Looking good Ben. I picked up the book on How To Make Your Muscle Car Handle this past week. I'm not far into it, but it looks good, and I like the writing style. Keep up the good work on your car.
79 Cutlass Wagon G-machine build
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Ok now Ben, It's been about 3 weeks since an update. I need to see some progress, I'm on the edge of my seat over here.
Updates- It's been a coupla weeks since I brought the car home from school using my trusty '77 454 powered 2500 Suby. This is my first big block vehicle, we picked it up for a great price about 2 years ago, and it tows fantastically! The wagon spent the first 4 days on the trailer while I excavated all the crap I've accumulated out of the garage. Since the Race Nova has some naked body panels and the doors are off, I unburied my son's future 73 Nova and moved it out to the driveway for now, leaving a space to work on the wagon in our two car garage.
I am humbled with having to go from a huge shop with all the tools and machines I needed, back to essentially a one car garage to work in, limited to the tools I own or can rent from Oreily's. I salute all you that are doing this everyday.
I am humbled with having to go from a huge shop with all the tools and machines I needed, back to essentially a one car garage to work in, limited to the tools I own or can rent from Oreily's. I salute all you that are doing this everyday.
Swapping on the LS1 f-body front brakes turned out to be a bit of a pain, the biggest problem here is owning a "step bast@rd child" 79 G-body...
My on-line g-body research told me we share the same front suspension from the control arms out (except spring rate) as an S-10 truck. Knowing this I ordered a set of S-10 hubs made from cut down rotors from a guy on an S10 forum. They came with new seals and new extended studs, $110 shipped. Being under time constraints this was quicker and less stressful than trying to find a machine shop that could cut down mine. After hacking up my 79 spindles to fit the LS1 caliper adapter bracket and painting them and the S10 hubs, I found out I just flushed $110 down the toilet when I tried to assemble everything. My 79 g-body outer bearings were too big for the S10 hubs. A trip to the auto parts store later revealed the S10 outer bearings were too small for my spindle. At this point I was getting a bit frustrated.
After a big fail with the hubs I did a little more digging. All listings for interchangeable parts, a drop spindle for example, list S10 and 1982+ g-body as the same part numbers, but no one could explain to me why that didn't include the 78-81 cars. Further digging revealed the deal-
All 1973-1988 A/G body cars and non-sealed hub S10s have the same inner front bearing and seal, part # 6 for the bearing.
All 1973-1978 A/G body cars have the same outer bearing and spindle pin measurements, making the 1978 g-bodies, which are actually still called A bodies, the original bast@rd child. This bearing has a smaller inner dia than the 79-81 cars, bearing part #2.
All 1979-81 g-body cars have the same outer bearings, larger outer and inner diameters than the 1978 g-body and S10s, i.e. a larger spindle pin. The rotors for these cars also have larger hub diameters. This makes these cars the step bast@rd child. Outer bearing part #3. A 1978 or an 82+ rotor will not fit a 79-81 spindle. How dumb is that?!
All 1982 and up g-bodies and S10s have the same outer bearings, using a smaller outer and inner bearing diameter, i.e. a smaller pin. Outer bearing part # 34. Everything seems to swap between these two vehicles.
On another note there were also wiring and a few other changes between 81 and 82 g-bodies. :hand:
At this point I had to still track down a machine shop to mill down my original rotors. Ended up costing me $133, not including new seals and extended studs (which I had previously already installed). Oh well, I guess I'm your g-body owner's friendly neighborhood guinea pig, lol! Once I got the new hubs made, everything went together easily with new bearings, races, and seals.
Here's a photo that illustrates to you g-body guys the changes to the factory spindle and the cut down rotor hub...
And with all assembled...
With the wheels on...
and what folks will see as I drive down the road, lol! ...
Funny how even though the 12" LS1 rotors look gynormous compared to the 10.25" g-body rotors, they still look too small in the 17" wheel. Dang it, now I gotta switch to Vette brakes with 13" rotors when I get to Georgia, lol!
My on-line g-body research told me we share the same front suspension from the control arms out (except spring rate) as an S-10 truck. Knowing this I ordered a set of S-10 hubs made from cut down rotors from a guy on an S10 forum. They came with new seals and new extended studs, $110 shipped. Being under time constraints this was quicker and less stressful than trying to find a machine shop that could cut down mine. After hacking up my 79 spindles to fit the LS1 caliper adapter bracket and painting them and the S10 hubs, I found out I just flushed $110 down the toilet when I tried to assemble everything. My 79 g-body outer bearings were too big for the S10 hubs. A trip to the auto parts store later revealed the S10 outer bearings were too small for my spindle. At this point I was getting a bit frustrated.
After a big fail with the hubs I did a little more digging. All listings for interchangeable parts, a drop spindle for example, list S10 and 1982+ g-body as the same part numbers, but no one could explain to me why that didn't include the 78-81 cars. Further digging revealed the deal-
All 1973-1988 A/G body cars and non-sealed hub S10s have the same inner front bearing and seal, part # 6 for the bearing.
All 1973-1978 A/G body cars have the same outer bearing and spindle pin measurements, making the 1978 g-bodies, which are actually still called A bodies, the original bast@rd child. This bearing has a smaller inner dia than the 79-81 cars, bearing part #2.
All 1979-81 g-body cars have the same outer bearings, larger outer and inner diameters than the 1978 g-body and S10s, i.e. a larger spindle pin. The rotors for these cars also have larger hub diameters. This makes these cars the step bast@rd child. Outer bearing part #3. A 1978 or an 82+ rotor will not fit a 79-81 spindle. How dumb is that?!
All 1982 and up g-bodies and S10s have the same outer bearings, using a smaller outer and inner bearing diameter, i.e. a smaller pin. Outer bearing part # 34. Everything seems to swap between these two vehicles.
On another note there were also wiring and a few other changes between 81 and 82 g-bodies. :hand:
At this point I had to still track down a machine shop to mill down my original rotors. Ended up costing me $133, not including new seals and extended studs (which I had previously already installed). Oh well, I guess I'm your g-body owner's friendly neighborhood guinea pig, lol! Once I got the new hubs made, everything went together easily with new bearings, races, and seals.
Here's a photo that illustrates to you g-body guys the changes to the factory spindle and the cut down rotor hub...
And with all assembled...
With the wheels on...
and what folks will see as I drive down the road, lol! ...
Funny how even though the 12" LS1 rotors look gynormous compared to the 10.25" g-body rotors, they still look too small in the 17" wheel. Dang it, now I gotta switch to Vette brakes with 13" rotors when I get to Georgia, lol!
Got my 1" bolt on spacers from TonySS. He used to have them on a Malibu g-body wagon that had the same wheels I have. He made me an awesome deal, Thanks again Tony! These spacers were built by Fred at http://www.wheeladapter.com/
Before the rear spacers my 5.5" backspacing wheels looked a little too tucked in and the front track width was a little wider than the rear. The photos don't illustrate really well just how goofy it looked but here's an idea...
After installing the spacers- My car will be fairly low so I rolled the fender lips. I had my wife jump on the bumper and it has to compress about 3" before any contact up inside the fender well. I think they'll work out great.
Before the rear spacers my 5.5" backspacing wheels looked a little too tucked in and the front track width was a little wider than the rear. The photos don't illustrate really well just how goofy it looked but here's an idea...
After installing the spacers- My car will be fairly low so I rolled the fender lips. I had my wife jump on the bumper and it has to compress about 3" before any contact up inside the fender well. I think they'll work out great.
I've just gotten to the same situation you were at with the bearings not fitting. I was told however to order front bearings for a 85 Camaro without performance braking, they would work. Haven't gotten them yet to try it out. And real nice job so far, always look forward to see what you've done. If you were to produce and sell those braces I would definitely buy some off you.
***Confirmed, 85 Camaro outer bearings do work with a 79 Spindle and the S10 hub***
***Confirmed, 85 Camaro outer bearings do work with a 79 Spindle and the S10 hub***
Ben,
It's nice to see the car taking shape. I'm glad you got past the hurdle with the front hubs. Some things that GM has done doesn't make any sense. :?
Keep the momentum going...and thanks for the updates.
It's nice to see the car taking shape. I'm glad you got past the hurdle with the front hubs. Some things that GM has done doesn't make any sense. :?
Keep the momentum going...and thanks for the updates.
More great work. Looks like its coming along. Is the '73 Nova a hatchback? I had one years ago, and it was one of the neatest and handiest cars I ever had. Wish I had it back.
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