New Gbody in need of help...

[HeadGames]

I feel as if I am joining a AA in need of help. a short intro into who I am, Dave Localio, I am the owner of HeadGames Motorworks, a cylinder head shop for sport compacts. I didn't always play with rice though. Here I am, in need of a driver and instead of doing my usual and buy another car (i have 6) my dad has talked me into putting back together a long forgotten project...my 87' Buick T. It was set up for drag racing, and did street racing with it most of the time we have owned it. I was 15 when we bought it, and I am 32 now.. It has 45k on the odometer and because of it's racing nature always breaking and because of my venture into business creating a hole in my pocket the car has sat since 98'. I drove it for 250mi in 04' before breaking it again and gave up, bought sooo many cars since.
The car went 10's back in the day.. But, it's time to put her back together and a change in lifestyle. She's gonna get driven everyday! I only drive 15mi a day..so not so bad. And that is what has brought me here...

I need help. I wanna put LS brakes on it(learned tonight trolling these forums that they fit!) but I guess it's a f body rotor, and c5 caliper?

I wanna do suspention, I am thinking coilovers all the way around, I want it to sit right and low, and drive like a Buick should.

I also need wheels. Because of the color combo, and it's a gbody it is sooo hard in my opinion to find a wheel that looks good. Want a 18' and it to fill out the wheel well.

I need to talk to bad ass, smart people who can steer me in the right direction of who to talk to, at the companies I need to work with and get this thing together!

Thanks!
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif (http://img73.imageshack.us/my.php?image=buick.jpg)

[f1shman]

Welcome to the site Dave. I am sure you'll be able to find a lot of good ideas, great advice and quality parts from the posts, members and vendors here at pro-touring.

[Steven]

Welcome to the site.Check out SC&C (to the right)and speak to marcus about making the car handle. I used the stage 2 kit on my Monte ss and was very happy. Air bags, coil overs or just springs and shocks. Your choice. As for brakes, I use a kit to upgrade to disc's in the rear.

[1971CHEVELLE]

Welcome to the site

[Tony_SS]

Welcome, x2 on SC&C. Marcus is very helpful.. I'm running a Stage I and am very happy with it.

[HeadGames]

left a message for Marcus...should hear from him soon. And talked to Flyin bye performance about there brake kit today as well. I have a C5, so I will be upgrading it to the C6 and use the left overs for the Buick. One thing I have to say...is you really gotta hate money to do anything with these things suspension wise. Or they are just that messed up from the factory.

Ordered the parts for the motor today. Going with stock stroke Eagle crank, K1 rods and wiesco piston...wish I didn't feel weird about cutting it up and putting single turbo LS with a 6 speed in her!

[Turbo Rob]

Dave,

Welcome to the board. I have to agree with everyone in saying talk to Marcus.

I have the Stage II kit on my T and it helped out quite a bit in the handling/feel area.

A bunch of us Turbo regal guys on the board here also hang out over at Turbobuick.com.

Nice looking T you have. Like you, I seriously keep considering going the LSx route. One day when the 3.8 aggravates me enough I probably will. I don't think we would have to cut up too much and would be able to put back to 3.8 turbo power if we would want to.

Rob

[86regalss]

yay another gbody!

[IrvJr]

Nice T. I have been working my suspension more towards the handling aspect since i dont race all that much. Since i drive more than race i was given the advice to stay away from the QA1's i was trying to buy, and this was from the vendor i was trying to buy them from. He hated the way his car rode with them, and suggested good all around shocks like Bilsteins, or the KYB's i use now. I just put good springs all the way around with good sway bars and shocks and its a blast to hit the corners in.
But everyone has there own opinion of a good ride so im sure you will get tons of info on here to help you decide whats best for your ride. Good luck.

[T-CHRGD]

We can never have enough Hard Cornering T's !!!!!!!

Mark (SC&C) is The Man !! :)

[jackfrost]

the Bilstein's work awesome...

welcome to the site.

[HeadGames]

thanks for the responses! I will probably make a thread after this weekend..the car looks a little more beat up, it sat at the body shop for a few months after that pic was taken. Follow her through the paces!

First order of business is get it running, but it has a spool so it won't be able to drive much. Then do the suspension and brakes.

Which brings me back to thinking, is there any good info out there about putting the lsx/t56 set up in the car?
I think the reason I put the car down for so long is after the LS came out and we did so much with that and then I got into the sport compact stuff, I realized what a pile of crap the 3.8 is and I have 13 2004R's in it...and just tired of spending money on it. So, I could sell all the Buick stuff and pay for the LS swap.
And I have a GT40 turbo sitting(67mm) that we made 850whp in a Honda sitting and would like to put it to good use!

[GBodyGMachine]

Welcome to the site. There is good info on lsx swaps on maliburacing.com as well as LS1tech. Sorry Pro-touring.com. Marcus is a great source for anything G Body. I bought most of my suspension components from him. Coilovers front and rear can be done, without to much fabrication. I just did the rear on mine. Chris Alston makes a kit for the front, and you can buy a universal kit for the rear, or just make your own.

Jeff

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/03/Wheels0231-1.jpg
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2009/03/000111-1.jpg

[Turbo Rob]

Which brings me back to thinking, is there any good info out there about putting the lsx/t56 set up in the car?
I think the reason I put the car down for so long is after the LS came out and we did so much with that and then I got into the sport compact stuff, I realized what a pile of crap the 3.8 is and I have 13 2004R's in it...and just tired of spending money on it. So, I could sell all the Buick stuff and pay for the LS swap.

Here is what I have found, although I haven't looked into this too much since I am going to be retiring from the Air Force in June and don't have another job yet.

http://www.brphotrods.com/1982-1988%20G%20body.html

Rob

[Samckitt]

thanks for the responses! I will probably make a thread after this weekend..the car looks a little more beat up, it sat at the body shop for a few months after that pic was taken. Follow her through the paces!

First order of business is get it running, but it has a spool so it won't be able to drive much. Then do the suspension and brakes.

Which brings me back to thinking, is there any good info out there about putting the lsx/t56 set up in the car?
I think the reason I put the car down for so long is after the LS came out and we did so much with that and then I got into the sport compact stuff, I realized what a pile of crap the 3.8 is and I have 13 2004R's in it...and just tired of spending money on it. So, I could sell all the Buick stuff and pay for the LS swap.
And I have a GT40 turbo sitting(67mm) that we made 850whp in a Honda sitting and would like to put it to good use!

Here is John Bzdel's diary of putting an LS1/T56 into his 87 Monte SS, then on to putting an LS7 in it. Lots of great detailed info on there.
http://www.montecarloss.com/ls1montecarloss/

John's Monte:
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif
Engine:
https://static1.pt-content.com/images/noimg.gif

[Ralph LoGrasso]

Welcome to the site, Dave.