Besides the improved geometry, the new control arms are stronger and look a ton better than the tired GM parts. The CPP control arms come with new ball joints installed as well as new bushings. The bushings are made from self-lubricating non-squeak patented plastic that CPP claims will outlast any rubber or urethane. They will keep working even at temperatures in excess of 400 degrees F.
We then put the upper control arms in place. One nice thing about these control arms is that the chrome-moly cross shafts and sleeves are zinc plated for corrosion resistance. The sleeves also have an interlocking design that prevents the hardware from ever working loose, and the pivots carry both forward and back loads (the original cross shaft pivot was designed to only carry a forward or back load, but not both).
 After a bit of work, the old...  After a bit of work, the old parts were off the car. We hung the caliper from the frame rather then remove it from the car. This is also the best time to rattle can some fresh paint onto the frame. |  Our Nova already had drop...  Our Nova already had drop spindles, so we went with a stock height front spring (PN FCS638-S, $95). They may look like the stockers we removed, but the linear rate springs haven't been beaten down from 39 years of road duties. |  Sometimes the header tubes...  Sometimes the header tubes can interfere with the main mounting bolts for the upper control arms. When we were pulling the original upper arms, we had to cut this bolt, so when we put the new ones on we made sure to use a slightly shorter fastener. |
 After attaching the supplied...  After attaching the supplied bump stop to the lower control arm, we bolted it to the frame using the Grade 8 bolts that came in the kit. |  Lastly, we tightened down...  Lastly, we tightened down the castle nuts and cotter pinned everything in place. |  With the new spring in place,...  With the new spring in place, we used a pole jack to raise the lower control arm, compress the spring, and get the ball joint back on the spindle. As always, exercise caution when compressing the spring. |