While the first-generation Camaro was every bit the equal of the Mustang in terms of engineering, performance enthusiasts and hot rodders everywhere immediately asked, "Why did they put the rear shock absorbers on the outside of the framerails?"
Performance Differential's relocation kit includes a weld-in shock-mount crossmember, U-bolts with nuts, lower shock-mounting plates, shock studs, all fasteners, and quality Monroe shock absorbers. The price is $249.95 plus shipping, and the kit adapts to a 10-bolt, 12-bolt, or 9-inch Ford axle. Cars equipped with traction bars require owner-fabricated lower shock plates; purchase the tubular crossmember only for $119.95 plus shipping.
No doubt, it was part of a well-thought plan to minimize squat and roll characteristics. The problem is that the shocks are already in very close proximity to the sidewalls of the meager factory-issue rubber. So slicks or wider-than-stock wheels make contact problems inevitable. Over the past 32 years, hot rodders have found ways around this problem by using deep-dish, positive-offset wheels or (gulp!) aluminum spacers.
Now, there's a neat new kit for the '67-'69 Camaro/Firebird, which relocates the shocks inboard where they should have been in the first place. To evaluate this new offering, we rounded up one well-used '67 Camaro and asked Performance Differential proprietor, Jim Cook, to install the kit. The results were all we had hoped for.
