The El Camino's owner, Bernie DeMarkey, told us he was prepared to sacrifice a smooth ride in the name of performance...and was glad to find that he didn't have to. "The ride quality is much better than before," he reported. "The car's solid, but not abrupt when it hits bumps," he continued. "The body lean is totally gone, and so is that 'floaty' feel." DeMarkey summed up his revised ride by saying, "We've updated the overall feel of the car to what we're driving today."
As performed by Hotchkis Installation Center lead wrench Corey Bedortha, installing the TVS on this A-body took roughly a day, less alignment and pinion-angle setup. We mention the issue of alignment on purpose. According to Bedortha, the factory rear suspensions setups couldn't really handle the power being put through them, "so they made the front end not bite." Factory toe-in was set at 51/416 inch; Bedortha set it to 11/416 inch with the TVS. The General also endowed the Elky with positive camber, 0-0.5 degree's worth; the new setting is -0.7 degree. Factory caster, on the other hand, was negative (-1.5 degrees). Bedortha set it to +1.9 degrees, which he told us was the best he could get. To see more improvement, we need more positive caster and negative camber.
And that's where we'll end Part I of our quest to create and agile Elky. Installing the Hotchkis TVS system radically improved this musclecar's handling and ride quality, but our alignment options are limited by the stock spindles and control arms. In Part II, we'll address this issue with Hotchkis' B-body spindle conversion, as well as its brand-spanking-new upper and lower control arms. The spindle setup provides new 12-inch front disc brakes-to this we'll add a True Connections rear disc kit. We'll of course hit the test track again and bring you the numbers. See you then.
HPS100 shocks (left) are valved by Hotchkis and made by Bilstein. "They're not a compromise," Hotchkis told us. "They work well and last long." Most importantly, in keeping with the TVS concept, they're designed to work as part of the overall package. | 
Ditto the Sport springs, which also dropped the front of this Elky an inch. "We increase the spring rate for a sport/performance ride," Hotchkis explained. If you're thinking the new spring looks more than an inch shorter that the stocker, you're right...and it's irrelevant. "You can't tell a spring by its static, free length," Hotchkis continued. "You want the force at load height." The new spring is shorter but compresses less. | 
Moving to the Elky's posterior, some slight gymnastics were required to remove the used dampers. The mounting bolts must be held with a wrench above the mount while the nuts are removed from below. Again, use caution-or call on an expert-while removing the rear springs. |
This El Camino's owner chose to outfit his new rear springs-which drop the rear an inch-with Hotchkis' Air Bag Kit. The 'bags can be used to improve launches at the strip, and they improve the car's weight-carrying capacity. | 
These double-adjustable upper trailing arms are one of the newest additions to Hotchkis' suspension lineup. These beefy pieces facilitate pinion-angle adjustment via left- and right-hand threads, in turn reducing vibration and improving traction. Bedortha obtained a starting length by measuring the stock arms, then setting the replacements to match. | 
Once mounted, the beefy, 1 1/2-inch billet aluminum center section stands out. Less visible, but just as important, are the Swivel-Max bushings contained in the Hotchkis upper trailing arms. According to John Hotchkis, these pivot bushings exploit the benefits of polyurethane-and avoid suspension bind-by allowing "a little" side-to-side movement, but no fore-and-aft movement. |