Hi
I have been restoring my 67 coupe for many years. I fitted a Hotchkiss TVS suspension designed for small block Chevy engine, my car has a 400 Pontiac. There website states this kit also works with a 400 motor.
My problem is the front end sits very low and the back end very high, I have not tightened all the suspension bolts fully yet. I took it for a short test drive at the weekend (first drive for years) and the outside of the front tyres are hitting the inner wells. The wheels at the moment are 15 x 7 with 235/60/15 tyres I have measured the back spacing on the wheels and think it is 4”.
I am going to get new wheels for the car at the end of the restoration but am worried about the rubbing. Do you think I will need to change the springs or is there a spacer I could fit. The care still needs all the glass and interior fitting so more weight to go on them yet.
I will try and add a couple of pics.
Thanks for any advice
Mark.

I would think the bigblock kit for the front would be more appropriate. A BBC and Pontiac are very close in weight, whereas a SBC is much lighter.

I just installed Hotchkis everything on my 69 last month. I went with the BB springs tho.

My car sits dam near perfectly level, approx 1/2" higher in the rear. Picture is in the link in my sig.

My Hotchkis lower control arms came with spacers to go under the rubber isolator (a 1/4" spacer I think) but I did not use them. Good thing I didn't as I would be pissed if my car were level or worse yet lower in the rear. I wanted a rake, even if it was slight.

So in short, yes you can get spacers. But I would also consider the BB springs. You could always flip the SB springs on a Camaro forum for not much of a loss.

Now far as your rear is concerned, I've never seen Hotchkis leafs jack a rear end up that high. You used the provided shackles right?

Hi thanks for the reply.
I used everything in the TVS kit so not sure why its so high especially after driving it with the bolts not fully tight yet.The problem with the front is I had to import the the kit to the UK so will be quite expensive to swap to big block springs so will see if I can find a spacer to fit the springs in the UK. I think if when I get my new wheels I get 7" with 4.5" back space I will only need to go up 3/4" and hopefully won't rub. If the back came down would it make the front lower still ?

Your stance looks spot on. What size wheels and tyres have you fitted ?

Bringing the rear lower should have no effect on your front ride height.

Something you can do on the rear is add rubber isolators, this will move the axle "up" under the car in relation to the leafs.

I'm running no isolators at all in the rear and I'm still as low as my picture.

17x8 front (4.500 backspacing), 17x9 rear (5.250" backspacing). 235/45/17 front, 255/50/17 rear.

Without the glass and other items, I wouldn't worry about the rear until you get the rest of the car put completely together.

I would hope that if someone at Hotchkis gave you the wrong information, then they should be willing to ship you the correct front springs on their dime.

I looked at hotchkiss site again and they say that there 2" drop big block and 2" drop small block are both suitable for a pontiac 400, very confusing.
I have messaged them so see what they say.
Thanks

Personally, I would say use their SB springs if running a Pontiac block with aluminum heads. Run the BB springs if you have cast iron heads.

Can’t comment on the front. I’m running a totally different combination with a BBC. For comparison, my rear springs are Hotchkiss 1 1/2” drop Springs #2407 and I feel car could sit a little lower in the back.

That's what I'm running as well, the 2407C leafs. Just with Global West cat5 kit on them: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/gls-115sh

Forgot to mention that I have the solid Global West body bushings that drop the body 1/2" onto the sub-frame. That shouldn't make much a difference in the rear tho.

Hi Dennis,
Thanks for the pictures, your car looks awesome. I would say my rear is a good 2" higher than yours, not sure rear seats and glass will bing it down that much but will wait and see. If not I will look into lowering blocks. I have found some Mr Gasket rubber spring spacers that say will raise the front by 1" so as that is a cheap fix I will try that first before changing the springs.

I have also got the Global west body bushings, I will see if I can find any markings on the leaf springs to check they sent the right ones.
Thanks for you help.

I have a full Hotchkiss setup and know exactly what your dealing with, well the fronts for sure. Your front “too low” issue could be a combo of things, mine ended up being caused by incorrect back space along with the reduced depth of solid subframe bushings. I compensated with new rims and the optional hotchkiss spacer for the lower control arm spring bucket. I talked with hotchkiss at length about this as well as even had them warranty a set of springs to verify that their/my indexing inside the upper pocket was correct.

I’ve also seen your rear issue before and it possibly has to do with the front leaf perch being installed incorrectly. Can you send a photo of your front perch assembly (were front leaf eyelet meets body) It could be your problem and is an easy fix.

Front and rear height close-up’s

Thanks for the kind words.
To be sure every component installed on the car will lower the ride somewhat but I would not expect glass and interior to lower the rear that much. I added a full layer of Dynamat plus Dynaliner and installed a red top Optima battery in the trunk.

Thank for your reply, I have attached a few pics of the rear end to see what you think. Was the spacer you used in the front for tubular control arms as mine are still stock.
Appreciate your help.[img]https://firstgenfirebird.org/forums...8B75569-1BA3-485D-A3D0-7D4CD899A5DA.jpeg[/img]

That looks correct to me.

What rear sway bar are you using?

Dude, that's pretty clean man. Scares me just thinking about getting it dirty by driving it.

Its the Hotchkiss TVS kit sway bar.
I have not driven the car properly yet as still finishing the restoration but once it ready it will be getting dirty