Ok I went the classic Edlebrock shock route, thanks guys for all the input last time around. The car handles so much better than the old KYBs that were on the car.
So I no I ordered all the correct shocks bet here are the minor issues I ran into and noticed.
When I installed the front shocks I jacked the car up from the front side frame rails and took one tire off at a time, then also had a jack stand under the front frame rail in front of the K frame for safety.
I guess with this process becuase the rotors weight and t-bars etc the suspension is in the fully extended mode. So when I took the old front shocks off not a gig deal, but I noticed the eddys are a little shorter and very fat too. I had a little bit of a tuff time snaking them in but they fit. You do need to either put a jack under the rotor to lift the suspension or put the tire back on and out some weight back on the front suspension(this is what I did) for the shock to come throgh the top mount.
So these shocks are at least 1" shorter, which is OK since unless you are airborne the car should never need to extend that far.
Overall fronts very easy job.
OK onto the rear,, 1st off man I need to get my other garage done with a lift, being almost 50 and a bad knee and on your back sucks.!:) I aint 25 any more
So same process jacked up one side from rear side frame rail, placed a stand under the axle portion of the diff, took off the nut on bottom 1st, then with a ratchet and a long wrench to hold the back side nut I cranked the bolt back off from the front. Tight spot to get to on your back, I took the tires off in the rear too for more room.
Well now this is where it gets tricky.. The topt of the shock comes with a metal insert sleave that goes into the rubber gromet. The metal it turns out and the rubber was more than 3/8" to wide to fit into the top of the mount. They are the correct shocks I repeat. So I looked at the old shocks, measured and then marked the metal inserts and grround them down, I had to repeat the process several times since I did not want to make them to loose. So after they were ground to a tight fit, I also had to grind some of the rubber gromet back, just a little, then put the sleave in the gromet and put the shocks in place and re-installed top 1st, leave loose then slide onthe bottom then tighten all down.
I found a slight amount of grease on the bushings helps a bunch too.
Well since I also did the new tires today at the same time, the combo of the shocks and tires handles so much better!
I did drive with the old 14s on the car and the front shocks only 1st. You could tell even with the old 70 series 14s that the cornering was so much flatter.
But with new 15s 60 series 245 and 235s on 15s and all 4 new shocks, with the factory front and factory rear over the top style sway bar, car rides and handles dang good! I am very impressed for a 40 year old technology car. Corners very very flat no roll to speak of.
In conclusion was curious if others had this issue on rear shock installs from Edlebrock? Maybe they nmake the pins longer and later years like a Challenger that have access plugs in the trunk need a longer sleave? I dont know..
But I made it work..
