1973 Pontiac Grand Am LS7 Swap

[Later-A-body]

I can send you to Global West Suspension for the rear coil overs. They have already done the work on the '73-'77's and I am eventually going to rear coil overs myself. A few things to consider on that set up though is to make sure you are reinforcing the area surrounding the rear shock mounts. There are companies that sell these kits and would have you just bolt on the adapters and be done, but the shock mounts are not that strong and will over time ovalize or possibly fail. I had my rear shock mounts reinforced with welded steel plates in anticipatioon of using coil overs. I believe I included a picture of that in my build thread previously. The way it was described to me by Doug Nordin at GW is that the further you move the shock angle away from vertical, the greater the stress you put on the shock mount. Add that up with a 40+ year old chasis and you get the idea. I also believe theat GW includes a reinforcement bracket that spans from one side of the frame to the other for added strength. Check with them. I always trust what they do, that's why everything on my car is from GW.

[driveit]

I will do that. Thanks for the tips. btw Where did you get your disc setup?

[driveit]

I don't see their coil overs do you by any chance have a link?

[Later-A-body]

The brakes are an older Baer PBR set up. They don't sell that kit anymore. They work very well though. I don't think you will find the coil over parts on the GW site, you would need to call them. They had my frame at their shop for a few months in order to create the long travel front coil over kit I now have on the GA. It was used to prototype that kit for our years A-Body. While the car was there, they also mocked up the rear for coil overs, and I need to return the car to them after it's running to get the final dimensions sorted out in order to get the correct brackets on the rear, but I thought they had most of the work done. You might want to ask.

[driveit]

I sent them an email a few minutes ago. If they reply back I will let them know you referred me and maybe they will cut you a break next time.

[Later-A-body]

Good deal Thanks.

[driveit]

Talked with the guys at Global West today. They advised that currently there was nothing they could do for the rear coil overs as they needed a car body there first to measure for clearance issues. They did put me on a mailing list to be updated once the product becomes available. I told them that you referred me and mentioned your car. Thanks for the tips. Maybe I will get something worked sometime. Did yo get those wheels and tires on there yet?

[Later-A-body]

I guess that will be up to me as to when I can get the car to them so they can measure everything. Wheels are going to be at least a month out. I'm still in the process of determining the backspacing and if the 305's are going to clear.

[Later-A-body]

I was finally able to have the car measured for the new wheels and tires yesterday. I got back in touch with my old friend Bob who used to work for HRE in the past, and now has his own company called Modulare Wheels in Orange, Ca. Bob was the person who originally measured the car back in 2002 for the current wheels I have on the car. As a recap, I am currently running 18x8.5 front, and 18x10 rears. Over the last few years I have thought that the front especially needed more tire and wheel. With all the measurements finalized, I will be running an 18x9.5 front on a 275/40/18, and a 19x11 rear on a 305/35/19 Nitto NT05. Bob confirmed the 305 has plenty of room. The rear backspace will be 6.0" (zero offset). The best part is no fender modification required. I love the fact that the Grand Am has so much room to run these. The front is 5.5" backspacing (+6 offset). With a traditional flat face wheel I will have a minimum front lip of 3-3.5", and rear of 4.5-5". But I am now looking at the possibility of running a concave wheel? I decided not to purchase the Boze wheels. No reflection on them, they were very helpful and easy to work with. I like a lot of the styles that Modulare has, so I decided to have them build me a set. Their website is one of the best wheel sites I have been on. They have an extensive collection, and a fantastic wheel visualizer and gallery. Pricing is also reasonable considering the high quality of the product. Their at modularewheels.com.

[andrewb70]

One of the Deep Concave wheels would look pretty nice!

Andrew

[driveit]

Nice looking tire. Have you decided on one of their wheels yet. I really like the M9 with a dark gray center and chrome lip. I think it would look awesome on yours or mine.

[driveit]

I love their wheel editor. I sent them a quote request.

[Later-A-body]

I was thinking about the M14 if I go with a flat face or the C14 for concave. Bob is trying to maximize the lip amount of the C14. I don't want a wheel with no lip on this car. Gloss black centers with a medium titanium outer. I think I want to get some darker tones this time around but not all black.

[driveit]

I agree about the lip. They need it. I like the C14 if it were my choice between the two. I sent a request on the M9 and got a quote back for around 4000.00... My jaw kinda dropped. They are awesome looking wheels, but I just can't spend that kind of money on wheels. Right now there are too many other areas that need the attention. Now on the Concave wheels I looked at the C14, but my favorite was the C15. I just wasn't sure it would be deep enough and have enough lip and backspacing to fit and make it look right on the car. I guess they can do about anything though since they are all custom built per order.

[Later-A-body]

That is actually a reasonable price for a high quality forged three piece wheel. I received quotes from other companies as high as $7500. 5-6K seems to be an average cost. Two piece wheels are a less expensive option but many lack the ability to pick the exact width you want.

[driveit]

I know it is probably a great price, just not for this old boy. lol.. Mine are looking like under 200 each. The ones I am looking at right now are about 155 each. They are posted on my build thread.

I wanted to post a pic here for you to check out. If it is too large or you want me to remove it just let me know. Just though you might like to check it out. Did this for a guy with a 77 olds he is building as a PT car.

[Later-A-body]

No, I love the rendering. The '76-'77 442's are one of my favorite cars. I always wanted to buy one and do exactly what I'm doing to the Grand Am. I almost bought a '76 that had of all things a factory installed Old's 260 V8 and a 5-speed transmission. Great rendering. I should have you do one on my car. Those wheels look like the Forgeline /Grip Grudge wheel. That is the wheel I wanted the most. Concave design limits the lip though. They quoted me a set after sending them all my measurements. The front lip would be only 1", and the rear lip would only measure 2.5" and that's with an 11" wheel with a 6" backspacing. Still tempted though. I think it would look killer. As far as your wheels, you can only afford to buy what makes financial sense. Don't blow the budget.

[driveit]

Thanks. I agree. I will work with what I have for now and we will see where things go.

[Later-A-body]

Some items I have been working on lately are the powder coating of the upper radiator tube, overflow tank, and spark plug wire brackets. I was unable to find an upper radiator hose that fit, so this was the custom one fabbed up. As with many other underhood items, I prefer the look of wrinkle finish black. The camera flash makes it look a little shiny, but it has a matte finish. I also completed the radiator overflow tank and mounted it. It was also necessary to build a bracket for the intake tube and secure it to the inner fender so the tube to eliminate vibrations and the chance of it moving around. In addition to those items I had to come up with a way to keep the spark plug wires off the headers. I relocated the coils behind each cylinder head which required me to build custom MSD wires. The wires required some support in order to not lay over and hit the headers. I designed some small brackets that screwed into existing threaded holes in the heads that were not being used. As you can see in the picture, they keep the wires tucked up and away from the headers. I'm pretty satisfied with them, and think they look fairly stock. It's hard to see in the pictures but the wires are quite a distance from each header tube.

[Later-A-body]

As I had mentioned in previous postings, I have decided to purchase new wheels for the GA in order to facilitate running a larger front and rear tire. I am going with Modulare Wheels. The company is owned by a friend of mine that I have known for quite a while from my days at TRD. At first I thought I was going to go with a traditional flat face wheel, but after seeing many cars outfitted with concave designs, I have had second thoughts. I like the concave look, but understand that lip size does get reduced. As it stands due to the the large amount of backspacing I would have approximately 3.5" and 5" lips on a flat face wheel based on the final dimensions. In the concave wheel, the lips would be 2.0" and 3.5". One other point worth mentioning is the concave design will require me running a 19" front, as opposed to an 18" with flat face design. This is due to the current configuration Modulare has on concave designs. I know either one will look good, but I am unsure of the 19" front. I don't know if the reduced sidewall will look as good, and if the ride quality will suffer. I'm open to opinions on this. Rear tires are 305/35/19, fronts will be either 275/40/18, or 275/35/19. I posted images of both designs below for reference. Whichever one I choose will have the ball cut spokes and exposed hardware most likely in a gloss black center. Not sure if this is OK here in will get moved to the wheel section?