drewwrxrogers

I have been doing a lot of research as to what suspension parts should be installed first. In terms of spending money and which have the most benefit per. $ and make the most difference getting the power to the ground and hooking up.

As I expected it was the same common responses, TQ arm, LCA's, LCA relocation bracket, PHB, and sub frame connectors. The struggle I am having is choosing an order to make of all these....the first couple parts will be in the car quickly but since I am going to have to save and " build as I go" I would like to hear some other opinions and statements as to why you belive that x parts should be in x order.

Basically, tell me why you would buy wich parts in wich order and why you believe they are the most beneficial. Thank you guys.

Tbird232ci

iTrader: (4)

Typically, the shorter, tunnel mounted torque arm setups are better for launching and traction, but suffer under hard braking and cornering. It will really come down to what you are trying to do with your car.

It took me a while to choose my parts, but I ended up going with Founders control arms and PHB in the rear so far. I'm more concerned with cornering, and a little thought on ride quality more than straight line performance, so I went with These control arms and This PHB. I picked up a BMR standard length torque arm and transmission relocation crossmember. Whatever torque arm you choose, be sure to get it off of the transmission tail shaft.

99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

IMO, If you car is mostly street driven and not a dedicated track(D.R.) car, I'd get a TA relocation transmission cross-member first thing(UMI #2208) and then a set LCA relocation brackets if your car is lowered. Then lca's, followed by phb, weld-in 2pt SFC, and finally a new full length adj. TA..
Now if you lca's, phb, or rear shock are worn-out jump them to the top of the list.

38DD2436

The uni body is weak. Stiffen it up with weld in sub frame connectors before you start stressing the body. PHB and LCA's. The OEM parts are OK but not designed for more hp or carving. BTW What will you be doing with the car, street, drag, autox, dd?

Rare96LT1Formula

iTrader: (32)

The biggest actual difference that any of the parts you mentioned made for me was the lower control arms & relocation brackets. It solved my wheel hop issue, and made the car feel much more "solid" under heavy acceleration.

I was originally planning on modding my drivetrain before touching any suspension items, but now I'm extremely glad that I didn't. I'm going with a full aftermarket suspension before I add any power to the chassis. With these cars not having a standard frame, I feel that you really cannot go wrong replacing just about any suspension component. Sure, it may not be as fun as throwing a cam in her, but you'll have the piece of mind knowing that you've added some additional strength to the car.

I currently have a Founders TQ arm on order, as well as a UMI TQ arm relocation bracket. After that, it'll be shocks/springs and replacing every single bushing on the car. Sometimes, it's the little things that make the big difference, and on these cars, I feel that statement really holds true.

bjohn

iTrader: (2)

x2

I also believe in working with what you have, and optimizing it before throwing more power at something that can't put it down anyways.

383partout

I've got a brand new set of Founders weld in Lca relocation brackets I'd trade for bolt ins or sell, I haven't been able to find anyone to weld them in and am thinking on just getting bolt ins.

Lcas & panhard made the biggest difference aside from Bilstein shocks & BMR springs on my car.

drewwrxrogers

Thank you guys so much for taking the time to respond first off! The car is a weekend driver/straight line car. Cornering isn't too big of a concern for me when compared to hooking up. I also would like to note that mine is a stalled auto 98 coupe so I wasn't sure if the sub-frame connectors were on the top of the list or not. I believe that the car is more structure solid being it doesn't have the glass T-tops. Would like more info on this...

I am considering doing Lower Control Arms first as they are stock and the car is stock height so relocation brackets wouldn't help much i'm assuming. Next in order most likely will be the TQ arm. From what I am gathering and my past experience with previous F-bodys, these two mods will help with traction and the well known wheel hop issue.

Plan sounding accurate so far?

99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

If straight line traction is your priority over handling , the go with a shorter body mount TA.
Just be aware that body mount TAs are more apt to be noisy and have exhaust clearance issues.

UMI Performance

iTrader: (77)

For a noticeable traction difference the best bang for the buck is a set of rear lower control arms and relocation brackets. You can get this combination for around $220.00 and will notice it right away. SFC's will not be noticeable but are a good safety item and protect the car. A torque arm would then be next. The longer arms are much more streetable while the shorter are more drag oriented but still work well on the street.

I hope that helps!
Ryan

BMR Sales2

iTrader: (40)

Since you are mainly concerned with straight line performance I would definitely recommend going with a good set of lower control arms and lower control arm relocation brackets. Even with your car being at factory ride height you will see a noticeable gain with the relocation brackets because they will add a good bit of positive anti-squat to the car which will help with traction and straight line performance. If you are on a budget and have the factory rear end in the car I would recommend our non-adjustable lower control arms (TCA001) and bolt-in relocation brackets (CAB002). If you have an aftermarket rear end you will want to use the weld-in relocation brackets (CAB001).

After the lower control arms and relocation brackets I would look at a good full length tubular torque arm and torque arm relocation crossmember. If you plan on staying at factory ride height a non-adjustable torque arm like our TA002 would be fine if you do plan on changing the ride height at some point definitely go with a adjustable torque arm like our TA001. The torque arm relocation crossmember will get the torque arm off the back of the transmission and allow you to adjust the instant center which will also help with traction.

Subframe connectors are never a bad idea on these cars whether they have T-tops are not because the chassis really like to flex. We off both tubular (SFC004) and boxed (SFC001) but I prefer the boxed subframe connectors because they give you many more places to jack the car up at. Also at some point you will want to look into a stiffer rear sway bar to which will help with launch consistency.

Beave

I can vouch for what these guys just said ^ I just installed relocation brackets and adjustable lca's and it made a world of difference on my stock suspension car

BMR Sales2

iTrader: (40)

A lot of people don't realize what a difference these two parts make by themselves and with how affordable they are it is a no brainer to do them.

KT2

great information here

jimmyblue

iTrader: (11)

One thing first, is whether you intend to change the
suspension geometry. This says whether or what kind
of adjustability you need. Whether you want relocation
pieces. And so on.

If you aren't aggressively lowered and are street-mostly
then a good solid fixed torque arm is fine. There are bad
ones that have a rep for breaking. The UMI one I have,
they said is optimized for pinion angle on a normal-ish
car. OK for me at speed, no appreciable driveline vibe.

Now you have to ask yourself what you want the torque
arm for. Sure, the stocker flexes. Yeah, enough torque
will break one. True of aftermarket too, just a matter of
degree and expense. So stronger, OK.

But if you're looking for suspension reaction tuning, that
is not what an adjustable torque arm is about. People
buy them because they think so. But the adjustment
only affects pinion angle and pinion angle is not what
matters to instant center and torque reaction downforce.
Pinion -arm- angle, that's what does. You do that at the
nose end, and that's a relocating crossmember and you
can pretty much expect a significant increase in NVH
from it. But now your adjustable torque arm's adjustability
becomes actually useful, in compensating whatever you
do at the nose to zero the driveline angle, net. Otherwise
the adjuster is just two more joints to get sloppy and make
noise. That's why I ditched the Random Tech adjustable
one I had (to be fair, bought used for a real good price).
Stuff wears out, do you need it to?

99Bluz28

iTrader: (35)

NVH really should be a issue with a TA relocation transmission x-member, I never had any NVH with my UMI TA relocation transmission x-member and my edelbrock adjustable TA. May be it has something to do round nose design most of the new TAs have. My edelbrock TA had a wave shaped nose just like the factory TA does.
This is the ES front TA bushing I was using.
http://www.energysuspensionparts.com....1111&loaded=1

nascarnate326

iTrader: (1)

Why limit your self to just a few pieces?

IMO do it all..struts, springs, torque arm, sub frame connectors, lower control arms etc.

I did and it made a hugggggeeeee difference compared to stock.

bjohn

iTrader: (2)

Seconded. Between the Lower Control Arms, Relo-Brackets, and Pahnard bar, the car was night and day different when launching, and at speed.

The Torque arm, not sure how big of a difference, but definitely felt like the rear end was even more planted.

My car doesn't have subframe connectors. I can't imagine they'd make as big of a difference as the lca's and relo-brackets did.