G body chassis tuning book

Body damage 28 chassis considerations 28 chapter 3. Many of the vehicles gm produced using this chassis were powered by v8 engines. Tamiya mini 4wd neotridagger zmc official tuning guide book. Please select the department that best fits your needs. Tuning the final product is given a fair bit of treatment in this book. One term used to describe the chassis movement for a 4 link suspension is anti squat. The gm gbody is one of the manufacturers most popular chassis. Testing and proving with the finest auto aftermarket chassis builders. Gm gbody performance upgrades 19781987 by joe hinds book. These heavyduty steel transmission crossmembers for the 19781987 gm gbody allow you to run a true dual exhaust system. It made its first appearance from 1969 to 1972, adapted from gms abody, and reappeared from 1978 to 1988.

Recommended basic setups landrum performance springs. Check out nite restorations llc wild new c6 corvette based gbody project gsix featuring a howell efi harness. Using tall spindles with stock aarms can make alignment and tuning a. Three decades of working closely with racers and tuners, and working countless hours on testing and proving at tracks with our customers, has yielded a team focused on delivering superior performance, quality, and. Some may overlook the importance of this aspect of there automotive hobby, but ever since spec race series were introduced, with all competitors having equal output motors, the importance of. I dont think youll be able to outcorner your white camaro and be able to hook 1200 hp up at the drag strip on a working mans budget. Manufacturer of highquality aftermarket performance suspension components and kits for american muscle cars and trucks. Add the front chassis stiffening braces from all the gbodies pontiac for unde the car, olds and buick for the engine bay to add torsional stiffness.

A stock chassis chevellemalibumonte whatever is all the same setup. And thanks to my wife sue, who puts up with the tons of information i collect on performance cars and such. No other book on the performance aspects of a gm gbody has been. The paperback of the gm gbody performance upgrades 19781987. Im in the process of doing one for my 46 stude pu so i thought i d post some pictures in case any one else was thinking about this swap. I had always noticed daves book highly recommended whenever chassis setup was discussed. Each kit utilizes the included set of brass bushings and tabs to mount to the 158 chromoly between your frame rails for an easy installation. Twoinch drop and stockheight spindles along with steering arms incorporate geometry and design improvements, resulting in a product far superior to the factory steel spindles. Taken from gm gbody performance upgrades 19781987 by joe hinds most enthusiasts, regardless of how they use the car, prefer a lower stance, especially if the car is equipped with larger aftermarket wheels and tires.

I dont seem to be able to locate the first pictures of the chassis, but its what is known as a perimeter frame. Fabrication, installation, and tuning of highperformance street. Nothing ruins the look of an otherwise nice car more than a horrible stance. Your original gbody chassis is extremely weak, heavy, and takes a lot of work to get it to work out right. Gbody suspension setup star of the show gm hightech. The 1978 to 1980 and by extension, the 1981 to 1988 gbody are.

An ic that is located above the normal line is said to have more than 100% antisquat. Gm gbody performance upgrades 19781987 by joe hinds. This book just about covers everything you can do to a g body car and then some. Id like to learn more about how they choose the hole location, or if you just try to overlap them. In most forms of racing, cornering speed is the key to winning. Im just getting my feet wet, learning how to setup my g body chassis for drag racing. For example, spring or torsion bar rates, crossweight, chassis tilt, wheel trackingspacing, wing position and angle, can all be used. The articles found above are to help better understand the basics of chassis tuning.

Over the years, drag racers with door cars have gone through all sorts of suspension arrangements. We go indepth with jerry bickel and curt perry from chassis. The chassisworks billetaluminum spindles and steering arms are directreplacement components for popular gm a, f, and x body muscle cars from 1964 to 1972. Lift bars, slapper bars, super stock springs, leaf links, ladder bars, threelinks, fourlinks, and torque arms there may be others too, but its a start.

Of all of the systems, the most common youll see today is the equal length fourlink, probably followed by the ladder bar. Chassis brace, front lower, gtrak, ultralite 2point, stainless, black powdercoat, s550 ford mustang, each. In many of our articles on various aspects of chassis setup, we try to include both sides of the coindirt and asphalt. Its the last massproduced v8reardrive chassis that enthusiasts can afford and readily. The general motors g platform also called gbody was an automobile platform designation used for midsized rearwheel drive cars. The section begins with instructions on aligning the front and rear wheels to obtain good results from tuning. Download for offline reading, highlight, bookmark or take notes while you read motorcyle tuning. Youll spend less time messing around by using one of our boltin gbody chassis. Leave some 7 or 8 wide wheels on the front and leave the sway bar on the front maybe even install a larger diameter one.

The chassisworks billetaluminum spindles and steering arms are directreplacement components for popular gm a, f, and xbody muscle cars from 1964 to 1972. Gm gbody performance projects 19781987 performance howto. Dragrace thru big brake kits torque arm and 4link systems available. I often talk to people who have purchased thousands of dollars worth of parts and spent countless hours making modifications, only to be frustrated because their vehicle doesnt perform the way they want it to. First, the ride height you want your car and body to sit at. Hes authored five howto books and written over 4,500 tech articles that. A pontiac transam steering gear makes it steer pretty well. Help with complete suspension kit gbodyforum 7888 general. Preload is another tuning tool to counteract body roll rotation. Race car ride height 101 with jerry bickel and chassis engineering.

One of our new guys heavy was asking about a gm g body frame swap for his 50 chevy pu. After all, what good is that extra horsepower you just built or purchased if. Once you pick an appropriate model, the next step is to determine what you want from your project. It covers some history, selecting the right vehicle for your project, and then covers everything from brakes, the engines, chassis, and interior. They have a doublehump design, so you dont have to compromise ground clearance by running pipes under the crossmember, and theyre a complete bolton dealno custom fabricating or realignment is needed. Gbody chassis comparison by schwartz performance youtube. On the street, precise and predictable handling is the key to high performance driving. Stocker partssuspensionbody parts circle track supply.

As far as im concerned, doing anything to this chassis without fixing these. Recommended basic setups the following springshock combinations are recommendations only. With different chassis styles available 34, top sportsman, pro stock,pro mod doublerail, 25. The team z motorsports gbody antiroll bar was designed to be used on 19781988 gm gbody vehicles. The engine performance has reached a level where i need all i can get out of my chassis to get all the power to the ground.

Detroit speed inc american made for american muscle. How to swap an ls into a gbody and find all the right. Have the same craftsmen who build our record setting championship race cars build the chassis for your car. Homemodifiedstreet stockmonte carlosportsmanlimitedhobbypro fourstreet stockmonte carlo partssuspensionbody parts. Years of testing and hundreds of runs down the track have yielded one of the most sought after chassis designs in professional drag racing. I have learned a lot about chassis setup on many different track surfaces with many different types of. The students of burlington county institute for technology give us a hand in a detroit speed provided gbody suspension setup. The general motors gbody is one of the manufacturers most popular chassis, and. The location of the ic relative to the cg and the normal line or neutral line is what determines what the chassis is going to do. Chassis engineering explains the complex principles of suspension geometry and chassis design in terms the novice can easily understand and.

However, the art and science of engineering a chassis can be difficult to comprehend, let alone apply. A recycled 1985 monte carlo shell with a custom chassis hidden beneath, and c6 corvette performance perks sprinkled throughout. It is the purchasers responsibility to order the correct products through their personal racing experience. This tech tip is from the full book, how to make your muscle car handle. The second series of gbodies began production designated as gbody cars in 1978, but were redesignated as gbody when the new frontwheel drive abody.

Dirt car setup is far more complicated than setting up an asphalt stock car. Tips, tricks, and indepth info for ultimate starting line bite while todays performance world offers plenty of ways to make big power, selecting. The gm gbody is a very easy chassis to work with as a outer perimeter full frame car. Chassis tuning 101 matt murphys dirt oval chassis tuning guide preface over the last 17 years of my life, i have raced dirt oval all over the united states, on foam tires and rubber, hard packed and loose dirt. Subscribe to our newsletter keep up to date with our latest products, discounts, and more.

The sw welded frame for the 7888 gm g body is designed to fit up to 15 x 33 drag tires or 31 x 18. Then it moves on to the process of testing using a gforce logger and test procedures. This type of suspension has coil springs and upper and lower trailing arms also called control arms. Please note that our mail server rejects multiple emails as spam. I love seeing the work that comes out of these tools.