1968 Chevy Nova Project Car - Turning Over A New Leaf

Those beefy 5/8-inch U-bolts are way stronger than those little 7/16-inch T-bolts on the old 10-bolt axle. Early on, we wondered how well things would work out by ordering a 12-bolt from Moser, and mating it to the spring kit from CPP, but everybody was on the same sheet of music and it came together without fanfare.

As with the body bushings and sleeves, lube up the eyelet bushings, pound them in with a hammer, and do the same with the steel sleeves. This happens four times-front and rear eyelets for both springs. Note that the rubber ones go in the front, and the urethane ones go in the rear.

Prepare the rear spring eyelets with the steel shackles and fasteners, which are included with the CPP kit. The shackle allows the necessary degree of freedom for the spring to elongate as the rear axle goes through its range of motion. There is no shackle on the front of a leaf-spring system because the spring length between the axle and the front spring mount keeps the axle square to the body and even with the prop shaft.

Our reconditioned front spring pockets are then attached to the front of the leaf springs, and the bolt is temporarily snugged to its limit. You'll want to use a cutoff wheel to trim the excess length of bolt because once the pocket is attached to the car, it will be impossible to remove the front spring bolt with the clearance that remains.

Almost there! Whether you're doing this at home on jackstands, or you've got a lift at your disposal, you'll still need an extra set of hands to maneuver the axle/leaf-spring assembly into place.

The cool thing about the CPP spring kit is that it comes with all-new fasteners, including those for the front spring pockets. You can now see why it's a lot easier to assemble everything off the car-it minimizes the time you spend on your back when putting the rearend back in the car.

Slip the shackle bolts through the new rear bushings sleeves that you already installed. Don't snug anything up until all four corners are safely attached. It'll make things easier as you jockey the springs and rearend into place.

Mount the shocks into place, tighten everything up, and you'll be done-unless you've still got to put the axles in and mount the brakes like us! We'll cover that in an upcoming issue.

The rear of Project Nova is now ready for battle, thanks to a rugged Moser 12-bolt (with 3.08 gears and a Wavetrac differential from Autotech Driveline) and some beefcake multileaf Sport springs from Classic Performance Products!