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Thanks for all the great advice. Is there a spreader bar that will not have clearance problems? I am using a 350 small block and the spreader bar pics is see look pretty tight.
My plan for the front end is:
GW offset cross bars, springs and shocks, Ridetech derlin bushings (let me know about this if you have experience please), larger sway bar and spreader. This will be stock otherwise, about 400 HP is the plan (using Vortec heads, mild cam). Ill get to the rear after i finish the front this fall.
Before I made my spreader bar, I searched posts here and didn't find anyone that had clearance issues. Even member Richard454 made one to clear in his build.
Pretty basic.
Now that the weather is better, i am finishing up the rebuild of my front end. What size sway bar do you all recommend?
I have ordered Ridetec derlin bushings, offset cross arms and have 460 pound springs, I am planning on building a 350 with VORTEC heads and an mild cam. Stock tires/rims for now. Ill get to the rear end after this is done.
Will a bigger sway bar really help, or will it make the ride harsh? Where is the sweet spot? I have read that soft springs with a good sway bar keep the ride smooth but planted in turns. The springs came with the car and are new so i am trying to use them and save a few bucks. Not sure if they are too strong.
i went bigger on my 79 and added rear bar.. all OEM Gymkhana off ebay..
1 1/8 front rubber bushings
7/16 rear poly..
no harshness at all.. however i agree the best shocks you can buy will make a big difference ..with springs etc.. https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...rsion-fit.html
Yes the offset cross bars help some. You can also slot the holes 1/4" to the front for even more pos caster. 5+ caster transforms these old cars and removes the "twitchiness" Here is some feedback I got from a member here who i helped add the slotted offset crossbars:
>> as per the A arm shaft project. My car club had a weekend away run and I took a very rare Saturday off. Put about 400 miles on her. A fair bit of that at high speed. Now mind you I always thought my car handled extremely well. Was great on the track. Just felt "Light" on the highway at speed. No longer. Still handles great. But no longer light feeling at high speed. One finger operation at 80MPH. the A arm shafts worked out great. I would highly recommend this modification. <<
I believe the 460 springs are a great rate, and come with a slightly improved ride vs the 550s
Ridetech bushings, I am installing those as well, Jury is still out. They should be an improvement. The Delrin should be the best. They should not hurt the ride too much at all. During your install, be very sure the a-arms move smoothly and do not bind on rotation. The bushings collars must go in very straight, relative to each other. Lock tite the bushing washer bolts, and make sure the washers don't spin on a arm movement. A couple of mine did spin and needed to be massaged. If the washer spins, the bolts will unscrew themselves on the street eventually, and fall out. That would not be disastorious unless the unrestrained bushing now also works its way out. Keep an eye on them for a while.
I believe the Gymkhana bars are the "sweet spot" for handling. The stock ones are just too soft, too much roll. GM learned a lot about handling during the interim. There are larger than Gymkhana bars out there, and I have tried some that stiff on my race car. I do not recommend them for the street. There is only a very slight handling improvement on the track, at that level, but there is a lot more sideways "head-tossing" when you hit a one wheel bump. Ride quality takes a big hit.
Shocks are where it is at for the best handling/ride quality compromise. They control 75% of the ride quality, and about 50% of the handling. Buy buy very good ones for the best compromise. For non-adjustables, only the Bilsteins come very highly recommended on this forum. I would buy nothing less. With adjustable shocks, you can tune your own ride/handling compromise, and you also have several vendors to choose from. Don't buy the shocks until you pick out a rear spring.
During my 68 restoration I had a similar dilemma. A spreader bar is the best bang for the buck. I think they are around a 100.00. It really improved the front response to steering input. If you have been driving your car and install a spreader bar you will notice the difference.
Thanks for the advice. i do plan on a spreader bar and will look into extending the cross bars 1/4 inch but where do i find a gymkhana sway bar? I did a search, and nothing comes up for a '70 Corvette, only later. I'll keep looking, what about ADDCO bars? they have 1 1/8 also.
I'm just starting to put the front end together. Lots of delays the last couple of years.
Right now I have both upper and lower control arms fitted with the Ridetech delrin bushings and offset cross arms for the uppers.
My question is this: which way should the cross arms face to improve handling in straight runs? Should I mount the upper control arm so that the offset pushes the top of the tire away from the car? This should add degrees of camber, but I don't see how it really effects caster if they're both offset equally.
They look very similar but each side is set back a bit compared to the stock ones.
There you go! That's the offset. There is no adjustment in the LCA, so moving the upper ball joint aft via the UCA is how you get more positive caster. I have about 6 degrees dialed in with my SPC UCAs.
I still don't get it. The offset is the same on each side of the cross arm. This makes the top of the wheel move closer or further away from the chassis depending on the orientation, but in equal amounts. It doesn't seem to move it rearward, only inward or outward.
Is there something built into the chassis that causes this to move caster? Right now it only looks like an increased or decreased camber.
I believe the slotted cross piece allows you to move the upper control arm backwards, thereby increasing the caster. It does this without also changing the camber the way shims do.
I'm not sure where you are in the process at this point, but I was headed the same route you are, and found that when I went to install the new bushings the control arms themselves were bent. Probably from a previous owner beating on him to get a new set of bushings in. I ended up replacing both upper and lowers using Global West lowers and SPC adjustable uppers.
I also have a 72 350 stroker that's making around 400 horsepower. I used a speed direct shark bite spreader bar that I purchased direct from speed direct. For a considerable discount below what the distributor sell them for. Received it within about a week. I had to use about a 3 mm spacer under the fan clutch mount for the blades to clear the spreader bar. Here are some photos of the process, before I put the spreader bar on
I think i see my problem. My cross arms are not slotted. The ends are offset a bit on each side as compared to the stock ones. The result is i can move the top A-arm in and out (camber), not front to back (caster) on the A-arms.
To add caster with the stock setup, you cannot move the arms front/rear.
You subtract shims from the front and add them to the rear stud. This moves the ball joint rearward.
2-3*post caster is about max for a stock setup, then you run out of rear stud.
With 1/4" slots in the shaft as well, you can make it to 5-6* caster before you run out of rear stud.
At this point, your ball joint will be about 1/2" rearward vs neutral.
-0.5 Neg Camber and +5* Pos Caster. More shims in back until ran out of stud, and also shifted slotted shaft 1/4" rearward.
Last edited by leigh1322; Feb 14, 2025 at 09:43 PM.
