g-body suspension advice

[steve40]

i'm currently working on a 84 monte ss. i'm at the point where i need to pick a suspension for the car. i've been looking around at different companies, dse, hotchkis and such......i want something that will stand up to road abuse for daily road duty, and not shake you out of the car.

i eventually want to take the car out to an autocross event and track, also including the drag strip....something all round.

any suggestions or experiences?

also, from reading thru on the dse site, are coil overs that much of a difference over the standard shock setup.

thanks,
steve

[UMI Performance]

Hello Steve,

Sounds like a fun project! G-Body cars are one of my favorite.

Have you looked at or considered the UMI (http://www.umiperformance.com/catalog) product line? We are a full USA manufacturer of suspension products, all products are designed and built right here in our shop. We offer a full line of products for that vehicle from drag racing, street cruising and autox. We have full kits and individual pieces as well as a few different shock options and coil overs. We have different bushing options and a-arms are available with different height ball joints to change spindle height.

We are also building a G-Body car ourselves, it is a '79 Monte Carlo we are turning into a pro-touring machine with good street characteristics. Here is a thread to learn more about our project and to browse some of our pictures- https://www.pro-touring.com/showthread.php?92775-Our-1979-Monte-Carlo-Pro-Touring-Project&highlight=umi or our Facebook Page Here
(http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151142694403643.464179.105161448642&type=3)
For products I will post a few links to look at, feel free to check out our site. We always like to speak with our customers and see what you really need for the car so please e-mail or call us if you would like. If you call in Ramey will explain everything in detail with how and why it works. No obligation at all, just call in and chat. We are not high pressure sales, we are car builders just like you.

Here is a link to some of the kits we offer- UMI Performance G-Body Kits (http://www.umiperformance.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=index&cPath=8_265)

I also attached a picture of the car we are building, we are installing our Stage 4 kit right now so we will have a ton of pictures coming.

I hope this information helps, please feel free to ask any questions. Good luck with the build!
Ryan

[UMI Tech]

Hi Steve.

Coilovers up front, like Viking or QA1 hybrids, use a standard spring diameter on all but the last coil and a half. These lower coils are 2-1/2" to allow it to fit around a threaded shock for ride height adjustment. Ride height adjustment is one huge benefit of the front coilovers.

The 2nd major benefit is the ease of adjustability by being able to reach the adjustment knob(s). The knob is exposed below the coil. If you'd use a standard coil spring, it would obscure the knobs. Sometimes we use them on a standard coil but it makes adjustment tough.

Performance-wise a properly tuned spring and shock works just as well but the ease of ride height adjustment and ease of damping adjustment makes front coilovers very attractive.

Rear coilovers are the same way. Standard springs and shocks can be made to perform awesomely. The benefit out back is once again, ride height adjustability. There are actually many more performance oriented shocks which fit out back as compared to up front - due to the packaging requirements on the front spring area.

ramey




i'm currently working on a 84 monte ss. i'm at the point where i need to pick a suspension for the car. i've been looking around at different companies, dse, hotchkis and such......i want something that will stand up to road abuse for daily road duty, and not shake you out of the car.

i eventually want to take the car out to an autocross event and track, also including the drag strip....something all round.

any suggestions or experiences?

also, from reading thru on the dse site, are coil overs that much of a difference over the standard shock setup.

thanks,
steve

[marolf101x]

in addition to what Ramey stated. . .true coil overs keep the spring and shock as a unit, thereby eliminating any issues that may arise with the hybrid design.
True coil overs also have a wide range of spring rates, so you can have the exact ride you are looking for (if it's mostly a track car you can run high spring rates. . .if it's mostly street driven you can have softer spring rates with better ride quality).

Most twin tube shocks use an adjuster on the shock body, which can be difficult to get to.
Our monotube shocks place the rebound adjuster on the shock shaft, so all you have to do is open the hood, reach in and turn the knob.
If you step up to triple adjustable shocks the compression adjustments are on a remote reservoir that is located wherever you place it (on our 48 Hour Camaro we put them under the hood where they are easy to get to.)

In addition to all this our shocks now carry a 1,000,001 mile warranty.
You can see all options for that car here:
http://www.ridetech.com/store/musclecars/?subcats=Y&features_hash=V283.V328