6spdg37s

iTrader: (1)

So I have a stock 01 SS 56k original miles car drives tight.

I am going to do the H/C package from texas-speed soon. Now obviously that will bump up the WHP significantly. I am trying to do this in pieces. Will the car be okay with all that extra power and stock suspension for the time being?

and when I do get to the suspension portion what is recommended?

Going for around 450WHP street car but go to track every week with it.

thanks-

Daniel Richards

iTrader: (1)

when you "build" a car, you need to start from the ground up, suspension, wheels and tires first, the stock shocks suck, then consider a rear end upgrade depending on final HP goals, then work your way forward to the trans then do the motor LAST, if you put to much power by building the motor first then you might break something down the road and these cars already need help keeping the tires from spinning.

6spdg37s

iTrader: (1)

I noticed while the car handles tight it does have a floaty feel to it. what shocks/springs do you recommend?

JD_AMG

Thats 100% the shocks, the stock decarbon shocks (and other shocks that lack enough rebound dampening, like cheap autozone shocks and drag shocks) will feel like that.
So heres the real low down, you need to decide what is more important to you, getting the best 60ft times at the dragstrip, or having the car feel the best on the street, you have to sacrifice a little some where unfortunately.
Listen to the guys that actually have tried different setups, not just the sponsors trying to sell you the parts, as most of them will try and sell you everything under the sun and tell you their parts are great for drag racing, road courses and curing cancer at the same time while they can actually only do one thing well, and everything else poorly.
So here it is. If you want the best 60ft times at the drag strip, but are willing to sacrifice ride quality, handling and feel (and you WILL be sacrificing these aspects majorly compared to running a sport shock) then look into drag shocks like viking, QA1, strange, afco, comp engineering etc etc. Some of these shocks/coilovers are labeled as "can do all well" but thats stretching the truth quite a bit. Before Vikings came along the QA1s used to be the flavor of the month drag coilover that claimed to be good at handling too (and sponsors would sell these claiming they were great at handling), I (and many others) found out first hand how untrue that was... It, like the other shocks named above, is a non-gas charged (see shock fade) drag shock that has poor adjustment features and the company spent more time on marketing than actually building a good shock. Sorry, end rant...
On the other side of the spectrum there are sport shocks like Bilsteins, Koni, KWs, Ridetech, Penskie, etc.
These shocks are gas charged, and are aimed at handling and ride quality, have adjustments that actually effect piston speed (see precision) but will not launch as well as a drag shock. Think BMW like ride and handling, super tight feel, amazing neutral handling, yet great firm ride quality that is not jarring like the stock stuff you have now. You might sacrifice 0.1 seconds at the dragstrip but if you actually drive your car on the street you will love these.
If you want to talk to a guy that has been racing these cars for years (multiple national champion SCCA auto-x in an LS1 Camaro) about how shocks actually work and what are truly worth the money call Sam Strano at stranoparts.com. One of the few sponsors that won't BS you and will only sell you parts you actually need/are useful for your setup.

6spdg37s

iTrader: (1)

^ I am down to loose half a second at the track to have a nice tight ride on the street.

and I just sent them an e-mail thank you !

6spdg37s

iTrader: (1)

spoke to them at strano parts and got some insight on what I want to/need to do in the future

That_Z28_Camaro

I went the route of doing a H/C setup before i did anything else to the car..everything else was 100% stock. It was pretty fun I must say but it handled horribly and was not going anywhere fast. Shortly after I ended up getting pretty every suspension piece I could buy except A arms/K member. Pretty much ended up putting each piece on individually and then drove around. It's a world of difference with all of the suspension pieces on the car and I couldn't be any happier with the end result.

M4N14C

iTrader: (3)

Yup I pretty much did the exact opposite of what you did. Motor is basically stock (down to stock manifolds ) and spent most of my time and money on building the suspension and drivetrain. This is defiantly the way to go, car feels 1000x better than it did with stock suspension. I'd go as far as saying a full H/C/I 450hp+ bulid is downright dangerous without any suspension mods. Hell even at stock power I almost got caught trying to take a sharp on ramp too fast. Add 150hp+ and old worn out truck shocks and you got an accident waiting to happen.

6spdg37s

iTrader: (1)

I am doing Headers,lid, exhaust, 4.10s , tune and then will do what strano recommended which is suspension pack 5 or 7 (depending on if I want sway bar)

M4N14C

iTrader: (3)

For me, after shocks, upgrading my sway bars made the most noticeable difference in throwing it around corners.