Picked up a 78 Malibu over the weekend. Appears to be All stock front suspension components except some worn out competition engineering shocks. Ladder bars out back, 9” 5.13 gears and 28 x 10.5 tire. Only video I’ve seen of the car it did huge wheelie and bounced a few times uppon landing. Sbc ran 6.30’s. I’d like it to still leave nice, but controlled unlike what the current set up is. So as the subject suggests, what are some suggestions on front suspension components to keep a small tire g body working but also under control?
The Pull-Out....for when you want to work smarter, not harder!!!
Posts: 336 | Location: Texas | Registered: September 12, 2005
Stephen, an important upgrade is a quality, double adjustable shock. Randy Manns, owner, Quick Shocks is a good source. Another possibility, after a shock change, is to limit front suspension travel. Most likely, the shocks will do the job.
If you know Troy Morgan and have seen that car, it has Randy Manns shocks.
My wife's Cutlass does a good size wheelie and has the bounce. I'll be upgrading to afco double adjustables with bnc valving. The part number will most likely be 3840F-BNC but I haven't measured yet.
All depends on what you want to spend. I've got Viking crusaders on some pretty fast 28" tire cars and they work well. Menscers afcos are a killer shock but they are proud of them. Im a Viking dealer and will hook you up if you decide to go that route. Josh Mackey
Obviously worn out shocks won't control the landing. You should not need some crazy front shocks to control the landing and it may not be all in the front shocks also. Weight bias, wheelie bar height, launch rpm, etc all contribute. Controlling the up is just as important as controlling the down. A number or years ago I had the same deal wit a BBC and used Koni SPA's. Work very good.
Thanks for the suggestions. I agree it shouldnt need anything crazy to control the landing, but I was curious what others have used successfully in such an application. I do want some adjustability, and the car has front end limiters, but i’d like to use those as a last resort if an adjustable shock just wont quite control the rise but I believe it will. I will know more once I get to working on this thing and make a list of what all it needs for me to be comfortable heading to the track with it.
The Pull-Out....for when you want to work smarter, not harder!!!
Posts: 336 | Location: Texas | Registered: September 12, 2005
I have an S-10, they use most of the same components as a G-body on the front end. As far as upper and lower control arms you might look at Speedway Motors stuff it is reasonably priced and works well. I agree with Josh the Viking coil-overs are hard to beat. When you add a click it makes a difference, unlike some of the shocks out there, that you need to put 3-4 clicks in to see a difference. My truck goes 1.24 60s and will click the 60ft timer with the back wheels if I want it to, or I can tame it down with a couple of clicks in the front shocks. I don't have a bouncing problem, the rebound on the Viking shocks works well too.
Originally posted by Larry Woodfin: Stephen, an important upgrade is a quality, double adjustable shock. Randy Manns, owner, Quick Shocks is a good source. Another possibility, after a shock change, is to limit front suspension travel. Most likely, the shocks will do the job.
If you know Troy Morgan and have seen that car, it has Randy Manns shocks.
It is Fast Shocks, but yes. Their personal cars leave and land like art.
I had Afco 3840 BNC on the front of my ladder bar Malibu and ended up sending them out to Mark Menscer for revalving. So I would recomend having whatever front shock you get custom valve from the start. TRZ sells Afco and can have them custom valved for you.
3/28/2014 RIP Juli Pasch the love of my life for ever
Posts: 29 | Location: MidMichMotorplex | Registered: December 13, 2007
Originally posted by ytoddmalibu: I had Afco 3840 BNC on the front of my ladder bar Malibu and ended up sending them out to Mark Menscer for revalving. So I would recomend having whatever front shock you get custom valve from the start. TRZ sells Afco and can have them custom valved for you.
I hope no one takes this the wrong way. I like TRZ. Their control arms and anti-rolls are top notch. I've installed a bunch of both but their valving for afcos lacks a bunch. Had two sets that we sent to menscers and they were night and day when they came back. Menscers said they were valved for a big tire light weight car not a heavier small tire car.
lower budget deal, use stock a-arms with Global West Del-A-Lum bushings and either Strange or Afco double adjustable shocks.
Best setup, for faster, harder leaving cars, TRZ chromoly tubular a-arms and either Menscer tuned Afco shocks, or best option , Santhuff shocks.
I went from QA1 doubles, to Afco BNC, to Menscer Afco, to the current Santhuff. By far, the Santhuff has been the best, easiest to use shock out of all of them. Had a wheel stand issue the Santhuff's resolved than none of the others could.
79 Malibu, stock style suspension, N/A bbc making as much as 1215 hp, 4.98 @ 139, 1.12 60' on a 275 DOT drag radial tire.
This is a set of Ohlins TTX 36 on a sbc 3250 pd ladder bar 5.9x car on 10.5 x 28 M/T tires. This is a 1.29 60 on a test n tune Thurs night in between a couple hundred diesel trucks testing for a weekend diesel show at Bradenton so the track wasn't great. We've since tightened the rebound a hair and been 1.27 60 ft N/A bracket racing/index. Strange D/A fronts w/BMR tubular C arms. That's about all you need along with a good front end alignment that gets the B/steer out. This thing is all steel, roll up windows, stock frame rails even triple chrome plated steel bumpers. M/T 10.5 x 28 stiff sidewall is the tire. https://youtu.be/pgWw9ZcX4YM
Mine is similar to yours. I've got an 80 Malibu SBC 6.40's 1.34/60' Mine comes up high too. My main concerns was the Camber Swing (top of the wheels tipped in ward -2.5*) and Toed Out (-1.5") when the wheels were in the air. I've ended up with UMI upper arms which gave me the 6* of Caster I was looking for. 1/2" longer Upper AND Lower ball joints that corrected the Camber swing (The camber doesn't move .5* from staged to hanging) And a UMI Bump Steer Kit (The Toe doesn't change 1/8" from staged to hanging) I own an alignment machine at my shop that makes this easy to dial in and check. This won't keep the front end down but it DID stop the wheels from wobbling when they landed. It made the car handle 1000x better and the best of all made it at least 0.150 quicker! I am installing double adjustable front shocks this year to control the height. P.S. I tried the Speedway stuff first and they bent the first weekend!
Originally posted by CLARMO: Mine is similar to yours. I've got an 80 Malibu SBC 6.40's 1.34/60' Mine comes up high too. My main concerns was the Camber Swing (top of the wheels tipped in ward -2.5*) and Toed Out (-1.5") when the wheels were in the air. I've ended up with UMI upper arms which gave me the 6* of Caster I was looking for. 1/2" longer Upper AND Lower ball joints that corrected the Camber swing (The camber doesn't move .5* from staged to hanging) And a UMI Bump Steer Kit (The Toe doesn't change 1/8" from staged to hanging) I own an alignment machine at my shop that makes this easy to dial in and check. This won't keep the front end down but it DID stop the wheels from wobbling when they landed. It made the car handle 1000x better and the best of all made it at least 0.150 quicker! I am installing double adjustable front shocks this year to control the height. P.S. I tried the Speedway stuff first and they bent the first weekend!
Thanks for the reply. I believe while searching I saw a post on another board where you were trying to remedy those issues. Glad you found what worked. Right now since I havent even made a pass in the car yet, i’m going over everyrhing to make sure it’s at least safe. I will take it and make a few runs for myself to get a true baseline of what I have before I go throwing money at it. These are all good ideas on this thread and I was also told that with stock lower control arms a double adjustable shock may not even fit without some serious massaging of the hole due to the size of the shock body. Worth a look when I get to that. Tonights project was mounting a Kirkey seat, tomorrow will be some new seat belt tabs, then we’ll move on to fixin the dragging brakes and checking all the suspension for wear and tear.
The Pull-Out....for when you want to work smarter, not harder!!!
Posts: 336 | Location: Texas | Registered: September 12, 2005
Originally posted by Stephen Hughes: Thanks for the reply. I believe while searching I saw a post on another board where you were trying to remedy those issues. Glad you found what worked.
