New Product from Baseline Suspensions coming soon.

[KEVINS]

Mods,
I paid Phillip today for advertising and he OK'd me posting this info..

Hey Everyone!
I am in the process of receiving parts to bolt in a Chevy A-body 12-bolt rear into a G-body frame. These kits will be a bolt-in but some drilling will be necessary and these kits will also correct the Instant Center position by moving the IC back where it should be for drag racing. They will be very similar in design and assembly to my Mustang suspension kits which has been a great success over the years.

Check them out here: http://www.BaselineSuspensions.com

But I need your help. I am looking for one person to test fit a kit and give feed back with fit along with complete installation pictures so I can use them on my website. I HOPE to have the parts within 2-3 weeks and would REALLY want the kit installed asap upon receiving the kit. Yes, the kit will be given out free of charge for your feedback.

I will also be offering DBL adj. LCA's when I start selling the UCA's complete with a "Package Discount" but these will not be part of the above test.

If you have any questions or think you can help me out with this project send me an email at:

[email protected]

Thanks a Ton!
Kevin

 

[basketcase]

Kevin,
I've always loved your tech advice and I'm definitely interested in what you come up with. Others already have the 12-bolt swap, so I'm curious why yours require drilling. Raising the top perches?

Definitely curious any information you can bring to the table.

 

[KEVINS]

Kevin,
I've always loved your tech advice and I'm definitely interested in what you come up with. Others already have the 12-bolt swap, so I'm curious why yours require drilling. Raising the top perches?

Definitely curious any information you can bring to the table.

Yes, these kits will raise the rear upper mounting point so the UCA's are angled down like a true 4-link car. As with my 'Stang parts the best baseline setting is when the control arm geometry has the LCA's horizontal with the ground and the UCA's pointing down. This keeps the IC lower and closer to the Neutral Line so the suspension loads the tires better but doesn't unload them when the suspension settles after the launch.

I won't get into any details about where the IC is placed since that's part of my design so please don't ask

As I do with my Stang customers I offer free chassis setup/plotting with a purchase of the UCA kit to make sure the car has the best baseline setting but the instructions that go along with my parts are pretty detailed.

With my Stang parts I offer 2 levels of kits one that can handle down to low 10's while the other will handle 7's. With these 12-bolt kits I am only making one kit and it will handle 7's, I'm skipping the "light duty" kit altogether.

ks

 

[basketcase]

Very cool!

 

[GreenDragginBu]

Welcome aboard...allways good to have informative sponsors.

 

[ILLEGAL REGAL]

too bad there's a drill bit involved or I'd be willing to test fit them for ya and return.

 

[KEVINS]

If you go to this page you can see how the Mustang kit is installed:
http://www.baselinesuspensions.com/kits/prolaunch2.htm

The bottom pics have a good view of a support strap that is bolted to the webbing on the third member using a 3/8" bolt. This hole will need to be drilled on the 12-bolt then the strap bolted down to the webbing. The webbing on a 12-bolt is higher up so the strap is only about 2" long and the hole placement is not critical. The hole will be lazer cut in the strap so all you will need to do is mock it all up then mark the hole and drill it. No big deal. I made a kit for Rhodes Custom Auto about 4-5 years ago so I'm fairly certain things will be fine but I did not make the control arms only the brackets.

The installation process consists of:
1. Remove any bushings/spherical bearings in the housing and remove your existing control arms.
2. Drill Hole as mentioned above.
3. Bolt everything in. These kits come with everything you need to bolt them in, you won't need to purchase anything extra.
4. That's it.

Since it's a bolt-in kit you can always un-bolt it and return it to stock if you want.

What's the advantage of correcting the control arm geometry?
Here's why these Upper Control Arm kits are better than leaving the stock suspension geometry alone:

Question:
Were These cars designed for drag racing?

Answer:
No. The suspension was designed for driving around town in comfort and a little bit of handling. GM had no intentions of designing the suspension for maximum straightline performance which is what you want from your Drag Car.
Ever look at a true 4-link cars suspension? When you look at a tube chassis car equipped with a 4-link you will notice that the lower control arm is horizontal with the ground while the upper control arm is angled down. These angles are critical for locating the Instant Center for Drag Racing for the best hook, best stability AND making the chassis work Efficiently instead of wasting energy which is why there are so many different holes to choose from on a true 4-link car.
The Instant Center position DOES make a difference.
These cars were not made for Drag Racing and have the upper arms horizontal with the ground and the lower arms pointing upward, just the total opposite of what is needed for a Drag Car. The factory geometry locates the Instant Center way in front of the car and much higher than you want for a drag car. This causes the rear of the car to tend to squat which unoads the rear tires when the suspension settles after a hard launch. If you are serious about Drag Racing then you should be concerned with how your chassis and suspension is set up as a complete system.

Kevin

 

[454RAT]

I may be willing to try it. do you have any pics of the actual kit?

I am correct in the "only" drilling is in the webbing of the housing?

I am currently running a SSM 1328 kit with a 65 chevelle 12 bolt, with a Wolfe Anti-roll bar.

 

[Supe]

Kevin: This was a long time coming, and you should REALLY make these for the G Body 8.8 swap. The geometry is far worse than even the 12 bolt, and with a kit like that available, I'm pretty confident there would be a huge market for them. If I had the resources these days, I'd already be selling them.

 

[KEVINS]

I may be willing to try it. do you have any pics of the actual kit?

I am correct in the "only" drilling is in the webbing of the housing?

I am currently running a SSM 1328 kit with a 65 chevelle 12 bolt, with a Wolfe Anti-roll bar.

I don't have any pics of the actual parts yet I don't expect them to arrive for another few weeks but this depends on the time for powder coating and zinc plating.

Correct, the ONLY modification needed is to drill the holes in the webbing.

NOTE:
These UCA kits will NOT work with a Lift Bar like SSM. The LCA's NEED or SHOULD to be bolted to the factory holes so the LCA's can be horizontal when the suspension is dialed in. Remember it is the combination of the UCA angle and the LCA angle combined that is important.

I have never plotted the geometry out on a Malibu with Lift Bars and my UCA kits installed so I can not say for certain the combined geometry will be totally screwed up. On Stangs it's REAL messed up.

For the best baseline setting the setup process consists of installing the UCA kit then adjusting the ride height of the rear of the car so the front/rear LCA bolts are the same distance from the ground. This will usually give the desired IC position for a good baseline setting. Then the car can be tested and the rear of the car raised/lowered to move the IC forward/backward to fine tune the suspension for what the car likes. Raising/lowering the rear of the car is not necessary but it should be done for best results.

Kevin: This was a long time coming, and you should REALLY make these for the G Body 8.8 swap. The geometry is far worse than even the 12 bolt, and with a kit like that available, I'm pretty confident there would be a huge market for them. If I had the resources these days, I'd already be selling them.

REALLY? Well, I can probably do this also I have never heard of it until a week ago.. If this is something that people want I can probably have something to sell in mid/late Feb. I do know that the 8.8 mounting ear position is WAY different than the 12-bolt but I can probably modify my 8.8 jig to accomodate the new bracketry, not 100% sure tho. If I have time this weekend I will try to plot some graphs out and see what the measurements look like.
Give me some feed back and if there is enough interest then I will see what I can do for them!!!

Kevin