L Body "Rally" Setup

[Whorse]

Not personally going for a race car, just the style of vehicle, but would be curious to hear what's good and what's not for rally racing.

I re-checked my MP Book, and they do show Rally springs for G/J/P body cars. I was at Simon's today and he does in fact have some fronts for L body's.

The book says all Rally springs should lift the car about an inch. This would mean new struts, and new rear springs/shocks. Would G Body rears be effective enough for this?

What are my options for stronger axles, swaybar, and underplating? Trying to keep this as cheap as I can and use as much readily available stuff as I can. Might consider going with built axles and not stockers as they probably wont' like the larger angle to the hubs.

[vntned]

L body cars have a unique rear suspension which isnt like the other mopars of that era. Your Omni will have its rear springs over the shock(coil over) so I dont think anything but Lbody rear shocks will work with out some serious modifications.

There is no aftermarket skidplates made for these cars that I know of. I looked into turning my '84 GLH a rally car before I decided to keep it a street car. Dont really need a rally car in mid NC!

As far as sway bars go you can either by aftermarket from PolyBushings or take a 1.25'' Shelby Z front sway bar and cut about 3/4'' off of each end and get the correct bushings and then install on your GLH!

Id leave the stock axles in it. Youd save money, and the angle shouldnt be that extreme.

[gti_7]

Give these guys a shout.. im sure they can help you out :)
http://www.glhracing.com/thecars.php

bernard

[Whorse]

SO what were all these rally L bodies I've seen in pictures running on their setups back in the day?

[travis_k]

Rally cars dont need big swaybars. Just use the MP rally springs with some konis or better struts/shocks. It shouldnt be a problem to still use the stock ones. Otherwise, run coilovers with softer spings and struts with alot of rebound damping. You should be able to run mk2 vw bilstien inserts if you modify the stock struts housings if you arent lowering the car. Also, mk1 vw bilstien shocks should fit in the rear, but only if you are raising the ride height.

[Whorse]

Thanks! That's great advice and exactly what I was looking for.

Are the MK1 shocks you're talking about for the rear the coilover style that VNTNed mentioned, or would that require modifications to the back as well?

[travis_k]

They look just like the l-body rears, but about 1.5 inches longer.

[Whorse]

Sounds perfect. I'll keep my eyes peeled at the junk yards.

[travis_k]

If you are going to use junkyard springs, 16v scirocco ones are the stiffest of the mk1s. I havent even mounted a mkk1 vw shock to an l-body so i dont know what the ride height change would be, but i do know that they will fit.