Before starting the pics and documentation is all out of order. I would finish two or three projects as starting one meant picking up one or two more in most areas. Remove rotors to look everything over might as well replace bearings since there's metal in cap. Take drums off to turn and wheel cylinder and hardline leaking. Get control arms rebuilt to notice tie rods flopping a lot. You get the point and I was not gonna put worn parts back when I already had apart and cleaned. The underneath of the car is brand new now except for a few bolts I reused. Traction is way better,but still can't get it all down through 265/50 street tread. Absolutely no wheel hop though and I laid two blacks about 1/8 mile long on my high school back road. I feel like I should have picked up about .2-.3 worth of traction and the ride and drive is soooo much more satisfying. I used my dad's commercial account and saved about $250 on steering, brake, and other various parts. Paint and rubber under coat was about $80, but it looks oh so good. All in all about 40 hours labor ( with one helper for only about 20% of the time) and about $1750 for a new car basically.

Ok so I took my yearly trip home with a bunch of parts and some dough.

January 18-28 2014 Upgrades
Holley sp Intake, Hand ported by me over 3 hours
Made new alternator bracket and spacer
New cap & Rotor
Removed PV 84p/85s jets
Set transfer slots and accelerator pump
Timing at 38*
Set valves
Changed plugs 1 stage colder.
Change oil & filter
Gathered all wires and put in conduit.
Wire brushed and chemical cleaned underhood
Black Semi glossed all but intake and valve covers.

FRONT SUSPENSION, STEERING, CHASSIS
Moog problem solver Ball Joints upper and lower
Afco Steel, grease-able control arm bushings all 8
Gt coil springs
Adjustable shocks
Moog inner and outer tie rod ends, center drag link, idler arm
Ceramic pads, resurfaced rotors
Left and Right inner and outer wheel bearings
Scrape and clean everything to bare metal, heavy duty rubberized undercoating on frame/chassis, semi gloss black on suspension, steering and calipers.

REAR SUSPENSION/Driveshaft/brakes
comp leaf springs with spherical bushings in front eye, poly rear, new hangers and pads. Subframe connectors reinstalled (ground out) welded to and bolted through.
Adjustable shocks
Brake hoses and hard line
New shoes and hardware
New wheel cylinders
Super strength U-Joints new bolts and straps
Rear trans seal.
Trans mount
Trans fluid/filter change
Bleed brakes
Fix oil leak, timing cover.
Drivers Door pins and bushings.
Rubberized trunk deck and lid inside.
New fuel line and filter
Drove it 250 miles back to Knoxville.
Here are some pics. They are all mixed up as far as bef dur after. I did a crappy job with pics bc I was busy didn't intend to do steering and brakes or trans mount, especially rear hard line.

 

Kinda crazy there was only about a 3/4" drop in the front and about 1/2" in rear set to bottom hole of hanger after 250 miles it is settled there. I didn't want drop but that is acceptable for the difference in dive and feel.



Another minor setback.

 

Lots of great stuff, and should make the car handle way better!
Is that broken piece the A arm bushing and shaft broken off? Are those Afco "steel" control arm bushings really solid steel, or do they have any non metallic lining in them? If they're the solid steel Afco sells for racing use, you'll be sorry pretty quickly when they wear in a little and they begin to rattle. They also transfer a ton of road noise to the car!

 

Sorry, that pic was of a poly lock that broke. I ended up going way off grid from my original plan. Mostly thanks to your help. I had to be honest as to street/strip and decided on handling, but most of what I did shouldn't hurt track times as much as improve street. I just plain drive it too much to go all out drag in it and can't stomach trailering it. It's just and always will be a sbc street car, so there's a line that I'm close to being na. I can tell it is for sure going to plant better and weight transfer is better, but I don't see much improvement left without slicks. My number one rule on this build is streetability. The curves now become straights and the ride is soooo much improved. Plus I can easily adjust rear shocks at strip and remove front sway. The control arm bushings are solid upper, poly liner steel sleeve, steel case lower. I have already put about 700 miles on it since and notice more noise from rear. Havent noticed anything from front yet. Does the wear occur in the front /back like when trying to move that way? I'm getting offset c/a shafts to add camber per alignment recommendation. I will check for that when I do and let you know. All in all I'm very well pleased as it is much much more fun to drive around town and down the interstate, I bet I will pick up some et too. The old stuff was just too worn out not to and now I have adjustable shocks and not air shocks. Now if I don't want some import to fly by me around the curves they won't.... I also like to feel the road and it is a nice smooth feel now, no snap oversteer, no bounciness, no swaying, no more tire rubbing. Ride is stiffer but smoother at the same time, rear set to middle setting front firmest. The front moves right up and stays with no binding, comes straight down off throttle goes down great with just a tap of brakes if i need more weight up front. Hopefully I won't hear the road noise since it would be pretty loud over exhaust...hopefully. I went this weekend, but ground was cold and I blew the tires off bc I forgot to put pressure down and had 34 lbs in them. Also didn't mess with shocks. Anyway I lost 2&3 to a broken gov gear. Totally my fault bc I should have let out, but mashed on it instead bc I wanted to see how far they would spin. Until I got sideways at half track and let out was my answer. It wasn't until the next pass I found out I only had first. Pedaled it and only spun a little bit, mashed on it about 40' out and thought I had a new best....nope went to shift at 7200 and nope... Ran it up to 8k let off no shift, patted it again and coasted last 100'. With only 1st slow 8.60@69mph slowing down.(close your ears BB427) I know I know it won't ever turn 8k I'm a liar. Ok the math: 2.52= 1st gear, 25"= tire height, 3.42= rear gear, 69=mph. Here is vid. If you've ever wondered what 8k sounds like in a full exhaust sbc. You can tell without a doubt I never left first and that the nose never dropped until I let off and pulled hard when I got back on it. My first gear pull was quicker than a coyote and a hurst gt there could muster. Think I'll just keep it like it is for a while and be happy now. Decided to keep 2200 stall.

 

Well that's part of drag racing; things break. I spent 16 yrs. racing my '71 Camaro, and had to occasionally have it trailered home from the track, but I never regretted doing it. It was way too much fun!
I'm sure the solid upper bushings wont transfer as much road noise, as the lower control arm carries the weight. They also shouldn't wear as fast, so it may take years to get enough wear into the upper bushing to get any rattle from steel on steel when they got looser.
I've got all solid heim ends in my old Austin's rear suspension and even when new it was noisy. It only gets noisier as it wore in a little, but it takes a couple hours to swap all the ends out if they ever get noisier than I like. A little more work changing control arm bushings.

 

Lol...yea that's part of my problem I really can't afford to race right now and I drive it about everyday and only get to dragstrip 7-8 times a year so street had to trump strip. Started a new business last year and money is too tight to do things the right way, so I'm just gonna save up for now. I also decided to keep stall bc the $800 they wanted for a custom can go towards an OD tranny. I appreciate your advise and kind words it has played a huge role and caused me to be honest with myself as to what was more important. I did listen even if I misunderstood some things.... Good news is the springs alone really did stop wheel hop and I would know by now as I spun half track last wknd, my buddy said he didn't see a hint of wheel hop, I also had track official watch my burnouts. Thanks again as I probably wouldn't be as happy with my decision without your help. Oh and I got tranny fixed. $20 for a complete governor, so that wasn't a big deal just a scare. Nothing foreign in pan except the plastic pieces of old gear. Drove it home 65 miles with no problem, the valve was stuck halfway, I don't know how long it was like that but it shifts better than ever now.

 

Glad to assist, and glad the trans was a cheap fix! That's always a nice surprise to not have to dig deep when you're trying to conserve bucks!
Your choice to keep the car's main use in mind is a good one. If you reach a point where you can dedicate it to mostly drag racing and have another daily driver, it wont be like most of what you've done wont still work well at the strip still.