Our 1979 Monte Carlo Pro Touring Project

[UMI Performance]

Hello Everyone,

I wanted to share a few pictures of the 79' Monte Carlo we just picked up for a new project. We chose this car because of the virtually rust free and untouched body, solid under carriage and original paint. This car give us a great start for our project. The car currently has a 350 0.040 over, 202 heads, TH350 with 11" TCI breakaway converter and 3.73 gears with a true lock posi, it feels very strong! Over winter we will be turning this car into a pro-touring machine with a full UMI suspension, lowered, front and rear brake upgrade, wheels, tires, seats and driveline modifications. Right now it is set up for drag racing so we have a little work to do to make it handle. We are also keeping this is a budget build, we are just like most of you and don't have thousands on top of thousands to invest into all our projects. So we will be keeping all our customers in mind as we build a fun pro-tour/street machine at a decent price! We will be doing a build thread and step by step installation of all the UMI products so stay tuned.

Thanks for looking,
Ryan
http://www.umiperformance.com

[BulldawgMusclecars]

Very cool! Looking forward to seeing more.

[SS PUNISHER]

Nice! Don't change the color plz! Some color matched 17s would look sick!

[Tony_SS]

Looking forward to it Ryan!

[SRD art]

Nice! Not only a g-body but an ultra unique one. Love the color!

[UMI Performance]

We are keeping the color for now to offer the sleeper look! Hopefully we will have some updates soon.

[UMI Performance]

We got the car up on thew lift yesterday and I snapped a few pictures of the car as it stands right now. The underneath is solid with just surface rust, no holes and frame looks great as well. I took a few pictures of the cut outs the previous owner installed.

We took the car for one drive and the transmission quit shifting already. We pulled the pan and found a ton of metal chips in the pan and filter. The transmission is most likely ruined, we are going to try a filter/fluid change first and see if that fixes it temporary.

[SRD art]

Yeah, I don't think a fluid change will help that one, lol! :)

Great clean start. Are you doing a frame out rebuild? These frames are incredibly weak. Boxing makes a huge difference, and you'll want to tie the front and rear frame rails together too if you're gonna beat on it at the track.

[UMI Performance]

Yeah, I don't think a fluid change will help that one, lol! :)

Great clean start. Are you doing a frame out rebuild? These frames are incredibly weak. Boxing makes a huge difference, and you'll want to tie the front and rear frame rails together too if you're gonna beat on it at the track.

Transmission is shot I am sure. We are going to see if we can patch it up for a few before test runs on the skid pad and slalom.. we will see.

For this winter we will be leaving the car together and just building the suspension, tuning up the driveline, interior, brakes and wheels/tires. The future may bring a frame off to this car. Over the winter we are doing a frame off on our 72 LeMans so we didn't want to tackle two at once.

Thanks for looking!

[UMI Tech]

On Thursday October 11th we took the UMI fleet to Penn State's test track for a day of data gathering and tire burning.

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One of the combatants was our new (to us) Green Monster as detailed in the above threads.

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As a quick summary, the Green Ghost has old school SBC power and can ignite the 235/60-15's at will. The 3.73's and mini-spool powers both rear tires but traction is still quite non-existent. The TH350 has a TCI Breakaway converter with 2200 rpm flash and works nicely for part throttle driving. Yay.

First stop was the skid pad. We wheel-measured a 200ft diameter flat skid pad as used by leading publications such as Motor Trend and Road & Track. The asphalt condition was worn but in relatively good condition. A few sections had minor cracking and ripples which put our shocks high speed damping to the test (mainly for the other cars - the Green Goblin had stock Monroe's on it). The temperature was 55 deg F with sun and brisk wind. Tire pressure was set to a factory recommended 32 psi. With factory suspension front and rear and Firestone Firehawk SS20 235/60-15's it felt like we were driving on ice. Between the 500 treadwear rating of the FireSTONE's and the healthy horsepower, we could hang the back end anytime we wanted. When driving sensibly the Green Weenie circulated around the skidpad at 14.2 seconds for an average of 0.608g and a tendency to push [understeer, plow, howl the fronts, etc.]. After Ryan, Jerry and I completed that session we installed our new 3044-275 Pro Tour rear sway bar and chose the middle hole of the three hole adjustable arm. The middle hole is considered an auto-x or handling setting. The long hole is for street use and the short hole functions as a drag anti-roll bar. Of course tuning and testing will yield the best results. Jerry was first out with the new bar and it was immediately evident that the increased rear roll resistance made the car extremely loose, as in dangerously loose, as in Jerry laughing the whole time with the back end hanging out.

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In some cases it had LR tire off the ground.

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Talk about fun. The three of us averaged a best of 14-flat when driving sensibly. The 3044-275 improved our balance enough to achieve 0.626g although the tendency was to break the back loose immediately upon throttle-on. This may seem bad but we expect our 1.250" front bar to balance the rear roll resistance and make the car awesome. We expected this result when using such low roll resistance up front. With the massive oversteer we decided not to try the front hole on the 3044 as it would have just oversteered a lot instead of really a lot...

Next step was the 600 ft cone slalom (another MT and R&T test). It consisted of seven cones spaced equally at 100ft. With the Green Tomato entering the first cone at the industry standard 45 mph all kinds of hilarious stuff happened. Jerry was the unofficial "loose condition" test driver and attacked the cones like a man possessed. Possessed with laughter. At one point Jerry had the car so out of shape it was close to bicycling on two wheels.

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When the smoke cleared (literally!) we knew we had some work to do over the winter, as if we didn't know that already. The good news is, our test event went well and showed that the Pro Tour bar fit nicely, worked nicely and functioned as intended.

We also tried a few drag style launches with the Green Giant. With the factory bar out back, the car would raise the left front all out of shape before finally settling into an out of shape mess. With the 3044 bar set to 2 of 3, it would launch straight and true.

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When we got more traction via tires and UMI suspension, we anticipate need to move the bar to the shortest hole for more of an anti-roll drag bar effect. If that proves to be too light, stay tuned for our 1.250" solid anti-roll bar debuting in a few weeks. Be sure to sign up for our newsletter at the top of umiperformance.com for the latest product announcements.

In summary, a stock suspension Monte Carlo on Firestones and worn out suspension doesn't work very well. It does however bring a smile to your face. The Pro Tour bar was a step in the right direction and we were thrilled to have it work so well on its maiden "hardcore" test. The best part of test day was how much we learned and the data we gathered. Look for the Green Monster to be awesome when we head to the track in April 2013. It will be lower, meaner, and faster but rest assured, it won't be greener.

[Rick Dorion]

Cool. I'm, looking forward to your front bar for my Bel Air.

[SRD art]

Very cool that you have the place to test things as it all comes together. Looking forward to more test results as things get beefed up!

[Rick Dorion]

Are there plans for an adjustable rear bar for the 65-70 B-bodies?

[HELLCAMINO]

Awesome write up Ryan......hey, hope you can make it to Hershey Park Giant Center next weekend (Saturday or Sunday) Oct. 27/28 for the last SCCA Autocross event I talked to you about at Carlisle.

[UMI Tech]

Are there plans for an adjustable rear bar for the 65-70 B-bodies?

Hey Rick.

That project isn't on a list yet but your question is how we develop our product ideas...

[Tony_SS]

Thanks for sharing... looks like a blast! Green eggs and ham looks good!

[Trans]

Car reminds me of the **** I take when i eat spinach and green beans lol!

[Mudweizer]

Nice car! Look forward to the updates :)

[dsapper]

As for part ideas, I have quite a few. I just built a pro-touring grand national. There is tons of problems with the frame flexing. We custom made a bar that bolts between the two rear frame rails to stiffen things up. SC&C makes a front triangle brace for the front frame of the car but its overpriced for 3 straight tubes and has fit issues with grand national intercoolers. The crossmember selection is weak and is missing any option for grand nationals with the single exit down pipe. Spohn makes a good pro touring rear sway bar but there aren't any modern options for the front end

[JAWSS]

I am looking forward to more updates on this one. My first GM V-8 RWD car was a 79 Monte Carlo. It was Black and had a nice Texas sun baked gray interior with bucket seats and console. I know what you guys are capable of, my 70 Chevelle has every part offered from you guys on the front and rear suspension and I love it.

J

[Zoomin]

I just ordered a set of your A -arms with the tall spindles for my Skylark on the Black Friday sale. Did a lot of research before pulling out the credit card and your products have a nice following out there. Nice to see how you guys actually use your stuff.

Good luck with your Green Machne.

[UMI Performance]

I just ordered a set of your A -arms with the tall spindles for my Skylark on the Black Friday sale. Did a lot of research before pulling out the credit card and your products have a nice following out there. Nice to see how you guys actually use your stuff.

Good luck with your Green Machne.

Steve, Thanks for the reply and I am glad to hear we were able to earn your business. You will be very pleased with the items once you receive them. If you can post some feedback once you get them we always like to hear it.

We are slowly working on the Green Machine, unfortunately the busy season has slowed us down a little but we will have some updates shortly. Thanks again!

[UMI Performance]

Hello Everyone,

Sorry for the lack of updates but we are finally getting back on this project and preparing it for spring.

The first steps are:

- Install and design C5 front brake swap
- Swap Transmission
- Install front suspension, then rear
- Wheels and tires
- Rebuild rear end

Right now we are working on the transmission swap. The TH350 and TCI torque converter in the car are shot, both need replaced. We are replacing the TH350 with a TH400. We choose the TH400 because we have a brand new never used TCI TH400 Street Fighter on the shelf :)

We are swapping the transmission now and I update as we make progress.

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[UMI Performance]

Making a little more progress on the Monte project. Last week we had two new pieces of equipment come in (CNC Laser Cutter and CNC Turning Center) so it didn't allow us much shop time for working on cars.

Right now we are working on building the front brake bracket to mount the C5 calipers. The hub and rotors fit good as you can see below. You will have to cut some of the spindle. Once the kit is complete will have more pictures to share.

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[Zoomin]

I'm running behind on my Skylark project because of other crap like you guys, so I haven't started it yet but will be soon. Nice to see you guys back at it again.

[UMI Performance]

Viking front and rear shocks just came in!

A Big Thanks to Viking Performance for coming aboard and helping with our G-Body build. With the Viking front coil over kit and rear shocks we will run the front of the car 2 to 2-1/2" lower and drop the rear 2" with drop springs.

More pictures to come of these babies installed and in action!

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[UMI Performance]

We coated the old headers today. We decided since the headers were in decent shape and we knew they fit the car well we would reuse them. Also this helps to keep the project in mind of "pro budget". There were a few holes in the headers so we welded them shut and sand blasted the headers. We then took the POR-15 gray manifold paint and coated the headers with a couple of nice thick layers of paint. They turned out pretty good for not a lot of effort. The paint was $35 for the can and we still have some left.

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[UMI Performance]

The rear end is out and we are preparing it for a rebuild and powder coat as well as welding in the axle tubes. We will be rebuilding it with Moser (http://www.moserengineering.com/) components and leaving the 3.73 gears.

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[CodexGigas]

Nice. Can't wait to cop the Stage 4 Kit from You Guys for My 85 Cutlass.

[UMI Performance]

Nice. Can't wait to cop the Stage 4 Kit from You Guys for My 85 Cutlass.

Excellent to hear.

We will also be installing our Stage 4 kit on this car. We are started this weekend and I will have pictures posted this week.

Thanks for looking,
Ryan

[UMI Performance]

We would like to give a huge thanks out to Moser Engineering (http://http://www.moserengineering.com/) for helping with our project, our goodies just showed up! Not only did Moser supply great American made products they also spent a lot of time working with us on what we need. If you need a contact rep for Moser please let us know and we will be glad to help you.

Here is a little info on what we received and why:

Our Monte came with a pretty awesome rear end setup. It had 3.73's, a mini-spool (gasp), and stock axles. The mini-spool provided some good forward traction but also had the usual mini-spool troubles such as no differential action and the potential for disaster. Since we wanted to keep the original housing for budgetary reasons, we gave our friends at Moser Engineering a call for a solution. Their answer was a shiny new posi (Auburn 542040 High Performance series), a new rear cover to hold the bearing caps in place (Moser 7105), and their awesome Made In USA "Street Axles" with a 28 spline upgrade (more splines = more strength). These axles are 30% stronger than factory axles and will provide peace of mind while we're ripping around in the car. Sure, we could have gone full race but that takes a lot of $. We'll be detailing the proper way to set up the axle and get the Green Monster rolling safely on a budget.

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[Todd in Vancouver]

OK remember you said it first in the above comments and I think the name should stick, "the Green Goblin". This will be a really cool build and with a name like that you can go wild with a funky colour scheme in different green shades. I've seen your kits in black and red but will you build a one-off suspension kit in green?

[UMI Performance]

OK remember you said it first in the above comments and I think the name should stick, "the Green Goblin". This will be a really cool build and with a name like that you can go wild with a funky colour scheme in different green shades. I've seen your kits in black and red but will you build a one-off suspension kit in green?

Thanks for the reply Todd! There is has been all types of negotiations here about the name, Green Monster, Green Machine, Green Goblin, Fried Green Tomato... all kinds of fun names haha.

We can do any color powder coat but we choose red to stick with our standard colors. If we do different colors we start getting a lot of request for custom colors, we can do them but really prefer not too. Red and green will clash but that is what makes this car ugly and nice at the same time :)

[UMI Performance]

We are starting the suspension build on our Monte and shot this picture before we started... I think it was a pretty good photo :) Lance our web admin does nice work.

We are installing our UMI Stage 4 kit (http://www.umiperformance.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8_265&products_id=721)on the car which includes Viking double adjustable shocks (http://www.umiperformance.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8_57_326&products_id=712) for all four corners, the front will be a coil over and the rear will have a 2" drop spring. The rear end will be rebuilt with Moser (http://www.moserengineering.com) axles, differential and we will reuse the 3.73 gears that came in the car. Also we are installing C5 front brakes using a custom adapter bracket we built. The bracket C5 kit will be for sale shortly from us.

I will be posted some detailed pictures of the installation, they will come soon.

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[UMI Performance]

We began the suspension overhaul on our Monte. Since we have the entire underneath of the car off this is a good time to touch up the floor and frame. To keep things simple we removed all of the loose rust and then wire brushed and sanded the underneath of the car. We will then use flat black paint and coat the underneath of the car. This works great because it prevents anymore rust and makes for easy touch ups when things happen. Fortunately the car is solid underneath with just surface rust.

Pictures below show the rear of the car before. Finished pictures to follow.

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[83hurstguy]

You guys check the body bushing condition? My underneath had way less surface rust, and all four back body mount bolts had completely corroded away, the back half of the car was essentially floating on the frame! It's a crappy job, but necessary most of the time.

[UMI Performance]

Finally getting around to installing the suspension items.

We have a lot more pictures to share but here is one for now. Below is UMI front upper/lower a-arms, Delrin bushings, tall upper/lower ball joints and Viking front coil over kit with double adjustable shocks and 550lb springs.

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[CodexGigas]

*Boing* Sexy

[UMI Performance]

Here are a few pictures of us prepping the rear end and welding on our #3010 relocation brackets as well as welding in the axle tubes. The installation of our #3010 relocation brackets is fairly simple and just requires an angle finder a welder. The angle finder allows you to set the correct orientation so longer or shorter control arms are not needed once the brackets are installed. Once installed you will then have four settings for the rear of the control arm, stock, 2", 2-3/4" and 3-1/2" lower.

Once the rear end is powder coated we can begin installing our Moser goodies :)

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[UMI Performance]

We have a lot more pictures to share but here is two more for now as we install the suspension on the car.

This is our upper/lower a-arms with 1/2" taller ball joints along with our new Corvette C5 brake conversion kit.

First picture shows the aluminum conversion hub that will come with the kit, ARP studs and the UMI machined conversion bracket. The spindle does require cutting and we will show this soon.

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Here is a completed installation picture of the C5 front brakes with our slotted rotors.

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[williecutlass]

Have you guys ever thought about using the 98 and up 2wd s10 blazer hub and spindles72330
72331
72332

[UMI Performance]

Yes we did. We decided to go with the bracket we did because we know that all G-body cars will have that spindle. I like the 2wd Blazer idea, the downfall is sourcing the spindles. Thanks for sharing

[UMI Performance]

Backing up a step, here are some pictures of the front suspension dismantle. We debated whether to keep the Midas front shocks or not :)

We will share the new UMI items being installed next.

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[UMI Performance]

We installed the new TCI TH400 transmission. Well we needed a crossmember so we built one.

Crossmember came out very nice and we are debating whether or not to offer it as a new product? It is tubular and light weight, it offers all kinds of exhaust clearance and tucks against the floor nicely.

The exhaust on the car is what came with it (along with the cut outs). For now we are going to use it and we will replace it later on down the road. Right now we just want to get the car back on the road and ready for its first show.

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[CodexGigas]

That's very nice.

[montessaj]

I really like the crossmember! Looks alot lighter than my G-force part!

[UMI Performance]

I really like the crossmember! Looks alot lighter than my G-force part!

Thank you sir! And exactly, it would be much lighter. I didn't weight it but it didn't weight much at all.

[UMI Performance]

We powder coated the rear end a satin black and Ramey began building it with our Moser components. Here is a few pictures that show the powder coated housing.




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Some of the goodies being installed. The Afco's are for our LeMans build.

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[yourownself]

Any plan to make adapter brackets for the cts calipers as well?

[UMI Performance]

Any plan to make adapter brackets for the cts calipers as well?

Possibly, we have talked about it. I do think the C6 calipers will fit with the current bracket but would need to verify. Thanks for asking.

[SSLance]

That trans cross member looks nice. How much (if any) deflection did it have when the trans was set down onto it?

My G-Force for a 200R4 G-Body application weighs about 25 pounds for reference, but it is stout. Your design would give much more freedom for exhaust routing though.

[UMI Tech]

Since engineering data is always better than speculation, I set up a test.

With a full weight SBC and a TH400 installed in the car, and with our prototype crossmember unloaded, I zeroed a dial indicator. I lowered the transmission onto the crossmember and it deflected 0.015". What we appear to have is a strong, lightweight, nice fitting unit!

72968

[SSLance]

Nice!! There is a market for them, especially for G-bodys with different trans swaps like T5s, T56s, 7004r, and 200R4s for the 83-84s that came with T350s.

Thanks for doing the test.

[UMI Tech]

The Auburn posi (courtesy of Moser) went in yesterday. Initial backlash was 0.009". We'll run the pattern today and make adjustments to the pattern as needed. Then the awesome Moser axles go in...

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[UMI Performance]

Our Monte is coming together. Satin black powder coat, awesome Moser axles, Auburn posi w 3.73's, Moser cover (prevents bearing cap deflection), and some double adjustable Viking shocks. We even added our relocation brackets in case we head to the drag strip...

Oh and before we get drilled we kept the drum brakes as part of the "Pro-Budget" theme. We will however be upgrading to disc in the very near future.


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[lsx80monte]

you can replace those with some aluminum drums real cheap. Great products you guys got .I have your 12 bolt swap uca's for my 80 monte.

[UMI Performance]

you can replace those with some aluminum drums real cheap. Great products you guys got .I have your 12 bolt swap uca's for my 80 monte.

Glad to hear. Thanks!

[UMI Performance]

Our Boss 338 wheels just came from Boss Motorsports (American Eagle Wheels) and they look great! We choose the Boss wheels because of the budget pricing and because they are a Made in the USA wheel. We think the gray will compliment our green well.

A big thanks goes out to American Eagle Wheels for keeping their wheels in the USA. Here is a link to see how thier wheels are made: http://americaneaglewheel.com/page.cfm?t=manufacturing&id=13

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[UMI Performance]

Making some more progress on the Monte. We hope to get some completed pictures up of all the UMI items installed shortly.

For the front steering kit we choose to use the ProForged rebuild kit and our machined aluminum tie rod adjusters. Below is a picture of the kit, it is very nice!

www.proforged.com

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[CruizinKev]

Ryan you already know I love your project! :twothumbs reminds me of my UMI equipped '79 MC :)

[SSLance]

Surely this thing is about ready to hit the road...right?

Can't wait for the next update.

[UMI Tech]

The Green Machine has about 10 miles on it now, and has just attended its first show. Look for updates this week.

thanks

ramey

[Zoomin]

Updates better include pix!!!

[daveybtv]

dont keep us waiting!

[UMI Performance]

Sorry for the delay everyone... been a busy month here! But we have made some progress on the Monte and I will be updating the thread more soon. But for now, here is one before and after picture!

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[UMI Performance]

Our Monte attended its first show a few weeks ago where it was displayed in the air to show its new fancy underneath. The car received a lot of attention, we got a lot of compliments on the budget look. We also had a few haters, but doesn't every car? :) We know the green paint is ugly, that is why we like it!


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[Tony_SS]

I love that you guys are doing the Monte... people remember a pea green Monte when they see one. :)

[Zoomin]

I remember hearing Dave Hill, who was then the Chief Engineer for Corvette, saying that it is no real accomplishment making a world class car when youre selling cars for more than $300,000 a copy. The real challenge is building a car with world class performance that average people can afford.

In a similar line of thought, I love how you guys show how even cars that the average Joe can afford to build can deliver great handling performance for a fraction of what the big name suppliers charge.

Look forward to some pix of cones being slain.

[liquidh8]

Looking good, not a fan of the color, but I don't like any green, lol.

[UMI Performance]

I remember hearing Dave Hill, who was then the Chief Engineer for Corvette, saying that it is no real accomplishment making a world class car when youre selling cars for more than $300,000 a copy. The real challenge is building a car with world class performance that average people can afford.

In a similar line of thought, I love how you guys show how even cars that the average Joe can afford to build can deliver great handling performance for a fraction of what the big name suppliers charge.

Look forward to some pix of cones being slain.

Exactly. This has been our goal the entire time. Show customers what they can do on their real budget and not an unrealistic budget.

Thanks for following!

[UMI Performance]

Here are a few more shots of the new suspension on our Monte. Our Monte basically received our Stage 4 handling kit.

As soon as our new seats come in along with rear disc, steering wheel and steering box she will be headed to the track for testing. We will be sure to share the photos and video!

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/05/05161-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/05/05162-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/05/05163-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/05/05164-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/05/05165-1.jpg

[SSLance]

Do you have any pictures showing the rear sway bar at ride height?

[UMI Performance]

Do you have any pictures showing the rear sway bar at ride height?

Yes we do! Here you go... it looks mean from the back end.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/05/05171-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/05/05172-1.jpg

[williecutlass]

What size of wheels and tires did you guys put on that? It looks really good!!

[UMI Performance]

We are running 18x8 in the front with 245's and 18x9.5 in the rear with 275's. We do need to roll the rear fenders to lower the rear some more..

[Martin71RS]

looks very nice! just one small comment.... looking at the before and after pics next to each other I noticed 1 thing...almost everthing looks better in the after pic except for the engine oil pan...that looks better in the before pic
:hmm:

[SSLance]

Thanks for the pics, car looks great. Can't wait to watch it thrown around an autocross course.

[CodexGigas]

Here are a few more shots of the new suspension on our Monte. Our Monte basically received our Stage 4 handling kit.

As soon as our new seats come in along with rear disc, steering wheel and steering box she will be headed to the track for testing. We will be sure to share the photos and video!

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/05/05161-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/05/05162-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/05/05163-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/05/05164-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/05/05165-1.jpg


Goddamn! Too sexy.

[daveybtv]

nice

[UMI Performance]

Here are a few before and after pictures of the cars stance.

The front was lowered about 3". We achieved this with a 1/2" taller lower ball joints and a Viking front coil over kit with 550lb spring. There is no ground clearance issues or bottoming out.

We had the rear of the car lowered 2", however the tires rubbed the fender wheels. So as soon as as get the rear fenders rolled we will be lowering the back of the car another 1" for a total of a 2" drop. This will level the stance out some as well.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/05/05201-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/05/05202-1.jpg

[Martin71RS]

what a difference lowering + wheels make! nice :smoke:

[Zoomin]

Have you got any promotions coming up, or discount codes available to help a brother out?

[CruizinKev]

looks awesome!!!

[Zspoiler]

I would check the other 1978-87 performance "G" body for frame bracing ideas. I have a 1981 El Camino SS.and When was upgrading the front bar . I saw brackets that didn`t come on a regular El Caminos.In fact I had to add spacers brackets to clear the sway bar. It has a combination of Rancho lowering springs and Hotchkiss Trailing arms and sway bars. I`ve had out on the road course at Pacific Raceways And it works great..

[Hylofarm]

The car looks great. And +1 for the bracing. Keep up the good work.

[UMI Performance]

Well let me apologize for the lack of delays! The busy season hit and I just couldn't keep up.

Anyways, the car is complete (for now) and did its first autox ride along event last week, it did awesome and was a great hit among customers. They loved the "Budget" build concept and couldn't believe a car so ugly (ugly to them, not me haha) could handle so well.

I will share some pictures of the car on the track soon. In the meantime I need to back up and share older photos that I haven't got to yet.

Below is the factory spindles and what we had to cut off of them to run the front C5 brakes on this car:

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/07/07021-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/07/07022-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/07/07023-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/07/07024-1.jpg

[sebtarta]

Ryan, thank you so much for the ride along at the Carlisle GM National (they need to make the track longer). It was great talking with you and the crew.
The Monte handles amazing keep up the good work.

Sebastian
(Joe bought the UCA with the tall ball joints)

[yourownself]

Is the brake conversion kit available for purchase yet?

[UMI Tech]

Is the brake conversion kit available for purchase yet?

We have the product designed and tested (on the G-body in this thread) and all seems well.

We haven't released to the public yet. If you're subscribed to this thread, you'll know when they're released. Most likely in a few months...

thanks

ramey

[UMI Performance]

Here are a few pictures of the Viking front coil over kit going on the car. The Viking kits (which we sell) come with two double adjustable shocks and two springs with spring rate choice, we went with 550lb springs.

The coil over kit is a direct bolt on. We recommend aftermarket arms for strength but you can also use factory arms (we recommend reinforcing the a-arm pocket if you do)

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/07/07091-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/07/07092-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/07/07093-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/07/07094-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/07/07095-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/07/07096-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/07/07097-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/07/07098-1.jpg

[MidnightSpecial]

:naughty:

Part Porn

[UMI Performance]

How about some stickers for the Green Machine?

Love em or hate em... but I like them :) - Ryan

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/07/07301-2.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/07/07302-2.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/07/07303-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/07/07304-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/07/07305-1.jpg

[UMI Performance]

We took the The Green Machine to its first autox event, it ran 399 laps before breaking the Auburn Hi-Performance series differential. The new Pro Series should survive the next experiment at Pittsburgh International next month.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08011-1.jpg

[UMI Performance]

Last month we used the Green Machine for a ride along event at the Carlisle All-GM Nationals. The Green Machine was designed to show customers how a G-Body car can handle when set up properly and what a budget build can feel like, people were impressed. We had a lot of great results from the car and we took a ton of pictures. Below are a few, I will keep them coming!

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08061-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08062-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08063-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08064-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08065-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08066-1.jpg

[UMI Performance]

Backing up a little and sharing pictures we haven't posted yet.

With the Stage 4 kit we sell we include rear double adjustable Viking shocks.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08071-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08072-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08073-1.jpg

[UMI Performance]

This past weekend we decided to see how the Green Machine would do on the road course, so we entered it in the Ohio Muscle Car Challenge which was held at Pittsburgh International Race Complex. Now we knew the Green Machine wasn't going to be the fastest car and could be possibly one the slowest but this still gave us a great opportunity to do some testing.

The Green Machine handled great in the turns, it stuck good and held you tight in the seat. At first the car over steered but with some rear sway bar tuning and shock adjustment we were able to eliminate almost all of the over steer and increase our track time. The downfall the Green Machine faced was lack of power, on the straight stretches we were able to hit 112mph, with more power we could go faster and get there quicker.

Overall the car did awesome, we are extremely pleased with how the suspension worked and how the car felt. We are excited to get it back out there.

Now the bad news... on the 4th secession on Saturday we spun a rod bearing. Now we can get the power we need..... :)

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08262JPG-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08268JPG-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08261JPG-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08263JPG-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08264JPG-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08265JPG-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08266JPG-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08267JPG-1.jpg

[gmgiuffre]

Dun dun dun! Cant wait!

[UMI Performance]

A few more pictures from this weekends Ohio Muscle Car Challenge.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08271-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08272-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08273-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08274-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08275-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08276-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08277-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2013/08/08278-1.jpg

[65_LS1_T56]

Sorry I didn't get to meet you Ryan, I did meet Ramey. Wasn't that an awesome track? I had a blast out there too.

Too bad about the bearing and you guys leaving early...the autocross was a lot of fun and pretty fast.

[UMI Performance]

Sorry I didn't get to meet you Ryan, I did meet Ramey. Wasn't that an awesome track? I had a blast out there too.

Too bad about the bearing and you guys leaving early...the autocross was a lot of fun and pretty fast.

Aaron, Ramey did mention he talked to you. I wanted to meet you as well but we just didn't get a chance to bump into each other. Your car is very sharp and looked great out there on the track. That road course was awesome. I can't wait to go back! Hopefully next year the cars will last.

[SicMonte]

love it love it love it

[UMI Performance]

Wow- It looks like it has been August since we last updated this thread. Time flies when you are having fun!

Well the time has come to start preparing the Monte for the 2014 race and show season so the updates should start rolling in now.

Recap: For the 2013 season we spun a bearing in the motor, so our plan for 2014 is to install a 400 we have sitting around. While we run the 400 we will repair the old motor and we plan to make it a 383 stroker. We will post more details on this as we start taken the car apart.

For now though we did start getting some new parts for the Green Machine. We are installing a Flowmaster 2.5" stainless system with the 44 series Delta Flow mufflers along with Flowmaster's D-port x-pipe. The D-port x-pipe is designed to bump up low and mid range torque. I posted a few pictures below, more to come when we install the system. It looks awesome. Flowmaster also has G-Body headers in the works we are hoping to try out soon.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/01/0113141-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/01/0113142-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/01/0113143-1.jpg

[rod cole]

On the rear calipers. Coleman racing products makes piston kits to reduce the size of the rear calipers that you have on the car now. It is a sleeve with oring and a big snap ring that a smaller piston rides in. They have several bore sizes. Rod

[UMI Tech]

On the rear calipers. Coleman racing products makes piston kits to reduce the size of the rear calipers that you have on the car now. It is a sleeve with oring and a big snap ring that a smaller piston rides in. They have several bore sizes. Rod

Hey Rod.

I looked at those but the calipers we have were the wrong bore size to accept the adapter. I may revisit that here in a bit and just buy the correct base piston size.

Right now I have the rear brake pressure throttled down but as you may know, that isn't the official best way to do it.

The C5 fronts worked pretty awesome each time we had the car out. No fade, nice pedal.

[SRD art]

The Green Machine handled great in the turns, it stuck good and held you tight in the seat. At first the car over steered but with some rear sway bar tuning and shock adjustment we were able to eliminate almost all of the over steer and increase our track time.

The car's looking good and seems like it's running good too. I totally dig the Green Machine logo!

I've watched tons of G body autocross videos and noticed that pretty much all of them have a tendency to want to oversteer. When I first set my car up I was having the same issues, accelerating out of a corner it wanted to slide the rear out. For now, my quick fix was to unhook the rear sway bar and it made a huge difference. Lots more tuning to do but I guess we're all finding out that G bodies like a little softer rear suspension.

Anyways, the car looks great, keep up the good work.

[UMI Tech]

The car's looking good and seems like it's running good too. I totally dig the Green Machine logo!

I've watched tons of G body autocross videos and noticed that pretty much all of them have a tendency to want to oversteer. When I first set my car up I was having the same issues, accelerating out of a corner it wanted to slide the rear out. For now, my quick fix was to unhook the rear sway bar and it made a huge difference. Lots more tuning to do but I guess we're all finding out that G bodies like a little softer rear suspension.

Anyways, the car looks great, keep up the good work.

Hey Ben. Thanks for the reply.

We are finding the same thing. The high rear roll center combined with our 1" Pro Tour bar lifts the inside rear wheel on tight auto-x courses. We did some tuning on the road course as well and found our prototype 7/8" bar to work great on certain corners where unhooking the bar completely helped other tighter corners.

Our next step is to build a 3/4" tubular in our same Pro Tour configuration to try to find the ideal balance between roll resistance and pulling the inside rear wheel.

We recently introduced 130 lb/in linear rate rear springs in the stock configuration. These seem to be soft enough to work well with the high rear roll center.

The fun is in the tuning!

Thanks for the compliment!

ramey

[UMI Performance]

Despite the lack of updates we have some pretty cool stuff going on. How about these proto-type 1" and 2" lowering springs for the G-Body? Results will be posted soon!

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/01/0122141-1.jpg

[UMI Performance]

So I am trying to get caught up on all the updates we missed, some of these posts are back tracks but information we haven't shared yet.

Here are a few pictures of the Grant steering wheel that we installed and the harness bar we built for the 5-point harness.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/01/06054-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/01/06053-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/01/06055-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/01/06052-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/01/06056-1.jpg

[CruizinKev]

looks good!! :twothumbs

[UMI Performance]

Here is the harness bar completed and installed. When we redo the bar I would angle it to flow with the seats better, and it would make the back seat entry easier.. if that is a concern.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/01/0123141-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/01/0123142-1.jpg

[SSLance]

Any pictures of how that bar is attached to the floor?

[jerome]

That harness bar seems extraordinarily unsafe:

1. Shoulder harness angle looks way lower than 20 degrees below horizontal, causing spinal compression in the event of a collision.
2. The webbing load of any bolt-in or snap-on bracket must be in plane with the flat side of the bracket. Pulling at a 90° angle will reduce the maximum load of a bracket 60%
3. The harness bar looks like a u-shape attached to the floorpan with a small plate. The bar will flop over with any sort of force absent other bracing.
4. You should not be wearing a harness in a car without rollover protection. In a rollover, the harness will hold you upright and you will be crushed by the roof.

I would strongly urge you to use 3-point belts unless you plan on building a full roll bar, installed correctly.

[UMI Performance]

A few more older pictures. Installing new seats and carpet. We also found perfect use for the nice green bench seat, shop seat!

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/01/0126142-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/01/0126141-1.jpg

[XTRMEASURES]

love it lol

[UMI Performance]

A few more pictures from last year I wanted to add. We got the new carpet from G-Body Parts and it fit great. We tried to keep the car as budget so we wanted to try out the inexpensive Cipher seats, the seats themselves are nice, the clothe is nice and they are comfortable. However after a few races the adjusting track is pretty much falling apart on the drivers seat. So we wouldn't recommend these for a lot of racing. Cruising they would fine.

We also had to build our own seat mounts since no one had them in stock. We will redo them as well when we install a new seat this year.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/01/0130141-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/01/0130142-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/01/0130143-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/01/0130144-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/01/0130145-1.jpg

[jerome]

Anti-submarining strap routing should be vertical down from the groin, preferably approximately 20° back. The way you have mounted the anti-submarine strap is not going to do anything in the case of a collision.

Everything about the seats, harnesses and harness bar that you have posted is extremely unsafe. In the event of a collision:
1. your seat tracks will likely fail (you've said they are falling apart yourself)
2. in a rollover, you will be held upright by the harnesses and the roof will crush you since you have no roll bar
3. in a frontal collision you will slide under the 4 point belts because your anti-submarine belt is installed incorrectly
4. in a frontal collision your spine will be compressed because your shoulder harnesses are mounted too low
5. in a frontal collision your body will move forward and potentially slide out of the shoulder harnesses because the harness bar is not strong enough to withstand any sort of collision forces pulling the belts forward

You can fix all of your issues (except for the seat tracks) by removing the 5-point belts and installing 3-point belts. You may think the 5-point belts look cool, but they are extremely unsafe the way you have installed them and likely to cause more injury in the event of a collision than 3-point belts.

When you are ready to actually commit to proper mounting of harnesses, you should take a read through the following document:

http://www.schrothracing.com/docs/Competition_Instructions.pdf

Do not use harnesses if you do not have proper rollover protection.

This is the second time I have brought this up in your thread. I would suggest you addressing these points and correcting the major safety flaws in your car before you drive the car again. I know you sell suspension parts and not safety equipment, but your ignorance of safety equipment and you ignoring warnings about it does not reflect well on UMI as a vendor.

[UMI Tech]

Thanks Jerome. We appreciate your technical/safety advice.

-- Ramey

[nyciti]

anti-submarining strap routing should be vertical down from the groin, preferably approximately 20° back. The way you have mounted the anti-submarine strap is not going to do anything in the case of a collision.

Everything about the seats, harnesses and harness bar that you have posted is extremely unsafe. In the event of a collision:
1. Your seat tracks will likely fail (you've said they are falling apart yourself)
2. In a rollover, you will be held upright by the harnesses and the roof will crush you since you have no roll bar
3. In a frontal collision you will slide under the 4 point belts because your anti-submarine belt is installed incorrectly
4. In a frontal collision your spine will be compressed because your shoulder harnesses are mounted too low
5. In a frontal collision your body will move forward and potentially slide out of the shoulder harnesses because the harness bar is not strong enough to withstand any sort of collision forces pulling the belts forward

you can fix all of your issues (except for the seat tracks) by removing the 5-point belts and installing 3-point belts. You may think the 5-point belts look cool, but they are extremely unsafe the way you have installed them and likely to cause more injury in the event of a collision than 3-point belts.

When you are ready to actually commit to proper mounting of harnesses, you should take a read through the following document:

http://www.schrothracing.com/docs/competition_instructions.pdf

do not use harnesses if you do not have proper rollover protection.

This is the second time i have brought this up in your thread. I would suggest you addressing these points and correcting the major safety flaws in your car before you drive the car again. I know you sell suspension parts and not safety equipment, but your ignorance of safety equipment and you ignoring warnings about it does not reflect well on umi as a vendor.


what he said +1

[UMI Performance]

Last season we spun a rod bearing in the Green Machine and we are finally getting around to swapping the motor. The plan is to swap in a running 400 we have here so we can run the car while we repair and rebuild the engine we are removing. A lot of people want us to go LS in this car, for this year we will stick SBC and possibly LS for next season.

While removing the engine it will also give us a chance to remove the heater box and clean up the engine bay, fix the wiring ect..

We began the swap yesterday and I will keep you updated on the progress. Thanks for looking!


https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/02/0226141-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/02/0226142-1.jpg

[avewhtboy]

Can you tell me the distance for the rear sway bar mounting points on the axle itself?

I have a narrowed axle so I am wondering if this bar would fit my axle.

[UMI Performance]

Can you tell me the distance for the rear sway bar mounting points on the axle itself?

I have a narrowed axle so I am wondering if this bar would fit my axle.

Can you send an e-mail to [email protected] with the information you need? Thanks!

[UMI Performance]

A few pictures of the engine coming out. We found the issue was in the #7 piston and maybe not a bearing, we will post some pictures once we take the heads off.


https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/02/0228141-1.jpg


https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/02/0228142-1.jpg


https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/02/0228143-1.jpg

[UMI Performance]

Engine is out. We are removing some engine bay clutter, rewiring and painting before putting the 400 in place. We removed the heater box and we will cover the firewall hole with our heater/AC delete panel.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/03/0308144-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/03/0308141-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/03/0308142-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/03/0308143-1.jpg

[instro84]

Hey Rayan, if you still need seat brackets i have a set from wedge engineering i'm not gonna use they are new let me know, i belive they are the ones cypher recommends.

[UMI Performance]

Here is the Flowmaster stainless system we will be using on the Green Machine. This system has the Flowmaster new "D-Port", we are excited to hear it.

The pictures below show it compared to the very nice system we had on the car prior...

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/03/0310141-2.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/03/0310142-1.jpg

[UMI Performance]

While the motor was out we took a few minutes and designed laser cut clamshells to go with our already popular solid motor mounts. Now we will have a kit with solid motor mounts, new clamshells and all new mounting hardware. Below are a few phone pictures of what we did. Although not on our site yet these are available for anyone interested.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/03/0316141-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/03/0316142-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/03/0316143-1.jpg

[UMI Performance]

A few more pictures of the progress. Picture 1 shows the mock up of our AC/Heater delete panel in place, part #3030. Pictures 2 and 3 we spent some time cleaning and painting the engine bay, we still have more rewiring to do.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/03/0317141-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/03/0317142-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/03/0317143-1.jpg

[ivanster]

Nice car man!

[UMI Performance]

Nice car man!

Thank you sir!

We had a little fun with the Green Machine. We did a shop promotion with Alex Rogeo, also known as "Alex the Car Girl". Alex is a real automotive enthusiast and runs a 10 second Dodge Magnum, her Magnum was used by Magnuson Superchargers for the design of the Mopar supercharger she runs and she was recently sponsored by Champion Spark Plugs. Alex is a NHRA, PSCA and WCHRA drag racer and she owns a line of car care products she developed called Easy Elegance. Here is a picture of her with our Green Machine, if you would like to see more pictures please visit our Facebook page at www.facebook.com/umiperformance we are also running a giveaway so join along on Facebook. Enjoy!

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2014/03/032414-1.jpg

[UMI Performance]

Our temporary 400 small block is going in. This engine will get us by until we rebuild the original engine into a 383.

We also welded on the Flowmaster collectors to our original headers, they have the ball and socket mount. Flowmaster has G-Body long tube headers in design now so we are anxious to try them when they come out.

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[csouth]

I really like the way you guys keep coming out with new products. Can't wait to see this done...

[UMI Performance]

Last year we converted the rear brakes from factory drum to Speedway Motors discs. The stock style metric rear calipers worked ok but the bias just wasn't right. The rear pistons were 85% the area of the C5 fronts. This creates too much rear brake. A proportioning valve helped but it was a crutch.

About a month ago, Carl Bush from Wilwood stopped by the factory. Carl is one of their lead tech guys. We spec'd out a D154 metric twin piston caliper. The new calipers are at 50% of the front size. We also upgraded to Wilwood's Pro Matrix pads front and rear.

Look for performance details soon.

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[UMI Performance]

New seats for our Monte just came in. We decided to run the Corbeau LG1 seats and we are very happy with them so far, they look awesome. We will post pictures of them installed shortly.

The Cypher seats worked pretty decent for the price. But since we are doing a lot more track time with this car we decided to upgrade.

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[sebtarta]

YAY! Cannot wait to have a spin at the GM nationals and fart on them!

[UMI Performance]

YAY! Cannot wait to have a spin at the GM nationals and fart on them!

Hahah. Well pre-warn us so we can have Febreeze!

[daveybtv]

I love the seats had them in my Malibu for a day I was just too big for them.

[UMI Performance]

Our original 350 block is currently at the engine shop getting new cam bearings, freeze plugs and hot tanked. Once returned we will begin building the 383 for our first autox in June. We will post details on the engine internals, heads and cam shortly.

In the meantime the Canton Racing road race pan just came in. Here is Canton's write up on the pan and explains why we choose it:

These road race series oil pans feature Canton Racing's competition baffling system with trap door baffles and directional runners. This system is designed to flow oil to the pickup compartment and control it during turns, acceleration, and braking. Each of these pans includes a crank scraper and windage tray combo designed to maximize power. They catch oil spray coming off of the crankshaft and prevent it from bouncing back onto the rotating assembly and/or bolt-in slosh baffles to control oil slosh. Canton Racing road race series oil pans feature a wide, low-profile sump for maximum oil capacity and ground clearance. They include provisions for an optional pan mounted dipstick, a magnetic drain plug, and in most pan applications, an oil temperature fitting.

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[UMI Performance]

We have a few things going on with the Monte right now. While we wait for the engine block to be completed we are working on installing the new Corbeau seats. We also just found out our new Dakota Digital gauges just shipped so we are prepping the dash to install them.

For the seat installation, all the seat brackets offered are for 78-88 G-Body cars that came with bucket seats, no benches. The difference is the bench seat did not have mounts inward towards the tunnel for mounting. The easy solution is to purchase bucket seat mounts and weld them in. We picked ours up from www.gbodyparts.com for $75.00. Here is a link- http://www.gbodyparts.com/product_info.php?cPath=47_48_64_67&products_id=769

Here are the bucket seat mounts purchased from GBody Parts.

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Mock up of where they would sit.

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Corbeau seat brackets.

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[UMI Performance]

Our tires showed up. We will be trying the BFG Rivals this year with 275's on all four corners. The Rivals seem to run wide so I would say they are a little more on the 280 width, so we are happy we didn't go with 285's which would have been a super tight fit in the rear.

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[UMI Performance]

We located and installed the bucket seat brackets. We could have easily built brackets, but with limited time and for the cost this was the more logical answer. Now that the brackets are welded in place we will paint them and install the new seats.

Look at all the lovely green in the interior :)

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[UMI Performance]

Our Dakota Digital VHX system just came in and it looks awesome. Simon began disassembling the car and of course, like expected ran into a wiring nightmare from the previous owners. Lots of cut wires, dead wires and improper wiring. But he was able to sort through it and it won't take long to button up the system.

We highly recommend the Dakota Digital stuff, great company and awesome products. We are happy to use their gauges. Here is a direct link to the kit we got: http://www.dakotadigital.com/index.cfm/page/ptype=product/product_id=788/category_id=670/mode=prod/prd788.htm

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[UMI Performance]

We got the Dakota Digital installed and working. Easy installation and everything works great. We would highly recommend this kit to anyone looking to do this type of swap.

We will post some more pictures shortly, this picture shows the gauges lit up.

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[UMI Performance]

With the Dakota Digital installed we were able to remove the tachometer and gauges the previous car owner had installed in the dash. Since there is no need for a radio or heater this left a big hole in the dash where these items once were installed. To fix this our draftsman Zac designed a cool over plate with the Green Machine logo to fill in the void left from the heater and radio. He also cut in two spots to install the Dakota Digital display buttons. We will powder coat the back plate green the front plate black to give it a cool matching color look. Pictures to come.

Jerry and Zac together use our Amada laser to cut the cover plate.

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[UMI Performance]

AFR heads just came in, 195cc SBC "Eliminator" with 65cc combustion chambers. Should be crisp down low and pull hard through 6500rpm.

The engine is still at the machine shop but we are hoping to pick it up tomorrow and start assembling.

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[Mr Nick]

Do you have the seats installed yet? The combination of factory brackets, with Corbeau brackets on top of them... seems like it would be a very high seating position?

[UMI Performance]

Do you have the seats installed yet? The combination of factory brackets, with Corbeau brackets on top of them... seems like it would be a very high seating position?

Seats are installed and the height is perfect. The brackets we welded in are factory seat mounts, so if the car had factory buckets these would have been there. This puts the Corbeau seats at the same height as factory or very close.

[UMI Performance]

New wheels just came in. We will be running the Boss 338's again this year, they are a semi-inexpensive wheel and the best part is they are Made in the USA. We originally ran 18x8 up front but this year we will be running 18x9.5 and 275's on all 4 corners. We decided to try the black this time, unfortunately they don't offer a satin or flat.

While on the lift we are also updating a few suspension items and preparing for the engine swap next week.

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[FLYNAVY53]

cool build! subscribed!

[sebtarta]

Ryan cannot wait to see the car and the UMI crew at the GM Nats!!! Just 21 days and counting.
Car looks great!

[UMI Performance]

Ryan cannot wait to see the car and the UMI crew at the GM Nats!!! Just 21 days and counting.
Car looks great!

It is getting close! Should be another great time.

[UMI Performance]

We chose a 383 kit with Mahle pistons and a low drag ring package balanced by CNC Motorsports. Final honing and ring grinding for each cylinder was done by John at Conklin Racing Engines. Clearance check and assembly begins today at UMI!

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[UMI Performance]

Engine assembly has begun.

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[RMerritts]

So this is gonna be ready for the bellefonte cruise right?

[UMI Performance]

So this is gonna be ready for the bellefonte cruise right?

That is what we are trying for, would really like to put it in. Will you be there? I am going to walk around too, might take a cruise Friday night for the free cruise.

[SicMonte]

looking good!!!!!!

I need to borrow your crew for about a weekend....

[UMI Performance]

We began removing the 400 SB we were running and preparing to install the 383 we have been building. It should be finished tomorrow sometime.

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[UMI Performance]

Our Isky roller cam just came in so Ramey and crew assemble our 383 and prepare for our first event of the year. The car will run with three days next week at the GM Nationals in Carlisle PA. For three days the car will offer rides to our customers and Friday night it will participate on a shoot out. We are excited to see how the new set up works.


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[UMI Performance]

Engine is assembled and ready for installation. We even took the time powder coat the Edelbrock intake satin black.

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[UMI Performance]

A few pictures of the engine going back in.

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[sebtarta]

Nice! Why no air gap intake?
I already bought a small spray bottle of fabreeze as well.

[SRD art]

This is coming together nicely. I second the question, what made you decide to not use an air gap manifold?

[UMI Tech]

We already had the Performer RPM.

We're looking at manifold and header options now.

It rips pretty good already, even with no tuning. Carb is still baseline as well. Just received jet kit...

[RMerritts]

That is what we are trying for, would really like to put it in. Will you be there? I am going to walk around too, might take a cruise Friday night for the free cruise.

I'm stuck at work until 3(ish) since penn state had to have us here to do nothing on a Saturday. I'm not showing the truck this year it's a mess but I should be over that way if my roommate takes the bagged s10

[UMI Performance]

Update:

The car attended its first event this past weekend and worked great. It was a ride along program where we give a two lap ride in the car around the autocross course. The course is pretty brutal, it is tight and has elevation change in it but the car survived with no issues doing over 300 laps. Pictures and videos are coming soon, they are working on them now so stay tuned!

The weather this past weekend was in the high 80's. We used distilled water with Water Wetter and 15% coolant with no heating issues. Even though the cooling system worked excellent we will eventually upgrade to a Wizard Cooling aluminum radiator and electric fans.

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[Streetbu]

Watched you make laps today @ the Syracuse Nationals. She moves right along and had a good wheel behind her! Might bump into you on Saturday and even take my car out for a couple laps.

[UMI Tech]

Glad you could make it. We are having a blast with the ASCS guys here at Syracuse.

The Green Machine is working pretty well.

I definitely encourage you to try some runs. It's a great learning experience and is tons of fun.

We will be there throughout the day.

Later

-- Ramey

[SicMonte]

Watched you make laps today @ the Syracuse Nationals. She moves right along and had a good wheel behind her! Might bump into you on Saturday and even take my car out for a couple laps.

Did you come out?? I was at the starting line all weekend...didnt see a Malibu come through.

[SicMonte]

Glad you could make it. We are having a blast with the ASCS guys here at Syracuse.

The Green Machine is working pretty well.

I definitely encourage you to try some runs. It's a great learning experience and is tons of fun.

We will be there throughout the day.

Later

-- Ramey

the Green Machine was on fire!!!!! Way to go guys! Very very very good showing out there!!

[UMI Performance]

the Green Machine was on fire!!!!! Way to go guys! Very very very good showing out there!!

Thanks Doug! We had a blast and we are very pleased with the car. We have a few adjustments to make and we'll be back out :)

[Streetbu]

Did you come out?? I was at the starting line all weekend...didnt see a Malibu come through.

No :( Started doing my own tech and realized I have a few body mount "issues" & didn't want to push my luck. The far l/r mount can be turned by hand and the bolt is tight. R/R mount is broken off. Kinda had a feeling they were shot. Parts are ordered, but that's the easy part of the job LOL There's always next year!

[UMI Tech]

The Green Machine ended up 3rd fastest on clock time out of 70 participants. This qualifier put us in the shootout on Sunday. We came up a bumper length short of winning the whole thing. What a blast!

The American Street Car Series puts on an awesome show.

[Streetbu]

Awesome job!

[UMI Performance]

We have a bunch of pictures coming. Here is a video of the Monte on the track at the Syracuse Nationals this past weekend. Brian Finch was driving in this video, he has a few autocross wins under his belt and we learned a lot riding with him.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOKgOTGFrPA&list=UUu7WXgDbuyyhVzDJF-M1RMw

[UMI Performance]

Here are a few pictures of the Monte running the All-American Sunday at the Good-Guys PPG Nationals event.

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[UMI Performance]

We are prepping for our next event... the Ohio Muscle Car Challenge held at Pittsburgh International Race Complex on August 16th-17th.

During the autocross at Syracuse Nationals last weekend our steering column had become very loose. After some research we found the article below from Car Craft and that fixed it. Four loose bolts inside the column. We had to buy two specialty tools to do the fix, just as the article recommended.

Car Craft Article- http://www.carcraft.com/techarticles/ccrp_0908_gm_steering_column_repair/viewall.html

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[86slicksilverss]

Been there, done that. Car looks really good. Good luck on your next event!
Jim

[87mcss]

We got the Dakota Digital installed and working. Easy installation and everything works great. We would highly recommend this kit to anyone looking to do this type of swap.

We will post some more pictures shortly, this picture shows the gauges lit up.

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Do you have a part number for this color scheme? I can't seem to find them anywhere online.

[RMerritts]

101950

[oldtinsmith]

Lov'n this project!!! Can you give a quick overview of the American Street Car Series?

Doug

[Geo's66]

Any updates? Just bought a '78 factory 4-speed... Would like to nearly duplicate on mine what you have done here.. Awesome.. Please advise.

[UMI Performance]

Any updates? Just bought a '78 factory 4-speed... Would like to nearly duplicate on mine what you have done here.. Awesome.. Please advise.

Sorry for the delay. After a great season in 2014 we are ready for a few tune ups for the 2015 season... which is coming quickly!

In the meantime our R&D has been busy working on a few new products to help the car excel in 2015. A rear coil over kit is in the works now and almost completed. The lower mounting bracket below is designed to work with or with our UMI control arm relocation brackets. We also have another cool lower bracket that has control arm relocation built into it, one bracket can do two things. Pictures coming soon.

We will post some better pictures shortly.

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[UMI Performance]

Demon road race carburetor is in.

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[UMI Performance]

Not a lot of updates on the car itself yet but we did use this car to develop our G-Body rear coilover kit.

Our new G-Body rear coilover kit is installed on our Green Machine, below are a few pictures. We also built an optional rear shock tower brace you can see in the pictures. This ties the rear shock towers together for additional reinforcement.

This will also be available with shock valving more oriented towards pro-touring and drag racing.

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[86slicksilverss]

Nice looking pieces!

[UMI Performance]

New rear shock tower brace that we developed off our Monte while we were working on it. Brace was originally designed to help distribute the load of the rear coil overs.

We are getting the rear suspension put together for our first event coming up in May. We will be running the rear coil over kit with the Viking Crusader shocks with higher rebound valving.

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[Streetbu]

I'm using a Flowmaster Buick GN exhaust system on my Malibu. The muffler sits in the stock location, cross ways between the gas tank and the rearend. Think this brace would still fit with the muffler located there?

[UMI Performance]

I'm using a Flowmaster Buick GN exhaust system on my Malibu. The muffler sits in the stock location, cross ways between the gas tank and the rearend. Think this brace would still fit with the muffler located there?

The picture above is a Flowmaster 2.5" system. We have a ton of room and almost any system should clear. Of course with out trying that is hard to be sure. We have a ton of pictures in the link below along with some measurements you can use. I would say we are 99% sure.

http://umiperformance.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8_58&products_id=911

[Streetbu]

Your not using the same system I am. Yours has two mufflers under the rear floor pan. I only have 1 muffler, like a stock G-body. But mine is dual in, dual out and sits behind the axle and in front of the gas tank. I'm thinking it wont fit mainly because that's also where the muffler hangers go.

[sodak65]

Will that shock tour Brace be offered for 64-72? I have all that same setup on my 65GS but that brace would be great.

[UMI Performance]

A few updates.

The TH400 in the car went out late last year. We pulled it out and had it looked at and it's not good. We really want to do a manual swap however we are worried about the time frame to get other projects done. We need to decide soon.

We are removing the 1-5/8" headers that were on the car and replacing them with 1-3/4". Finding a pair to work is tricky, we tried Dynatech and they didn't clear what we needed correctly. We have a set of Hedmans we are trying now. AFR recommends 1-3/4" with the heads we are using.

In the meantime we are also building a set of coilover only a-arms with additional caster built in. They are coming along nicely.

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[UMI Performance]

Will that shock tour Brace be offered for 64-72? I have all that same setup on my 65GS but that brace would be great.

We do plan on doing 64-72 next so stay tuned.

[Streetbu]

Be careful with header selection if you're going with a manual trans. Many won't clear mechanical linkage.

[UMI Tech]

Be careful with header selection if you're going with a manual trans. Many won't clear mechanical linkage.

Agree. We'll be using a hyrdraulic throwout bearing to avoid the mechanical linkage mess.

These G-bodies are certainly tough to get proper in the header department...

[UMI Performance]

Okay finally on to some updates:

Transmission- We burnt our TH400 up last fall. We tried to save a few dollars and used a Muncie 4-speed we had sitting around. We did the manual swap and got the car running and working well. The peddles are very tricky and still need some tuning, lack of time is killing us. The Muncie didn't like high RPM's and after 4 laps at Putnam Park road course it locked up seizing 1st gear.

So we decided we better do this right once and for all. A call to Bowler got us a TKO 5-speed, Quicktime bell housing and a McCleod RXT clutch. Bowler really wanted to see us with a T56 however time frame to have this car didn't allow that at this time. We have a big event next week. Bowler was able to turn this transmission around in 1 day for us, excellent service!

Headers- A few asked about headers. The Dynatech headers didn't work right on this car, they hit a lot of places so we couldn't use them. We switched to the Hedmans and so far everything is good and fitment nice. Recommended.

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[UMI Performance]

The new Bowler Tremec 5-speed is working very well so far, we have completed three events and done well at all three. I am behind on updates but I'll start with this past weekend.

Our Monte participated in the Ohio Muscle Car Challenge held at Pitt Race this past weekend. The event included Friday night Track Cross, Saturday all day road course and Sunday autocross. We were able to take our G-Body 2 full seconds faster this year on the road course than last year, we are very happy about that. For this year we also running the Bridstone RE71R tires and we are having great luck with them.

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[Zoomin]

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This seems like a lot of roll to me. What size sways?

[UMI Tech]

650 front springs, 150 rear springs, 1.250" front bar, 3/4" Pro Tour rear bar.

Rear bar was unhooked as the track was super slippery and the car would rotate too easily with throttle-on. We are working on a front bar size upgrade now to keep it a little bit flatter.

The front geometry is working well so it was sticking nicely even with the body roll.

[Zoomin]

OK - watching with interest as I ordered the Stage 3 kit for my Lemans, will be doing the install in the next month or so.

[UMI Tech]

The A-body kit has more roll resistance than the green car so you should be good to go.

Our '72 LeMans test car actually pulled more skid pad G's than our 2010 Camaro when we were developing the Stage 3.

[Qua-Hoon!]

Any updates? I've been gifted my dads G-body 84 Monte Carlo. It's set up to be more drag race and has all new drive line to get there fast but zero... absolutely zero suspension work done. I haven't found too much info on g-body pro touring that's out of the box / different. I've read this thread and plan on using some of your products. Hopefully the green machine continues to inspire on a budget pro tour trend. Thanks for the info so far.

Also, do you have any other pics of the new seats installed ? I'm trying to get a better feel for how they complement the rest of the interior. Thanks!

Alex

[SSLance]

Hey Alex, welcome to the G-Body world! There's a few of us around that are pushing the limits and showing people just how good a G-body can handle if setup properly. I'm a huge fan of the Green Machine as well and I hear there are some updates coming for it soon.

Here is some of the out of the box work we did on my car that you might find interesting.

https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/98063-Need-a-little-help-figuring-something-out/page3

Have you started a build thread yet? Any pics of your car? Being an 84, is it blue or white?

[UMI Tech]

Any updates? I've been gifted my dads G-body 84 Monte Carlo. It's set up to be more drag race and has all new drive line to get there fast but zero... absolutely zero suspension work done. I haven't found too much info on g-body pro touring that's out of the box / different. I've read this thread and plan on using some of your products. Hopefully the green machine continues to inspire on a budget pro tour trend. Thanks for the info so far.

Also, do you have any other pics of the new seats installed ? I'm trying to get a better feel for how they complement the rest of the interior. Thanks!

Alex

Hi Alex.

Congrats on the G-body.

We have a few upgrades in the works for the winter to further tune the Green Machine and get it handling even better.

In its current configuration it races rather well and is a tremendous street car. As we develop and refine, we will make it even faster for national competition while maintaining the SBC, low buck interior and so forth.

If you're subscribed to this thread you should see some updates shortly...

thanks for the interest

ramey

[UMI Performance]

Any updates? I've been gifted my dads G-body 84 Monte Carlo. It's set up to be more drag race and has all new drive line to get there fast but zero... absolutely zero suspension work done. I haven't found too much info on g-body pro touring that's out of the box / different. I've read this thread and plan on using some of your products. Hopefully the green machine continues to inspire on a budget pro tour trend. Thanks for the info so far.

Also, do you have any other pics of the new seats installed ? I'm trying to get a better feel for how they complement the rest of the interior. Thanks!

Alex

Hello Alex, Thanks for the interest. We will be working steady over the winter to develop more on the Green Machine... we have a lot of work to do. We are working on some different shocks and spring rates as well as front end geometry. Here is a picture of the car on our 2" lowering springs, we wanted to see how they worked, looked and felt on this car. We also threw a set of Weld wheels on it. Stay tuned, more to follow.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2015/12/1221151-1.jpg

[SicMonte]

Any updates? I've been gifted my dads G-body 84 Monte Carlo. It's set up to be more drag race and has all new drive line to get there fast but zero... absolutely zero suspension work done. I haven't found too much info on g-body pro touring that's out of the box / different. I've read this thread and plan on using some of your products. Hopefully the green machine continues to inspire on a budget pro tour trend. Thanks for the info so far.

Also, do you have any other pics of the new seats installed ? I'm trying to get a better feel for how they complement the rest of the interior. Thanks!

Alex

Hey Alex...congrats on the car!! This is a great thread to follow if you want to learn about how to set up a gbody. Lance has done a boat load of work to his monte so check out his thread as well.

I started building my car back in 2006 and I have been through numerous set ups with my car. Feel free to go through my build thread and ask me any questions you want. I am updating the build thread as we speak....
https://www.pro-touring.com/threads/67083-Project-SicMonte?highlight=sicmonte

[CruizinKev]

We are running 18x8 in the front with 245's and 18x9.5 in the rear with 275's. We do need to roll the rear fenders to lower the rear some more..

when you had this tire/rim setup - it was 245/40 on 18x8 front and 275/40 on 18x9.5 rear? or was it 245/35 and 275/35?

[UMI Performance]

when you had this tire/rim setup - it was 245/40 on 18x8 front and 275/40 on 18x9.5 rear? or was it 245/35 and 275/35?

I actually don't remember the exact size on that, sorry!

[UMI Tech]

Found my original notes.

245/40-18 on 8" rim, 4-1/2" backspace
275/40-18 on 9.5" rim 5-1/8" backspace

We used various wheel spacers which I couldn't find the numbers for.

ramey

[UMI Performance]

It's time to get these updates rolling again.

As racing season approaches the stress to get cars in tip-top shape kicks in. Our first upgrade of many on the Green Machine is the steering column. The tilt steering just needed to go. We ordered a Flaming River direct bolt in steering column, non-tilt. The column includes the ignition as well as turn signals and other needed accessories. It even has the horn.


https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2016/03/0311161-2.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2016/03/0311162-2.jpg

[linkstar69]

Cool car, enjoying the development process

[UMI Tech]

Beginning the Lance Hamilton Ron Sutton blueprint process.

[SSLance]

Hubba Hubba... If you run into any issues or have any questions...just ask... And I'll forward them to Ron for you. :D

Good luck, can't wait to hear out it works out for you and the Green Machine.

[UMI Performance]

We got a few more things finished up on the Green Machine. The Flaming River column is in and we also got a Flaming River EZ steering shaft, it is really nice and fit perfect.

The car weighed in at 3,133lbs, they are doing corner weights now. Don't mind the dust... she's been inside since last fall.

We got a very nice set of AFR valve covers and just installed them. Along with some custom zip tie spark plug wire holders.

Our cage came in from Wild Ride Race Cars... looks very nice and suppose to be direct fit to maintain the back set and fit with the door arm rest. We will know in the next month but I am sure it is.

We have prototype lower a-arms on the car, They have a significant amount of positive caster in them along with double shear coilover mounts. We also installed some new coilover shocks we have been working on. More details to come.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2016/04/0404166-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2016/04/0404163-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2016/04/0404167-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2016/04/0404162-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2016/04/0404164-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2016/04/0404161-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2016/04/0404165-1.jpg

[Streetbu]

Damn, ordered my Ridetech arms and coilovers last month. Still don't have the coilovers yet though.... Hmmmm

[mc84_zz4]

Real interested when you make these LCA and the pictured coil-over shocks available, they look great, with decent access to the adjustment knobs.
I have some other brand LCA with a 2" drop coil-pocket, and access to the shock adjustment is frustrating.
BTW whoever did the welds on those LCA deserves a beer, that is excellent work.
:hail: :hail:

[Centerforce]

The build quality on those LCA's look superb!

[UMI Performance]

Thank you guys for the compliments. We are pretty excited about the lower a-arms and new coilovers we've been working on. Brian does an awesome job welding and building, he does some of the product design and jig building here at UMI. I put a few more pictures below, enjoy.

The coilovers are still in the works but will be pretty awesome when completed. I posted a picture below to give an idea on what to expect. We have some more testing to do but we will continue to post information as we have it. We don't expect it to be too long until this is all released. We've been working with Sam Strano of Strano Performance Parts on the valving in the shocks.


https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2016/04/0405161-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2016/04/0405162-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2016/04/0405163-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2016/04/0405164-1.jpg

[SicMonte]

wow......nice job guys!!! Everything looks just amazing.

[godlemmy]

Do your Lca's move the spindles forward to center the wheel in the opening? My stock ones look like the wheel is pushed back. This is exaggerated when the car is lowered.

[UMI Performance]

Do your Lca's move the spindles forward to center the wheel in the opening? My stock ones look like the wheel is pushed back. This is exaggerated when the car is lowered.

Well not really. We are adding caster to the car with out moving the spindle pin. So we are moving ball joints, lowers forward with the uppers back to tilt the spindle which adds caster but maintains the wheels in exact factory location. The g-body has tear drop style fenders which make the wheel not look centered. Also drop spindles can tilt the wheel back when used with caster.

[Nicks67GTO]

Any chance you're making lower A arms with the double shear coilover mount for the a-body crowd?

[Number1]

Any updates on this?

[UMI Performance]

Any updates on this?

Yep! See below...

Well I am trying to get back to keeping the UMI build threads updated and I have been slacking on this one. So I will start with most recent and might through in a few things from last year that we missed.

Right now we are working on running 315s square on the car. For the back we are notching the frame and rolling the fenders. We are working on offering a frame notch kit as a new product. You can see in the photo below we started with a hand trimmed piece of cardboard as a template then trimmed a few cardboard pieces on the laser to dial in. Next up is metal cutting.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2017/01/0126171-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2017/01/0126172-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2017/01/0126173-1.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2017/01/0126174-1.jpg

[chevelletiger]

YOU NEED TO MAKE A KIT LIKE THIS FOR A-BODYS!
Tony g wants way too much for his kit and never answers his phone, or updates that pathetic website of his.

[focused313]

what rear end are you guys running?

**never mind, I saw that it's a 7.5 with Moser upgrades.

[UMI Performance]

More 315 action on the UMI Monte. We used our new notch kit and welded the frame back shut, it turned out well. We took the Forgestars with 315s off our 4th gen and used a bunch of different spacers along with our wheel tool to mount them on the car. These combined with our homemade wheel tool helped us to dial in the wheel size.

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2017/02/0203171JPG-2.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2017/02/0203172JPG-2.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2017/02/0203173JPG-2.jpg

https://static1.pt-content.com/images/pt/2017/02/0203174JPG-2.jpg

[focused313]

now that's a tire.

[Streetbu]

Is the frame rail even with the inner wheel well now or set in even further?