1970 Kingswood

They can do custom springs as well for not much more than off the shelf springs. For what it is worth, the lowering springs I put in my old Saturn wagon were not rated for the wagon either. They worked fine for 8 years and a lot of heavy loads. I think they are mostly concerned about people towing things and hauling really heavy loads.

 

I was looking at classic performance lowering springs and asked them letting them know I’d only be hauling people and they said they still don’t recommend it.

 

I called and they said they would have to make them. He said it would take 1-2 weeks to make. I asked him to send an estimate over for front drop of 1.5 and rear drop of 1” including shocks.

 

Sometimes all it takes is finding the right person.

 

So after a couple weeks I haven’t heard anything from that company about making me springs. So this weekends plan is to replace the shocks front and back.

I also plan to run new spark plug wires along with new shorty spark plugs. The first set of spark plugs I make were when I had the original style valve covers. The new valve covers are taller and make the wires on the distributor tight and I think it’s causing an intermittent miss.

I’ve decided to run them under the headers after replacing the standard length spark plugs with the shorty plugs. I don’t know how many miles are on the current plugs so that will give me a new baseline.

I also found an ignition coil bracket that I plan on mounting to the firewall to clean the engine compartment up.

If all goes well I should have it done this weekend.

 

Got the shocks changed out last night and replaced all the spark plugs.

 

Always feels good to make some progress.

 

In some instances on GM engines, running wires under exhaust manifolds or headers is a very good idea, especially if you use grounded heat shield tubes on the plug ends.

 

Hey everyone!
I got the front and rear shocks replaced. I haven't driven it yet and ill get into that next. The car feels alot more solid. The driver side rear of the car is still squatting pretty bad. Enough that the section of tire from rim to top of tire is hidden in the wheel well. So I went back and sent EATON Detroit Spring another email and I heard back this time. There are some details I want to work out with them before placing the order but they said it would take them a week to make them.

So onto the reason I haven't driven it yet. So the plug wires I ordered were made for a distributor that has points like a spark plug. The only problem with putting the old plug wires is that number 7 cylinder is the worst access plug with these headers and I accidentally tore the plug wire boot. I planned on upgrading the ignition system one day but I guess that day will be here sooner than later.

So since I couldn't get the wires finished I at least connected them to the new shorty spark plugs and tried a few different ways of how I want to run them. The shorty spark plugs are definitely going to be the only plugs I use anymore. I can still get my thumb on the plug wire to push them on. So I don't like how the wires run under the headers because its just too close and I don't want to have a plug wire rub on the headers and cause problems later. One company I worked for had a dodge Dakota that a plug wire sat on the manifold and melted and killed the engine. Luckily there was still connection from the distributor to plug I was able to re-route it and make it back to the shop. I just don't want to deal with that so Im gonna run them up and just under the valve covers and around the back of the engine. Ill get some pictures of where its at this weekend.

On another note I found a new job and brought the tool box home. Just need to reorganize some things so I can open the drawers. Heres a few pics.

 

On SBC's with ram's horn exhaust manifolds they ran the plug wires down and up from the bottom. I recall clips on the oil pan rail for to hold the plug wires in place. That is how our '67 Biscayne is set up.

 

I’ve seen the ram horns looking on manufacturers website but I’ve got pretty much block hugger style. They aren’t specifically made for my car i just made them work.

 

Then you need the clips for later 305-350-400 V8s that attach to the outside valve cover rails, but doing that requires long enough wires to be able to curl around to drop down to the spark plugs.

 

I got all the new parts in. Went with MSD the black line. Not a huge fan of red. I got the distributor in and found firewall mount for the coil. Found a spot for that and plan on using threaded inserts for the mounting. Gonna use some windshield sealant when I put the inserts in to prevent water intrusion into the interior. I attached pictures of how I plan on routing the spark plug wires.

The only real issue is to find a spot for the MSD ignition module. On my buddies 55 bel air he doesn’t have a/c so we mounted it to the passenger side firewall. I have a/c and it takes up that whole side of the passenger firewall. I’d rather not mount it to the driver side firewall because I don’t want to run all that wiring to the passenger side. One place I found is an area between the battery tray and the inner fender but it’s not completely flat but I could make it work. MSD doesn’t recommend putting it in the glovebox area and with it being an a/c car that kinda gets in the way also. There might be an area between the battery and radiator support but I don’t know if I want the battery that close. I’ll have to play around with it this weekend. I know I have enough cable to go from the distributor to the ignition module but one of my concerns is from the module to the coil.

 

Realistically, you *can* mount it to the firewall, to make the coil secondary lead as short as possible, but in the grand scheme of things, that lead length does not matter. You could mount the controller and coil in the spare tire well, and run a custom secondary lead back to the dizzy, and the engine will still run well. I would go ahead and mount both the coil and box on the passenger inner fender well, as it looks like there's a fair amount of real estate. That way, your inserts don't require sealing, there are no holes in the firewall at all, the coil and box are next to each other for a 'clean' install, and the two are within easy reach for maintenance or diagnosis/repair.

BTW, excellent wire install, that's how GM did it in the late Seventies through the Eighties.

 

Thanks Silvertwinkiehobo! I’m gonna see how much wire came with the ignition module and try a few spots tonight. If I remember there are two wires that need to reach the coil. The distributor has its own harness and its 6ft so no worries there. I don’t plan on running a tach so it’s really only the coil wires I need to worry about. I’ll put up some pictures tonight with ideas of where I can put the module. Then I’m gonna try and mount the coil bracket and build the rest of the plug wires.