Changing my approach.

[NOMOREWORK]

I joined this site because I wanted to get as much info as I could on a project I wanted to take on. After spending hours and hours going over the many informative posts here I decided to change the direction, and go from a Pro-Touring approach to a Resto Mod. This is based mostly on the cost as I am a retired guy now and income is fixed, so have to spend wisely. also because a lot of the work was beyond my capabilities. I am going to use a 1977 Buick Regal as my starting point, because I never see these cars around, and I found a good one for not a lot of money. As I have begun working on this project by upgrading the suspension, moving front to back I have had no problems locating the parts I have needed including a kit to upgrade rear drum brakes to disc. Will be doing a lot of the work on my own in my garage so it may be slow going but what the heck I have plenty of time. I also made the change to my approach because I want a car I can drive any where, and with a $100,000 investment I might be leery to do that! Well to anyone who takes the time to read this, I am open to any advice you may want to offer !!!

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[Zachalanche]

Oh, you must want to be able to drive your car. You sure you don't want to strip the thing down to the frame and put it on a rotisserie, then order a twin turbo Ls7, and a 10 spd transmission that you will wait 2-1/2 years to be delivered? Finally top it of with a $10k set of wheels and tires and brakes the size of toilet seats with 8 piston calipers.

All joking aside, I think you are on the right track. keep the improvements practical. It's easy to get carried away after reading all the build threads on this site. Plus there will always be someone who builds a better faster version of what you're building. stick with your goals and do your research, you can get a lot out of the cheaper suspension and brake mods.

car looks clean. Best of luck.

[mike@sim-seats]

My current mantra for projects is to only make changes that will improve the joy of driving the car.

Good luck, and remember to have fun!

[NOMOREWORK]

Sorry to disappoint you Zach !!! LOL but that is exactly what I am looking for a driver. I have looked at just about all of the cars on this site and there is some beautiful machinery here, but I would be afraid to drive around in them. Living in the North East the roads are a deterrent, plus traffic and the general lack of respect for somebody else's property all played into my decision making!

[stab6902]

You made a wise choice. Unless you plan on doing open track days, most of the stuff you see on here is overkill. You don't need to go crazy to have a car that's great to drive on the street and fun to autocross. A lot of the most expensive parts (tubular front control arms for example) are more eye candy than anything else.

On my Buick (pic below), I went with BMR 2" lowering springs, Koni shocks, big sway bars front and rear, all new suspension bushings, tall ball joints, and rebuilt stock disc/drum brakes with modern pads. I'm happy with the way it came together. It rides and handles like a modern straight axle car (think 4th gen Camaro or late model Mustang), which is pretty good and all you can expect. Currently, my weakest link handling wise is the tires, but I like the raised white letter look on this car.

Including the purchase price of the car, I have less money into it than the cost of a nice set of 18" forged wheels. Of course I have 1.5 yrs of nights and weekends worth of time into, but that's part of the fun :)

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[NOT A TA]

stab6902, that's a great looking car you have!

NOMOREWORK, You mentioned a rear disc swap. Unless you're planning on tracking the car or other activity that includes repeated threshold braking you probably won't notice much if any increase in brake performance compared with maximizing the performance of the stock disc/drum set up. If you do swap the rears to disc keep in mind the other changes you will likely need to do in order to have properly functioning brakes (even though there won't likely be any reduction in stopping distances). Properly sized disc/disc master cylinder, disc/disc combination valve, and possibly a pedal swap or modification (to change ratio) will likely be necessary to have the rear disc set up function with the stock front discs.

[NOMOREWORK]

Stab your car is awesome! So far I have added Bell Tech 1" lowering springs, KYB gas shocks and Energy Suspension front end bushings, also had to replace original ball joints. Was also going to replace rear control arm bushings with Energy Suspension but after pricing out what it would cost to have old bushings pressed out and new ones pressed in decided to go with kit from UMI, a little beefier and all bushings installed. I probably over thought the rear brake set up but parts are on the way so I will make do. Thanks for your input as your car is a good model to follow.

[NOMOREWORK]

Mike I totally agree with your approach !

[Zachalanche]

Sorry to disappoint you Zach !!! LOL but that is exactly what I am looking for a driver. I have looked at just about all of the cars on this site and there is some beautiful machinery here, but I would be afraid to drive around in them. Living in the North East the roads are a deterrent, plus traffic and the general lack of respect for somebody else's property all played into my decision making!

I hear you on the lack of respect part. after driving my high school truck for 18 years, I thought I'd treat myself to a 2012 boss 302 mustang (planning on it being my new daily driver)......guess which one I drove to work today.

[Ben@SpeedTech]

Nice ride! Those 70s A bodys have a decent front geometry to begin with, they're based on 2nd gen Camaro components and design. One thing to consider is swapping the front control arms for an even better geometry enhanced set of tubular arms. BTW ours are on sale for $999 for the complete upper and lower kit. Combine that with a performance alignment and you'll feel a considerable difference in cornering capability.

Don't let the price of the high dollar Pro-Touring wheels scare you off, if you check around you can find some nice cast aluminum 17x9.5s or 18x9.5s for as low as $150 each. Combine that with 275-35-18s all around and you've got a great look. Companies like Vision, MB, US mags, etc all carry a less expensive cast (as opposed to spendy billet or forged) pro-touring size line of wheels. I have cast wheels on my street driver/ autocross beater and they work great for me.

On my coil spring 4 link rear car ('79 G-Body) I had a difficult time finding just the right spring rate and ride height. I went through 3 different brand coil springs and 2 different brands of shocks until I pulled the plug on a set of Viking coilover shocks. They're not necessary for a street cruiser and are a bit spendy but if it's in your budget the benefits outweigh the disadvantages by a long shot. You have way more control of ride height, ride quality, performance, and tunability.

Larger sway bars are another way to increase handling for a relatively inexpensive investment. Avoid the sway bars that bolt to the rear control arms if possible, a frame mounted bar is so much more effective. 4 link rear suspensions are prone to binding up, so the idea is to free up the rear suspension so it allows more free movement which equals smoother rides and more predictable handling. Speedtech rear arms have Articulink technology that rotates within themselves and they avoid the issues of spherical bearing type bushings while helping free up bind. If you go for the UMI consider roto joints instead of the poly bushings.

Good luck with it!!

[NOMOREWORK]

Thanks Ben, I'm accepting info from everyone who's already done this.

[USAZR1]

I'm also retired now but really enjoying every day. With the right attitude, you can really have fun, building on a tight budget. Sure, I wish I could afford the big-budget items but it's just not going to happen.

stab6902, that is a very impressive Buick you have there.

[NOMOREWORK]

Thanks Clint this is the kind of advice I was hoping I would get !

[Steve Chryssos]

Bret put together a nice article called "How To Build A Happy Hot Rod" that focuses on changes that impact the driving experience rather than any particular super zoomie part. A-bodies and G-bodies respond particularly well to simple bolt-on upgrades and have plenty of room for wide tires. So you're starting with the right car. I love the wheel arches on the Buicks.
Check out the article:
https://www.ridetech.com/info/2018/02/how-to-build-a-happy-hot-rod/

[NOMOREWORK]

Thanks Steve, great article !

[Steve Chryssos]

The nice thing about these cars is that they tons of room for swapping out seats - which is one of the best handling upgrades you can make. A set of from a Caddy CTS-V will be expensive, but really cool. So many cars have supportive seats these days. The hot ticket is to actually remove your existing seat and take tons of measurements before going to the wrecking yard -- rather than crossing your fingers once you get there. A Grand National steering wheel.Amazingly, Summit Racing sells 17" GTA Trans Am replica wheels. They would be really cool and, unlike the 16" GNX versions, you can find proper tires.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/oer-10104411

[NOMOREWORK]

NOT A TA
Just wanted to let you know I installed my rear brake conversion kit from SSBC and a new proportioning valve and the brakes work great. Had one minor bit of confusion but their customer service guy walked me through it. Have a good pedal so all is well.

[BonzoHansen]

.....Amazingly, Summit Racing sells 17" GTA Trans Am replica wheels. They would be really cool and, unlike the 16" GNX versions, you can find proper tires.

https://www.summitracing.com/parts/oer-10104411

I'll just leave this here

https://gbodyparts.com/product_info.php?products_id=3512&osCsid=20d0b9b64076be1b417de55482ff9efd

[Steve Chryssos]

Nice!

[MonzaRacer]

So if I was building an A body like that my choices would be limited by budget.
So suspension would be reasonable parts for the geometry, not that they need a lot as those actually are much better and have lots of oldschool circle track parts available.
As for springs and shocks I would actually use some PT parts and work on swapping in Air Ride, yes I said it. I had RideTech(well at time Air Ride Technologies) rear springs in my 71 Monte. I used individual lines to rear bumper that had perfect holes at ends. Set and forget but honestly using paddle switches in my 78 C10 and picking and choosing my parts to keep it cheap. My trick used an A6 AC compressor as air source and 5 gallon frame mount tank.
Now one thing is if they have tubular arms for that year they are probably awesome.
And their shocks would definitely br a must have even if you use regular springs.

Brakes well depends on wheels sizes as Kore3 has parts to add Corvette brakes easy enough.

Wheels , well plenty of Corvette take offs till decent replacements can be had reasonable as someone is always swapping wheels.

Engine would be basic bolt ons, headers spend wisely, coated or stainless cost more do keep it going.
Cam change isnt necessary but possible.
For the price of good cars you can darn near make argument for FITech 4bbl FI conversion.
Keep AC if equipped but do proper upgrades and move to 134A nippondenso make S6 replacement for old A6 compressor.
If you want, plenty of better buckets available as takeouts that look and feel much better than land yacht seats and if no console and you want one just walk JY and dream.
Stereo is easy now if you dont want radio, just add parts to make as loud as you want and hook to Ipod or other MP3 player. My 66 Caprice is getting elcheapo Pyle radio that uses usb. Like $20 ish.
and its shaft mount. and with little brainstorming I can put portable cd/dvd player in glove box and jumper cord or rfi adapter.