camaro clip issue

[50mercfan]

hey fellas, i'm new to this section, but, have been on the 67-72 side for a long time. i picked up a 57 3100 last weekend that has a camaro clip. the front springs are extremly stiff. the control arms are "down" as far as they can go. as if you has the front wheels off the ground and the wheels are hanging in the air. driving down the road, they have almost no give at all. the guy told me its a nova clip, but, it sure looks like a front steer camaro to me.

i was thinking softer springs and taller tires. anybody have another sugestion?

anyone know how to positivly identify the front clip?

[mknittle]

Got any pics? sounds like springs.

[Rude Dude]

I agree seems as if they have Big Block coils or wrong coils installed, as was said before if you have pics it would help.

[jw4580]

Originally Posted by 50mercfan

hey fellas, i'm new to this section, but, have been on the 67-72 side for a long time. i picked up a 57 3100 last weekend that has a camaro clip. the front springs are extremly stiff. the control arms are "down" as far as they can go. as if you has the front wheels off the ground and the wheels are hanging in the air. driving down the road, they have almost no give at all. the guy told me its a nova clip, but, it sure looks like a front steer camaro to me.

i was thinking softer springs and taller tires. anybody have another sugestion?

anyone know how to positivly identify the front clip?

I've seen people run the front diesel springs from a cutlass. Those things are STIFF!!!!

[PDW HOTRODS]

Does the truck have engine and trans in? Has the front end been rebuilt? If there were new controle are bushings put in, and they tightened all bolts with the front end hanging it might need to settle. You can loosen the bolts through the bushings a little and bounce on the front a little, and retighten them with full weight on the truck.

[tmoble]

is the steering linkage and box in front of or behind the crossmember?

[50mercfan]

front end is not rebuilt yes i drive it now

steering box is in front of cross member

[Indian113]

75 and up Nova are front steer

[50mercfan]

thanks for the replys fellas. i'll post pics later. camaro front springs are rated at 2450 lbs. nova front springs are rated at 1750 pounds. not enough weight to compress the springs.. found out 78ish elcamino springs are rated at 1680 and theyre the right diameter and height....so thats where i'm at at the moment. never heard of this problem with a camaro clip. wondered if anyone else had run into it and had a remedie.

[mr48chev]

There is the chance that the doner car was a big block car or the off chance that someone in the past played Jacked up gasser with the doner car before it became a doner car. Years ago I saw a few guys put big car springs in Novas to jack the front end up to look like a "gasser". They didn't drive worth squat and rode like lumber wagons but that didn't seem to matter to them.

And there are still some guys who think that these trucks are a whole lot heavier than the Camaros or Novas and fall into the trap of sticking in heavier springs. I've had guys tell me more than once that "those Camaro springs are too light for that truck" .

[50mercfan]

ok here's a pic

[b a king]

i would check and make sure the springs are ' seated" right. in the spring pocket.

[chevytruckluver]

IIRC the Nova clip and the Camaro clip are the same. It sounds like they po may have cut a coil or 2 off the springs, looks like its setting a little low

[50mercfan]

sorry about the sideways pic. got to thinking about it last night, this truck has been sitting for about 5 years or so. i think maybe the front shocks are frozen stiff. it has no give like theres a steel rod in there. it should move some. i'm going to throw some shocks on it tonight and see what happens.

[55metalmonkey]

you could just drop the shocks out and see if the springs have any give in the front before you replace them.
also if you measure the diameter and number of turns on the coils you should be able to figure out if they are meant for a BB or SB or possibly the PO got creative and used coils from something else

[mknittle]

I just measured a 67 3/4 ton front spring the coil OD is 5 1/2" outside the wire diameter is .750"
My 70 camaro/firebird clip has a coil diameter of 5 1/2" and wire is .625" it sits about right with the lower a arms parallel to the floor with a 1970 400 Pontiac and turbo 400 siting in place. It's a52GMC
P.S both springs are in vehicles so I don't know the length. hope this is of some help. Mark

[50mercfan]

it was the shocks, right front was stuck. still rides a little firmer than i think it should, but, not too bad. i think you guys are right. i think the PO swapped springs. i also greased the front end while i was there. made a heck of a difference.

[chevytruckluver]

thats good news!

[mr48chev]

He may have installed the stub so that the truck sat too low and installed the heavier springs to raise it up above the scrub line.

Check for spacers in the springs or a rubber spacer on top of the springs too.

[50mercfan]

mr.48, i think thats what happened.

[55metalmonkey]

How was the clip done? Was it grafted into the frame like the "no limit" method or was the frame lapped onto the Camaro clip using the whole sub-frame?

When I did mine I used the lap method which gives you roughly 3" of extra drop with stock parts and I've had no issues. My ride height looks to be about the same as yours when it's sitting on your trailer. I'm curious because if the guy grafted the subframe and decieded he wanted the height lower he might have swapped the springs out for shorter stiffer ones.

[50mercfan]

it comes straight out of the frame. like it grew there. i had a 55 years ago with the lap method it was way too low.. what i haven't mentioned is it's got 185r15 volkwagen tires on front. so i'm thinking different springs and taller tires will fix it

[55metalmonkey]

with the ride height being what it is and the clip grafted in I'd be leaning towards springs as well, keep us informed if you find anything else out

[parkwood]

Originally Posted by mr48chev

He may have installed the stub so that the truck sat too low and installed the heavier springs to raise it up above the scrub line.

Check for spacers in the springs or a rubber spacer on top of the springs too.

This is why i would use the stock frame... if some one doesn't know what he's doing this will happen..