Hello, I am new to this site and to the world of restoration. I just picked up a 70 Cutlass SX to do a complete restoration. I have the body off the frame and am going to completely redo the suspension, front and back. I want it to drive nice and would like some suggestions on a good suspension package........ any help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance,
Doug

 

If it is a cruiser, I would use MOOG components everywhere.

Add in some Bilstein or Koni shocks as well.

Use poly on the front sway bar and end links only.

 

Is there a complete kit or are there different Moog components, I have my car down to the bare frame and it will get blasted this week, I would like to order the parts and have them on hand by next week or so.

 

Most of the kits I've seen on ebay are generic chineseium stuff. I don't know of anybody selling a kit for the good stuff. For Moog try Rockauto.com I've been pretty pleased with their selection and prices. John

 

What about the rear bushings? What is difference between rubber and poly?

 

Polyurethane is more solid, and rubber absorbs more shocks in the radial direction, rather than just pivoting along the axis. Poly will give you more consistent location of your rear with respect to the rest of the car, while rubber will give you a somewhat softer ride.

Personally, I prefer more rigid suspension bushings (have Delran on my BMW and just put Poly uppers on my Delta, and plan to put Delran on my Chevelle "one day"), but the choice is yours.

Do not confuse rigid suspension bushings with rigid mounting bushings (like body-to-frame). Putting in too-stiff body-mount bushings will rattle your teeth out of your head and won't contribute to handling unless you're racing the 24 hours of LeMans.

As far as shocks, I've run Bilsteins in Porsches and my BMW and am quite fond of them - firm and tight ("Toit!" as Austin Powers's Dutch nemesis would say), but not rough, but also have a set of Konis in my Jeep, and they're excellent too (I'd say a bit smoother and softer, but hard to compare between different vehicles). [Incidentally, I found the best "all-around" deal on Bilsteins at Amazon - there was one smaller company that had them a bit cheaper, but they were out of stock, and couldn't give a certain date for when they'd be in, and all the other "cheap" prices either had some sort of a catch, or weren't clear as to whether they actually had the merchandise.]

- Eric