futureuser

iTrader: (1)

Other than a face lift in 82, is there a difference between an 81 a body and an 82 g body?

G-Body

iTrader: (4)

No not really. Small differences in appearance but the underpinnings are all the same. They switched to metric lugnut thread and the taper on the front spindle is different between the years but its only minor stuff that they changed.

the_merv

iTrader: (88)

The A-body is bigger isnt it?

jmd

iTrader: (4)

If you want to tell us how an 81 Monte is bigger than an 82 Monte, we're all ears.

futureuser

iTrader: (1)

Okay thanks for the info. So the big change to the a body was in 78 to the smaller body and then it was pretty much renamed to g body in 82.

Any guesses as to the lightest 78 or later a/g body?

the_merv

iTrader: (88)

He said 78 in the title..

futureuser

iTrader: (1)

Hence the purpose of the thread. It is confusing that GM completely redesigned the a body for 78 and renamed it g body in 82 after a facelift and minor changes. For the longest time, I thought a 78 malibu was a g body.

ecna

iTrader: (1)

The A-body was always GM's smaller mid-size car. When the new line of FWD cars (82 MY) came out... Celebrity, Ciera, Century etc. it was natural for GM to call that line A's as they were smaller and change the cars we were familiar with to a new line. It kept the A where it belonged.

GNCLONE

I'm going to guess that a low-end El Camino without many power options is going to be lighter than a 2 door Malibu which I would guess is maybe the second lightest.

The problem with the Grand Prix/Regal/Cutlass is that they generally had more options and had more plush carpet, sound deadener etc. My Regal Limited had really thick, heavy carpet. More weight.

My Grand National clone is about 3250 or so

jmd

iTrader: (4)

Yeah but A includes the 81 models.

In general the frames are the same length. They changes the bumper shock / bracket mounting ears a little bit over the years though. The bumpers on some of the 78 A-bodies seem bigger, but are also only covering short aluminum bracket mounts instead of long shocks.

Unrelated, a 78 Monte fender, hood, trunklid are all lighter than the 81-up equivalent parts. I don't know if they used thinner steel or what as the hoods and fenders were not alum.

Some 78- Cutlass coupes and sedans had aluminum hoods. A lot of 78-80 Montes had aluminum decklids.

I thought the Camino was heavier due to added length in the frame, bed, larger gas tank. :shrug: