After participating in an "All Pontiac" show in the fall of '97, I came to realize that my car wouldn't be competative on the show circuit without "the complete package". I had excellent underhood and undercarriage detail, but the interior needed freshening up and the exterior, a new paint job. Rather than take the car off the road again for an extended period of time, I decided to get some enjoyment out of driving it a little, attending local cruise nights and such. Deterring
 me from this was the car's archane road manners.
I came to realize that there were two things that really hampered the car's handling. First, the skinny bias ply tires looked great at shows, but were nothing short of treacherous on the street. Secondly, the car exhibitted quite a bit of body lean, even with the limited cornering ability offered by the tires. In the spring of 98, I put my efforts toward the car's suspension dynamics. After doing some research, I  found that by interchanging the correct GM components, gleaned from local salvage yards, and adding some aftermarket hardware, I could take a good 15 years off my A-body's handling characteristics, making it hold the road and corner at least as good as something from the late 70's or early 80's. I used an 1-1/4" GM front sway bar, a 7/8" GM rear sway bar and a set of steel inserts to box my rear control arms which when welded in place, duplicate the factory boxed rear control arms found on later GM A-bodies. These inserts stiffen the control arms and keep them from collapsing when the sway bar bolts are installed. Both sway bars and the inserts cost considerably less than the aftermarket sway bar kits. I've assembled all these pieces into a kit which I now market. After removing the control arms, I had a friend weld in the inserts. Of course, the control arms needed to be repainted before reinstalling.
Since a 15" wheel and tire seemed more appropriate on a car the size of a GTO, I pulled the 14x6 rally I's and bias ply redlines in favor of a set of 15x7 rally II's, scrounged from a 1976 Grand Prix. I sandblasted the wheels before priming with an etching primer. I finished them using a Dark Smoke from an 86 Taurus on the center section between the spokes, dull aluminum Krylon on the spokes and rim face, and Krylon Dove Gray on the back sides. This was a fairly laborous process which took me the better part of a three day holiday weekend. I wasn't looking for the largest size rubber I could fit in my wheelwells for tires, so I selected a set of P215/70R15 Michelin XW4's for two reasons. First, the price was right. I got the four slightly used tires for $140...including mounting, balancing and new valves. Second, they have a narrow, 3/8" white stripe. After making a stencil out of some 1/16" plywood, I wiped the white wall down with lacquer thinner, and sprayed it red with paint designed for use on vinyl. With my redline radials and sway bars on the car there is a marked improvement in handling. At this point, a faster steering gear seemed in order to take advantage of my new found road hugging prowess. There are several GM/Saginaw power steering boxes which will bolt right in and offer ratios considerably faster than the 66 GTO's 17:1.  I chose a 77 Trans Am box which has a 12:1 variable ratio and is less than 3 turns lock to lock compared to 4 for the GTO's. It also has a higher resistance, providing better road feel. The down side to using the F-body steering box is that the internal stops slightly limit your turning radius in comparison to the A-body boxes. But this concession was more than made up for by the ability to turn quicker.
The car's road manners have really been transformed with these inexpensive pieces. While its not ready to take on a C5 Vette, I've at least got something equivalent to an 81 T/A, which isn't half bad when you consider what I started with. |
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