TECH: Camaro Clip in your 58 chevy-in one day!

Thanks Jaws, just dicovered photo bucket so here go's again with some pics of the firebird clip squared & tacked. Still need to mount A arms, spindle & rotors then remount wheels, & have another look with complete front clip re attached. The wheels should end up exactly where they were mocked up on shown on post #389. but.... we used the center of the shock hole to measure up? hopefully thats ok??

 

Is there any good refrences as far as the different styles of subframes, such as the A, G bodies? SOmething that might include frame width, rotor to rotor widths, etc?

Great read regardless. A LOT of good info here!

 

Check here.

 

Thanks Texas Highlander! Exactly what i needed!

 

what a great idea... Lux Blue, thank you for the insightful and well done thread. kudos to you! as straightforward a swap as this is, when done with your methodology, it is still possible to customize the end result. the camaro clip in my old truck more resembles those of Toad Frog's, Duffman's and Mad Cad's in relationship between the "rise" of the clip coming out of the flat part of the flat frame's top edbe just forward of the frt cab mounts, which leads me to my .002$.
i am working away from home at the moment, and cannot offer much more than .002$, yet i seem to remember a measurement of 30 something inches from the shockmount center to the cab-mount center. i too was worried about alignment issues with respect to the front end and was concerned with the "as purchased" fit of the camaro clip. i only became wary of it when i could see the relationshipof the bottom rail of the caro clip in relation to the bottom edge of the truck's frame. after quite a bit of study, the conclusion i came up with was that the two should be paralel to each other in order to allow reasonably affordable alignment down the road(pun intended!). the layout with the camaro's top of frame, where the uca"s mount are almost identical in shape and form to to the three i mentioned, and thank you for quelling my fears of it all. i have used the camaro/generic sbc mounts to install a temporary engine, followed by a msd HEI, and found there was upwards of 3/4" of clearance from the stock untouched firewall.

as mentioned earlier, just my two cents and a HUGE thank-you to all, especially LUX, Toad, and Mad Cad.
keep up the cool posts!

 

Just found this thread. Yesterday I drug home a pile of a '59 Chevy Truck with a Camaro clip already installed (incorrectly!!!!!!!!). So this thread will come in handy. Thanks for all the info posted. I am sure I will be posting some questions before long.


DuckusCrapus

 

"we used the center of the shock hole to measure up?"

...I'm thinkin the top shock hole is not the centerline thru the wheel, I almost positive it ain't....better re-check that.
...here's a clip I did, note the line drawn on the drivers side upper A-frame; it's ahead of the shock.

 

that's correct, it isnt. however, since the rails themselves are different from side to side, and the upper control arm mounts are welded on after all is said and done, I prefer to use them because the are the most consistent measuring point on the clip. not to mention that the spindle center moves around with the alignment shims.

 

I saw your picture on how you cut your truck / Camaro frame. This might offer a solution on how to connect the two halves. After doing literally hundreds of these swaps since 1975, I figured why not bolt one on. But boy was it alot of work!!!!

 

Ok here's the before and after pics using lux blue's method of putting the frame clip in and an axle flip out back,I'm happy with the results,might do some lowered springs up front and a lowering block out back ,we'll see!
Before

After

 

That looks nice & level also a great driver height, whats the current rocker measurement?

 

looks killer dude! really great upgrade, got a 56' panel you can do if ya want! hahahaha!

 

Drove it about at a show down in Moab Utah this weekend ,smooth ride, the suspension settled more on the front. The rocker panel is about 4.5-5 inches from the floor.
Its going to be fun running around in the Apache this summer.

 

saw you cruisin. stance and bed look awesome.

 

don't forget about the 75'-79' nova's as they share same subframe and are usually cheaper. anyone have any pic's of using stock pedal assembly uner their clipped TF truck. this thread for sure is a killer reference source for doing the upgrade, thanks to all that have contributed to it so far.

 

LUX, this has been super helpful! I have a 78 (if I remember correctly) camaro clip that I have been trying to convince myself to splice into my 55 Chevy 2nd series using "No Limits" method but a few things just kept signaling me that "a whole lot more weld surface would be a good thing" plus the the amount of extra fab that seems to be involved with them just had me raising a brow or two. Plus I think their way looks ugly at the new to old splice (just my opinion). Your way looks factory. All that said and done, I'll more than likely be starting this in the fall after the last cruise. Thanks again! And keep posting pics people! Great job!

 

hey i have a 58 chevy apache longbed. Im gonna do this to mine. it all makes good sense, but i was wanting to know if you have to cut away the clutch assembly? im puttung a 5 speed tranny from a 90 chevy full size truck in it. Iwould like to keep the original pedal and assembly. i know i have to fab up a new linkage for it though, i just wanna start the fabricating from that pivit point back.

Thanks

 

great job but were did you get the bearing for the column it looks almost like a perfect fit?

 

Its on the first page.

"I came across these little jewels-the bottom support bearing from a 69 chevy pickup. now, I know every one of you knows where somewhere there is a 67-73 chevy truck"

I used this and it is a perfect fit, hope to be able to post my clipped truck soon as we used this Tech article to show how it should be done.

P.

 

I bought the smallest of the shelf bearing with a 3/4" ID, a circlip & had a step bush made at my local little machine shop. Press the bearing into the bush then tap into the column tube.

 

currently installing a 78 camaro clip on my 57 swb small window, wandering how much should be added to the overall measurement to center the wheel better. thanks

 

The prevous posts in this thread could give you an idea, Its up to your own preference, I went 3/4" on my 56 but the 58-59 boys go up around the 1.5" mark.

 

l am a firm beliver of the camaro/nova sub-frames.

my buddy has done over a couple hundred in the 20+ years l have known him. he did my 48 dodge truck in 1994 and l have never had any problems. take your hands off the wheel at 60 MPH and she is straight and true down the freeway.

like all major modifactions, ya just have to know what you are doing.


Later

 

Steering column update!!

I took the upper bearing out of another 55-59 column I had and put it in the bottom of the tube. The bearing OD is coated with rubber so I shaved a bit off with a file and drove it into the tube. I then took a 3/4 washer and tacked it to the shaft with the steering wheel spring compressed. I had a newer tilt column with the square/round shaft that matched the rag joint yoke. I cut probably a little over a inch off the column shaft, flattened two sides of the 3/4" shaft of the 59 column with a grinder. I then knocked the square/round stub onto the 3/4" 59 shaft, drilled the hole and welded the very end of it. LMC sells the upper bearing so they are easy to come by.

 

So did you weld it up as in the pictures on post 392 or did you relocate the sub frame after you mocked it up ?

thanks

 

No I ran into clearance issues with the F body sway bar & the GMC rad support crossmember, I ended up trimming a little more off the frame rails to end up with 3/4" stretch, still looks good.

 

Has anyone had any issues with having to C-notch the middle crossmember under the cab for the drive shaft? I still have the straight axle under mine (for now ) but have already moved the rear end on top of the leafs, but still need to C-notch that crossmember for clearance, even with air shocks. Also, I will be using a PRC Radiator support/radiator with dual fans. Has anyone done this with the camaro and will I have to hack up that pretty stainless radiator support for the steering box?

 

finally got mine done the lux blue way.love it sits 4 1/2 inches from the ground only problem i notice was not much clearance for steering anybody else have that issue? thinking about trimming the fender lips

 

I have the same problem with mine. I love the stance but get some tire scrub when turning. I originally had 2" hotchkis lowering springs and changed them out for a new set of stockers. Better but i still could use a 1/2" im going to try rolling (peening) my fenders in as they are about an inch wide.

Red Foreman... I had the same issue with my gmc. I ended up cutting the dropped section of the radiator support off, im not sure why they designed uit that way but now its straight across and eliminated all issues with steering and sway bar.

The only problem i have now is that my new power ms brake pedal is sticking and brakes are dragging. the return spring is plenty heavy enough, Does anyone have ideas ?

 

Are there any castor concerns when doing this application? What degree to ensure the front spindles are at when installing? Where is a good place to take a good measurement from?