hevrolet had a good thing going when it spruced up the Chevy II platform in 1966. Even though the early cars were stylish and cool, the two-year run in 1966 and 1967 had one of Chevrolet’s finest body styles. However, there were quite a few carryover items from those earlier designs that made it into the redesigned platform. One of the major items is the front suspension, which features a coil spring that rides on top of the upper control arm. The real drawback to this design was the lower control arm, which was a very small unit with only one mounting point on the chassis. It was braced by a strut rod, which ran at an angle to add strength to the otherwise-flimsy control arm.

1962-67 Chevy IIs have a reputation for darting under braking and other unfavorable characteristics, such as inconsistent suspension alignment. The flaws of this design are amplified by age, as worn or cracked rubber bushings allow the front suspension to flex and provide unpredictable handling. Our ’66 Chevy II project car had all of the signs of a worn-out front suspension, and it was time for an upgrade. We could’ve easily replaced all the bushings with stock equipment and been back on the road, but we wanted a long-lasting upgrade that would eliminate a major problem area. For that, we called Classic Performance Products (CPP) and ordered a MINI Sub-Frame Kit, which includes a custom 1/4-inch steel crossmember and tubular lower control arms to improve the front suspension geometry and remove the pesky strut rods altogether.

CPP’s MINI Sub-Frame Kit (PN 6267TCA-KB) is a bolt-on system that uses existing holes in the framerails for mounting the subframe. The A-frame–style control arm features two mounting points: one that bolts to the original control arm mount and one that bolts to the CPP MINI Sub-Frame crossmember. It’s a simple solution to a 60-year-old problem, and it’s something that can be installed in the comfort of your home garage and be back on the road by the end of the weekend. Additional benefits are increased ground clearance, more stability, and an additional adjustment point for alignment.

There are many ways to upgrade the suspension, in addition to the MINI Sub-Frame Kit. We chose to also upgrade to CPP’s tubular upper control arms (PN 6267TCA-UKB). This is an obvious upgrade to the flimsy stamped steel arms, but it also saved us lots of time, as they were already set up with new bushings and ball joints. The best part? The MINI Sub-Frame Kit and tubular upper control arms are relatively affordable and you can get a deluxe kit with new springs, shocks, and more for a little more scratch as well (check classicperform.com for pricing). CPP also offers coilover kits, sway bars, and many other suspension components for early Chevy IIs, but we kept it simple this time around.

The next time you see this project, we’ll be converting it from manual drum brakes with a single-pot master cylinder to a CPP power disc brake kit. Stay tuned as we take this sleepy project and put it back on the road.

2. A two-post lift is the ideal situation for this front suspension rebuild, but we’re tackling it in the comfort of our home garage. Using a regular floor jack, we lift the front of the car and secure it with jackstands placed behind the engine, leaving plenty of room to move around underneath the car.

4. The strut rods are the next item on our to-do list. We remove the two bolts and nuts that attach the rod to the lower control arm. Then, we use an impact to remove the large nut that holds the rod to the frame.

6. A mini sledgehammer and a fork are typically necessary to break the ball joint loose from the spindle. Always leave the nut loosely installed to keep the suspension contained. Then, once it’s broken loose, you can put a jack under the control arm to carefully remove the nut and lower the arm.

8. Although this step is covered in only one photograph, it’s the most time-consuming portion of the install. In order to install the CPP MINI Sub-Frame kit, we must remove the rivets that hold the strut rod brackets to the framerails. An air chisel works well, but you can also drill out the original rivets.

10. After flattening out the areas where we chiseled the rivets out, we test-fit the MINI Sub-Frame plate and ensured proper bolt alignment. The kit comes complete with Grade 8 bolts, nuts, and washers, which utilize the existing holes that were once occupied by rivets.

12. Before we completely tighten the heavy plate crossmember, we decided to install the lower control arms. We did this because the front portion of the control arm attaches to the new CPP crossmember, and the rear portion of the control arm attaches to the original mount, so it needed some wiggle room for proper alignment.

14. Next, the lower control arm bolts and nuts are “snugged.” It’s important to wait to fully tighten the lower control arm hardware until the car has weight on it, so the bushing isn’t pre-loaded when the car is lowered off the jack.

16. The CPP 6267TCA-UKB tubular upper control arms are an easy install and the perfect upgrade for this MINI Sub-Frame kit. The arms are heavily built with specially designed cross shafts and they’re powdercoated for durability.

18. Reassembly is often a two-man job, but the first step is positioning the spring into its pocket. Once it is indexed properly in the retainer plate, we can install the control arm.

20. A socket with a long extension is used to reach the upper control arm bolt. The locking nut inside the engine bay is held with a wrench while we snug these bolts with an impact.

22. We tighten the lower ball joint and then give it a couple more bumps to line up the hole for the cotter pin.

24. Now, the shock can be dropped in from the top side and reinstalled using the original towers. The bottom of the shock attaches to the spring perch with the two original bolts.

26. The CPP MINI Sub-Frame kit comes with eccentric washers, which allow for vastly improved adjustment compared to the original lower control arm. The main function of these washers is to adjust caster and camber, but the wide range of adjustment can affect the toe, so it’s important to have the car professionally aligned after you “eyeball” it in the shop.