# 67 Lemans suspension



## firstpontiac (Jan 28, 2014)

I bought a 67 Lemans 326/4 speed this fall that was parked for 20 years. Ive got it running and stopping, and am getting ready for a budget build (my first). I would like to get a good starting point if I decide to upgrade the engine and brakes later. It floats around a lot but the steering isn't too bad considering its on old bias plies (I haven't closely checked for play in the steering system yet). I need to finalize a plan for the suspension. I like the looks and idea of better handling of a pro touring setup, but there's no budget for a complete system. I was thinking of 1" lowering springs from Eibach, beefy sway bars, urethane bushings for stock control arms, and KYB shocks, and eventually putting 17s on it. Is this a good plan, a lot of the threads don't like the lowering springs. Any advice is appreciated!


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## Instg8ter (Sep 28, 2010)

Welcome to the forum, sounds like my Tempest, only it was parked in a carport for 35 years. All depends on how you drive it and how much you like to drive it. Heres a current ongoing thread with some pro's and con's.

http://www.gtoforum.com/f50/ride-height-question-61474/


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## Bensjammin66 (May 12, 2009)

Instg8ter, do you have a name or paint code for the color on your '66? Real sharp lookin car. I work for Sherwin Williams and custom blended the blue on my '66 from a '93 Isuzu paint code. Thats a really nice lookin color on your car for sure, its almost chevy marina blue. People do not realize how much time and thought our marketing teams put into designing new colors for cars. A few years ago we had to pick 3 out of a possible 10 different blues to present to Ford for the '13 mustangs and lemme tell ya, that was a huge decision cause it has to accent the cars lines nicely and most of all people just have to like it. 
A job well done on yours!


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## Bensjammin66 (May 12, 2009)

To comment on the suspension, my car is a '66 and rides like its on rails. Here is my setup. BTW i prefer Hotchkiss over Eibach personally. 

Front: Hotchkiss 1" springs, poly a-arm bushings, hotchkiss front 1 1/4" sway bar. Stock type shocks. 17x8 wheel 235 45 17 nitto 555 tire

Rear: UMI boxed lowers with poly and roto joints and adjustable uppers with poly and roto joints. 1" Hotchkiss springs, 0.75" aluminum spring spacer, stock type shocks, 7/8" hotchkiss sway bar. 17x8 wheel 275 40 17 nitto 555 tire. 

I used the 0.75" spacer cause from the side it looked killer dropped an inch but from the front the ass squated a little too much for my liking. So I picked it up 3/4", now its got just a teeny bit of rake and looks like a muscle car again. If you drop it an inch and it squats too low in the rear, i recommend the 3/4" spacer from Summit Racing. 

As far as saving some dough for now, get the 1" springs and new shocks front and rear and add a rear sway bar. Poly the front stock sway bar and a-arms. Box the lowers in the rear and poly them too. Itll handle and street drive really really well over stock and i dont think youll have driveline issues with a 1" drop so the uppers arnt an issue yet. I needed them due to a shortened driveshaft from my tko conversion.


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## Instg8ter (Sep 28, 2010)

Thanks Bens. Originally the car was to be painted red or black. When i found the car the second owner had already sprayed a coat of flat black epoxy over the original paint to preserve the immaculate OEM body until he got around to restoring it. The pristine inner trunk with tire jack tag still haphazardly slapped in place (LOL now that shows that a 100 point car should have some flaws, these were built on an assembly line by humans after all) showed off the original Barrier Blue, i started looking for examples and found that there were very few around in that color and it really started to grow on me. I was at the auto parts store and looking for a close match in the dupli-color section for test spraying a few interior parts. It was there i ran into Bahama Blue Mettalic, perfect tonal match to the original Barrier with a kick of very fine silver metallic. I chose the GM 90's version but Several manufactures have used it more recently from Mercedes to subaru and Cooper Mini. Whe i see it on 90's GM cars and trucks all i could think is thats a "Classic Color" and i think thats why it works so well on the Tempest. I get alot of complements on it and the ladies really seem to like it.

I own a construction company and laugh when we have to blend in a flat white ceiling patch not knowing the manufacture of the original paint, i usually just re-paint the whole thing and save myself the headache of color matching white, lucky i'm color blind...LOL



The new GTO hood with a fresh match to the body and polished scoops


And thanks Bens I list "Sharp" as one of the highest compliments a car guy can pay another...:cheers


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## firstpontiac (Jan 28, 2014)

Thanks for the advice! I've got another 3 weeks of insurance left so I'm going to drive some more to see what else its going to need, then tear into it.


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## chemnick (Nov 16, 2013)

I also agree with this. My last (66) GTO had all polygraphite bushings which was a help, but when I put a rear 7/8 sway bar and a 1 1/4 front on the same day and drove it, it was like it was a totally different car. At what ever level you to budget-wise, get the sway bars early in the project. You will not be sorry.


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