bought this last week, wasted no time in starting up grades, ordered disc conversion, tubular A arms, pwr brake assy. just did the rear brakes, ,shoes, wheel cyl, spring kits. now doing the front . was told it had a 430 in it, but surprised when found a 2004r trans, couple pics........
Are you using tall ball joints? Those will improve your front geometry a lot. Also a Trans Am 1.25" front sway bar will really help it stay flat to the road.
no, but I see them in my future, car came missing some stuff, drivable, but lacking some items. I have a stock Grand national sway bar, ,and couple other,s I have no idea where they came from, LOL its a project, so no time frame, but anxious to get it back on the ground, thanks for the tips,
I'm not sure a GN bar will fit but it can't hurt to try it. Polyurethane swaybar bushings will also tighten up the chassis. You can make these old cars handle pretty good with a little judicious tweaking. As much positive caster and about -1° caster will really help.
while I'm at , the taller Ball joint is no problem, can you explain the benefits of it? seems like it would place the upper A arm higher, where are they available?
Taller ball joints make the spindle effectively taller. A taller spindle raises the upper pivot of the ball joint and increases the camber gain on compression. Add that to your tubular control arms additional positive caster and you should be well on your way. From the factory, these cars roll the outer tire in a turn into an outer edge scrubbing, understeering pig. With these upgrades, it should be much nicer. Mine plant the outside tire like a motorcycle and I've stopped wearing the outer edges of my tires out.
SOLD! thanks for the info, my dirt track racing buddy, told me he can get them in .500, ,750, 1.00 in taller ball joints, any benefit to 1.00 in?
I have the .5" taller in both of my cars and it works. Unless you are going to autocross, I'd think the differences would be minimal. I'm using ProForged tall upper ball joints in mine and they are factory replacement types. I had some upper arms that used the Howe stock car racing tall ball joints. They will not fit most stock or stock replacement arms due to the larger diameter size of their main body. Here's what I used: https://www.summitracing.com/parts/pof-101-10016
got both sides done, (waiting for banjo bolts) changed wheels, 20's are not my style, now onto the next part of the project,
not sure I want to see all the parts (cost) in this build, LOL...... my 57 chevy is a 35+ yrs build, and probably could of bought a house for what I have in it! will be boxing rear control arms, next week, (zero $) really need to change the rear gears (2.56) ( in OD final gear is 1.76!) thinking 3.08 , as this is a freeway flyer, dropped off the seats yesterday, to be made into something dazzling! ( hopefully) thanks for the interest.
Depending on your tires, your rear gear could go even lower with OD. I have 3.73 rear gears and a 200-4R which makes my final drive about 2.50.
