J2Pharren1

iTrader: (1)

I am getting back from Afghanistan in about a week and hopefully, I'll be picking up a 1996 Z28 (Cars in really good shape, new opti haha). Anyway, heres my situation.

I have no delusions of grandur, this car will be my DD and will spend 99% of its life with me on the street. I want a street suspension. When it does see the track, it will be the 1/4 mile, but I don't want to drive a drag car around.

Right now I am pretty sold on Strano's for the springs, undecided on the shocks/struts. I know that Koni's are the best, my question is are they so much better than the Blisteins/Toxicos that are half the price. I don't mind paying for quality, but I don't want to just throw it away for like a 5% increase in performance either. Is anyone running the Strano/Koni combo? Thoughts? How long will these parts last before needing to be replaced?


My second question is in regards to adjustable hard parts (control arms, torque arm, etc...). I don't know dick about suspension geometry or anything like that. Am I wasting my money if I get the fancy double adjustable super awesome control arm if I don't know what the hell to adjust it too? Is it a strait forward process or are there "rules of thumb" as to what these parts should be set at as like a baseline?

Bonus question, what did you guys pay to get subframe connectors installed? Has anyone had a 3-point setup installed? What did that run you? Was the addition cost worth the additional performance?

Thanks


--EDIT BONUS BONUS QUESTION--

The Strano/Koni setup seems like it gets dangerously close if not meeting the price of doing coil overs. I know what a coil over is, and I know this is asking for trouble, but why choose the Koni's over a coil over setup?

Racin'Z28

iTrader: (7)

The Strano springs are great. I would stick with those. The Koni's are rebuildable and will last for years so they are worth the extra money. Get the Single adjustables and save a few bucks.
Don't bother with the super fantastic quadruple adjustable fancy *** control arms. If anything, just get some fixed length with poly bushings. You're smart to be realistic so stick with poly end and not rod ends.
You don't need to replace the torque arm yet. In time, but not needed at your power level.
Adjustable Panhard rod with poly bushings since you are using lowering springs.
Go with the biggest sway bars you can get front and back with poly bushings. Hollow if possible, but solid is okay for the money.

Bonus Round ! I don't have SFC...

Bonus Bonus Round! As I was saying, the shocks are rebuildable and the valving can be changed to match any new spring rate you get or want. Down the road, if you want to drag all the time, you can set it up that way. Besides, it's a simpler set up and most of the time simpler is better.

And, thanks for serving our Country. You have my gratitude.

squee

iTrader: (16)

^^^I don't exactly agree. Bigger swaybars doesn't equal better. The best from what I've seen is by far the Stranos, and they come with the poly bushings and end links.

I'd go with the Strano/Koni's for sure, and I would also get adjustable LCA's, but thats just me. I WOULDN'T get a poly/poly LCA though. I'd at the very least get a poly/rodend combo. I went with rod/rod for my DD but I can live with stuff like that. Some can't.

Why the LT1 though?

Racin'Z28

iTrader: (7)

I hear you on bigger is not always better. In this instance, I was thinking about the bigger combo of 35/21 that you usually see. I've not seen ones much bigger, maybe 37 in front, and i think 35/21 is the size of strano's standard set up anyways. His hollow bars are very good. As far as the LCA's, yeah, its a matter of personal choice of what you are willing to put up with on a DD.

J2Pharren1

iTrader: (1)

Budget mostly as well as whats available. All the LS1's Ive found have been over 10k that aren't worn out.

Is there like a generally accepted order you upgrade suspension parts in? Sounds like Springs/Shocks come first, then swaybars, then a phb/control arms, torque arm after that?

JD_AMG

There are many companies that sell their 25mm rear drag bars as "handling bars", so in that case bigger is not better.


IMO the "generally accepted order of upgrades" are:
1.) SHOCKS ( I want this to stand out because good shocks will make the most difference by a long shot, if you are buying something else first you are wasting your time IMO)
2.) Springs or swaybars (both make about the same amount of difference in handling, you can go with both at the same time, or upgrade what you want first.)
3.) Whatever else you want. The two above will make the most noticeable difference, the rest is up to you and what you want to change about the car.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

First, bigger is not automatically better where swaybars are concerned. I do run a large front bar, but I run a moderately sized rear because huge is bad for balance and handling.

Koni's and my springs: I designed my springs based of what I run on my coil-overs, rate and height wise to make the car work the best. I don't know of any good setup of coil-over (i.e. not QA1's. etc) that are in the in same range. For example, look at what a set of KW coil-overs cost (fwiw KW's are what come stock in Viper ACR's). I also sell those, so I'm keenly aware of the differences.

Koni's are not near Bilstein or Tokico... there are folks on this and other sites that have experiences different brands of shocks, and really you get what you pay for. In fact there is no single more important part of the suspension than the shocks. They rule the roost. Yes, I make springs and bars and sell all the other parts too. But if you want the car to work as best it can, then you should not skimp on the dampers.

As for the other stuff, I'd be more than happy to talk to you about how/what they do and in what order I'd do them (if at all depending on your situation).

Feel free to call my tech-line @ 814-849-3450

carman53

iTrader: (2)

I bought Strano front and rear springs and front and rear Strano bars from Sam over a year and a half ago. At the time, I was running Tokico HPs in the rear and Stock in the fronts. Sam told me I needed to install Koni Sports in the front and rear. I installed the bars and springs and saved some bucks and bought the Konis for the front first. The car changed dramatically. Sam told me that I wouldn't be happy with the Tokicos but I simply didn't have the xtra cash at the time to buy Konis.

I just replaced the Tokicos, (and Sam pls feel free to say I TOLD YOU SO!!) and the car handles even better, but the bonus is it actually rides noticealby better. I am going out today to adjust the fronts down one notch as they are set really stiff. I have the rears set in the middle settings.

The Tokicos are simply not up to the heavier spring rates of the Strano springs(Hope thats correct lingo) as they just don't seem to have the guts to dampen them correctly.

I was driving in the center lane of I 295 about three weeks ago when a car about half a lenght in front of me in the left lane suddenly cut over into my lane. I checked the passenger mirror and just yanked the wheel hard right. The camaro changed two lanes to the right and I straightened her out without so much as a squeal, wiggle or twitch. It just moved. It would have been a totally different situation if it were stock.

Sam, you have been dead right on in everything you have told me. I wish you had stores in all 50 states.

Sam Strano

iTrader: (41)

Glad you like...

I don't have stores everywhere, but I'll ship wherever (and better no sales tax for most of you!).