SUSPENSION/CHASSIS
This page is for the suspension, chassis, brakes, tires, wheels, etc upgrades.
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Rearend
Stock 8.2 inch open differential with 3:08 gears. For now.
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Suspension
When I got the car, I put new leaf springs, front coil springs and brakes on.
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Traction Bars, Shocks and Brake Upgrades
I bought new Lakewood Traction bars from Summit.
On October 6, 2007, I installed them along with new shocks and I also put new brake shoes on.
Here are my parts.
I started with the passenger side. Here I pulled the shock off, and removed the old shock plate. Since the traction bars came with a new shock mounting location, I no longer need the old shock plate. I did keep it however, just in case.
I got the new traction bar mounted in its location.
New shock installed.
Then, I did the same to the driver's side, then lowered the car to the ground, and adjusted the snubbers, and put the u-bolt supports on the front. I had to cut a little bit off the snubbers to make them fit. On the passenger side, I cut about 1 inch off, and on the driver's side, I cut about 1 1/2 inch off.
Now the traction bars and rear shocks are in, it's time to move onto the rear brakes.
Here is the driver's side going together. It went well.
The rear passenger side went on easily as well. Then I moved to the front driver's side to install the new shock and brake shoes. That went well, but the brakes were a little tight.
I moved to the front passenger side to finish up this project.
In this picture, I've already installed the new shock and I'm about to begin on the brakes.
In this picture, the brakes have been finished, and I'm ready to put the tire back on and drive it.
Ready for a test drive!
The car handled great and the brakes felt good.
After going to the dragstrip after this project, I found that the traction bars helped out a lot. The track was pretty messed up because it rained earlier in the day, so I had some tire spin, but even with the tire spin, I was getting the same 60 foot time as before when I got traction. So that's a good sign.
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TIRES AND WHEELS
For the street, I have 14X6 Buick rally wheels with 225-60/14 in the rear and 195-60/14 in the front. For the drag strip, I have Summit Sport 15X7 inch wheels and 235-60/15 Mickey Thompson ET Streets for the rear. They hook up very well.
After racing my car, I found I gained over two tenths by switching to drag tires, over radials.
The wheels are Summit Sport 15X7.
The tires are Mickey Thompson ET Street 235/60/15.
Usually, I take my drag tires to the track and swap them over there, and after the race, swap back to my street tires.
This time I changed them at my house and drove them there and back.
The car looks pretty good with the drag radials on.
Side View:
Rear View:
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Page 1: Original Info and Pictures
Page 2-3: Engine/Transmission
Page 4-5: Suspension/Chassis
Page 6-7: Body
Page 8-9: Interior
Page 10-11: Drag Racing
Page 12: Other Pictures of my Nova
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