Clean Sheet Front Suspension For "G" Body

[tjmaxx]

Hello Everyone, this is my first post. I am currently building a 1978 Malibu, constructed of 2X3 Box tubing. I am designing a front suspension for the vehicle. I am using a AGR rack and pinion, stock G body spindles and 1" taller than stock upper ball joint. These are the specs I have designed, I would appriciate to hear any comments, thoughts or suggestions to aid my project. As always there are budget constraints hence my use of stock spindles and I already have a brake system for the car. Thanks for checking into my Post. Please see below:

[Marcus SC&C]

First of all,welcome aboard! You`ll find a lot of great folks and tech here.
You`ve really opened a big can o worms. Do you have some dynamic numbers for it,say at 1" dive/2* roll? Looking over it quickly it looks to be a big improvement over stock but could use a little tweaking here and there. Are you dead set on building a whole frame and clean sheet suspension (I can certainly understand wanting to do it just to do it) or would you be willing to use the stock frame if you could achieve the same geometry and performance? There are a lot of good options out there for the stock G frame these days. Mark SC&C

[GBodyGMachine]

WElcome to the Club of G Body.
Listen to mark, he know alot about G-Body Suspension. And it looks like a great start.

Jeff

[tjmaxx]

Thanks for the welcome to the forum. I have the dynamic dimensions that you requested. at 1" dive and 2* roll. the reason for designing the front suspension is because I have 3/4 of the frame already done. I appreciate any help that you can give me. See below for the dimensions. Thanks Tim....

[Marcus SC&C]

101" of lateral RC migration,oh baby. From your other numbers I had a feeling. That`s something you`re gonna have to work on. You could use some more - camber gain and a bit higher RC too. There are other aspects to tweak too but let`s take the big stuff first,then the smaller stuff will start to fall into place. The bumpsteer looks really good though.
Take a look here http://www.scandc.com/suspensionspecs.htm for some basic ideas of where you want to head with various aspects. If you can get it as good as Stage 2 you`ll be very pleased with the handling and drivability. It`s overall geometry is actually comparable to a 4th Gen F body. If you can get it up to G-5 or even close you`ll be in very exclusive territory.
The shorter lower arms dictated by the width of the R&P are going to complicate things a little. A little more effective spindle height and a little spindle drop may help things. Mark SC&C

[tjmaxx]

Hey every body. I did some adjustment on the lay-out. Please let me know what you think. See below. Thanks Tim.

[redss86]

I only wish I knew how to interpret all those numbers. :confused: I thought about doing similar to what you are doing, but now I am glad I didn't. It was enough just trying to setup my own truck-arm rear, let alone designing anything from scratch. Maybe on my next one, but I have a TON of learning to do.:fingersx:

Not trying to steal the thread or anything, but any suggestions on books to read on suspension design/ theory? I already have Herb Adams', and Fred Puhn's books. Any other tips would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, and good luck with everything tjmaxx.

If you have any pics and could post them that would be awesome.