I'll be dropping in a 455 in this fall (if the engine builder ever gets it done) and over the winter and spring I'd like to improve the suspension on my 72 Skylark to match the added performance. Providing that everything currently below the car is good, where would you start to improve the handling. Sway bars ? Control arms ? The car seemed to handle better with the 235/70 R 14s than it does now with larger tires. This might be my imagination but it seems like the larger tires grab the road better and I feel every bump or crack in the pavement.
Does your car have disc brakes or drums?? How are you planning on driving the car?? Straight line drags, aggressive street driving, corner-hugging G-force turns??? Different driving demands different setups. -Josh
The car currently has drum brakes all the way around. It's safe to say that I'll probably never be at the drag strip but I do want to feel like the car will do anything I ask it to do. If I go into a tight turn a little too fast I want to know that the car will stick to the pavement and follow the road without a problem. The car handles amazingly well for its age on good roads but put it on a bad road ( we have a ton of bad roads in Michigan due to the weather changes) and it's a different story. The shocks, brakes and tires are all new. The suspension parts are all solid but it could never keep up with todays cars on a bad road.
Use gas shocks, install the 1.25" front sway bar, box the rear lower arms and add the rear sway bar. If the suspension is original, replace all bushings, ball joints and coil springs. Go with disc brakes.....drum brakes are bad news and will fade away during a high speed stop. Install a posi unit in the car...otherwise, the 455 will just burn the right rear tire off the rim.
Our 70 convertable handle very well... poly bushing upper and lower control arms rear arms also both big front and rear sway bars. Have a good alignment shop spend the time to align it correct have them get boths side the same caster camber on an alignment machine just because its in the green doesnt mean that it is the best it can be in order for our older cars to handle track and drive well this is very important and for hwy cruising we installed a 2004r out of a gn cruising at 80 is now easy
Thanks for ideas.The suspension looks original but is in good shape. Gas shocks were installed about 4,000 miles ago and the body bushings are waiting to go in next. The drum brakes were re-done to get me buy until I'm ready to upgrade. I've looked at the control arm sets, springs sets and the disc brake conversion kits. Along with all the other stuff I need to do to the trans and rear end I don't see and end in sight for spending money. I'm just trying to prioritize and get a plan together for how all of these things are going to get done. I can't do them all at once.
George said all the cost effective items to do. However, you may want to look at your front lower control arm bushings. All the others on my 70 looked good but these were gone. They weren't clunking either. I did the same as mentioned by George on my convertible and it handles great. large front sway bar, boxed rear suspension (diy), rear sway bar. And disc front brakes. If your looking for a G-machine do a lot of home work on looking for the best value. There are some fabricated control arms and hubs that DON'T do anything to better your suspension as they use don't change the suspension design. Also Oh if your looking for a rear end rebuilt contact Monaz on this board. he lives in north eastern ohio.
