Some new parts came in...
When I first lowered the car I simply cut the springs. This works for a good visual reference and it helped handling because of the slightly better spring rate and lower CG, but really it's a terrible way to lower a car. After a time the springs settled and sagged and dropped almost another inch from where it started. I like a slight rake but right now it's about 1 1/2" difference front to rear and I'd rather have it closer to 1/2". As low as it is now it sits on the snubbers and it's got my suspension geometry all goofed up. Bumpsteer on hard turns like turning into a parking space is out of control.
To remedy the issue 2" drop spindles are in order. I did some research on g-body forums and found that folks had great success with both DJM and Bell Tech, and not so much with some of the cheaper off name brands. The DJMs were a better deal so keeping the budget tight I ordered them from Summit Racing. DJM doesn't list a part # for G-body cars but we share front suspension with 1st gen S-10's, part # DS2031-2, $149.95 + shipping. I'll be getting 1" lowered springs soon too, I'll post info on that when I get them. The goal is 5.5" of clearance at the frame just behind the front wheel, 6" of clearance just in front of the rear wheel. I currently have 4.5" / 6".
G-bodies were built to be an economy mid size car with a goal of halfway decent gas mileage amongst other cars in their class. Several things were engineered into them to keep them "light" including some cars having aluminum rear drums, light weight (i.e. crappy, like my worn out original) steering boxes, etc. If I have my facts right the smallish 10.5" front brakes were also intended to save weight. As a result braking is definitely not that of a sports car. There are many brake upgrades available out there but again keeping the cost down means being creative. I saw a trend on g-body forums to put on either 2nd gen Camaro or 90's Caprice spindles, milling down the g-body rotors to become a hub, and using LTI late model Camaro drop off rotors and calipers. Problem with this is it creates geometry problems because of the taller spindles and tends to increase bumpsteer. To compensate you have to purchase high dollar aftermarket offset upper control arms. After doing research on S10 forums I found that a lot of those guys have come up with a better idea- keep the G-body spindles- maintaining stock geometry, have the g-body rotors milled to a hub, and with a simple bracket and some slight mods to the spindle you can mount 98+ LS1 Camaro calipers and 12" rotors. You can even re-use the factory g-body brake hoses with the F-body banjo fittings. Simple as that. There are a few different companies that make the caliper adapter brackets, but I found an engineer/machinist on one S10 forum that water jetted a bunch of sets for forum friends. Several folks said they worked great so I bought a set from him for less than half the price of buying them from these companies. I also scored a good pair of rotors free from a friend in our local muscle car club who upgraded to slotted and drilled rotors on his T/A.
