Hey guys I have a 53 chevy sedan with What I think is a 75-79 nova front end grafted (welded) to the factory frame when the guy did it he didn't measure to well I think it sits pretty square side to side but way low in front The stance is killer but I can only turn the front wheels about half way either side without hitting the fenders. this is with some small 14s on it I tried a set of front runners I picked up and even they hit. I think if i can raise the front end up about 2 or so inches it will clear during normal driving. Its a cheap build and I do not want to pour money at it or torch the welds and re-graft the front end on. springs are not cut from what i can tell and the lower control arms sit level like they should kinda lost on whats the best way any suggestions? Thanks guys Josh
see if you can find some wheels off something newish. maybe a front wheel drive. you need a different offset.
bigblock springs will raise a smallblock powered car a few inches which might draw in the tires as the a arms extend
I saw a car where the owner actually raised the body up off the frame in the front to raise a car with a clip. yup... there were spacers between the frame and body. I ***ume they got shorter as they went towards the back of the car.
The Nova clip's track width is about 3-4 inches wider than the stock 53, that is your problem. About all you can do is raise the car or install narrowed control arms, and go with a narrow wheel. I have a Camaro clip, use the stock 53/54 wheels and narrowed control arms, worked for me.
Best/easiest solution I can think of is to go with a wheel that has more backspacing like mentioned before me. But then you have to worry about the back side of the wheel rubbing the LCA/tie rods at full lock.
My 50 has a firebird/camaro sub under it. I'm rocking 6" wide 15 wheels off a 4x4 s-10 truck. The tires will hit the frame now, prolly good enough.
I have the same issue (camaro front clip) but I like the look so much that I just make sure I don't go anywhere that will require a tight U-turn!
cut the damm subframe out and either narrow what you have or find the one with the correct track width. don't be a hack and put bandaids on it. whenever anyone looks at it now and says "that doesn't look right" your thinking "damm i should have fixed that"!
I had the same problem with my '50 Coronet a couple years ago. I posted it on the HAMB, same as you, and got a variety of suggestions. People on one end of the spectrum telling me just to use different wheels, and the other end said the only way to fix it was throw $ at the problem and buy a MII setup for it. I was on a very tight budget at the time, so I decided to what made the most sense to me and my budget. I cut the front end off and narrowed it. It took me awhile to finally do it, but I've got most of it done now (narrowed 4"). I can tell you that I'm really happy I did what I did. It never would've looked the way I wanted had I just went with a wheel swap. Now at least I've got peace of mind knowing it will be done right this time. Here's the link to mine: http://www.jalopyjournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=249327 Good Luck.
If it's really too low for you, raise it up! I'd try coil spring spacers, the 1" thick rubber ones you can buy cheap. If not, try looking at different year/model spindles. Some will raise or lower your car by different spindle placement. I put late (1971-80) Camaro spindles on a 66 Chevelle, to both raise it up and have disc brakes for a customer. SO using those Chevell spindles on your Camaro sub, should lower the car. It was a whiel ago,,,can't remember, but I might have had to change one set of balljoints for it to work. If you wanna keep discs, they sell kits to adapt the early spindles to disc. If it isn't too low, just rubbing the fenders that bothers you, get a different offset wheel. Narrowed A-frames are pretty expensive, unless you do them yourself, and you better be a damn good welder to do that!
How good is your body skills? You could just widened the fenders 2 inchs on each side or maybe roll the wheels openings alittle might do it.
wow thanks for all the suggestions I didnt do any of the suspension work to the car had I done it I would have not used a 75-9 clip but a earler 3rd gen nova clip. If I cut the sub and shorten it I will have no room for headers I did think about doing the body bushings It would just require me to redo a lot of supports he cobbled together to mount the front end I think springs or spacers are the answer for now due to cost and to go back and redo all the front end work would make the car pointless and would rather sell then go thorugh all that for a car thats not worth it. Lots of bad bondo work the rear 1/4s have I think 3rd gen camaro wheel lips grafted on so I had thought about flairing out the front fenders to match. The tires i rims on the front are 15x3 with 1.5 of backspacing and a skinny drag tire on and they sit in about the same place as the other 14s do so rims wont do me any good Thanks a lot guys I will pick up some spacers and see how it works and post some pics Josh
i had a '70 Nova with big-block springs and a small-block that sat up like a g***er in the front. it was high, but i don't know if those were Moroso's drag springs or stock 396 springs. the ride was pretty good though and not too hard in the front which i think may have been if the springs were 396? the rubber spring spacers are still pretty readily available i think. there's that huge tire and rim place on the corner of Western Blvd and 70? maybe they could help you out? Dave
I have a 71 Camaro Clip under my 54 Panel van. I went to the local Dirt Track Supply and bought some 700# Racing springs and Had them buld some 7" spring cups to put on the top of the springs. I set the spring in with blocks and found the ride height that worked for me. I have 8" wide wheels and a 235/60/15 tire under there now with no clearance problems. I know they are Radials but I cruise this 50 miles on the Interstate to work Daily.. Hard to beat the ride of the tires at 80 mph. CJ
I have ran the springs you speak of and the spacers on my nova I just sold It sat low but they were 9 in springs i saw they had 11s that use the spring cups also. I think for now ill pick up some spacers and see what I see if they dont work either big block springs or the 700 lb ones for me only thing is 700 per in is a lot i was only running 550s on my nova with kyb shocks and it was a corner turning sob Thanks guys Ill put up some before and after pics Josh
"Metric" spindles and brakes (From 78 and up GM intermediates,small vans, and S-10 pickups) will bolt right up and take about 2 inches out of the track. Use wheels from the same car. Do a search, and there are lots of discussions on this topic !!
I did search but couldnt find much but thanks for the heads up on the spindles not worries about rims bolt patten will be the same and I have plenty of room on the inside. Will do some looking at the yard and see what I can come up with Thanks a bunch for the help Josh
I put a 77 camaro frontend on 52 chevy car,and the best tire wheel combo is use stock wheels 15" and 205x75x15 tires.
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