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Chassis

• Leaf Spring Resto

  Everything tends to get saggy with old age, some things need repairs while others need replacement. Leaf springs, fortunately, can be repaired rather than replaced. This common type of suspension is... Read More

• Independent Rear Suspension Install

  In Ford's four decades of producing Mustangs, nearly all of them have come equipped with a live-axle rear end. Not that there's anything wrong with a straight axle—it's sturdy, inexpensive, and... Read More

• Restoring a Classic Suspension

  In the last article (Keeping You In Suspension) we discussed how to improve the deteriorating handling characteristics of an aging car. Let's start out by summing up what the repairs and restoration... Read More

• Keeping You in Suspension

  It was love at first sight, the sleek lines, the shiny paint. Underneath the hood sat a powerful engine, and the interior fit you like a comfortable pair of three-year old sneakers. And when you... Read More

• Running Gear Resto

  Nobody ever claimed that a 1965 GTO was a great handling car. Powerful and impressive, and smooth riding, too, but the chassis lumbered around corners and lacked sufficient braking power by today's... Read More

• Chassis Stiffening

  The old truism that appearances can be deceiving is especially true when it comes to restoring an older automobile. That classic car that looks so nice may not be all that nice to drive anymore, even... Read More

• 1967 Firebird Handling Upgrades

  The quickest way between two points is a straight line or, one might say, as the crow flies. It seems that just about every 1st generation Firebird has been set up to do just that—fly straight... Read More

• Suspension Installation

  Our subject '67 Verdoro Green Firebird is a numbers-matching 400 car with 83,000 original miles. The car was cosmetically restored in the early '90s and retains its original interior and drivetrain. ... Read More

• Corvette Restoration: The Chassis

  In our first installment about the restoration of a classic Corvette, we introduced you to Milton Lewis and his silver-blue '64 Coupe. We covered a bit about the history of the car, the engine, and... Read More

• Upgrading Your Bushings

  We all know what it's like to suffer from sore joints. Even if you're in good physical condition, without enough cushioning between your bones, ordinary motions can be difficult. Now, apply that same... Read More

• Replacing Coil Springs

  Just as gravity makes the human body sag over time, it can also cause our cars to droop. More specifically, routine wear and tear causes metal parts to fatigue; and, suspension components eventually... Read More

• Chassis Resto/Mods

  For certain rare cars, restoring the components exactly to original is essential to preserving the vehicle's value. For most car enthusiasts, however, modernizing a restoration project makes a lot... Read More

• Control-Arm Bushing Replacement

  The rear upper and lower control arms on the 1964-72 GM A-body vehicles (Chevelle, GTO, 4-4-2, Buick GS) not only provide suspension travel but also secure the rear end to the vehicle. Each control... Read More

• Strut Tower Brace

  The best kinds of performance modifications are those that are simple and inexpensive. While it's easy to get lost on the costly road to squeezing more horsepower out of an engine, another and often... Read More

• Rear Brace Installation

  There are many ways to improve the handling characteristics of your car. Unfortunately, most of those ways involve very complicated suspension work. Tools like spring compressors, air wrenches and a... Read More

• Air Springs Install

  An air spring suspension on a chassis can serve a wide variety of purposes, depending on the type of system. Some of the first air spring suspensions were developed about 50 years ago as an insert... Read More

• Suspension Mods

  Whether you're trying to raise or lower your vehicle's suspension, the basic idea is simple, but how you accomplish it is not. Changing the ride height covers everything from springs to shocks to... Read More

• Hi-Po Front End Rebuild

  As a vehicle's bushings, balljoints and other frontend components wear, wheel alignment becomes increasingly sketchier. Refurbishing these parts offers several advantages: For one, alignment can be... Read More

• Mustang Chassis Upgrades

  Owners of late-'60s and early-'70s Mustangs know all too well both the bright spots and blemishes of these highly popular sports cars. They're strong on styling, speed and affordability. However,... Read More

• The Downlow of Handling

  Many think that the keys to good handling are super-low profile tires, stiff springs, rock-hard shocks, wrist-thick "sway" bars, and slammed-to-the-ground suspensions. "Many" are mistaken. Done... Read More

• Steps to Improve Handling

  The first step toward improving your car's handling is to honestly assess where and how you'll be driving it. A car modified to whip through a tight autocross course will likely attempt to spin out... Read More

• Camber Caster Toe

  A suspension alignment is one of those automotive maintenance chores that most of us put off until a set of tires worn to unusable tells us it's already too late. Bringing the three key alignment... Read More

• Shock Tale

  It's easy to forget about what's going on as your car or truck hurtles down the road over potholes, railroad tracks and other road surface irregularities. While you wile away the commute listening to... Read More

• Strut Your Stuff

  The history behind the modern strut-type suspension begins in the United Kingdom and could be easily mistaken as a riddle. What do a Scotsman, a Lotus, a spring, and a shock absorber all have in... Read More

• Replacing Ball Joints

  Believe it or not, a key feature of our grand human design has made it into the suspension of almost every automobile on the road today. Like the ball and socket joint that connects your leg bone to... Read More

• Align It Yourself

  Most people think that wheel alignment is best left to the professionals. This is true in many respects, but some alignment specs are easy to check yourself, and toe is one aspect of alignment that... Read More

• Replacing Balljoints

  As people as diverse as Liz Taylor and Eddie Van Halen can attest, joints wear out. In cars, ball-in-socket joints degrade over time (similar to their human counterparts). Lack of lubrication and... Read More

• How Suspension Works

  Ask two drivers—a regular driver and a racer—to explain the purpose of suspension, and you may get two different answers. The regular Joe says it's easy: suspension keeps your teeth from... Read More