My '71 skylark has gone through several different iterations over the years. Currently I am not racing it, but I use it as an occasional driver. Right now, the car handles and rides better than it ever has in the 16 years I've owned it. It's pretty good, but I'd like to make it even better. Here's my setup : Car/Driveline : - '71 skylark 2dr hardtop - 252,670 miles on chassis - Stock 455 - th350 - 8.5 10 bolt with 2.56 gears Wheels and tires : - Buick 15"x7" rally wheels - BFGoodrich Radial T/A tires - P225/70R15 front 27.4" diameter - P255/70R15 rear 29.1" diameter Front suspension : - Global West tubular upper a-arms, circa 2003 design, del-a-lum bushings - B body tall spindles - 12" discs - '76 F body calipers - Stock lower a-arms with del-a-lum bushings - Moog springs from global west - I requested springs that would keep the car at stock ride height with the "negative roll" suspension - stock skylark swaybar - addco endlinks with poly bushings - all new ball joints and tie rod ends - Bilstein shocks - Aligned to specs provided by Global West Rear suspension: - stock drum brakes - factory boxed lower control arms with poly bushings - factory sway bar - factory upper control arms with poly bushings - rubber bushings in upper control arm mounts on axle - Bilstein shocks - stock rear springs from a '69 Olds 442 As I mentioned above, the car handles and brakes phenomenally better than before the mods. There are a few "gotchas" though that need to be addressed..... - The on-center feel is kind of vague. The components from the pitman arm down to the spindles are nice and tight. Not sure if there might be play in the 42 year old, almost 253K mile steering box. A quicker ratio box would be nice, too. - The rear suspension is somewhat jarring, especially on pavement irregularities. Has the nice poly squeak going on. Not sure what the best route to take with that. - there is less body roll than the old setup, but it's still present. I have a GS front bar on the shelf, but it looks to be barely any bigger than the stock skylark bar. Here is a pic of my beauty, lol Any suggestions or insight would be much appreciated! Thanks!
I'm not really a handling expert, but looking at your list it seems obvious that you should up grade your front an rear swaybars. Your front bar is not as big as a GS bar (I think), even if it is you can find a bigger bar like a WS6 bar easily. Same with the back, a bigger bar is available. Seems like the cheapest and easiest improvement you can make.
Upping the rear sway bar on an RWD is probably not the way to go, the sway bars also lifts the inner wheel=you will get traction problems around corners with big inner wheel spin and/or putting strain on the LSD. Start by stiffing up the front end first, swapping sway bar is one way to go. But sway bars are a compromise for achieving low roll characteristics with good ride quality. On uneven surfaces big sway bars are no good because they make both wheels react to the obstacle that only one wheel is rolling over. Cornering over pot holes with big sways will make the car jump sideways. But hey, the rear un-independent suspension ruins the handling potential anyway ... Go for the slightly bigger front sway bar that you already own. The bigger the diameter gets on sway bar, the more the increase in stiffness gets for each millimeter of added diameter. It might as well be 50 percent stiffer while looking only slight bigger. One thing that also reduces roll is increasing the rear track, is there room for spacers or wheels with bigger back spacing? Regarding steering: Going for a rack and pinion steering will increase the precision and feel in center. I think Hotchkis have a kit for that.
Hi there, If it were my car and I was looking for handling I would swap on a set 18" wheels with 275/50R18 rear and 245/55R18 front and then do a rear disk brake conversion and an adjustable front/rear proprtion adjuster.... Then I would swap out the 2.56 gear for a 3.08 or better yet a 3.42 Possi.
I guess I should give different wheels/tires some consideration. I do have a manual proportioning valve plumbed into the system, it's mounted under the dash so I can adjust it while driving. I can't really tell any difference in how the car brakes when I adjust it. As long as I've got a 3 speed trans, I'm sticking with the 2.56 gears. I've been down the 200-4r and 700-r4 path already. I can't stand the buzz/vibration from the front pump on those. Maybe 4L80E someday.... Who knows. Lol. I'm very picky about little things like that. It's the same reason I didn't like my MSD box... That funny ticking noise it made. Is it possible to find tires for 18" wheels that are as tall as what I've got on the car now? Thanks for the input!!
17s you can go really wide, but stuck at about 25.7 diameter lol ..still cheapest rouye on big rims/tire combos..def need correct stance to pull it off 18s/19s you can still go wide but you're also able to get 27in and 28in tires along with being wide Def would consider a 1 3/8? front hollow swaybar by hotchkis or DSE. if you cant do away with the looks of 15in rims do something like 255-60-15 rear with 245-60 front
x2 on the tires! Look at the 17x8 aluminum rally wheels from year one. They look great, are relatively cheap and with a 255/45/17 tire you have about the same diameter like a typical 255/60/15....wich would be another nice option on a set of nice 8x15 Buick Rallyes...i run that combo on my 71 Skylark and it already improves handling over the 225 and looks almost stock...plus you retain the cushion from the higher tire if you already have a jarring suspension wich will get worse with flatter tires... And do yourself a huge favor an buy an AGR 12:1 steering box...you can get them from Summit for about 300 bucks...this will make your steering feel like a new car...
I'm running Nitto NT-05s on my 72 Skylark, 315/35 on the rear, 255/40 on the front on 17s. The wheels are MB Motoring Old Skools. They look a bit like the old Torque Thrusts. The wheels were $550 delivered, they look great, and the combo was a huge improvement. The tires stick really well, both cornering and going straight, and this is coming from a guy whose motor dynoed at 611 hp. I like the 17s better than 18s personally, there is still some meat on the sidewalls. I think anything bigger is too low-profile. As for looks, it's only my opinion. But as for grip, you do need some sidewall.
