cobalt

So I have been looking at some tubs of different years needing work and i am trying to determine what changes were made over the years. It appears the 70 tub has the shock towers setup so the shocks run 90 degrees straight down while the 72 seems to have a slight cant towards the rear of the car maybe 5 degrees or more.

Is there a source that will give the specific changes made to these cars over this years?

Bill Verburg

The change came in '72 for the 2.4 E series and is the opposite of what you posted above

Prior to the E series the shock angle back from the side view, This resulted in a compound movement, Both the top and bottom mounts were moved to eliminate the rear tilt

At the same time the top mount was moved inward, from the front view the angle of the shock increased(became less vertical) and more closely followed the articulation of the trailing arm.

cobalt

Edit:

I have to revisit this. I have 5 tubs to look at later all 72's. 3T's an E and an S. I am being told all measure the same. And that the early 70 tub is more straight up and down and the 72's angle slightly. I will see if I can get some photos and post.

Bill Verburg

Let us know what you find
I believe that the early tubes back angle is a consequence of the longer trailing arms introduced in '69
The semi-trailing arm was changed in '72 for all

Bill Verburg

Here's the only factory spec I can find, it applies to '72 up

cobalt

The 72 tubs all measure correctly and the fixtures work perfectly. It is the 70 tub that is giving us problems but were working through it. The fixtures we have for the 70 rear shock towers are definitely off which has been the source of the problem. Most of the tubs with torsion tube issues are pre 69 or 72 on up. I haven't done one of these since the 71E and that was back in the 1970's. Don't recall much from then regarding what we did to replace it.