ot rodders and racers of all sorts have long understood the advantages to coilover suspension: the spring rate can be easily changed, the shock absorbers are available with fixed, single- and double-adjustable damping characteristics, and ride height can be quickly altered. While coilovers are often found on a variety of vehicles, it was always considered too difficult to retrofit vehicles that came equipped with coil springs from the factory. That all changed with the availability of what can best be described as hybrid coilover kits, like those available from Aldan American.

Aldan has been a leading manufacturer of suspension components for well over 40 years. All their shocks and coilover kits are manufactured in the U.S. from lightweight, high-strength 6061-T6 billet aluminum, which makes them incredibly strong and light weight. All use low-friction Viton seals and O-rings, the shock’s shafts are heat-treated, chromed, and finish ground before final assembly to reduce seal friction. All shocks are fully serviceable and rebuildable and come with Aldan’s 100 percent satisfaction guarantee. Now, along with shock absorbers and conventional coilovers, Aldan’s product line includes retrofit coilover kits for a long list of IFS-equipped cars.

What makes these coilover conversion kits work are the unique coil springs that fit into the car’s original upper spring pockets in the chassis on one end, with small-diameter “pig tails” that fit onto the shock’s threaded adjusters on the other. Like conventional coilover springs, these conversion springs are available in a wide variety of spring rates to provide the ride and handling qualities to fit your specific application. One of Aldan’s coilover kits that caught our attention was PN 300134 that fits ’58-70 fullsize Chevrolets and ’63-82 Corvettes—just what we needed for our split-window Vette project.

t’s not like you woke up one morning and told yourself “I’m going to become an engine builder.” That’s rarely how it starts. It more often begins when you find yourself buying a torque wrench, a dial caliper, or maybe a universal piston ring compressor. Pretty soon, there’s a growing collection of gear in your tool cabinet, but to do the job correctly, you know you need to get serious, and that demands better tools.

We thought it would be worth the effort to assemble a collection of the popular LS engine building tools that any self-respecting master of the micrometer should have in his or her possession. This is not a complete set of ideas but rather a collection of the tools that experience shows are necessary for this next-generation small-block Chevy.

The initial part of our list covers the basics that everyone needs to accomplish the barest of engine assembly tasks. A few of the more specialized items can be considered universal items like ring grinders and cam degree components, while the majority will aim specifically at the LS engine family.

Fill’er Up!

By TOMMY LEE BYRD Photography by The Author

f you’ve ever daily driven an old car, then you know about the perpetual repair and maintenance process. The more you drive it, the more issues you’ll uncover, but there comes a point where things settle down and you can just turn the key and go. Our example is a ’77 Chevy Nova, which you’ve seen before on the pages of All Chevy Performance in other tech articles. We addressed the brakes in previous installments and now we’re moving onto the fuel system. The car runs and drives great, but one look under the rear was enough to tell us the fuel system needed some attention.

The rust and crust had accumulated to a great degree, but our initial hope was that the inside of the tank was clean. That hope went away when the car’s fuel gauge suddenly started reading incorrectly due to an issue with the sending unit. After running out of gas on two occasions when the gauge read a quarter tank, we decided it was time to make a call to Classic Industries and get some new parts on the way. A new gas tank (PN FT2007A) would ensure a fresh supply of gas would make its way into our malaise era small-block. We added new straps (PN FT1103B), an anti-squeak rubber set (PN UK915) and a new sending unit (PN 25000309). Four feet of 3/8-inch rubber hose from the local parts store gave us enough material to replace all rubber in the fuel system, and we also picked up a new Wix fuel filter and gas cap while we were there.

We had a couple of options for the type of sending unit: a single line and a dual line, which is used for a return-style system. The return-style system was a relatively new concept in the ’70s and still utilized a mechanical fuel pump. Since we replaced the original fuel pump with a standard single-line mechanical pump for an older application, we went with the single-line sending unit. The dual-line sending unit would be a great drop-in option if you wanted to upgrade to EFI.