72 Chevelle Global West Susp?

[SSDan]

I have a 72 Chevelle with a 454 bored .060 with a BDS 8-71 Blower. I'm at the stage of wanting to do something to improve the old stock suspension. After looking through the net and checking several vendors, Global West seemed to fit my need.

The question is...I'm looking at going with the CAT 5 system from and rear. I still run 15 inch rims. I will use their Wilwood 4 piston brakes. The package lowers the body 1" with their spindles, which I think I can tolerate, with my Rick's SS gas tank and Hooker headers, that are a bit low.

I'm not much into the lowered look(Sorry, but I like to go against the trend). They(Global West) talk like this will make my Chevelle more responsive.

Is this the way to go or are their better soluttions?

I mostly use the car cruising and may take it to the drags infrequently.

Any advice will be appreciated!

Dan Mascheck
Wharton, TX

[XcYZ]

Welcome to the site, Dan.

What exactly are your goals? It looks like you know what you want for ride height and brake sizing based on wheel diameter... are you just wanting to update the suspension or make it handle like a modern street car (with an 8-71 of course).

[SSDan]

That's basically it! I would like my 72 to handle more responsively. The question is...is Global West the way to go! I have looked at several other companies, but the over all package seemed to be west with Global West!

I was also told I need to upgrade my steering to 12:1 to get the best out of the system. Another person told me I have 16:! and 12:1 is not much difference. Who do you believe?

If there is a better direction, I'd like to know before I plunk down the cash!!

Thanks

Dan

[Bill Howell]

You are aware that you will not be able to continue running the 15" wheels right. They will just not work when you upgrade the brake system.

[Derek69SS]

OK, assuming you want a mild street setup:

My suggestion for the front: Stage II package from SC&C http://www.scandc.com/suspensions.htm - This will do more for you than the GW setup by a long-shot. You have the option to keep your stock brakes and 15" wheels, your geometry is improved, It's cheaper, and you reduce bump-steer and keep your turning radius. It will drop your car about 3/4" in front. Something like a Hotchkis spring and a 1-1/8" sway bar will work well if you want to keep the smooth ride, and don't intend to autocross the car.

In the rear, keep your stock upper arms and put new rubber bushings in them. Lowers, you could use the factory F-41 style boxed arms and 7/8" F-41 sway-bar. Again, just use rubber bushings. Don't use any poly-urethane/poly-graphite or delrin bushings in the rear. The binding will make the car ride like crap, and handle mediocre at best.

now if you want to autocross it... I've got some different suggestions

[Blown353]

GW makes good quality stuff but the geometry provided by the B-body spindles leaves a lot to be desired in terms of steering ratio, bump steer, and ackermann. It does work (only in terms of providing a more favorable camber curve) but it's not an ideal setup-- you get three negatives for the one gain. I run it right now (wanna buy it? LOL!) but plan on upgrading it soon.

As Derek said, best bets *right now* is to use stock spindles with the Howe tall ball joints, or for more money Marcus's G5 setup with modded C5 'Vette spindles, or wait a bit longer (probably about January) for the packages using the new ATS spindle.

You can still use the GW lower arms (even the uppers) though with any of the above setups; the GW arms are super beefy and good quality.

As far as the rear, best "off the shelf" option currently would be the GW TBC-4 lower rears or Currie Currietrac lower rears paired with Edelbrock or Currie upper arms. You aren't going to to much better than that with off the shelf parts and maintain the factory 4-link. If you want to do a little fab, you can make your own upper and lower arms with spherical joints and use the Wolfe Racecraft spherical joints in the upper rear end. There are a lot of better options out there but you're getting into cut-n-weld territory-- how far do you want to go?

I can't offer much in the way of spring suggestion for your application as all my knowledge comes from a car with an SBC over the nose.

Troy

[SSDan]

Originally Posted by Bill Howell

You are aware that you will not be able to continue running the 15" wheels right. They will just not work when you upgrade the brake system.

Bill, with the 11" 4 piston Wilwoods, I can still keep my 15" mags. I would like to upgrade to 17", but the Global West upgrade is over $5000, and I still want to get the car painted, so...for now they will have to wait.

Also I may tub the rear....I notice more very wide tires in the 15" class than in the 17"'s. For now the tires have to wait.

Thanks for the help!

Dan

[sinned]

Originally Posted by SSDan

but the Global West upgrade is over $5000, and I still want to get the car painted, so...for now they will have to wait. Dan

WHAT!!! They get 5K for that junk!?!?! I'm in the wrong business, for 5K you are getting-

Teflon bushings (not bad, actually, pretty good, a set runs 100.00)
Some decent tubular arms (can be had for under 1K for the full set elsewhere)
Springs (not enough pressure and can be had for 100.00)
Tall spindles (70.00 at any wrecking yard)
Misc bearings, seals, and hardware (100.00 at any part store)
Wilwood 11" brake kit with 4 pot calipers (Wilwood brake kit's run ~700.00 for that set-up)
Did I miss anything, I only come up with $2070 and that includes 1K for the tubular arms (which IMO is a wate of resourses)?

Wow, GW gets almost 3K for going through the trouble of putting in a package? See the thread you have over at PT for the tech on GW's neg roll kit.

[65ss]

Wow wish i had seen this thread earlier. I have a 65 A body I just finished putting b spindles, Baers 13 inch kit, and their bumpsteer kit, Hotchkis drop springs, roll bar, and upper control arms, and a 12.1 med effort box. So now I get to look foward to three problems I didn't have before just for some negitive camber??? Is there a different spindle I can use to keep steering geomatry??? Any suggestions other than removing it all?

[sinned]

Try this or maybe here for more technical info. As for alternatives, here are a few; AFX spindle , SC&C tall ball joints , Fatman spindles .