couple of rookie questions here....

what would be the best way to lower an '88 B2200?would it be best to go with drop spindles or the uper or lower arms?also, is there any companies that offer a bolt in small block chevy mount? I have found the ones at Summit racing for the 302 Ford and just wanted to see if there were any other options

For the front you can crank the torsion bars to drop it.. will ride a little rougher but it's the most common (and free)

http://www.truckperformance.com has great pricing on DJM/Belltech spindles though.. they'd maintain ride quality and not cause camber problems. Also, spindles would help you later down the road if wanting to lay frame on larger wheels.

For the rear, simple angled drop blocks.. and you could remove a leaf even..

I pretty much just want to have it lowered for a little while just to pass safety in my area once i get a motor in the thing, then its back off the road to get bagged probably by next summer

use the torsion bars for the front... (free) and then buy some drop blocks for the back...(50 dollars or so) blocks come in 1"-4" of drop

4" Angled Drop blocks:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/Billet-4-Angled-Lowering-Block-Kit-4-most-mini-trucks_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQcategoryZ33586QQihZ002QQitemZ120030345350QQrdZ1

Sent you an im

guess I forgot to mention my plans here, sorry about that...
I'm talking about when its getting bagged, would it be better to use the control arms or the spindles to keep the camber to a minimum

well it all depends on what your planning wheel size wise and stuff like that inform us with some more info so we can give the most acurate advice possible.. not trying to be a dick but its true the more info the better especially when it comes to wheel and tire size body drop or no body drop etc etc

tires are going to be 18's with a 35 series or whatever is close to stock, not really worried about the bd, if anything it will be a stock floor instead

spindles are a waste of money unless you are going to be going bigger than 18. If you trim out the lower arm when you bag it, you can lay frame ust fine on 215/35/18.

Ricky is right, turn the torsions, take out a leaf in the back, use an angled block.

If you want to go really low in the front without too much camber, unbolt the upper balljoint from its position on the bottom of the a arm and move it to the top side of the upper arm.

Then unbolt the lower balljoint from its position on the lower arm and move it to the top of the lower arm. You will have to grind or cut a small hump from the arm to allow the balljoint to sit flat, then grind the underside of the arm to allow you to get the bolts in from the bottom side.

Moving the lower balljoint to the top of the arm lets you roll about an inch lower without changing the suspension geometry, not even the shock angle, so your shocks wont bottom out.

Moving the upper balljoint to the top of the upper arm changes the geometry of upper balljoint and gives you less camber even though you are rolling lower.


You should also reindex the torsion bars to keep from dragging them on the ground. Lowering the truck with the torsions makes the adjuster hang lower than the frame. So what you do is:

Put the truck on jackstands. Loosen the torsion adjusters all the way. On the control arm, where the torsion slides into the arm, take some marking paint and mark both the torsion bar and where the torsion bar slides in. This is your reference mark. Slide the torsion bar out of the lower arm and turn it "looser" (the direction that the adjuster would make the bar lower, it will be opposite for each side) a cople of splines, like 4-5. Now when you put the adjuster back on, you will have to tighten the adjuster almost all the way to get the truck just a few inches off the ground. This only takes like 20 minutes to do both sides, and is way better than trying to figure out how to lift the truck back up after you drug your adjuster off on a driveway ramp.