67 camaro front upper shock mounts

[nblehm]

installing ride tech coilovers and strong arms into my camaro. Well come to find out the pass side shock mount it bent and the coilover is hitting the subframe before it will mount into the lower control arm hole. My question is what have people done with making a new mount? I was thinking of just welding in some 1/4" plate and cutting out the old stuff. If I would have known I would have just ordered the speedtech kit but now I already have the coilovers meant to go into a shock hole. While I am in there should I do the guldstrand mod or are the ridetech tall spindles enough?

everything is just mocked up. Need to pull it all back out to fix the shock issue

[Sieg]

I can't tell a thing from your pictures.

What's the distance between the upper control arm mounting surfaces?

What part of the shock is contacting and with what part of the subframe?

Has the subframe been blueprinted to verify it's not bent?

If that upper shock mount plate is actually bent, what could have caused it?
Basically it's centered in the most fortified portion of the subframe.

If the spring tower was hit and bent inward that material should be able to be clearanced with a die grinder.

[nblehm]

I guess I really shouldnt have added the pics, they werent from anything specific just my current progress. I went out and took a few more pics. I guess I could just fit something in there and cut the hole out bigger. Right now I'm not even close. The shock is about an 1" from even going in the right hole. I didnt have the sub frame checked but I did align it prior to tearing it apart. No giant shim packs and everything was good on the machine. Its been a few years but everything was well in the manual steering camaro specs. This subframe looks to be well used though. Center has been cut and plate welded in, I dont really have a ton of history on the car. I bought it from a 18 year old kid trying to go to college. He thought it was a sb stroker with a muncie when it really was just a standard 350 with a super t-10. From what I gathered he got the left overs from his dad. No signs of any accidents though. OE sheet metal with no patches or excessive body filler.

Anyway here are the pics. Pass side is hitting on the upper spring mount which wont even allow me to get it in the proper hole on the lower arm. I havent had time to measure anything yet. Maybe tomorrow after work.




drivers side for comparison



I also had a bit of a hardtime getting the lower control arms in. The drivers side front mount was pinched in. So I had to hammer it out to get it wide enough for the bushing.

[130fe]

Do you know if the car has been in a wreck? I would figure that out before you start putting in all of these parts. I had a "tweaked" subframe (car had been hit in the front pass side before I bought it) and I had some really bad bumpsteer issues when I started putting aftermarket suspension components on (several years ago). I found a straight one and it too care of all of my issues.

[Sieg]

I doubt the lower control arm mounts are moved that far inward though nothing surprises me with these cars. But that section of the frame would be hard to move without it being visually obvious.

I'd get a plumb bob and drops some points on the ground and verify the frame is reasonably square with the data 130fe supplied.

It may just take some grinding on the inside of the hole in the upper spring perch to get the clearance you need.

Do the supplied instructions mention shock clearance issues?

Have you called Ridetech and asked if this is a common issue?

[nblehm]

Originally Posted by 130fe

Do you know if the car has been in a wreck? I would figure that out before you start putting in all of these parts. I had a "tweaked" subframe (car had been hit in the front pass side before I bought it) and I had some really bad bumpsteer issues when I started putting aftermarket suspension components on (several years ago). I found a straight one and it too care of all of my issues.

No idea of the subframe is original to the car. It is kind of a mash up. But basically the same pic was included with the speed tech solid mounts and it checked out.

I bent the shock mount back to its original location tonight compared to the drivers side. Not sure how one gets bent down and in. But it did. Also apon further review of the instructions ride tech states you may have to clearance the spring bucket for the coil over. Guess I missed that page. The coil over would bolt into the right hole in the lower control arm after the shock tower was where it was supposed to be but I still added some more space with the dremel. Still thinking of adding some gussets since the pass side shock tower has got to be weaker now being bent twice.