The Camaro Club (UK)

Hi,

Couple of queries about my 67 rebuild. My restorer is saying stick with original front discs, rear drums and keep the suspension oem, add sway bars front and rear and not to bother with full Hotchkis setup. His reasoning being it will ride hard. I'm thinking a ride hard in US terms means normal ride for us in the UK?

I don't really have the money to go full Hotchkis as it's around 4k for the full kit. Any recommendations for a compromise?

Also he's said don't go rack and pinion steering as it will get in the way of the motor and oil pan. Is this a safe assumption? I'd like to go that route as I don't fancy the car steering feeling unresponsive.

Many thanks.
Otto

Firstly a full Hotchkis TVS kit is listed at $1634.00 by Ecklers so even allowing for shipping and imports it would be under £2000.oo
I opted for a front spring set -2 inches and rear spring kit -1 and a half and it came out at about $750.00 , I added a Hotchkis front roll bar and some urethane mounts for it and the result was just what I was after - lower ride but without problems on road humps and it is not too harsh a ride...
A friend has the full Hotchkis TVS on his 1st gen and it is very nice, so if you want to spend the extra and have the rear bar and all the bits in the kit it seems worth it in my opinion .
I have been told the rack is not worth the hassle by someone who bought one .
Probably worth reading some threads on Team Camaro or lateral G ,in the end only you know what you want but if you think you need to change the majority of the stock parts of the car you have possibly bought the wrong car.
1st gen cars are now 50 years old and handle fairly well as stock and can be significantly improved with the right aftermarket parts, but if you want to drive a modern super-car you are probably better off buying one.
Don't go for Detroit Speed springs, I know from a friend who bought some and the ride heights are not what they claim and the springs he bought were not even level as a pair !

Hey Firebird68,

Thanks for the info. It sounds like I'm after the same set up as you then. I can't afford to fork out for the full kit and have an engine & trans to buy as well and more than likely a rear end as it currently only has a 9bolt system. So any saving i can make against nice to haves i will probably have to do.

The car is being restored in Texas so there's a need to keep it as original as possible for import reasons. I suppose there's nothing stopping me buying things like that at a later date.

Rack and pinion I think I'll skip then, and just stick to the uprated arms to reduce the turning.

Cheers.

Deffo forget the steering racks!

You can get good steering boxes for the 1st Gen, even retrofit a 3rd gen one, just need to do modifications to the pump.

Have a look at www.pozziracing.com - loads of articles on there. Then there's the Gulstrand mod, spindles, and even Herb Adams chassis engineering (ok, so that's a bit old, but can give you a good idea - he uses large swaybars).

Mark

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'68 Camaro