Question for the more experienced...maybe. I welded a camaro subframe into my 59 f-100 a few years ago and dont recall exactly which year it was I used. I had purchased several off of ebay with some bad luck then ended up with a good one that I used but dont remember which year it was. I am currently elbow deep in the frame off and am about to tackle the rebuild of the control arms and brakes but need to make sure I order the right parts. I think it was a 71 that I used. I also need to replace the coil springs and shocks and want to make sure that I order the same ones I have in it. I believe the v6, SBC and BBC all used different set ups and I want the stance to be same after the rebuild, how do I know what I have? Any help or direction would be great.
that's a big help, this question is one i wanted to know too. Mine is a front steer as well so when im getting shocks to replace i need to ask for years 70-?
My Buddie's Dad was a streetrodder. In every rod he built he had a little notebook in the glovebox. He wrote down information pertaining to donor vehicles used, and part numbers for stuff like the raidiator hoses. I always figured this was a smart thing to do, and a real cl*** act for the next owner of the car. He never bought a "kit" or "prefabbed" anything. He built everything with stuff out of a yard or donor vehicles he'd buy cheap. Pretty cool old guy. Pretty good advice. Josh.
Ditto that. Also, they used different motor mounts and motor mount bracket combinations through the years for different motors. If you're using stock motor mount/brackets, it's not a bad idea to replace with newer "locking" style motor mounts, as the originals were only connected together with vulcanized rubber and had a tendency to break on higher horsepower motors causing the motor to lift and unintentional wide-open-throttle!
the seventy through eightyone camaro and firebird stuff is all the same... And the 74 and later Nova stuff for that matter. You will notice that when cross referencing ball joints, and energy suspension sells bushings for that entire range with one part number
look on the top of your upper a arms-- gm part number stamped, then cross reference, did that on mine]
he pretty much hit the nail on the head .it will probabaly set a little higher in the front with new springs until they settle which could take some time depending on use.
F-body springs different for options but interchangeable from 1970-1981. 1970-74? used a different wheel bearing and spindle and also used different steering geometry but other than the linkages the frame and a-arms are the same. I have an 81 fast ratio box on my 71 hotchkiss has springs 1.5 and 2?" lower than stock and stiffer in smallblock and bigblock. the factory differences aren't just v6 smallblock and bigblock there are pontiac engines as well and ac options My brother put 396 springs in his 65 chevelle and it (oops)looked like a g***er with the 327 in it...big difference Hotchkiss recommends their big block springs be used only with the chevy bigblock and pontiac engines should use the chevy smallblock springs. heres a pic of my 71 bird with the hotchkiss springs front and rear. I have a 454 chevy in it till I get my 400 pontiac built and I think the springs were bigblock springs. 2ng generation f-bodies were well built but not the lightest cars. much more there than what appears to the eye. a fully optioned transam was a tad over 3800lbs. the first generation f-body had a weight advanage but the 2nd generation f-body is I believe to be the best designed "live rear axle/independant front" suspension to date. often referred to as "hung" because the car handles like it were in a sling. 60/40 weight distribution and a perfect balance of understeer or oversteer as needed with the brake torque driven anti-dive only an a-arm suspension can offer from back canted upper a-arm pivots. The braking torque on the spindle forces the suspension to rise trying to push the front wheels into the pavement because of the angle of the upper a-arm pivot. the move to struts was not a performance improvement it was for greater profitability ease of manufcture and weight reduction
Save yourself some h***le...and some money. If you like the way it sits and rides, keep the springs you got, replace the bushings and shocks with high quality replacements and go on down the road. No need to over-complicate or over-engineer this process...unless you've got nothing better to do. Good luck with your rebuild! Eric
Thanks for all the info I will be able to cross reference the numbers, I saw them earlier and will have to write them down next time. Good idea to record all the mix matched parts and where they came from I know I will never remember them all. I relocated the motor mounts earlier by using extention plates and boxing them in off the frame but reused the bracket, I will be changing those out as well. I would agree and say that I should just use the existing springs as it would be cheaper and I already know how they sit, but one broke. If I replace one then I should replace both. The subframe is front steer, power steering, but I dont know the ratio on the box, whatever it is, I can steer with one finger and turn on a dime.
I think the differences are all internal. My buddies 76 aniversary edition T/A had the same box you could change lanes with about 10 degrees of wheel. I can't tell any difference from the outside but there was a cutoff year where they ran the faster box in everything. they didn't run one box for a trans am and a different box for a basemodel, they just switched everything over to the faster boxes when they became available. what is most apparently different are the turns lock to lock. the older cars more turns = slower steering. I'll go outside and see what mine is. you count turns from lock to lock or another way to describe it is all the way left to all the way right. I have a manual box I pulled from an early 80's chevette like pontiac economy car that had a 4 cylinder. it is a bolt in for a firebird or camaro
I might not have the FAST box. Mine is 3 turns lock to lock the fastest is supposed to be 2.75 or 2.5 Heres some junk i found. Lee mnfg is supposed to have the rag joint and fitting adapters to put an iroc box into a 1st or 2nd generation f-body or any chevelle some misc quotes from a couple blogs: "While these late model steering boxes will bolt into the ch***is, two modifications in the area of connecting them up are needed. You need a hybrid coupler (the "rag" or fabric connecting joint) from a '79 to '84 Chevy pickup truck to adapt the older design steering column to the new design steering box, and you need to change the way the power steering fluid connections are made. Adapters to convert the metric fluid connection lines to earlier standard fittings are available. The newer boxes use an o-ringed metric end while the older boxes use the common 3/8" flare end. NAPA sells the required adapters. They are:  Weatherhead #1445: 3/8" is 5/8 18 - 14x1.5  Weatherhead #1446: 3/8" is 5/8 18 - 16x1.5  Weatherhead #1447: 3/8" is 5/8 18 - 18x1.5 Since the boxes varied slightly from model to model versus the fluid line connections, you should order all three. Take your "new" steering box (or the newer lines for comparison) with you when you go to the parts store. They might even let you pick the 2 you need and not buy the unneeded adapter. The <nobr style="font-weight: normal; font-size: 100%; color: darkgreen;" id="itxt_nobr_20_0">GM</nobr> part number for _brand new_ boxes of the latest, fastest ratio is 7839897. According to Drew Koba, Olds parts guru and OCF Chapter Representative, these boxes are still available. They list for $677 (ouch). But Drew has recently convinced his employer (Fountain Olds) to sell GM parts to club members at a substantial discount. As noted above, to use the late box with early steering columns, the Chevy pickup truck coupler is needed and its GM part number is 7826542 ($68.25 list, again a discount is available). I would strongly suggest using a new coupler rather than a used one when changing your steering box. I have decided on a ws-6 steering box from a 78 T/A. A1 Cardone sells second gen f-body quick ratio boxes. Lee manufacturing sells them too. Lee can set the ratio for you also. I've heard that rack-n-pinion setups have a lot of bumpsteer issues. I believe that simpler is most times better. As noted above, to use the late box with early steering columns, the Chevy pickup truck coupler is needed and its GM part number is 7826542 ($68.25 list, again a discount is available). I would strongly suggest using a new coupler rather than a used one when changing your steering box. There were no issues installing this box except for the lack a pitman arm because I was replacing a type 600 box and the pitman arm will not interchange. One way to tell the boxes apart is the 4 bolt cover on top of the box. The 600 will not have this and it is physically smaller. The different shaft sizes are the issue when it comes to interchanging the pitman arms. The arm I used came from an 82'ish diesel Bonneville that happened to have the Hydroboost setup on it and is the correct length for my car. Casting number 7828464 Finding a box If your bent on finding one in the junkyard its best to look for real Z-28's and Trans Am's from 82 to 92 and I have heard the cars with 16" wheels have the good boxes. The 90-92 WS6 constant ratio box is claimed by some to be best and I have not been able to determine if the 1LE box is the same or not. The HiPo boxes will have an XH on the front cover also, but years of grime will wipe off making it harder to Identify the box. Part no. of box I ordered. A1 Cardone 27-6550 $202.60 from carparts.com"
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