New guy with a Gbody wagon

[Rusty G]

The closest car I have to a "g-Machine" is my 83 Wagon.It's more of a functional sleeper.

Here are the specs as purchased as a shop car/driver/family hauler/tow vehicle.

Engine:
GM Goodwrench 350 cubic inch Chevrolet V8 (standard bore)
Cast flat-top pistons (Federal Mogul H345); ~8.24:1 compression
all emissions controls intact
I can start to play with it a little more now that it is 25 year old (PA inspection)

Cylinder Heads:
cast iron (993 casting); gasket-matched intake ports; 3-angle valve job

Induction:
Edelbrock Performer EGR (3701) aluminum intake; stock LG4 Quadrajet (17083204) [stock metering]
Added custom spacer, Monte SS air cleaner with a K&N filter

Ignition:
stock distributor; ACCEL® HEI Super Coil; MSD® Heli-Core® (3179) sparkplug wires (3179); ADS® Super Chip® (8307-A) for manual transmission F body
Changed ignition to a Jacobs using a MSD adapt-a-cap, basic tune up also

Exhaust:
Edelbrock T.E.S.® 6879 (Jet-Hot® coated); stock L69 catalytic converter; Torque Tech 3-inch after-cat y-pipe; dual Flowmaster® 43053 3-inch 3-chamber mufflers; dual Torque Tech 3-inch tail pipes
A "test"(read hollow) cat is installed with the air line still attached to pass visual.One rusty flowmaster replaced with a 3" Dynomax, the second is being replaced with a custom electric cut out for the best of both worlds.

Camshaft:
Summit K1102; 204°/214° duration (@0.050 lift); 0.420/0.442 lift; 112° LSA

Transmission:
Custom Borg-Warner NonWorld Class T5 5 speed; modified S10 shifter to accommodate a bolt-on handle; custom-bent Hurst handle; Hurst classic white knob (163 0025)
ratios: 2.95, 1.94, 1.34, 1.00, 0.54
sometime throw on an old Hurst T handle for the fun of it

Rearend:
1987 Oldsmobile 8.5-inch ring gear; Eaton limited slip differential (ED-19557-010); Tom's Differentials 28-spline 28 1/2-inch C-clip axles (KAC10-A4); 3.73:1
Plan on going with 4.10z to help with towing

Front Suspension:
Moog® 5608 springs; Polygraphite® bushings; 36-mm hollow F body sway bar
New Gabriel VST shocks

Rear Suspension:
Moog® 5391 springs; Air Lift® 60733 springs; 27-mm sway bar
Had massive wheel hop,so boxed the lowers, welded the aftermarket sway bar mounts, installed Poly bushings,new Gabriel VST shocks,rear body mounts replaced with poly.
Have no hop bars and rebuilt uppers, yet to install. 95% of the hop is gone
Update anti-hops are in see below

Brakes:
stock

Wheels and Tires:
15 ×7 Chevrolet Rally wheels, Yokohama AVID S/T 235/60/15 tiresUpgraded rears to larger, matching 255/60/15 Yokos

Weight:
3980 lbs with 180-lb driver (~1/2 tank of fuel)

Scaled the car and got 3940 w driver and the tank is full 52% front 48% rear

Also added the following braces from various Gbody models,radiator X brace, cradle to frames braces,fender to rad support braces.Will be installingfender to cowl braces in the near future. Also added a class II to hitch to tie the rear frame rails together.Making a class III to tow my race car.

The dash has a full cluster from a Monte SS, tach etc.

Plans are to keep tweaking it to meet my goals. So far I have picked up 2 mpg and the car handles much better.

Here is it going out to "play" on a Friday night


Got it's "going to church shoes" on Sunday


I am having trouble with the idea of painting it and making look "too" nice because it's a fun car, beating up on imports, even when they turn, and catching 5.0 guys off guard.

Well, that's my hello.

Have a good holiday!

[CRCRFT78]

Gotta love wagons. Heres a little chop of what my wagon will eventually look like.

[Rusty G]

I like that you are keeping the "wood" , semi sleeper.

I do want to lower mine abit also, but not at the cost of function.

We will see.

[CRCRFT78]

I'm basically going to leave my wagon stock other than lowering it and a few other small details. Something to load the girls into when I head to the shows with the family.

[deuce_454]

like the ride! good to see more bu's here..

[Kendall Burleson]

What a car I like it

[Rusty G]

Well , I just got in from driving it with the anti-hop bars. Wow.

To be fair the car had original bushings in the upper arms circa 1983.

The frame end bushing were replaced with a Stock rubber bushing for a Camaro. The Camaro bushing it supposed to be "harder".

The upper bushings on the anti-hop bars are solid. IMHO too solid, if you torque down the bolt, the arms don't move.

I milled the ends flat and used , of all things , valve spring shims to set them up. I assembled, greased, torqued and repeated until it was just right.

Now there is no slop but the arms move freely.

Now the car hooks and goes.

I did notice the car seems to "dig in" now when acelerating out of a curve.

Can't wait to do more testing on my way home!

[andrewmp6]

Most underestimate the g bodies since stock they was kinda slow but so was anything in the 80s even the mustangs.If you want a quicker ratio steering box the iroc camaro one is a bolt on.

[Rusty G]

deuce 454, nice car.
I can't imagine the commitment it must have taken to do that car overseas!

I am looking into "box" options.

I have a like new stock one that may go in. It has the same ratio of what's in there now but without the 1/4" of play. If I try and adjust the original one it goes into bind which is not a surprise with 160K + on it.

If I could find a cheap high ratio box, that would be an option also.

I did pick up the slightest r/r tire rub making a hard right while punching it.

Need to investigate that.

Beside that, it feel like a different car.

[deuce_454]

i installed a nascar box off ebay... they are prety cheap and only require a different rag joint to install... (have a 12:1 for sale cheap btw.. but shipping might be considerable)

and it did take some effort... but as they say Imports rule! LOL..