G Body suspension geometry questions

[dan2286]

I always here that the suspension geometry sucks on these cars. I was wondering what are the main problems and how are they resolved.

Thanks for the info.

 

[Blake442]

Thats funny, cause all I've ever heard is good things about the g-body set up. I know a few people that are running low 9's with stock style suspensions...

 

[dan2286]

Thats funny, cause all I've ever heard is good things about the g-body set up. I know a few people that are running low 9's with stock style suspensions...

I think it mainly has something to do with the front suspension which made it really bad for handling.

 

[megaladon6]

the front suspension is designed for comfort and ease of corrections. so that if you do something stupid it's easy to get control back. but this makes it easy to exceed the capabilities.
you have to change the camber curve so that it goes negative under load. tall ball joints and proper upper arms and tall/f-body spindles and UCA's are the easiest/cheapiest ways to go about this. (i'd get adjustable UCA's) and if you go with a tall spindle it's real easy to mount C6/C6 brakes. 😀
the rear setup is ok, but the rear arms flex and twist on hard corners and bumps. they have to do this to prevent binding issus. tubular arms with johnny joints on the axle side and poly on the body side will stiffen things up while allowing fuller movement.
and there's another problem that i'll use this to explain http://www.pro-touring.com/forum/showthread.php?t=46556&highlight=watts+link+g-body
these are the more g-body specific problems, if you want extreme handling, therte's a LOT more to do.

 

[dan2286]

Are the tall F Body spindles stock or is that something I would have to get aftermarket? Also will the stock brakes and tie rods bolt up?

 

[megaladon6]

stock tall spindles from 70-81 f-bodies work. g-body brakes won't bolt up but you can easily get brakes for them.
tie rods shouldn't be a problem.

 

[dan2286]

Im assuming these spindles are kinda hard to find. I have been looking all over on the internet and all I can find is the 2 in drop spindles. Do you know where I can get these stock used? Also I have one more question, will all of this work with stock 14" rims?

Thanks for all of the info.

 

[megaladon6]

i got mine from ebay but one week they might be there or they might not. junkyards are a pretty good place to look.
i'll have to see, i might actually have 2 sets lying around.
it should work with 14" rims but i can't swear to it. but i have to say that 14" rims aren't gonna be great for handling, and you'll have a hard time getting good brakes into there.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

The other big issue is that the suspension has bad bump steer geometry since the tie rods and LCA's are not moving in the same plane. Bump steer spacers can't fix it since they would lower the tie rods when they need to move up to fix it, or the center drag link would need to be lowered an inch or two.

My car is getting the tall spindles, but I need to find a dropped center drag link before I do the conversion. If anyone knows a company that makes one, I'd appreciate it if you'd post a link.

 

[megaladon6]

that is true with the b-body spindles, but i believe it's not so much of a problem with the f-body's.
of course there's also the expensive but really cool option of the AFX spindles which have the proper steering arms.