I got under the '62 Impala yesterday to look into raising the rear end a little. My buddy, from whom I bought the car, cut the coils. It looked cool but the axle banged on the tailpipes over bumps. When I pulled into the garage, the brakes felt "funny", and when I jacked the car up, I saw why. The left rear brake line, brand new, was squashed on top of the axle where it got betweent tailpipe and axle. It had been pinched off so effectively that the small hole eek worn it it wasn't leaking out too much brake fluid, but it had finally leaked out enough to make the brakes spongy. Fortunately, I noticed this before I head cross country in it and lost the brakes in East Overshoe Oklahoma, or somewhere. I replaced the line, repositioned the new one a little, and am going to replace the heavily whacked rear springs with new ones and add some overloads. The goal is to lower it just enough to look non stock, but still be able to load car with passngers, the trunk with gear, and not squash brake lines and tailpipes . Brian
3 words. Air Lift Bags. Not the lowrider kind, but the ones that go inside the spring and have a stem on the car like air shocks. Get black instead of red and they're practically invisible, plus you're talking under a hundred bucks. And it won't ruin ride quality. Good luck
Hey, East Overshoe has the best parts store in all of OK!!!! Oh yeah, get some air shocks and a small on board compressor.
Air overloads, good idea, I didn't think of those. Tried to buy airshocks for it yesterday, no luck finding a direct listing, and couldn't find any with the right ends (eye on the bottom, two bolt flat mount on top) the right length. Somewhere, somebody knows what'll fit a '62 Chev, but the parts store people nowdays don't know anything if it's not on the computer screen. It's hard having a kid look for parts for a car twice as old as he is... Brian
If you cant find the bags look for air shocks for a 1973 to 1979 chevy nova, I run a NAPA store and thats what we have that has eyelet on bottom and flat top with two bolt holes. Part number MA780. I looked at pics of the oe shocks and the nova shocks and the lengths extended and compressed are within an inch of each other. Hope this helps.
Just pulled nova shocks off the shelf and there is a metal bushing in the eyelet that the 62 shocks don't have. Either use the nova lower bolts, which are available in the parts store in the help section or press out the metal bushing and use the 62 bolts. No problem for the help. I try to run a rodder friendly store, it helps when I have my 54 Chevy here it draws people in.
I wouldn't run air shocks on this chassis if it has the lower control arm bolt that doubles as a lower shock mount. There is only a small amount of spline on the shock mount end and a flat ground into the nut end to keep the lower shock mount from rotating in the axle bracket. This probably isn't the greatest setup for regular shocks,much less air shocks that are gonna try and carry some weight. Used to see these fail back in the 70's when air shocks were all the rage. Only good way to fix them after they had spun was to weld the shock mount end to the axle bracket. Find the Air Lift bags that go inside the coils,you'll be much happier.
I didn't even think about the lower bolt being the lower control arm mount. I am working a 64 impala ss and the bolts had been welded in because they had came loose at one time.
Regardless of mounting strength arguments, air shocks ride like sh*t and are totally the wrong way to do it. Sorry, just my opinion. Air lift bags can be in your hands friday, summit and jegs take orders 24 hours a day if none of your local stores carry the air-lift or firestone brands. good luck
Oh great, now you tell me!!! LOL, I just ordered the air shocks, they'll be here tommorow am. Not too worried about the ride, they'll only be lifting an inch or so, I can lift the car enough by the bumper, by hand, with a bad back, so I don't think it'll pull the lower control arm mounts loose. I recall some problems 30 years ago or so, when guys my age jacked the back ends of their old sedans sky high with air shocks, but this is a different sit-cheee-a-shun. I have had air shocks on my '59 'T-Bird for a decade, with just enough air to raise the back of the car an inch or so, and it rides nice. Likewise my '48 Pontiac 'vert, which has the stock airshocks from the donor '94 Caddy Fleetwood Bro and load level sensor system (go ahead, hammer me now for being "non-traditional) and unless they are over inflated (which happened one time when the sensor link broke, the car thought the suspension had bottomed out and fully inflated the shocks) it rides very nicely. So, air shocks it is, and thanks for the NAPA part #, I went right to my local NAPA store and ordered 'em up. They'll return the overloads I ordered and credit me the amount towards the shocks. Nice. Brian
Well,we did tell ya. Air shocks if you must,BUT,might as well throw some healthy tack welds between the mount and bracket now. Peace of mind, you know. Hard to find an rearend these days for those X frame cars without at least one of them stripped out.
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