# Coilover kits



## TriPower65 (Mar 18, 2014)

School me. 

QA1. Global West. Hotchkis. Who else?
Trying to decide what I'm going to do on my '65. The car is coming apart now for a frame-up restomod that'll be happening over the next couple of years.
I'm leaning toward doing a full kit - front and rear - but am leaning on some of you who may have already crossed this bridge and done a bunch of research on the subject. 
Any to stay away from? Better to do a full kit and use another brand specifically for the coilovers? Everything is on the table at this point.

Talk to me....


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## armyadarkness (Dec 7, 2020)

I have Global West uppers and lowers, front and back, with UMI springs and sway bars, and Bilsteins, on my 67 GTO and 70 Vette. Both are stock height and stock appearing, both handle like magnets. 

Im not a fan of lowering, personally. 

Above all else, don't go cheap. Many threads on this here. The cheap stuff itself is adequate, but the hardware for it is outright dangerous and inferior.


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## TriPower65 (Mar 18, 2014)

Good info. Thanks. I really like the idea of coilovers allowing me to get the ride height I want - aggressive but not stupid low. I just don't like that slammed looked, either - nor one with an especially aggressive rake. That's also why I like the idea of a complete kit - because I know it will take away some of the unknowns of creating such a beast. I will be doing this once, and hopefully ONLY once, so cheap isn't the word of the day. I'll do more digging around here and see what else I can learn. Thanks again.


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## armyadarkness (Dec 7, 2020)

Far be it from me to "insult" another guys GTO... Some of my best buddies here have lowered GTO's with 18"wheels and low profile tires.

It really boils down to "Why are you driving an old GTO?", and for me, there are two possible answers to that question.


Because you like the oldskool mojo, feel, smell, muscle car looks, and the attention that it get's.
Performance.
Personally, if I cared about performance, Id sell my GTO and pay cash for a ZL1 Camaro, which would out-handle, out-race, and out-stop anything, with cruise control and air conditioning.

When I go out in the 67, it turns every head there is... surprisingly, even the young kids working at the Dunkin Donuts drivethrough. If I modernize it, then I guess I could still do that, but what people love about these things is that they look old. This is just my opinion and philosophy... However, I throw my 20-foot-long car into turns at 60 mph, and it's on air condition/ station wagon springs, with 15 inch wheels and BFG TA's. Im not losing much if any handling. Only so much to get when your car can be in 2 towns at the same time.


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## TriPower65 (Mar 18, 2014)

I like them all in one way or another. So the story on this one is that my dad's first new car was a '65 GTO. He traded it for a '69 Bonneville when he started dating my mom. He found this car in our hometown of Greenville, SC (it has spent its entire life here, based on the PHS docs) in 1988 and we later acquired multiple Pontiac engines and a '66 Tripower before building a 428 for the car. It was originally a 4bbl, 4spd car. We ultimately broke a rod in that engine pretty early on after the build and it sat for years before I brought it home to my shop after my dad's death in 2006. I've said I wasn't going to start on the car until I could do it the way I wanted. When he and I were originally working on the car back in the early 90's, so much info was in catalogs and now it's all online. A LOT has changed in the available technology in that time and I will take advantage of that to give me the driver that I want. It will only come out to play on good weather days. Kauffman is building my 467ci with their KRE aluminum heads and Mike Wasson has my tripower now, getting it up to the task of giving me the 525/600ish that I want. Body will be coming off in the months to come so I'm just trying to get my ducks in a row so I'm ready to start back up with the chassis once that happens. Lots to do.....good thing I'm in no particular hurry. In the end, I want to do this car justice and make it something I know my dad would be proud of. I'm getting to do all of it with my 17yo son too - which makes it even more special.


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## Olds455 (Mar 31, 2014)

I’ve been eyeing the UMI Stage 2 or 2.5 handling kit for my 65 GTO. I’m torn on whether or not it’s worth the extra cost for coil overs. The only real feature of the coil overs seems to be ride height adjustability. At most, I may lower mine 1”. I’ve heard good things about UMI and the others mentioned by Army.


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## TriPower65 (Mar 18, 2014)

I’ll take a look at UMI. Not familiar with them. 

And Go Tigers.


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## armyadarkness (Dec 7, 2020)

Yes UMI is great. Very high quality, is/ was made in the US, no fitment issues. I too was going for a driver car, which is why I did Global West (Doug the owner owns, drives, and races a 64? GTO). I put about 300 miles on mine every weekend and it's unrestored.

The issue with suspension is that theres a fine line between appearance and functionality, and many would argue that these cars could never handle well. That's why I mentioned it early on. 

Your goals for appearance can/ will somewhat limit the suspension stuff. Anywho... sounds like you know what you're doing, so my only advice is to not use the cheap stuff. It has horribly inferior balljoints and hardware.

You can call Global West. They answer the phone and you can even talk to the owner.


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