I put the word out on the local muscle car forum about my 5.3 and it wasn't long before someone offered a set of headers for $100 which I will be trading design work instead of cash. They're Flowtechs that he swapped for pacesetters on his late model F-body. I know Flowtechs are probably inferior to the Pacesetters but for basically free except for 2 hours of my time I'll take 'em and put the $300 elsewhere. I'm saving the stock manifolds for a future turbo build so the headers will only be on there for a couple years anyway.

 

While I was in there getting ready to tear down the front suspension I slipped on a 12" rotor from the LS F-body brakes I picked up. What a difference over stock! Notice particularly the space between the rotor and the upper control arm where the ball joint bolts in. WoW! am I excited to be able to stop quickly. I checked on Summit brand drilled and slotted rotors, $34 ea front and $49 ea for the rear. That's cheaper than replacement no name brand rotors form the local auto parts store. Anybody use these? They have the bling but I don't want total garbage either.

I've learned through experience that cheap usually means just that, but I'm unfamiliar with the difference between a cheap rotor and a spendy one. I won't be looking to be number one in brake tests, I figure just simply upgrading to larger brakes will make a huge difference than what I'm used to. Who knows, maybe they're fine for a nice weather driver, local car show and cruise-in duty, and a monthly autocross event car. Anyone have input from experience specifically with the Summit rotors?

 

Finally for this round of updates is a couple shop photos. First is my car in it's new resting spot. I picked this space because I have the fence wall to hang my project white board and inspirational rendering. I also have a couple tables tucked behind the car for working on and laying out parts. On the right of me is a 65 Mustang which unfortunately needs a serious complete overhaul, it's pretty rough. Sad for her but lucky for me the student that owns this one won't spend much time working on it. Based on what I saw in the last 2 semesters it seems more like she uses the shop to store the car rather than work on it. That translates to no grinding particles embedded in my windows and no careless dents in my car caused by not paying attention while working. I'm figuring my spot is one of the "safest" spots in the shop, lol!



Our class has 15 students, 9 are younger and 6 are older retired guys from the community that take the class so they have a shop to work in and can tap into my professor's expertise. As a result we have a pretty good variety of project cars in the shop.

These two are younger student's projects. The '53 Chevy 4-door was purchased with the top chop done and the owner is going to finish the body work, shave the door handles, french the lights, and spruce up the interior a bit. The plans for the bug keep changing, but it's for sure getting some sort of top modification, will be fenderless and have 17" wheels. This student expects that it'll take him 3 years to complete. Makes me think I'm nuts for wanting to do a complete rebuild on my car, exterior, interior, drive train and suspension in the 6 remaining months I have until graduation. I'm pretty focused, determined and had the whole project mapped out before school began so I think I can do it. Let the thrash begin!



This old guy project is very cool, a 64 Fairlane that has been back halved with a disc 9", a full roll cage, rack and pinion and a healthy fox body 5.0. He'll be putting a lot of street miles on it so he opted for a 26-10.50 rear tire but wanted a deep offset on the rear rims. There's room for bigger meats later on if he decides to go that route. Behind him is another old guy straightening out a '40 Ford with street rod plans.



Some other projects include a young guy 62 Impala 2 door post restoration, an old guy trike with a VW rear half and a custom made chopper front half, and an old guy 53 Chevy pick-up street rod. I thought I should share this one because of it's uniqueness. It's a young guy project, a '37 Hudson Terraplane. Yeah, I never heard of it either and didn't have a clue that it's one of 500 two doors produced that year. He found it for a cost of next to nothing in someone's back yard with a surprisingly straight body and is currently working on a top chop, after which it will get a full street rod treatment. He bought a 6.0 LS motor a while back but isn't sure yet if he's up to the task of converting it and is considering a traditional small block Chevy. Either way he said not to put where the school is located for fear that the hard core Hudson freaks will find out and steal it from the shop to prevent it from being hacked up, lol! Too late though, the roof has already been cut off and the posts sectioned since this photo. Should make a REALLY unique street rod.

 

This is a very cool thread. I just happenened upon it some how. I think it's very cool that your doing something different, and doing the work yourself. I like the bumper mods you did. I have been looking to do the same to the rear bumper on my Grand Am. The seats look cool too. I am swapping my front and rear seats this winter from a 2002 Acura. I inserted a picture of the Acura seat next to the original. I am in the process of swapping to a 428" LS motor and will be strarting a build thread soon. Just an opinion regarding the paint scheme....I like the sketch that says Got Vision. I thought that one looked the best. I also like the engine cover you got. I have been thinking of getting one as well, but it would need to be modified to fit the LS7 intake and I would want to get rid of the Cheverolet logo and put a Pontiac logo in it's place. One way may be to fab up aluminum plates that could bolt in over the Cheverolet script. Maybe you could try that with Oldsmobile logo? Anyway, cool project. Subscribed.

 

awsome build up thanks for sharing.. i gotta say you definitely have a talent . i like the front fender vents that you did cant wait to see them all done and painted.. props!!!!!!

 

Yeah, I agree. Those fender vents are very cool. I would love them on my car as well.

 

Awesome!

 

Good build. I love G-bodies. I had a 78' Cutlass that I hit a tree and flipped it.....

Had a 87 Regal that I put an Olds 350 then a Chevy 350 in.

I would love to do a LS swap into a Regal. Only thing I don't like is the plain jane dashes they put in them.

Keep up the good work.

 

Real nice project, you got some skills! Can't way to see how this one off g-body turns out. Keep up updated on this, would love to see the final outcome.

 

I like the project that car is nice. I got a '78 G body and I like the plain jane dashes.

 

you are really making me want a wagon!! great job and keep the pix coming. i like the gray rendering myself tho...

 

nice work, man! I had a 84 regal on stock springs and a 2" s10 spindle and it wouldn't clear a cigarette pack layed flat!!

 

Thanks everyone! I appreciate the comments. And cool seats Later.

 

Looks like a cool project. I have wanted to cut one of those up for years and hang malibu 2 door doors on it. I have only seen a few done like that but they look wicked.

 

First off, you'll have to excuse the quality of the cell phone photos...

When I was looking for a wheel and tire combo I really spent some time researching how big a tire you can fit on a G-body. I so wanted to run a 315-30-17 out back but just couldn't find an 11" wheel price (including spacers if needed) that fit my budget of $1200 for wheels and tires. I finally settled on MB "Old School" wheels, a great price and nice looking. Tony had another g-body Malibu wagon that he put 'em on, with a 285-40-17 on 17x9.5 out back and 245-45-17 on 17x8 up front. I liked his car, but the fronts looked too skinny, maybe it was just the illusion created by stock height suspension.



I also read a lot of g-body debates about how wide a tire can fit up front. The consensus seemed to be an 8" wheel with a 245 width was about maxed out. Well, I like taking things to the extreme so I decided I would make something wider work, whatever it took. I decided on 275-40-17 on 17x9.5s out back and 255-40-17 on 17x9.5s up front. The kid with the Hudson in my class works at Discount Tire so his manager swung me a smokin' deal on the wheels and Nitto 555 tires, $1164, mounted and balanced not including sales tax.

Pictured here is the 255 on 9.5 compared to a 225-50-16 on my 16x8 GTA wheels.





Remember the front of my car has been lowered and has sagged to about 4.5" in the front and the rear is about a 3" drop. When I first bolted on the wheels things were waaaaay tight and the fenders were resting on the tires. It reminded me of a lowered import with deep offset rims and I didn't like it at all. The manager told me if they didn't fit up front he'd swap me for the 17x8s and I was seriously considering that.



I have had on my to-do list to raise the front suspension anyway so I built some small 6" tall stands from 2x4s and set them under the frame just behind the front tires o raise the car to where I wanted it. Right there it gave me some better clearance and the tires could turn without touching.

Here is a picture of stock height, 27" at the top of the wheel opening, and a 3" drop- 24" at the same spot.





Since these fenders won't be used on the car we decided to use a large slide hammer and moved the fender eyebrow out 1/4 inch and that was even better for clearance. I really think this will work, especially after a little more massaging of the fender lip.

 

So to answer the question, yes you can run a 9.5" wheel and 255's up front on a g-body. BUT there are some issues that need to be addressed. This 9.5" wheel has 5.5" back spacing, that's pretty deep, and obviously that makes 4" width from the rotor outward. As you see them I have a 3/4" spacer behind them. This is a definite necessity, notice how close the rim is to the tie rod. It doesn't contact the wheel but it would probably knock off clip on weights.



Another problem area is that the tires would hit the rear side of the plastic inner fender wells in the area where the arrow is and would not allow them to turn all the way. Simply removing and/or modifying them will give the necessary clearance.



Here's the passenger side with the inner fender well removed and the wheels at full lock.

 

Here are a few more reference photos. Notice also with the 3/4" spacer and the wide wheels the front track is now wider than the rear, even with the 275-40s back there. Tony used 1" spacers on his car to kick the rear wheels outward.



Since I'm narrowing the 9" rear anyway, I'll simply make it 1" wider than the factory wagon rear on each side. This should give the whole car a bit more of a wide stance. Overall I think the wheels look great and will work out fine even with the car being lowered 3". I plan on painting the centers that are now grey to black to better match the car.

 

What a difference!

 

looks great!

 

Sweet build!! Your website is nice too.