2022 Street Machine Nationals.

This past weekend was the 2022 Street Machine nationals here in Minnesota. As I've done since 1998, I went again this year. But this year I decided to give my old Turd a test on the Autocross to see how well all my mods so far worked out.
I wasn't the slowest car out there. YAY! lol I need some deeper gears and a quicker steering box as well.
I was terrified, and excited at the same time. I had a blast!

Way to go Jeff how did ya do for times ?? and body rolls were good from new suspension mods ?

As for the times Limey. All I wanted was to have one other person be slower than me. And there was. WOOHOO! I can tell you that on one hand you feel like you're going fast, until you see your time. I didn't care! This is the first time in 45 years I've ran around cones on a parking lot. This year's track was a big track. The quickest times I was hearing were in the mid to low 40 sec. range. Those cars were purpose built cars and the drivers do this all over the US.  Mine was just a little slower. lol

I'm very happy with the mods I've done to the suspension. If you look close at the picture of me on the track, you'll notice that the front tire is rolling under at the time and the car is still pretty flat. This is mid way thru a 170 degree corner. I have begone my research on a quicker steer box and a little deeper rear gear with posi. Of course I'm cheap and on a very tight budget. So I'll be recycling parts from other cars.
I had a ton of fun doing the Autocross along with the show.

That is so cool, and yea I seen how it looked in corners that is really good. Its good you did it actually and not to be the fastest or the slowest its about the fun being had thats for sure

And I dont know your Budget BUT I do have a Posi carrier and 3.42 gears for sale about 250 cheaper than New I have to sell them to get a transmission for our truck thats on its way out No reverse and tried adjusting the bands to no avail NO reverse and losing first slightly now so it wont be long

I have the parts listed here and are absolutely brand new

Very cool! I'd love to try autocross with one of my land barges just for giggles.

That is so cool, and yea I seen how it looked in corners that is really good. Its good you did it actually and not to be the fastest or the slowest its about the fun being had thats for sure

It is all about the fun and to see if I can get better at turning around cones. lol
I'm sorry to hear about your troubles Limey. I'm doing my best to use GM parts, that I'm using from another car for this swap as well.

Very cool! I'd love to try autocross with one of my land barges just for giggles.

You should do it Mr. Pontiac. I've invested a ton of time on research in the suspension and brakes. If you look close at the front tire, you'll notice the tire is doing it's job. And I'm impressed just how flat it is. This is also in 170 degree corner that I'm deep into.
It was a BLAST!

So what are the upgrades you did to your Malibu? I think you mentioned brakes and a beefier stabilizer bar? The only upgrades I've done to any of my A bodies is Belltech lowering springs and KYB gas adjust shocks and that was to my 75 Laguna. That in itself made a huge improvement, but I think I have a long way to go before I attempt any autocross stuff. Regardless it sure does look like it would be a blast.

I used to autocross my 1975 back when I was in college during the 1980s. With the original 350 smog 2 barrel engine and a Turbo400 with a SwitchPitch torque convertor - and the original 286 or whatever they were gears in it - I could beat or be equal to Mustang GTs and IROC Zs around the typical courses we would run.

But I did a lot of mods to the suspension and ran really sticky Yokohama A008 tires on 16x8 rims.

Here - from memory is what I did to the car to get it to really handle a lot better. On the front I replaced the front springs with something stiffer - I don't recollect exactly but I think I put in "big block" springs - and cut a coil or two off of them to get the ride height back down a little below stock. I put a 2nd gen TransAm 1.25" sway bar on - mounted in urethane bushings. I also replaced all of the upper and lower control arm bushings with urethane. That made a big difference and is definitely worth the effort. I also replaced the front steering box with a fast ratio box - I can't remember if it was from an IROC or from an earlier gen TransAM at this point. When I did autocrosses with it - I would also add negative camber to the front by adding some extra shims to the upper control arms. That would make a big difference in cornering.

On the back I replaced the control arm bushings with urethane, had some slightly stiffer springs with AirLift airbags inside so that I could add a little more stiffness in the back. And I ran dual swaybars. I had an Addco and a OEM swaybar from a Monte Carlo back there. Not sure if the dual swaybar thing really made a difference - but I did a lot tweaking and testing at the time and it must have or I don't think I would have left it like that.

I also ran KYB gas shocks at all four corners. At the time - that was about the best shock I could find for these cars.

A friend and I one time took the car up to the closest cloverleaf on the interstate near here - and we went round and round trying to see where the limit was on that car. I drove and he had my Valentine Research G-Meter in his lap watching what was going on. The car finally broke loose in the rear just as it hit 1.05G.

So yes - you can make these cars handle.

MR. Pontiac and calsdad here's what I've done to mine. I've had the suspension this set up for 6 years now and 40K. I drive the snot out of it. lol
I did most of the same as you did calsdad. T/A 1 1/4" front bar, and an Impala SS 1" rear bar. The springs are all from a 94-96 SS as well. Shocks are KYB's also. The difference is night and day over stock.  1 G? WOW!

The brakes are something else. It now has 12" rotors up front, and 11.5 rotors out back. It stops mighty fine. Here's my post on the brakes.

https://www.g3gm.com/t12589-my-four-wheel-disc-brake-swap

Hey. Great job buddy. I haven’t had much time to get on the forum in the last several months. You have me wanting to get my Laguna out and finally get it on the road. Cheers.

Thanks Kevin!
This has been a journey for sure. And I'm just getting started. lol I wanted to test all of my work for two years now. The hours and hours of research for a few of the projects paid off nicely. From the time the first wrench was turned, to the last line or nut tightened on each project. Each one came out flawlessly. No leaks or break downs either. I just about have one of my next projects figured out. I'm in the middle of my research on it. I hope to have that project done in the next couple of weeks.

I did all my mods back in 2020 and to date probably have close to 10K worth of practicing on it.
No Autocross that year. Last year, didn't register in time. This year? Well? I learned that I need a quicker steering, and deeper rear gears. lol

If you have to put off work on your toy, I understand. Life has to come first. You'll get there sir.

And to let everyone know. The cone that looks like I'm running over, is actually a cone pointing to which side of the cone you go around on.

Hey. If you really want to progress with your auto cross fun, get some 4.10 gears, a quicker steering box, and some R1R tires. Your car would turn into a Demon of quickness. If you are willing to install a 4.10 gear set, I will buy those for you. I can be your first sponsor. Read this little tire article and enjoy!  
https://tirehungry.com/best-autocross-tires/

OMG Kevin! I can't say thanks enough for the offer. Those R1R's and some 4.10's in the rear would be SO much fun. Then I'd have to find someone that can drive better than me. lol
I want to take it just to the edge of what it can do, and still be a good daily driver. This was just sort of a test for what's in the car now. Now that I have my "baseline" if you will. I can build off of that.

Your welcome. For a moment I could just picture that huge REVINKEVIN sticker down the side of your car.

REVINKEVIN / Mr. 600+HP wrote:Your welcome. For a moment I could just picture that huge REVINKEVIN sticker down the side of your car.

LOL

Perfect Limey! Now he has to do it!

UPDATE:  Long post. Serious gearhead read.  Sorry!
So I'm not sure which way to feel here. I did a butt load of research on this project and it paid off. Well almost.
I went into this project with the idea of making my car turn faster. And that I did., successfully. Man does it make a difference in how quick it turns. YAY!
I used a recycled 93 JGC (Jeep Grand Cherokee) that I paid $35 for. If the vendor you use asked for a core. You can simply turn your old one in. They'll never notice the difference. The JGC box is a 12.7-1 which gives you the quick ratio 2 1/2 turns lock to lock. ALL JGC had this!
There are a couple of things you need to keep in mind when doing this swap, or any other 80 up GM box. The JGC uses o-ring fittings and not inverted flare fittings. You'll need to either purchase special fittings that convert the box over to inverted flare. You could use a hose from some other GM 80 up, but I didn't want to do that.
This is going to be the case also if you choose to use an S10, Monte Carlo SS, or one of many boxes that GM put in cars. You have to be careful when choosing a box. Some will not give you the same turning radius. The JGC keeps the stock tuning radius.  It also has a higher t-bar reading than our "pinky" feel boxes. You will feel a much  heavier feel in the wheel now. Much like the newer cars have.
While researching this swap, I also stumbled across discussions about pressure and flow. I found out that you really don't need a gazzilion psi for this. Instead, you can leave the stock pressure and reduce the flow. You see, as I learned, that if you increase the pressure, you'll starve the pump. Which in turn will cause a possible jerky feel in the steering wheel. So I used a flow reducer fitting that reduces the flow from around 3gpm, to 2-2-5 gpm. Simply screws into the back of your stock pump. Easy peasy!
Now I did want to go with a different steering shaft with u-joints instead of the rag joint set up. BUT!  After I cut the shaft on the new intermediate shaft, I noticed something REALLY wrong. MAN do I feel like an idiot. If I had looked at the end that goes onto the bottom of the column. I would have notice that they are WAY different. The new on has the double D end, and the column has 40 splines. DOH! So much for that! Now I have a really neat paperweight.  lol
To fix this problem , you need a rag joint, they call them steering couplers now a days, from a 74-84 or so C10. It has the same size output shaft as the JGC. 13/16" to 3/4" is the difference in output shafts. I believe this is the one you'd need if you're going to S10, Camaro, or whatever as well.
The photos are the part numbers for the "flow" fitting. Speedway Motors. And the other one is for the conversion from Borgensen.
The rag joint is part #31011. If you google that, there are numerous people making them under that part number. I got mine from Orielly's.
So this is what I did yesterday. After about 2 weeks of research and waiting for parts. I now have a car that I'm sure will be a bit faster on the Autocross.

Now! Who's got some cones?

I GOT CONES BROTHER and I know of an Empty Lot also LMAO THEdrive you already know LOL OHH NO WAIT you got ev1 Lost you will need
1. Better GPS
2. A driver that knows directions

I really appreciate the Help for everyone you gave with the research you did friend

Thanks Limey. I like to help others avoid the pit falls of some projects.