First off, I'm planning to lower my elky (5th gen) a couple of inches using drop spindles in the front and 1.5 drop springs in the rear...

My tire size is 205 (70 or 75) 14... What is the biggest tire i can run without rubbing issues?

I have a rear sway bar that I picked up from the junkyard off of a monte ss (i believe it was an ss),, anyway there were no sway bar brackets attached... my rear is stock 7.5 2.41 non posi of course

Do i need brackets to install on my elky?...

Thanks :cool:

I can't answer your question on tire size. As far as the sway bar brackets...if you can't go back to the boneyard, and get them off the Monte or any other G-body with a sway bar, you could probably make your own out of some scrap steel (I would use at least 1/4" thick steel). The lower OEM control arms are rather weak and they flex, the purpose of the brackets is to provide extra support (inside) so the sway bar bolts don't pull through the control arms. It would be better to replace the lower control arms with a set of aftermarket box type and most have the holes drilled through them to mount the sway bar without the use of brackets...this would solve your problem of mounting the sway bar and also the problem of flexing of the lower control arms...their not expensive if you look around and you should easily be able to find a nice set for under $150. These will only enhance your rear suspension...stick with a set with either rubber or polyurethane bushings and stay away from the ones with steel bushings for your purposes.

Sweet....Thanks,,,,

It's time to start working on the rear suspension anyway, need control arms, might upgrade the gears....

What's a good step up from 2.41, I don't want to pull the entire rear end....

Thanks

....

What's a good step up from 2.41, I don't want to pull the entire rear end....

Well I assume you want to keep the 7.5" rear by your question. Replacing the gears in a 7.5'' or any GM rear for that matter is easier to do if you remove the entire rear from the car (due to properly setting up the rear with the new gears) and since you plan on upgrading the suspension anyways your almost there as it is as far as having it out. The gear ratio you pick would depend on the use of the car...such things as type of trans, horsepower, daily use of vehicle (local or highway use), race only or somewhere inbetween and whether you have a pocket full of money to fill your gas tank need to be considered. You might want to consider finding another 7.5" rear out of a G-body (relatively cheap) and rebuilding that one the way you want and then swap it out with yours and install all the new suspension pieces you decide on...it'd be less down time on the car. You might even find a G-body rear with a 3.31 gear ratio and a posi and not have to mess with it if it's in good shape. I think that some SS Montes came with optional 3.23 or 3.31 gear ratios although I'm not sure as I'm not a big fan of 7.5" rearends to begin with. The 3.23 and 3.31 ratios are good midle of the road gears...they'll give you better off the line acceleration and not kill your gas mileage too bad...3.42, 3.73, and 4.10 are too much for everyday use unless you go with an overdrive trans.

Early MonteSS (to 1984) had 3.42 gears and TH350 transmissions and these are OK even for highway use. The 3.73 gears came with 1985 MonteSS and TH200R4 four speeds and are still acceptable for limited highway use. Since many SS owners go to stronger rear axle assemblies these complete axle assemblies are easy to find but the Posi option was pretty rare.