How To Improve Your El Camino Ride with Aldan Coilover Kit
Our friend Gary recently lent us his original 1969 El Camino SS 396 for a suspension install feature with Chevy High Performance Magazine.
Gary’s owned this 69′ El Camino for several years and was looking to drive it more, but wanted a better ride and a lower stance from what was originally on the vehicle. Being an original 396 SS car – having a bolt-on coilover design was a plus for this retrofit and suspension upgrade.
Our new GM coilover shock kits are designed for direct fitment onto OEM chassis that are begging to have a better ride. The El Camino suspension kit for this build will fit 1968-1972 El Caminos (Give us a call for other years 1964-1988).
We started with our front coilover setup and replaced the factory (stock) shocks and springs with our Phantom Series, GM coilover conversion kit. Our El Camino kit will allow adjustment up to 2.0” lower than stock and is a perfect solution if you’re upgrading control arms, running drop spindles, or keeping your stock control arms/spindles and looking to lower your ride. Our front hybrid-style coil springs are designed to seat into the OEM upper spring pocket as well as use the factory upper shock mount locations. For the lower front shock mount, Aldan GM coilovers come with all of the hardware needed to bolt to your lower control arms. We ran our big block front kit with a 550lb spring rate for this install (Part #AB2FHS).
Once the front coilovers were installed, wheels & tires were back on – We started on the rear shocks and springs on the El Camino.
For the rear, we were looking to add adjustable ride-height and shock valving to improve the ride and add additional tunability to the rear suspension. Gary drives hi El Camino on the street the majority of the time, but he was also wanted to have a well rounded package for the occasional drag strip or autocross race with this new suspension setup. We ended up going with our single adjustable, mid spring rate kit for this install (Part # ABRMS). Aldan rear brackets are designed to bolt to the factory axle and trailing arms. This setup allows the lower coilovers to be mounted inboard on the chassis for additional clearance for big brake kits and wider wheel sizes.
Aldan upper rear coilover brackets for the El Camino and GM A-Body cars provide a wider surface area adding additional strength and support to the upper shock tower. Our brackets are setup to run our eyelet style coilover shocks for even greater strength and support.
With the coilovers installed, it’s time to get this El Camino back on the ground and off to get aligned. Stay tuned in Chevy High Performance and here at Aldan for more details on Gay’s 69’ El Camino.
See our full line of El Camino suspension here: Aldan Coilover Kits for the Chevrolet El Camino