Pontiac Owners Club UK

Hi all, just got my 1970 formula 400 registered and Driven it for the first time, never having had a pontiac before I have some questions for the more experienced, first the height of the car doesn't look right, it sit too high and massive gaps above tires, is there an easy fix or is it new leaf and coil springs? If so where is the best place to source, the second is the steering, it is soooo light with no feeling or road feed back is this normal? The car has been totally rebuilt all new parts fitted where these are concerned, the wheels are 17s with I think 40 rubber again all new so the tire profile could be wrong? Any advise would be most helpful, thanks.

Richard

If the car has had new springs it will sit to high for months until they settle down also it may have upset the steering geometrey so it may feel very light ,it may be a good idea to have the tracking checked to make sure that its not going to scrub the tyres out.
to lower the rear of the car is pretty easy you just have to place lowering spacers between the spring and the axle by undoing the u bolts ,the front can be a bit more tricky because the springs are very hard to compress and can be a bit dangerous you could cut off one coil bolt it all back together and check the ride height or fit new lowering springs, which is the bestway of doing it

Thanks Jeff I'll get the tracking checked, it's booked in for an engine check on rolling road so will get it sorted at the same time. Richard

i would be very careful about lowering the ride height if you have long headers fitted as they sit low underneath and catch speed humps at normal ride height

Hi Jon, I have noted that and they do sit low, the wheels are 17 with 40 profile, perhaps I could change the Tyres for deeper profile to fill the arches?

I fitted 17" rims to my '79 TA. I fitted 265/40/17 which are a full inch smaller in radius than the standard 225/70/15. They give loads of arch void, and lose an inch of ground clearance, bad on both counts

The OEM tyre radius is provided by 255/50/17, but nobody in Europe has them - you have to import them from American or Canadian tyre sellers.