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Adding Additional Rake to Stock Suspension

2K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  beam6325 
#1 ·
Curious if anyone has any suggestions to raising the back of the car. I have a 1964 Chevelle Malibu 2-Door Sedan (Base Model) I'm looking to raise the back end approx. 3". Figure I need New/Longer Coil Springs & Shocks. I would prefer not to use spacers. Would appreciate hearing from someone who's already done this, but any & ALL comments are welcome. Thanks!!!
 
#2 ·
I have not already done this. I believe raising the rear suspension 3" may result in unwanted binding of the control arms with everything stock. Without other modifications, airbags instead of springs or air shocks like some el Caminos and wagons have might be another solution. If your springs are sagging badly now, you might get quite a lift from just new springs.
 
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#5 ·
I have Air-Shocks on my '78 Nova, and they do exactly what you describe. (Old Skool) I was trying to avoid that route. Replacing the old springs is exactly what I wanted to do, but not with stock replacements. Looking to gain a little more height than just returning to stock. I'm trying to get some of the tire out of the wheel well. So I guess my question is: When I replace the stock springs, how much longer should they be to gain a few inches? And I'm guesing I'll need to change the shocks to allow for the longer travel?

I've included some photos to show the cars ride height as it currently is. Thanks for the help & suggestions.
 

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#4 ·
Don't go too far with that lift or the control-arm angles will get weird...suggest checking the pinion angle and when it starts pointing down you know you'v gone too far (put a level on the crank pulley, then the rear diff cover at the side where it bolts on and just use those vertical index points to compare...the diff can point down or in this case lean forward a couple degrees more than the motor but not much more). Adjustable upper arms w/ spherical bearings are available and could be used to correct things somewhat. Air shocks were the lift of choice back when on Chevelles, and broken shock mount brackets were common because of that and they are a pain to fix. I'd look for longer springs, maybe from a wagon or such, any a-body from '64-up...some have smaller coils at both ends where they mount, some just at one end. But why not spring spacers? Much of the time they make good sense. As for longer shocks, do you need them? I'd be leery of going so far that the stock shocks run out of travel, where you're out of the range that the factory designed the suspension to operate in.

All of this assumes you are not getting crazy with suspension changes and will be re-setting the front end caster (maybe a little past the factory spec, say 3-4 degrees total) when you've got the rear where you want it.
 
#7 ·
GREAT INFO!!! I'm not looking for something radical, and I don't want to make this anymore complicated than it needs to be. I wanted to avoid the Air-Shock ride. My '78 Nova has those and as a kid, I had a '69 Mustang with Air-Shocks & Shackles. Not crazy about the ride. I ruled out spacers, because I though longer springs made more sense. I just don't know how much longer to make the springs when I change them out? As far as longer shocks...I didn't know? I just figured that if I lengthened the spring, I would have to allow for longer shock travel? I see spacers advertised in all different lengths. About 1/2" increments all the way up to 3", but like I said, thought longer springs would be better? Really, I'm trying to solve TWO Problems: 1) get more of the tire out of the wheel well 2) Raise the gas tank fill tube & gas tank. As it is, you can't fill the tank full. When filling, the gas wants to run back out the tank neck because it's almost horizontal. Thinking if I could raise the back end, this would also help eliminate this problem. THANKS for all your input!!!
 
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