Control Arm Swap 65 Nova

Hello Friends

I need to help to point me in the right direction. I just bought a front unibody clip from a 66 nova. This clip has had a complete front end rebuild. New control arm bushing and the whole works down to ball joint, tie rods, coil springs and disc brakes. The clip came off a drag car and has very low miles since rebuild.

The front end on my 65 probably has the original parts from the factory as far as bushing and what not. I would like to swap the both lower and upper control arms and all the steering and disc brake parts from this clip.

My questions are what would be best way to swap the upper control arms? Should I just unbolt the control arm from where the bushings are? Or the control arm shaft that bolts to the unibody? I notice on the clip I bought that there is washer spacers where the two bolts are connected to the unibody. I can take it that I want to keep the spacers the same as what on my Nova now right?

My main question though is what it easier to unbolt. The bushing parts at the control arms? or just unbolt from unibody bracket that holds the control to the unibody paying attention to the spacers?

Also I want to use my original pitman arm in the factory possition. Is this going to be a problem?

So with your help I hope to go in the right direction. As always thanks friends

George

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t42/65chevyII/SL731826.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t42/65chevyII/SL731830.jpg

This clip had a big block in it so thats whay you see the notched shock towers.

Were did you get that front end from???

Unbolt the control arms from the body and remove it all and inspect. The springs look like Morosos and the shocks are comp. engineering parts. I ran this same setup on the street years ago and it work rather nice. I would get ahold of Chevy II only ( on the web) and do the idler arm bearing conversion, Its the single best mod you can do to the front end.

look at the lower control armwere the ball joint is attached, does it have a welded on ring or is it bolted / riveted?? If welded its a global west conversion.

You should also find a way to lock out the lower control arm after the alignment is complete. Some guys us a lock out kit but I found it simpler just to put a small spot weld on the cam.

If you have a bit of extra cast, I'd recommend tossing the lower control arms and getting the CPP ones. Much better control arm and the car will drive much better.

Er, hang on a second here. Unless I'm missing something, those upper control arms are still being loaded by the springs, so, it seems like a bad idea to unbolt them first. Correct me if I'm wrong here.

The way I did it was to remove the shocks, separate the ball joints and tie rod ends, remove the spindles, rotors, brakes, and steering arms as a unit. Then the lower arms, then the coil springs, then the upper arms are the very last thing.

My upper arm bolts were welded to the pivot shafts, don't know if that's factory, or previous owner.

Thanks for the help friends. I wish I could get the CCP stuff. Right now I will have to go stock. I bought this complete front end off CL for $400.

My 14x7 Torq Thrust wheels will not fit. I am looking into buying some Corvette Rallies.

Again thanks for the help.

George

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t42/65chevyII/DSCN1375-2.jpg

Hello

I notice something on this clip that has raised a question. If you look at the pic below notice the how long the bolt shafts are. On one side there are like 7 washers and about 2 on the other side. Why would someone be using that many washers at this spot?

Could the spindels be the wrong kind and someone used washers to correct the problem?

Could this have happend when some one hacked up the fender wells to add the big block? Could that control arm moved some when they made those cuts?(notice how they cut out and boxed in the feder well) Also notice the core sopport top has been cut. Why I do not know.

Any help on this would be cool. I was about to start this swap until I seen this problem. Thanks friends

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t42/65chevyII/SL731830.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t42/65chevyII/SL731833.jpg

http://i157.photobucket.com/albums/t42/65chevyII/SL731832.jpg

Hello

I notice something on this clip that has raised a question. If you look at the pic below notice the how long the bolt shafts are. On one side there are like 7 washers and about 2 on the other side. Why would someone be using that many washers at this spot?

Could the spindels be the wrong kind and someone used washers to correct the problem?



If you are talkling about the two upper arm shaft bolts that stick out into the engine compartment, they do not seem excessively long to me, they seem normal. If you are saying that there are lots of washers on the fenderwell side (I do not see them in the pic), then that would be unusual in my experience. I have no idea why they would need to do that, unless it corrected a front end alignment issue.

On my 65 Nova there are no washers. On this clip there are 7 washers on one side and 2 washers on the other. It's like this on both sides. The washers are on the other side of the engine compartment. Notice the bolts coming into the engine compartment. See how one is longer than the other? There is over a 1/2" of washers. I do not even know how they did this for the studs on my stock bracket are not that long. Something is going on there. I need to try to figure it out before I start the swap.

Anyone have some more ideas about this? I need some second opinions.

On my 65 Nova there are no washers. On this clip there are 7 washers on one side and 2 washers on the other. It's like this on both sides. The washers are on the other side of the engine compartment. Notice the bolts coming into the engine compartment. See how one is longer than the other? There is over a 1/2" of washers. I do not even know how they did this for the studs on my stock bracket are not that long. Something is going on there. I need to try to figure it out before I start the swap.

Anyone have some more ideas about this? I need some second opinions.

Are the cam bolts on the lower arms welded in place? Or, are they replaced with lockout plates? If so, this may be what they call upper arm shimming.

Regardless, there is no reason that YOU have to use all those washers, so I wouldn't worry about them.

Thanks for all the help. I will start the front end swap this weekend.

How did that come out?