You only loose 1 3/8" of tie rod end clearance which with 17" or larger wheels is seldom a problem. The 7/8" drop not only lowers the car but reduces lateral roll center migration a great deal making the car easier to drive fast and more predictable. More than 1" passes the point of diminishing returns here and can actually hurt. These spindles use C5 Corvette wheel bearing/hub assys. and any C5/C6 vette brakes. Direct bolt on. Combined with a 1" drop spring with a good performance rate and a modern alignment with our adj. tubular upper arms (replacement arms are necessary due to the increased height of the spindles and to get the proper ball joint travel and alignment specs) they give a really nice ride height and outstanding performance. That may or may not be a little more than you intend to spend though. Mark SC&C