Help me and my G-Body handle better

[zildjian4life218]

Hey Everyone! I have a long list of upgrades to do this winter to my 1986 Olds Cutlass. My current setup is a vortec headed 355, Howards roller cam 180325-08, 10:1 compression, 2800 stall converter, Th350, ford8.8 rear end, Factory 14x6 olds Rally Wheels , and factory replacement monte carlo ss supsension through out.

For the winter I am planning on putting AC back into it, a 200-4r OD transmission, dual 2.5" exhaust, and hopefully new wheels, tires, and suspension so it doesn't handle like a complete mess...

Right now if your driving down the road and you jog the wheel back and forth there is a huge amount of body roll and it just feels horribly sloppy. It worries me that if the car ever got loose and started to get away from me there is no way for me to recover. I am not into road racing but I would like it to handle much better than it does now. What would you guys suggest?


A lot of people say to start with anti roll bars and wheels. I figured due to the factory 14" wheels I am loosing a lot through the large amount of side wall I have. I really like the design and look of the Olds rally wheels on my car but I believe the largest size the factory made were 15x7 which idk if that will give me enough of an upgrade to make it worth it. Can anyone suggest maybe a tire that will allow me to use the factory 15x7s or possibly an after market wheel that would retain the factory look but maybe let me run some more tire front and back? I am having lots of issues trying to get the tires to hold. You get on the gas at all and the back tires just break loose.

Also since I swapped in the 8.8 the axle tube is bigger in diameter so the rear end sits really high. I would like to drop it down some so I will have to look into some lowering springs probably front and back.

Also is the factory power steering setup worth upgrading? Leave it alone?

Sorry for the essay here but I just want to give you guys as much information as you will need to help me out as much as you can.

Thanks!

Shane

 

[GuysMonteSS]

If the body mount bushings are still the original ones they are probably worn out and this could be part of the reason you are getting so much body roll.PST has a nice set,I put these on this year;
http://www.p-s-t.com/s.nl/it.A/id.7004/.f?sc=12
Next,I would recommend calling Mark at SC&C;
http://scandc.com/new/
He knows G Body's and can help you pick out some new goodies to really make your Cutlass handle better.I got this kit from him this year;
http://scandc.com/new/node/47
Made a world of difference in how my Monte handles.
Just an FYI,if you do replace the body bushings,be prepared to do some patching.My frame had 3 bad spots and its never been winter driven.Also,better handling isnt cheap,start saving your $$$ now :!:
Extra braces also help,I got Grand Prix braces for the front,(Rad X brace,frame brace and rad support to inner fenders),a home made rear seat & rear frame brace and a Hotchkis rear control arm braces;
http://www.summitracing.com/parts/HSS-1401/
Guy

 

[307 Regal]

I don't have much into my car yet for suspension but I'm planning on continuing upgrades. I have UMI sway bars installed at the front and rear. Body roll was reduced substantially and that's comparing it to the sway bars from my car's factory touring package which I assume is already on par with a Monte SS / GN suspension. Be aware though: If your front sway bar bolts are in bad shape then don't expect them to hold. Both of my driver's side bolts popped out during a turn and I had to re-tap the holes for a larger bolt. Since then, though, I have had zero issues. I also have some UMI rear control arms with roto joints to be installed once I get my differential changed.

 

[79CMC]

I'll echo what others have said about the body bushings and a quality rear sway bar-many say these are some of the most noticeable mods for a g-body's handling. I just put a Hellwig adjustable rear sway bar on my Monte after my 9" swap and it definitely felt MUCH tighter-I actually feel confident going into corners and the car moves when I turn the steering wheel haha. I've also got the SC&C Stage II+ package ($$), but you can always start with replacing your control arm bushings and sway bar links if you don't want to drop that much cash yet.

Body bracing, as already mentioned, is also a relatively simple, cheap, extremely effective method for reducing body roll too: viewtopic.php?t=8126

 

[Maverick's_Monte]

UMI Performance makes some great stuff - I did a ton of research before re-doing the suspension on my car this past Spring and went with UMI. Ramey in their office was extremely helpful and asnwered all of my questions (and there were alot of them) every time I called. I ordered the parts, they came in and with a friends help everything was installed within 12 hours.

I went with the Stage 3 handling kit which replaces pretty much everything suspension related. Nice part is the rear is fully adjustable so you can change the geometry to fit a new rear end. I saved my pennies in order to purchase the kit but it was well worth the expense.

I totally agree with the others on new body bushings. My car needs them bad and with the new suspension its almost worse than before as there is nothing pushing back on the suspension parts when they load up in a curve or rattling over a bumpy road.

 

[zildjian4life218]

Thanks for all the replies everyone!

The body mounts are still the original so I will definitely take everyones advice and upgrade those.

I am also thinking bigger sway bars front and back. Any suggestions on some big anti sway bars? What are adequate sizes?

Also Im gonna be adding some lowered springs to get the center of weight down. With that 8.8 the rear sits really high. Can anyone recommend lowered springs? Right now I have some of the dual purpose springs that have a couple coils closer to each other that the others.

Thanks again for all the input and hopefully in a couple months here I will have some pictures of some progress.

 

[L92 OLDS]

I am also thinking bigger sway bars front and back. Any suggestions on some big anti sway bars? What are adequate sizes?

.

"Adequate" is a relative term. I in my opinion, a G body handles quite well if it has the factory F41 sway bars on it and the rest of your set up is in good shape (body bushings, etc). I've taken mine a step further with a Hellwig rear sway bar, F body front sway bar, Bilstien shocks, UMI roto joint rear lower control arms, tubular upper control arms in front. The car has never seen salt so the body bushings are in good shape. All other bushings have been replaced.

BTW...I have F41 front and rear sway bars for sale ....PM me if your interested

 

[79CMC]

How difficult was it to get that 8.8 in there? I thought about doing that swap, but then got a deal on a 9". You might want to look into some aftermarket rear control arms (arms with roto joints seem to be top of the line these days). Baseline Suspensions (http://www.baselinesuspensions.com/kits/chevy.htm) also makes some aftermarket arms specifically for the 8.8 rear.

I don't have much experience with any other aftermarket rear sway bar, but I will say my Hellwig Adjustable bar is awesome. Took more work than a stock one (I had to drill into the rear cross member to mount it-it also clamps to the axle tubes) but it definitely tightened up my handling.

 

[UMI Sales]

UMI Performance makes some great stuff - I did a ton of research before re-doing the suspension on my car this past Spring and went with UMI. Ramey in their office was extremely helpful and asnwered all of my questions (and there were alot of them) every time I called. I ordered the parts, they came in and with a friends help everything was installed within 12 hours.

I went with the Stage 3 handling kit which replaces pretty much everything suspension related. Nice part is the rear is fully adjustable so you can change the geometry to fit a new rear end. I saved my pennies in order to purchase the kit but it was well worth the expense.

I totally agree with the others on new body bushings. My car needs them bad and with the new suspension its almost worse than before as there is nothing pushing back on the suspension parts when they load up in a curve or rattling over a bumpy road.

Thanks for the mention!

We have the same situation with our LeMans. It handles awesome but the body feels like it's going to fly off the chassis. Over the winter it's getting a refurb with new paint, rust repair, new bushings and so on...

ramey

 

[zildjian4life218]

Thanks again for the continued replies. I pulled the engine and transmission last night so progress is being made. Hopefully next weekend I will be picking up an 87 Monte Carlo for the transmission, front accessore (serp wp and alt, and vbelt ps pump)...... and I realized its a t top. Now I have always wanted a t top car....

sooo just an idea. Since the body is pretty rotted on this car I was figuring on pulling everything I need off of it and trying to sell it or just send it to the yard

What do you guys think about swapping roofs with my cutlass? The reason why I want to do this is because about 8 or so years ago we had the car stored in a car tent and had a bad snow storm and it collapsed on the car and the roof collapsed in. The auto body shop did what they did to fix it but since the roof flexs on corners and such there are a bunch of stress cracks and I asked the guy who did the job and he said that the best thing to do would be replace the roof.

So what do you guys think about swapping roofs? I know a lot of people frown upon this on unibody cars due to strength and additional bracing needed but since my car is a full frame car would I be completely stupid to put some cash up to have this done? Also back to the handling thing.. would it be a complete waste of time? Like I said im not road racing this thing but its definitely a DD and cruiser so I would love to be able to take the tops off and go driving around. I just wanted to throw the idea out and get the ball rolling and get some other ideas on this. Thanks for all the input so far!