I think you're underestimating how much it would take to turn it into a decent 4x4 and lift it. That's why we made this bar.Street rod or restore, don't chop it up into a 4x4. "But with only 245s on this El Camino and the lighter weight in the back, this was just what it needed. "If it was a Chevelle, possibly, or it had larger rear tires, we could have gone for the stiffer setup," he continued. "We had a loose car that needed more rear traction, so we softened the setup in order to gain that rear grip," Hotchkis explains. John Hotchkis quickly diagnosed the problem: "With that really quick, tight slalom, the cones are spaced quite close, so that the car is always moving you're turning the steering wheel very quickly, and it was readily apparent that the car needed more rear grip." Hotchkis grabbed some tools, put the sway bar on the 75-percent setting, and voila, our slalom runs became more consistent-and quicker. As we noted elsewhere, the improved alignment specs and negative camber curve provided by the B-body spindles increased front wheel traction-but decreased rear wheel traction.
1969 EL CAMINO CENTER LINK INSTALL
The bar provides two levels of stiffness: 75 percent more than stock, and 100 percent more, which is where ours was set when we arrived at the track for our post B-body install testing. Hotchkis' TVS package includes one of its new Extreme adjustable rear sway bars. Given Hotchkis' extensive racing and testdriving experience, we insisted he take a turn at the wheel, and learned that is pays to have the man who made the parts on hand. It turns out we're not alone, as John Hotchkis hisownself brought our '69 El Camino test mule out for our most recent cone-bowling extravaganza. We look forward to our test sessions given a choice between a day in the office and a day at the track, we'll take choice B anytime. "They notice when things aren't right, so the timing is perfect for this piece." We'll agree, and you'll hear about it here when the final versions are available. The dwindling supply of original B-body spindles is partly behind the development of this new piece, but in our book, Hotchkis had a more relevant reason: "People are getting more sophisticated about their suspension," he tells us. It goes up and down in its travel and the wheels stay straight." These new castings will also accommodate aftermarket big brake kits Hotchkis is working on brackets for various setups. "By changing that steering arm, designing one just for these cars," Hotchkis continues, "We can make it so that it doesn't have bumpsteer. In short, these original pieces have the B-body spindle geometry but retain the A-body steering geometry-the "best of both worlds," according to Ogawa. Bumpsteer turns the car." We were lucky enough to get a look at the prototype of Hotchkis' solution to this problem, its new Sport Spindle. In road race cars and stock cars and so on, they work so hard making sure it doesn't have bumpsteer. As it goes up and down in its travel, the wheels go toe-out and toe-in, making the car veer around. We've covered the plusses, but there is a significant minus, as explained by John Hotchkis: "The drawback to the B-body spindle (when used on an A-body) is that steering arm is in the wrong place, so it causes bumpsteer. Traditionally, performing this conversion on an A-body has meant replacing the factory pieces with actual GM spindles from a '70-76 B-body. Bedortha was able to obtain -0.7 degree with in Part I, but installing the new spindle setup allowed -2.0 degrees. And the camber specs we've made so much fuss about? The original specs checked in at 0 to +0.5 degree.
Bedortha set it to +1.9 degrees post-TVS, but after installing the B-body spindles and control arms, he able to set it at +4.8 degrees, greatly enhancing the Elky's stability. Factory toe-in was set at 51/416 inch Bedortha set it to 11/416 inch with the TVS in place, and retained this figure. That being said, here's how our El Camino alignment progressed. This the opposite of how the factory did things.
"You want negative camber and positive caster," intones Corey Bedortha of the Hotchkis Installation Center. This is crucial to improving handling, of course, but so is the fact that the new setup also allows for a greater range of alignment options. As we've discussed, installing Hotchkis' B-body spindles and revised upper control arms on an A-body actually changes the car's suspension geometry.
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