1970 Chevy Chevelle - Front Suspension - Upgrade & Install

Yuck! The front suspension on project Cheap Street Chevelle was complete junk. When driving the car on the highway it wandered, floundered in corners and emitted loud squeaks when going over bumps. Plus, the entire front suspension was covered with gunk. For photo clarity, we used a car hoist to support the car during the upgrades, but it can be done in your garage using a pair of sturdy jackstands.

Yuck! The front suspension on project Cheap Street Chevelle was complete junk. When drivin

Project Cheap Street Chevelle has come a long way since its rusting hulk was purchased from a guy living out in the hot California desert. When Car Craft took over ownership, the Chevelle barely ran, looked horrible and didn't even roll that well. Since then, the car has undergone a slew of low-buck upgrades, including being fortified with a new drivetrain (including an engine, trans, converter and rear gears). It has also received a host of visual upgrades, such as fresh paint and bodywork complemented by trim parts from Original Parts Group.

With all of the upgrades that have been done over the last year, the Chevelle has become a lot more driveable and much quicker in the quarter-mile. A few issues ago, we upgraded the wheelhop-prone stock rear suspension with new heavy-duty components from Hotchkis Performance, but the front suspension was completely worn out and in need of replacement. To follow along with the theme of project Cheap Street Chevelle, we scouted around to find a new front end kit that included everything for a complete upgrade but didn't cost a lot of money.

For Cheap Street Chevelle we opted for a Super Front End Kit from Performance Suspension Technology (PST). The kit contained everything needed for a complete front end rebuild and only cost $279. PST also has regular Front End Kits for $139 if you're really on a budget. If you have a few extra bucks, you can upgrade to a kit with polygraphite bushings for improved handling.

The PST kit was easy to install, but you'll need a couple of special tools (such as a ball-joint splitter and coil-spring compressor) along with a good pair of jackstands to perform the work properly. Being that the entire front end will be torn apart to replace the old, worn-out parts with the new PST components, a front end alignment will be needed after the new parts are in place.

Contained within our PST Super Front End Kit were upper ball joints, lower ball joints, upper inner control-arm bushings, lower control-arm bushings, strut-rod bushings, upper inner shafts, outer tie-rod ends, inner tie-rod ends, tie-rod adjusting sleeves, an idler arm, stabilizer links, antiroll-bar bushings and control-arm bumpers. This kit can also be had with polygraphite bushings for a few extra dollars. It's also available for a variety of Ford, Mercury, Dodge and Plymouth applications.
Contained within our PST Super Front End Kit were upper ball joints, lower ball joints, up
With the front of the car securely held up off the ground, start by removing the two front tires. Then remove the two front shock absorbers. We recommend determining which bolts will need to be loosened/removed to do the front suspension upgrades. Spray them with Liquid Wrench, giving the bolts a chance to soak while you're removing other components.
With the front of the car securely held up off the ground, start by removing the two front
Disconnect the front antiroll bar from its attaching points on the lower A-arms and on the frame. Once disconnected, remove the antiroll bar from the car. Do not discard the unit, as it will be reused in conjunction with new PST bushings.
Disconnect the front antiroll bar from its attaching points on the lower A-arms and on the

Slightly compress the brake-caliper pistons to relieve the rotor-to-brake-pad contact and loosen and remove the two caliper mounting bolts. Next, remove the caliper from the rotor assembly.
Slightly compress the brake-caliper pistons to relieve the rotor-to-brake-pad contact and
Rather than completely removing the calipers or having them hang in the way, use a piece of wire to tie the calipers to the frame, thereby moving them up and out of the way.
Rather than completely removing the calipers or having them hang in the way, use a piece o
Use a floor jack to slightly compress the front coil spring. With the spring compressed, loosen and remove the upper and lower ball joints and the assorted linkage. Carefully lower down the floor jack, allowing the lower A-arm to drop. With the lower A-arm hanging down, remove the coil spring. There shouldn't be any pressure on the spring at this point.
Use a floor jack to slightly compress the front coil spring. With the spring compressed, l

Begin removing the lower A-arm by loosening and removing the A-arm bolts that attach the unit to the frame. Even though the bolts are loose, you may need to use a hammer to tap the bolts out of the A-arm/ frame assembly.
Begin removing the lower A-arm by loosening and removing the A-arm bolts that attach the u
Begin to remove the upper A-arm by loosening the upper inner shafts. Be sure to save the small adjustment shims so some (or all) of them can be reused when the car gets realigned later on.
Begin to remove the upper A-arm by loosening the upper inner shafts. Be sure to save the s
Once the upper A-arms are removed, begin removing the upper inner shaft and the inner A-arm bushings. We had good results by clamping the upper inner shaft in a bench vice, then supporting the A-arm with our hand while we loosened the various nuts and bolts.
Once the upper A-arms are removed, begin removing the upper inner shaft and the inner A-ar

With the bolts and washers removed, use an air hammer (or a hammer and chisel) to remove the worn-out upper A-arm bushings. Use the same procedure to remove the old bushings from the lower A-arms.
With the bolts and washers removed, use an air hammer (or a hammer and chisel) to remove t
On our Chevelle, the stock upper ball joints are held in place with rivets. To replace the ball joints, the rivets must be removed by using a chisel (preferably an air hammer-type chisel) or by drilling them out. The lower A-arm ball joints are a press fit that can be removed by hitting them with a hammer.
On our Chevelle, the stock upper ball joints are held in place with rivets. To replace the
After all parts have been removed from the upper A-arms, thoroughly clean/degrease the units (we used a bead blaster). Then use a drill to enlarge the original rivet holes so they are large enough to accept the bolts supplied with the new upper ball joints. Bolts are used to hold the new ball joints in place rather than original-type rivets, which are a pain in the butt to work with.
After all parts have been removed from the upper A-arms, thoroughly clean/degrease the uni

Position the new upper A-arm bushings in the A-arm, then carefully press them about halfway in with a bench vice. Next, install the new PST upper inner shaft and press the two bushings the rest of the way on. Once the two bushings are fully pressed into position, the upper inner shaft will be securely held in place.
Position the new upper A-arm bushings in the A-arm, then carefully press them about halfwa
The ball joints on the lower A-arms can be installed with a regular shop press or with a special C-clamp, as shown in the photo. Note that the lower A-arm bushings are two different types--one round and one oval (arrows). Some Chevelles use two round bushings, so this should be checked out before you order your rebuild kit.
The ball joints on the lower A-arms can be installed with a regular shop press or with a s
Once the A-arms are fully assembled, it's a good idea to give them a good coating of paint. We used Eastwood Chassis Black spray paint, which doesn't require primer and is extremely durable to combat harsh under-car conditions.
Once the A-arms are fully assembled, it's a good idea to give them a good coating of paint

Remove all the old steering linkage in one piece (if possible). Doing so allows you to use the old setup as a template when you go to assemble the new PST components.
Remove all the old steering linkage in one piece (if possible). Doing so allows you to use
The upper A-arms are the first items we re-installed on the Chevelle. Assemble the parts just as the old pieces were fastened. At this time, do not use any shims on the upper inner shaft bolts--this will be done during alignment. Notice the surrounding frame and suspension components. While the front end was disassembled, we cleaned the surfaces and painted everything with black spray paint.
The upper A-arms are the first items we re-installed on the Chevelle. Assemble the parts j
Once the upper A-arms are in place, install the lower A-arms using the new nuts and bolts supplied in the PST kit.
Once the upper A-arms are in place, install the lower A-arms using the new nuts and bolts

With the upper and lower A-arms in place, install the coil springs. We reused our stock coil springs but cleaned and painted them before they were re-installed. Do not use a floor jack to try to compress the coil springs during reassembly. Instead, use a coil-spring compressor to install the springs in the A-arm assemblies. If you do not own a coil-spring compressor (or don't want to buy one), you can usually rent one from an auto parts store or your local "rent-all" shop.
With the upper and lower A-arms in place, install the coil springs. We reused our stock co
After installing the coil spring, we used a floor jack to hold the lower A-arm and spring assembly in the proper location as we installed the spindle. After positioning the spindle on the upper and lower ball joints, carefully tighten the ball-joint nuts and add the new cotter pins (supplied).
After installing the coil spring, we used a floor jack to hold the lower A-arm and spring
With the coil-spring compressor and floor jack out of the way, install the shock absorbers. Our stock shocks were complete junk and were leaking, so we installed a new set of gas-charged shocks. PST carries a full line of KYB gas shocks, so if you're going to update to new units during your rebuild, simply order them along with your rebuild kit and you'll be ready for action.
With the coil-spring compressor and floor jack out of the way, install the shock absorbers

After inspecting the wheel bearings, repack them with high-temp grease. Then re-install the rotors on the spindles and torque the bolts to factory specs. If you look at the rotors in the photo, you'll notice that the Chevelle's brakes are fairly wasted. But that's another story coming up in a few issues!
After inspecting the wheel bearings, repack them with high-temp grease. Then re-install th
Once you've got the steering linkage pieced together (as advised in step 17), installing it in the car is easy. Start by bolting on the steering arm and idler arm, then attach the tie rods to the spindles. After the bolts are tightened, be sure to add the cotter pins used to retain the nuts.
Once you've got the steering linkage pieced together (as advised in step 17), installing i
The antiroll bar is the last suspension part to be installed. We cleaned and painted our antiroll bar, added the new PST bushings/brackets and tightened the bolts to O.E.M. specs. The PST kit also comes with new antiroll-bar end links (arrow), which are super-easy to install.
The antiroll bar is the last suspension part to be installed. We cleaned and painted our a

After all the new PST suspension parts are in place, you'll need to take the car to a reputable alignment shop. The size and type of tire as well as the type of driving that you do will determine the specific alignment specs to be used. (Specs differ depending on whether the car is used for road racing, drag racing, cruising and so on.) Charlie Whittaker, owner of Specialty Brake and Alignment, chose a street/drag race alignment for our Chevelle because it's a street/strip hero, not a canyon carver.
After all the new PST suspension parts are in place, you'll need to take the car to a repu

SOURCES
Performance Suspension Technology (PST) Box 396 Montville NJ 07045 N/A www.p-s-t.com/	Specialty Brake and Alignment 1301 E. Main St. Santa Paula CA 93060