Lowering 68 Camaro Small Block 327
 

I've been shopping for a lowering kit for my car (68 SB), but not sure how low to go. I'm running 18" wheels with 40 series tires (225/40/18 front 245/40/18 rear), so the tire/fender gap is pretty noticeable. I want to minimize the gap without compromising the clearance beneath the car too much. I'm also going for a semi leveled look.....slightly higher in the rear would still be ok.
From what I've read, Hotchkis is probably one of the more popular and better brands out there.
I'm unsure if I should go with the 3" lowering springs for the front and 1.5" lowering leafs with 1" lowering blocks for the rear? Or should I go with 2" spring in front with 3" leafs in the rear?
The car currently sits with about 3.5" tire/fender gap up front and about 3" tire/fender gap in the rear.
Also, I'm only using the car for street driving, no track or strip......just hot roddig around town.

i went with the kotchkis kit on my 67, and couldn't be happier. it's 2'' up front, and 1.5'' in the rear.

i'm running 18s all around, with 245/40 and 275/40 (i'll confirm 100% but 90% sure of that). great clearance, and stance.

Do you have a current picture as it sits with the Hotchkis setup? I want to see if the 1.5" lower rear leafs still give it a slight higher rear than the front.

I actually just ordered Hotchkis 2" front and 3" rear lowering kit. Crossing my fingers and hoping the car doesn't end up with the rear sitting lower than the front.

Thanks for your input

here are two. sorry that they aren't direct side shots, but, i didn't have any great ones available.

Attachment 11127

Attachment 11128

and here is one with the same wheels and tires before i redid the suspension. it was stock that was "adjusted" before i bought the car, so i don't know exactly how much it's dropped. the front springs were torched to lower it, and i'd say were closer to the 3" mark, than 2". the rears probably dropped 1"+ and had 2" lowering blocks.

imo, for my tire size, the 2" and 1.5" was definitely the way to go. if you have smaller tires, the 3" may be best for you. i would maybe prefer the rear a tiny bit lower, but not another 1.5" anyway, here is the stock, modified suspension, same wheels:

Attachment 11904

the last picture with the more substantial drop was not very good for driving. i didn't plan on keeping it, but could barely get home from 5 blocks away from my house. bouncy suspension meant lots of rubbing. the rear does look great, but if you aren't rolling fender lips, don't bother.

That's beautiful machine...the Blue really pops.
The stance on the last picture is exactly what I'm trying to accomplish...leveled and not too low to where I have to worry about the headers scraping on the ground.
I went ahead a bought the Hotchkis lowering kit 2" up front and 3" in the rear. Hopefully sits just right after I get everything installed.

Thanks for the info.

thanks for the compliment! can't wait to see pictures of yours done. good luck!

here's what i have done to mine for my stance, if anybody else is wondering or has a question regarding certain parts. Hotchkis kit 80015 (80014 if you run a big block). and QA1 upper and lower control arms. running the springs, not a coil-over setup. rides fantastic - especially over old, squishy stock

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/hss-80014

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/qa1-52417

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/qa1-52419

I had lowering kit installed over the weekend and to be honest, I'm pretty disappointed. The front sits perfect (2"drop). However the rear is way too low (3"drop). The rear of the car sits about an 1.5" lower than the front and is bottoming out at every slight bump in the road. I really don't understand why the rear is so much lower than the front. At stock height the rear sat about 1.5" higher than the front, so a 3" drop should have left the rear 1/2" higher or leveled out the car.
Really don't know what my options are at this point.

Any my ideas on how to bring the car back up 1-2"??

my suggestion would be to see if you can exchange the springs for the 1 1/2" lowering springs. from there, you can put lowering blocks to customize the height. i found that with my original set up that 3" drop was too much. i couldn't even drive the car.

other than that, i don't see any way to raise the car up, and if anything, it wouldn't be a better solution than just sucking it up, and doing it the right way. you could always sell the 3" lowering springs.... that setup might work perfectly for somebody else's wheel/tire combo.

best of luck.

I was wondering if there's any advantages in going with the Hotchkis Lowering Leaf spring kit over buying just lowering leaf spring from other brands?

Thanks

i would say that it's preference and what you are going to use your car for. mine gets occasional cruises and hits some car shows. i beat on it from time to time too. for me, i don't need a fully upgraded racing suspension, but i needed something more modern and way better than squishy stock. i bought the hotchkis kit because it's proven, had great reviews, and was more cost effective than other brands. that being said, i went with QA1 control arms for the same reason over hotchkis.

i hit a couple of different forums also and read what people were using, and went from there. the before and after of my ride and handling is incredible and tons of fun. definitely some of the best money i've spent.

I'm thinking of dropping my '67 here in a couple of weeks. I was thinking of the 2" drop leaf springs in the rear and going 3" up front. I have the 2" dropped CPP spindles on my Big Brake Kit and I was thinking of adding a 1" dropped spring to get a big fat zero gap between the tires & fender lips. What do you think? Is that too low up front? I'm going to probably go with 18s this time around. So I'd love to go with 235s up front (if somebody made those) and the 275s in the rear - though I'm probably going to mini tub the car in 2-3 weeks so that would make the rears 315s.

again, it's preference. how do you use your Camaro? my lowering kit actually raised mine up. before that, i was around the 3"-3.25" drop, and in Chicago, it was too much. pot holes were avoidable, but i was constantly weaving all over the place. i got stuck trying to exit the jewel parking lot once. had to rev it up and drag the frame along the sidewalk.

like i stated before, i have the 2" drop up front, and 1.5" in the back. i think it sits great. i might lower the back eventually maybe to 2" if it doesn't settle a bit, but overall i'm happy. i still get the occasional rub here and there but that 1" makes quite a difference.

the 3'' drop looks fantastic, but was not practical at all for me.

if anything, do the rear first, and see how you like it. you can always change the front springs after that....

rytas - Thanks man. That sounds about right. I've seen the 2" up front but it still looks tall. I can still put my hand 1.5"? in-between the tire & fender and I was hoping to get the top of the tire at the lip to make it look lower. I'm out in Nor Cal so the roads aren't too bad, but I'd hate to get stuck on something like a curb. Good point.


Oh well, the 2" up front and may 2" drop leaf springs will be enough. The rest I can make up with tire size (height) to see how well things fill out.


As always, thanks for the input. It's just too expensive to do this by trail & error these days.

I originally went with Hotchkis lowering kit 2" front and 3" rear. The car rode and handled terrible. So after debating for awhile on what to do, I went ahead and swapped out my 3" drop Hotchkis rear leaf springs with 1.5" lowering kit from hotchkis and added .5" spacer to the front 2" drop front coils.
The car rides and handles so much better now and the stance is exactly what I was looking for.

if you can post some pics, i'd really like to see the extra 1/2'' and how it changes the stance. glad you are happy with the swap out.

Gabet95
Right on. What size tires are you running on yours? I think I'm just going to go with the 2"-2" on mine for now. Again, the tires can make up some difference (40s vs 45s) so maybe I should just start the assembly and see what it does.
Thanks

I'll take pictures from a few angles and post them as soon as I get the car back from the shop.
I'm having the vinyl top removed and going to spray it white just like the rest of the car.

Im running 225/40r18 up front and 245/40r18 in the rear. Could probably go with 45 series tires for a smoother ride.

Yeah, I like the ride of a 45 series tire better, but the fit of a 40 gives a little more room. Since I'll be driving this one on the street, that's probably a good idea.

Yes, photos always help

I also went with the Hotchkis kit on my 68, it's 2" up front, and 1.5'' in the rear. I hope to have the car back together soon and get it back on the road.

Just like to add to what others have said here. I went with the Hotchkis on my 68 as well. 2" in front and 1.5" in the rear. I am very happy with it.

I’m trying to attach a few pictures of my car with the current Hotchkis setup, but for some reason I’m not able to do so.