Monroe Formula GP

[iTurbo]

I remember back in the late 90s I worked for my Dad installing new equipment in telephone central offices in various towns in Nebraska. We were were working in Lexington (I think) and there was a Monroe factory there. I actually remember thinking "why don't they build those Formula GPs anymore?" when driving by.

[bamman]

The front Monroe Formula GP struts were mopar part number 4370373 and was only used on the 87-89 CSX cars according to the parts manual.

The Monroe part number is as 29077:



I took that picture off of my brand new set that I purchased for my CSX.

[86Shelby]

I remember back in the late 90s I worked for my Dad installing new equipment in telephone central offices in various towns in Nebraska. We were were working in Lexington (I think) and there was a Monroe factory there. I actually remember thinking "why don't they build those Formula GPs anymore?" when driving by.

Cozad is the town; it's only about 15 miles from Lexington, so your memory is pretty good for remembering details about BFE Nebraska. I toured the plant back in 2001 or 2002, it was pretty cool to see the powdered metal presses, automatic welders, shaft chroming, etc. in action. IIRC the plant closed several years back.

[johnl]

At one time I was contemplating buying up pallets of Formula GP struts and shocks. Some company had warehoused them and finally wanted to unload them, In addition to all the Shelby applications they had other Dodge applications including the GLH, and Pontiac stock (GT turbo Sunbird and Fiero and T/A IIRC). I still have a set of NOS L-body Formula GP struts. That is probably how Steve Thorton ended up with them. I have, or had all the part #'s for them at one time. Not too many years ago after a few phone calls I found someone at Monroe that still had an old catalog with all the part #'s for all the applications. I'll try to look to see if I still have that info. Cross your fingers...
The Formula GP's were a very good mono tube shock. The eyelet made out of polyurethane was not a wise choice though. That was probably why many were removed off of the Shelby cars. The poly would not hold up and became brittle. The NOS stock that Steve had, all suffered from failed poly. I could use my fingernail and take hunks out of the poly. I remember one of the guys from MN, put them on his NY'er and the poly was pounded out in a day or two.
Quality was probably on par with the KYB gas-a-just mono tube shock. IMO, WAY better than the twin tube junk that is currently available for our applications.
Todd

I bought a pair from Steve for a great price a long time ago. A few months ago I put them on the Spirit R/T and those red urethane bushings shattered out of them before the car went even one block.

[supercrackerbox]

Cozad is the town; it's only about 15 miles from Lexington, so your memory is pretty good for remembering details about BFE Nebraska. I toured the plant back in 2001 or 2002, it was pretty cool to see the powdered metal presses, automatic welders, shaft chroming, etc. in action. IIRC the plant closed several years back.

I know it was supposed to close down, and many of their employees relocated to Seward (where I work), but last I heard there were still some operations going on. I'd have to ask around to see if they finally shut the doors.

As for the bushings, that will have to be something to address if I can even get this idea off the ground.

[bamman]

The bushings for the shocks are a common size. They are Energy Suspension Shock Bushings 9-8147R.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/ENS-9-8147R

They drop right in. You'll need a quantity of two for two shocks.

[iTurbo]

Cozad is the town; it's only about 15 miles from Lexington, so your memory is pretty good for remembering details about BFE Nebraska. I toured the plant back in 2001 or 2002, it was pretty cool to see the powdered metal presses, automatic welders, shaft chroming, etc. in action. IIRC the plant closed several years back.

Ah that's it. I actually worked in Cozad for about a month with my Dad. We installed the new telephone switch there in '98 and completely rewired the frame where all the telephone circuits come into the building.

[4 l-bodies]

Okay I have another part # for you but unable to confirm the exact application. Did a little house cleaning in the garage and came upon a box of NOS Formula GP front struts. It's getting pretty bad when you can't remember when and why you buy some parts (hehe). Part # is 29067. It look like in the MP catalogs that the H body used a different front strut than the other non L-body struts. They also list a different front strut for both H & G body for vehicles prior to 12/31/85. So either these struts I have are for an early build, or they are for the H Body (Lancer). Assuming of course Bamman's application is correct for his NOS Formula GP's. I'm betting on 29067 is H body. Now what we need is for someone with a decent low mile Shelby Lancer to jack their car up and look what # is on their front strut to get a confirmation of that application part #.
Todd

[supercrackerbox]

Awesome. I'll give this about another week before I contact the people at Monroe to see how viable the project is. I don't want to get anyone's hopes up yet; the first hurdle is whether they even still have the tooling/parts/and label making for them, and then whether they are willing to do a small run. But I can at least try.

[sdac guy]

FTR, about the performance of the GP's. I bought a set of GP's (all 4 corners) for my Omni back in 1990-91 when they were still offered by Direct Connection.

They rode terribly rough. I used to say that if I ran over a wet cigarette butt in the road, the car would bounce a foot in the air. While that was certainly an exaggeration, I couldn't stand to have them on the car as they were so stiff. I replaced them with Koni's, which at their softest setting were much softer than the Formula GP's. I would say that the GP's were about as stiff as the Koni's set on Medium.

IMO, the Formula GP's were an outstanding performance strut/shock. Not so good for a street car, but great for autocross or road course. Remember too, a 4 door Omni is a fairly light car.

Barry

[DOHCRT]

Okay I have another part # for you but unable to confirm the exact application. Did a little house cleaning in the garage and came upon a box of NOS Formula GP front struts. It's getting pretty bad when you can't remember when and why you buy some parts (hehe). Part # is 29067. It look like in the MP catalogs that the H body used a different front strut than the other non L-body struts. They also list a different front strut for both H & G body for vehicles prior to 12/31/85. So either these struts I have are for an early build, or they are for the H Body (Lancer). Assuming of course Bamman's application is correct for his NOS Formula GP's. I'm betting on 29067 is H body. Now what we need is for someone with a decent low mile Shelby Lancer to jack their car up and look what # is on their front strut to get a confirmation of that application part #.
Todd

I'm pretty sure I kept the shocks and struts from one of my Lancers, I will check storage to see what the part numbers are.

[dodgeman87]

Okay,
So I bought a pair or ( rear )Monroe Formula GP shocks for my '87 Shelby Lancer a few years back. The part number on the box says 24064, so do i have the [B]wrong[B] rear shocks for my car ?


J.R.