Sway bars, springs and frame stiffners

[LS1MonteSS]

Has any one ever ised the sway bars, rear springs and frame stiffners off a Montess and swaped them over to a malibu?
results?
issues?

Thanks,
kevin

 

[MonteMan1978]

should go fine, both are g-body cars.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I have swapped the sway bars from other G bodies onto my Cutlass and it worked fine. I used a set of Monte SS spec Eibach springs when I did my swap and it all fit, but there is one difference with the Monte rear end in that it has extensions welded to the inner part of the spring pockets for some reason. I also used a IROC Z steering box and only needed to swap to a G body pitman arm to make it all work together.

 

[78mali350]

humm....looks like something i need to take a look into 😀

 

[85t5mcss]

It'll be fine. All those parts are interchangeable. All suspension, steering parts are the same with difference in only spring rate, small differences in free height. But if it works on a Monte, it'll work on a Bu or Cutlass or GP and Regal. Rears on Elkys I don't know about, but even the front on those is still the same.

And the extension on the rear of the Monte is bolted in place. Thats the part that centers and holds the spring in place.

 

[LS1MonteSS]

I was thinking the Monte SS had a better handling package? I know when I swaped out the HO 305/200R4 for a 454 and munci 4 speed, all the local chevy guys could say was "you can't do it and you'll have to change out the front springs"
the wwhole package only droped the front end 1/2" and it still handled like it was on a slot car track.

The whole situation is this:
2 years ago I picked up a 86 Monte SS from up north, I mainly wanted it for the vette TPI that was in it. it sat for the 2 years because of deployments to iraq (for some reason deployments and hotrods don't mix... go figure)!!
so seeing how i retired a few months back i wanted to get started on the monte.. it has alot of cancer (RUST) to much for my bank account to fix.

then i happened across the 79 bu less motor and trans which was in really good shape.. so the plan was to swap in the TPI, seats, power windows, power locks and such from the monte to the bu. that was when i thought about the frame stifferners, sway bars and rear springs. My thinking was that the bu would handle really nice then.

the other little thing i'd like to do is make the rear quarter glass on the bu flush mount as the bu's are known for rusting out around those windows.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

Well, the MC SS has the F-41 handling package as part of it, so you already have the good stuff on it. Just swap it all over to the Malibu and you should be good to go. Don't forget the steering box, as it has a faster ratio and more feel than a standard G body bod.

 

[LS1MonteSS]

Well, the MC SS has the F-41 handling package as part of it, so you already have the good stuff on it. Just swap it all over to the Malibu and you should be good to go. Don't forget the steering box, as it has a faster ratio and more feel than a standard G body bod.

I was thinking about doing away with the steering box all together and do a power rack set up and also loosing the belt driven P/S pump and going with an electric P/S pump from a Subaru XT6 or Toyota Prius.

Also along those lines I'm going to use an electric AC compressor which will really clean up the front of the motor and free up some ponies.

I have still been playing with the idea of an electric water pump then the only belt driven item will be a 130 AMP Alt.

 

[maliburacinfreak]

ive got all the sway bars and braces from a MCSS, and a few from other cars, to go on my malibu wagon, just havent put them on yet. everything will swap right over except for the fender to core support bars (if your MCSS had them). the ones for the malibu are just a bit shorter. i have an extra set for $25 shipped if youre interested.

 

[85 Cutlass Brougham]

I was thinking about doing away with the steering box all together and do a power rack set up and also loosing the belt driven P/S pump and going with an electric P/S pump from a Subaru XT6 or Toyota Prius.

Also along those lines I'm going to use an electric AC compressor which will really clean up the front of the motor and free up some ponies.

I have still been playing with the idea of an electric water pump then the only belt driven item will be a 130 AMP Alt.

Are you sure those cars even use a pump? Many newer cars with the electric power steering use a winding around the rack to give it an electromagnetic boost, thus doing away with the pump and fluid all together from what I have heard. I would think twice about your accessory drive setup as it may cause reliability problems in the long run and be very expensive as compared to the original GM stuff. You also have to remember that the bigger load on the alternator will also drain horsepower in much the same way as the belt driven accessories do because there is no such thing as a free lunch. A 130 amp alternator may not have sufficient juice to drive them all at the same time. A good electric fan can pull 50 amps when it is on, plus you still need to run your lights, stereo, A/C compressor and fan, water pump, fuel pump, injection and ECU, ignition ( Some boxes pull 10 amps), etc all off this 130 amp alternator. I think it would take more like 200 amps to have a chance of running it without killing the battery. Remember also that the Toyota Prius takes advantage of other technologies like regenerative braking ( if memory serves...) to charge it's batteries, so it is designed for the kinds of loads imparted by the electric accessories. Plus, the maximum parasitic loss by most of these components in belt driven form is not that big. Power steering takes about 1/2 hp to operate in normal conditions, and 3 hp max at full lock. The water pump may take 5-10 hp ( max-probably less) to run, but it is more reliable as a belt driven component than electric.Most race cars run electric pumps because they can be run off a battery going down the strip for a few seconds and not be a drain on the engine, but that's not a street application. On the street in a regularly driven car, they tend to not last too long as they are designed for the most part as a race car part.