My 79 Olds Calais Project

[lightemup2]

i noticed urs sits kinda high like mine

 

[finman04]

This is the car that sat on Craigslist from Louisville Kentucky, The springs in this car are way to large. The front end is so stiff that theirs no movement at all. Cant beleive that they were driving this car like this. One of the other problems is the steering coulum in the car, its so loose you have to move it back and fourth to start the car. When i strip the interior and dye some of the parts i'm going to pull apart the coloum and fix it since i'm not driving it yet, hopefully its just loose.

 

[lightemup2]

My front springs were the same way so stiff felt like you were driving a damn tank lol I took them out right away

 

[Evan11]

Yep David, figured u'd seen it too. So are ya gonna paint it back the same color? Also this is like the only one I've seen that wasn't totally redone that still had the factory shifter handle.

 

[Blake442]

The weight difference between the sbo and bbo isn't really enough to make a noticable difference.
I have the original 307 springs in my 442 with the 455, and it feels just the same going down the road.

 

[finman04]

Thanks guys, Blake do you still like the stock springs or are you going change them up later. I am going to repaint it the same color. When i have the repainted i was really thinking of have the half top done in blue as the same color, or should i keep the whit top. What do you think, I added a pic of my other olds i had with the blue top. Thanks

 

[lightemup2]

PM sent

 

[Evan11]

Thanks guys, Blake do you still like the stock springs or are you going change them up later. I am going to repaint it the same color. When i have the repainted i was really thinking of have the half top done in blue as the same color, or should i keep the whit top. What do you think, I added a pic of my other olds i had with the blue top. Thanks

I'd make it like the car in the pic..wow that's nice!

 

[Blake442]

Thanks guys, Blake do you still like the stock springs or are you going change them up later.

I like how the stock springs ride and the stance is right, so I have no intention of changing them.

 

[KrisW]

When I was working on my 80 Cutlass I kept the original front springs in it, which were for the diesel engine. When I took out one of the diesels I had put in it, and put in a gas 350 Olds engine, it raised up just a hair in the front. I really like the diesel springs, and that's what I'll run in the future G-body cars I get.

Add to that some good 50/50 shocks and some big sway bars, and the front end felt great. The rear I put up a little too high (about where yours is now) but when I put the big tires on, they didn't rub so I was happy with the stance in the end. You might want to mock up those 275 tires with your current springs to see how they look and how they might (or might not) rub.

The 8.5 rears are getting harder to come by as time goes by. You might want to think about the aftermarket Ford 9" housing that's made to fit our cars and then just drop whatever 9" center section you want in there. Personally, I'd rather have the custom made Dana 60 for the G-body, but its beyond the budget hahhaha.